New Windowblinds Skin

Yellow I am working on...

Hello fellow WinCustomize skinners... I am working on a new Windowblinds skin appropriately named "yellow". Anyhow, I would like to come up with something really original and not another "xp clone". This is what I have done so far with the task bar and start menu. Do you have any suggestions? Should I do something different? Any advise will be greatly appreciated.

 

 

Screenshot

15,951 views 23 replies
Reply #1 Top

I like new Ideas but I will say watch the texture as they can be tricky to get to tile correctly!Keep at it! :thumbsup:

Reply #2 Top

Good luck on your skin.:thumbsup: I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the name Yellow is already taken. LINK 

Reply #3 Top

Other already taken 'yellows':

:)

Reply #4 Top

 Yellowest :D

or take a page from MrPaul's book... Yellow Ultimate! :thumbsup:

Reply #5 Top

I think you should spend some time taking apart other people's skins in Skin Studio to get an idea of what's possible, and brush up on a few tutorials, so you can break out of the XP clone thing you've been doing lately.  There's a really awesome site for Photoshop tutorials for creating interface designs here:  http://fxzone.eyeball-design.com/frames01.htm

Also, as I posted in the comments section of your School Days blind, get these free layer style presets for Photoshop:

1. http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&loc=en_us&extid=1044442
2.  http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&extid=1041614

They will help you create much more realistic-feeling images and when you play with them enough, you'll get an idea on how to create your own layer styles to give your images a third dimension.

Keep up the good work!  :thumbsup:

Reply #6 Top

i would lower the bevel to at least 2, it looks too thick. (on yr buttons)

 

Reply #7 Top

Maybe I'll name it yellow submarine since that HUGE Beatles collection comes out today LOL not to mention Rockband... how I wish I had a newer gaming system now...we still have the PS2

TY k10w3 I downloaded the 2 layer styles, and I've been saving the styles I've created for my last blinds... but I guess they weren't original enough LOL...  I like the "eyeball" site... I will be playing with the tutorials in there for a few days... I took a photoshop class back in 07, but they didn't teach stuff like that... just the basics I am so loving all the free tutorials on the web. I made my 2yo into a mermaid the other day LOL she loved that!

Quoting Vampothika, reply 6
i would lower the bevel to at least 2, it looks too thick. (on yr buttons)

 

Do you mean the buttons on the start menu? I believe those are the only ones I've made so far for this skin...

Reply #8 Top

Quoting rachelm920, reply 7
I took a photoshop class back in 07, but they didn't teach stuff like that... just the basics I am so loving all the free tutorials on the web.


Did you want to have a lot MORE fun with tutorials?  This series is amusing just for the comedy factor, alone! ("You Suck At Photoshop" series at MyDamnChannel.com)

http://www.mydamnchannel.com/You_Suck_at_Photoshop/Season_2/16DefineBrushPreset_1403.aspx

Reply #9 Top

Yellow Submarine would be cool, I'm from Liverpool, a huge Beatles junkie.. of course.. u would need to add some cardboard cutout looking features:thumbsup:

Reply #11 Top

Quoting k10w3, reply 8



Did you want to have a lot MORE fun with tutorials?  This series is amusing just for the comedy factor, alone! ("You Suck At Photoshop" series at MyDamnChannel.com)

http://www.mydamnchannel.com/You_Suck_at_Photoshop/Season_2/16DefineBrushPreset_1403.aspx

Darn

Access Denied

Your request was denied because of its content categorization: "Entertainment;Audio/Video Clips"

I'll have to check it out from home

Quoting vStyler, reply 9
Yellow Submarine would be cool, I'm from Liverpool, a huge Beatles junkie.. of course.. u would need to add some cardboard cutout looking features

I totally love the Beatles too don't think I could make a "true" yellow submarine blind... just not that experienced yet. I want to go to the UK so I can walk on Abbey road

Reply #12 Top

OK so I made this really neat png for the UIS2 top frame. How can I change the shape from the standard rectangle? There's no glow option like on the start button...

Reply #13 Top

The way I usually do it is to create the entire window in photoshop and than slice it up, so I don't have to pay so much attention to sizes and making them match.  If they match from the start, they'll match when re-assembled after being sliced.

**An example of how I do the window frames, is how the start menu is illustrated in this tutorial:  https://www.stardock.com/products/skinstudio/help/make_start_menu.htm

Also, the UIS2 top frame should be a bitmap in order for it to show up as the preview in the Windowblinds configuration interface.

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Reply #14 Top

Thanks... that's how I made my start menu... didn't even think of that!!

Reply #15 Top

Just to illustrate what Karen is talking about, this is the .psd that I did for my lastest WIP

Then it's just a matter of slicing up the bits and putting them in a blind.

Reply #16 Top

i like watching that guy on my damn tutorial...he's funny as hell

Reply #17 Top

Quoting DjiRate, reply 16
i like watching that guy on my damn tutorial...he's funny as hell


He does make learning something amusing, doesn't he?

Reply #18 Top

OK so I screen printed a window than I made a neat looking image above it, sliced it up and applied it using skinstudio than my windows explorer crashed wouldn't come back up. I had to reboot my pc. Still no luck... than I went into task manager and started Windowblinds through the "run" option changed the blind to the default windows one than manually started explorer.exe and now my PC is running fine. What the heck did I do to the blind I made? Is it the transparency? I'm running on XP Pro... never encountered a problem like this before!

Reply #19 Top

Did you save it as a .png or a .bmp?  Because I'm pretty sure that the UIS2 windows have to be .bmp, and if the transparency your trying to give it is with alpha, that won't work, you'll have to use magic pink.

Reply #20 Top

It was a tga in the per pixel frames instead of the top border for UIS2 I'm gonna move it over and save it as a bitmap and see if that helps... it just really scared me on Friday, thought I broke it or something LOL...

Reply #21 Top

I did a few things when I first started using Skin Studio that didn't play well with my computer -- things like code input that was impossible, and it would shake my desktop view and then revert back to Windows classic, which IS very disturbing, but you learn from it and never make that mistake again.  

You'll get the hang of what can be done and what can't be done soon, I promise.

Reply #22 Top

OK Now I've resolved my computer problem by switching it to a bitmap but for some reason my rebar background and UIS2 top border aren't matching up. I've tried changing the margins but it doesn't seem to do anything :(

Here's a screen print to show you the problem I'm having...

PS- I'm thinking of now naming my skin "Swiss Cheese"

Reply #23 Top

U have to deduct the width of the frames (combined) from the margins to have it match up as the rebar isnt as wide as the top frame. Although that is for per pixel frames.

if these are the older bitmap frames, just make sure the rebar and top frame are the same width and make margins the same and they should match up. Make sure the margins are over a plain area of the skin , not over a cheese hole ;P