New idea
 

Something i've been tinkering with for not that long. Any opinions and whatnot?

Top one.

But I don't like the labels. Make them indented (the cbuttons, at least) and the 'chaos' thing some people use is gay IMO.

I'm not too fond of either, but that's personal opinion.

tiny hint though, choose just words or just symbols for shuf/rep. the combination doesn't look right.

I realize you're trying to be innovative, but all that gray makes my eyes go wonky. Some color, please?

Try making the protruding blocks cast shadows on the background to make it look more realistically 3D.

The way you've shaded the right sides and the undersides of the blocks suggest strongs lighting from the top-left, yet this lighting isn't causing any shadows to be cast by the blocks at the moment.

:up: good idea :) (i like the top one better, too)
This could become a fantasic skin.. :D
but I agree to Stillwater, you could improve the 3D-look a bit, also there is a "shadow" (an underside) below the stop button, that is actually bigger than the button itself (3rd block from the left). that doesn't look very realistic..

I went selfish on this one and made it exactly how i want it. It got two stars. I've seen picture skins with higher ratings. ;)

http://www.winamp.com/skins/details.php?id=142719

Very nicely done but very lame colour-wise. With an extra touch of pezzaz this skin could be "off the hook" if you know what i mean... ^_^

You want my other cheap-3d skin.
http://www.winamp.com/skins/details.php?id=142098
;)

Actual picture skins or skinner.exe skins?

I actually like this skin quite a bit. I would even go so far as to say I like it better that the colorful one.

It doesn't....flow. You eye gets stuck on each and every block. Looking at it takes some getting used to.

It's also inconsistant. The c-buttons are all one way, then the load button is different. The 3D effect is somewhat lost in the playlist stacks as well. For the + and sel menus I would have liked all the options to look like the "File" and "All" options, and I'm not really sure what is going on with the - and Misc buttons. Looks like you just stuck some rectangles there to say it had 3D-ness.

Points then get lost in usibility. EQ button looks more like repeat than a EQ button. PL button is not labled at all.

Points docked for completeness (in my book) because there is no way to distinguish between when a window is active or not. To me this would seem to be a great way to show off some 3D lettering or something, but you did nothing with this. Also I think that you could have done a lot more with the shuffle and repeat buttons. To be honest, it looks like it was kinda lazily put together. I tossed this shuf/rep together in a few min and it shows a small possibility of what you could have done with this skin.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...ns/SHUFREP.bmp

All in all, I think 2 stars is fair.

I can't stand that active window thing. It looks like shit to me and i've made it the same on all my skins.

The open button is a different size on the fucking default skin, do not complain about that being slightly different.

The shuffle repeat buttons are designed to match the other buttons in style, which everybody always whinges about when they're all different. Same with the pl stacks.

The style of the thing wasn't to have every button it's individual style and an hour put into making it look unique, the style is a whole.

The labeling is a bit poor in places i can admit but two fucking stars, for chrissakes there's the same shitty metal skin going out every two weeks that looks exactly the same getting 5 stars, at least i actually tried to do something different with it, succeeded in my book but whatever lights your candle.

Wether or not you can stand it doesn't make a difference. It's just one of those little things that counts.

It's not the size that is the isue, it's the fact that you have to take out the left half of the button. It looks tacky. On the default skin it may be a different size, but when you press it you can't tell. It's a matter of how you handle the size difference, not that they are a different size.

I've heard anyone complain about the shuf/rep buttons being different on any skin that didn't deserve it.

But the style just flat out doesn't work in places, like the open button. Also the On button in the EQ. In the width of the block betwen the next and open button is different then the width of the block below the open and repeat button. It's not your fault that this is how the skin template is, but it is your fault for not finding a way to deal with it more.

A unique idea is good, but also being able to pull it off while still being usable, having the skin flow, and being aesthetically counts also.

It only looks like shit if you've made it look like shit. You can make it look good in a hundred different ways. Not skinning it at all makes the skin annoying to use for most people who use many of the winamp hotkeys.

Originality is good, but it isn't much if it's not combined with effort and well-organised design. As dlinkwit pointed out before, many of the aesthetic choices you made with the buttons were pretty standard and uninteresting (and sometimes non-user-friendly), and that really stands out on a skin like this.

The skin looks a bit like it was started ambitiously, but completed lazily. Personally, I too think 2 stars is a bit too low, but I certainly wouldn't give it a really high score, based on the issues dlinkwit brought up.

By the way, there are loads of picture skins out there that can stand to be compared to the best of skins.

glorified skinner.exe skin with a 4 star review
Now that is precisely why i get fucked off at things like this.

What can i say SW, that's how i wanted it, fair enough if no-one else does, but at least be fair about the reviews.

This skin deserves 4 stars. 3 at least. The only real reason you can dock stars for it is some usability issues with the buttons in the main and EQ windows, and the lack of a different looks for active and in-active windows. Other than that it's a uniqe skin which meets all the requirements, flows well, and is (to some) aesthetically pleasing.

The custom cursors help it also. It's just that extra thing that isn't needed, but it shows the author really cared for the skin.

For me it doesn't take away the fact that it's been made with a skinner.exe, then modified quite a bit. Removes 90% of the artistic credibility that goes with it.

Everything that .exe would do (other than maybe the EQ bars) is custom.

It looks to me like it was made, then modified considerably afterwards. Even if it wasn't it's a pretty crappy thing making a skin so all the components look like they were made from a skinner.exe.

I suppose if my artistic integrity remains in tact and i make it selfishly i can't expect decent reviews for everything i like.

Raz, if you're happy with the way your skin came out, that's all that matters.

You're starting to sound funny now.

Your skin was a simple idea applied to the whole skin with simple labels slapped onto it. The skin you showed looked nothing like a skinner.exe. So I don't see where you're pulling your huge "artistic integrity" when as compared to that one from

instead of comparing to skinner.exe skins, try comparing to other skins with a similar style.

Cube v2

I thank you for directing my attention to that awesome, awesome skin.

Sarcasim. The last resort to those who have last an argument but do not wish to conceed defeat.

http://www.winamp.com/skins/details.php?id=27309

Is another good skin which uses some 3D blocks.

I can't believe I'm seeing this type argument in here. This forum was one place that I thought was above this crap.

He may have been serious (ie. not sarcastic)

By the way, I don't know if what I wrote earlier made sense. What I mean is that your skin is not bad at all, but it uses a simple concept (which was kind of recycled from your earlier skin), and had some elements which seemed to be quite lacking in creativity and/or attention to detail.

Therefore, even though your skin is good and in some ways quite original, you still shouldn't be so hasty to hang shit on other skins as if you were Picasso and they were kindergarten children.

I really don't know how it escalated there, i was amused by the 2 stars, then got pissed off somewhere in the proceedings. Apologies.

And i was serious about that skin. :p

I'm used to the Raz from GD, which is for the most part, sarcastic.

Hmm, I actually liked the original CUBE better than V2. Oh well.

Numbers. Cube 3 is the best.

3 has ruined it.

no its not.:p

1 and 2 are better.:)

well...i love the three of them...maybe the V1 and V2 are more simple (in graphics) but i love the disposition of the 3 of them...they inspired my last 2 skins (Virtual Dimension RMX and Green Dimension V.2) and...well...its technique worked very well to me :D ...nothing more to say...i liked the look of your skin...it's simple but with transparencies it may look good and 3d with almost any background...
in spite of having just 2 points i liked it :D maybe i'm going to vote it :D ...
El*ArGeNtO