Help make new default skin

[nkh]

and, another thought. If the new skin use round shapes (like the GBpvr logo), there should be both a NTSC and PAL version of the skin.

[nkh]

I'd prefer blue over red (personal preference really)

So does my tv

[Kevl]

Surely the PAL NTSC thing is irrelevant????? When an app goes full screen then windows scales it to fit full screen. If the output of the VGA card is taken to a TV then 480 lines or 576lines is then appropriate and the 720x480 or 720x576 etc screen res must be set (using powerstrip or otherwise - for the windows desktop). For a HD plasma or DLP projector then 720lines might be a better match.

But windows scales the skin anyway. The problem (i suggest) is that the typical skin for GBPVR has too low a resolution. 1280 x 720 might be better as the 480line skins looks a bit ragged on my PAL TV so it must look really bad on a 720line HD screen. If the default skin size became 1280 x 720 then it would scale down to 720x480 (or whatever) for TV use and still look good on high res screens.

Not sure about the 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios should be handled though. Mediaportal skins are available in two aspect ratios.

Is it possible to make skins use relative positions rather than an absolute pixel counts for the embedded fonts, pictures etc.

Eg string "hello world" is defined to start 10% in X direction and 20% in y direction?

Pls note the above comments are from someone who knows nothing about skinning apps :-)

Kev

[sub]

Is it possible to make skins use relative positions rather than an absolute pixel counts for the embedded fonts, pictures etc.

Eg string "hello world" is defined to start 10% in X direction and 20% in y direction?

yeah, in hindsight it would have been good to do something like this, but we're too far down the track now so its not going to be changed.

[Kevl]

If the skins are xml txt files then a small parsing app to convert string coordinates from absolute pixels to realive X, Y % coordinates would be very easy to do. Such an app would determine the existing skin size, perform the trivial coordinate transformation and spit out a new xml file to the new format. I could probably write a text file converter to achieve this in a few hours. I will be happy to do so if it would help. This would preserve the fine skins already available for GBPVR.

If improvements to skins is needed now then this might be the time to do it.

Obviously my initial attempts at this will produce trashed skins with text and buttons all over the place. This might be useful for a screen saver to prevent screen burn. Simply invoke the conversion app after say 5mins and voila text randomly moves about the screen :-)

Kev

[sub]

Nah, its not that simple, its all the underlying stuff thats the problem. I think you'll have let go of this idea...sorry.

[nkh]

Surely the PAL NTSC thing is irrelevant?????

Maybe? I dunno.. I find it a bit annoying that the GBpvr logo on the main menu is oval and that the album pictures in the MyMusic plugin is taller than they're wide (they whould be square). In MyPictures I have set Width Ratio so the pictures doesn't look too twisted.

It's most noticeble if you try to make skins with large circles

[Kevl]

nkh

I think the problem you are describing is down to aspect ratio. For 4:3 and square pixels with 576lines the horizontal pixel count needs to be 576*4/3 = 768 pixels. for 16:9 it needs to be 576*16/9 = 1024 pixels. (I think)

Since GBPVR's skins are 720x480 then you get distortion and circles appear as elipses.

For optimal circles the skin aspect ratio needs to match the display aspect ratio.

Kev

[ShiningDragon]

I saw something in all skins, that really disturbs me. You all create skins with menutext that are arranged leftside:

TV
BLA
BLUBB
BLA

Why don't center the Button-Text?

TV
1234
123456

I tested the center align by myself and it works exzellent. It's an idea, no order ^^

[ShiningDragon]

Hmpf, my last description wasn't centered. I am sure, you know, what i mean