Calling all images!

[mlbdude]

Hey all! I am currently working on adding some "nice" touches to my SageTV 2.0 theme. Some of these are getting introduced into the 2.0 product. I am getting pretty good with the mechanics of creating new screens, but I am reeeeaaalllly bad with graphics and design. What I feel like I need is a repository of images I could use to make things look more professional.

I would like to request any links or attachments of images that could be used in making a SageTV theme. If you have any ideas as to how it should look those comments are welcome too.

The one stipulation is that I need images that are free for me to use and possibly for Frey to redistribute. Not that this will be anything but a user community driven project but you never know .

Thanks!

[EncoderHouse]

What format and resolution would you like. I've been working on some too.

[mlbdude]

I seem to be having the best luck with PNG (I think because of transparency) but JPG and GIF are also supported.

As for resolution figure they will be used on primarily low resolution HTPC's so geared for that is best. However, Sage does seem to scale them well so maybe shooting for a bit higher would be good. Once I start to see some I can give a better answer.

Hot items we need:
Small notation graphics to identify
First Run
Rerun
Watched
Like
Don't Like
Favorite
Manual Recording
Record All
Record New
Record ReRun
And any more I missed

Plus icons for mouse navigation that is being added.

Graphics for use in the OSD would be great too. Keep in mind that they need to look good with Overlay though so watch the transparency with those items (I find it comes out black on the Overlay).

We hope to make this a collection point for development now and for when Studio is available to everyone. If we see some activity I will get them to make this a sticky thread too.

Thanks!

[falchulk]

mlbdude, when I messed around with modifying the existing PNG files, I was only able to get round corners using transparancy with PNG. I have many ideas and graphics waiting for studio. I think I will be selfish and wait till I can get my grubby hands on it as well.

[mlbdude]

Transparency works great for VMR9 but it is a no go for Overlay. I can do separate interfaces but it would be nice to keep it simple.

My goal is to help Frey complete the 2.0 supported UI and make it as attractive as possible before they freeze it and release. At that point any modifications we want will probably be our own and be unsupported.

[falchulk]

I am refering to the interface not the OSD. The highlights all have to have transparent edges so that they can be rounded. A jpg just produces a block with hard edges. I found that you had to use the transparent effects of PNG to get rounded/sculpted edges. My highlight was a mustang head and front leg on the left side with the 2005 mustang as my background before .12. Since .12 I had to revert to standard graphics becasue the scroll wraparound did not work with my mods.

[Crashless]

If you're calling for graphics to be created, it often helps to have an idea of what the system is for implementing them. Are we dealing with a layer-based compositing system? or is it more HTML (probably)? I too can't wait to get my hands on Studio b/c I think that will really make Sage TV sing. I can't wait to see all the posts of new GUIs once it's out. Maybe it'll be possible to have a different gui every day of the week....Cool.

Anyways, seems like blue is the theme, are you trying to replace the 'ring' colors? It's a pretty effective metaphor, but I agree watched could be more obvious, and the red 'ring' around manual record looks kind of ominous (sp).

[mlbdude]

Anything in general would be good. The main items are the small notification icons but the OSD needs to be cleaned up as well. The main theme is very blue so think images that will mesh well with that.

Hopefully if we amass a large enough collection there will be a nice base for others once Studio is released.

However, my main goal is to get the Frey supported UI as attractive as possible. Any suggestions are welcome. In general I find that most users will want to use the UI that they can feel confident that Frey will help them if they have any issues. We want that to be as nice as possible.

Crashless, to answer your first question think "layer-based compositing system".