Some skins...

[PrincessArtemis]

Links to get the skins I've made...NOT with a skinner prog, but with PSP 6...suggestions welcome if ya feel like it. All are missing one cursor and a couple files I only recently discovered existed.

http://www.rockettownonline.com/~pa/Highwind.wsz (Cid Highwind: needs some tweaking as per Atmo's suggestions.)

http://www.rockettownonline.com/~pa/Puss_in_Boots.wsz (Cait Sith: not finished yet, minibrowser needs fixing. Prolly a bit on the busy side.)

http://www.rockettownonline.com/~pa/Nazg_Amp.wsz (Lord of the Rings: Elvish!)

http://www.rockettownonline.com/~pa/Shinobi.wsz (Yuffie Kisaragi: If I screwed up the Japanese, let me know! Probably not all that user-friendly.)

http://www.rockettownonline.com/~pa/...f_the_Deep.wsz (First skin.)

http://www.rockettownonline.com/~pa/STRIFE.wsz (Cloud Strife: I rather liked the swords, but it was annoying lining them up due to a flip in the Winamp read on one option in the Playlist...)

Well, anyway, suggestions welcome. When I get up the gumption to skin all the extra cool stuff I didn't know about, I may submit them...

[Cleanup]

Some screenshots would be better. Some of us don't like downloading skins without seeing them first.

[caz]

I agree - stick some ss' on here lol

You like final fantasy huh? lol - you sooooo need to do a Sephiroth skin...

[PrincessArtemis]

Geh heh...oops. I knew that, silly me. ::smacks forehead::

OK, some screen shots:

http://princessartemis.virtualave.ne...er/winskin.jpg (The Face of the Deep)

http://princessartemis.virtualave.ne...r/winskin2.jpg (Nazg Amp)

http://princessartemis.virtualave.ne...r/winskin3.jpg (Highwind)

http://princessartemis.virtualave.ne...r/winskin4.jpg (STRIFE)

http://princessartemis.virtualave.ne...r/winskin5.jpg (Shinobi)

http://princessartemis.virtualave.ne...r/winskin6.jpg (Puss in Boots, URL corrected, I can't get away without screwing up an URL at least once >_<)

And actually, somehow I got it in my head to do one for each, so yeah, a Seph one will prolly be made...

[Atmo]

Most of them look ok, but lacking a little something...just minor things tho.

Youre using psp so you have a wide range of effects and filters available. Before starting your next skin, have a look here and have a read through some of the psp tutorials. Theyre great, and have helped me with working out how to do a lot of stuff i wouldnt have been able to do otherwise.

[PrincessArtemis]

I'll take a look at the link when I get a chance, sounds interesting.

[Jellby]

About "Nazg Amp", look at this:

http://www.winamp.com/skins/detail.j...onentId=101661

I'm not saying it's a rip, of course, but it's a similar concept

[Nini]

a good start
however you need to do something bout the eq bars ... they always look a bit too much "placed".

[PeaceMaker]

its no rip, quite different© just because the concepts the same doesnt mean its automatically claimed as a possible rip©

[Atmo]

It's just a similar style...like a lot of metallic skins.

[Jellby]

Let me quote what I said:

Originally posted by Jellby
I'm not saying it's a rip, of course, but it's a similar concept

So, it is not a rip, but I thought she would like to see that skin

[PrincessArtemis]

That other Ring inscription one looked cool. More Elvish than I used, different mode too, tho' definatly the same fontpack :) But I think it made my Minibrowser default link to some Skinmaster website >:(

Nini, what does "too much 'placed'" mean? I'm not much of a graphic designer, dunno if that's where it comes from, or maybe I'm just bein' dumb, but I don't know what it means. Does it mean like, stuck on? Confuzzled... Tho' I do find eqbars a royal pain in the butt, since if one wants to do them with levels that follow the button like I usually do, the top is hard to deal with.

Anyway, I updated Puss in Boots, now has Moogle cursors...still need to fix the MB tho' >_<, and Shinobi, after DLing a Japanese Language pack I fixed some of the Japanese and skinned MikroAMP. Some might need "no clutterbar" fixed, since I only recently discovered what the heck that means...

[Atmo]

I think nini meant the eq bars on some didnt blend in with the rest of the background.

[Nini]

...and my english is not too good
Yes that was kinda what i meant, they're threre (eq bars) but you did noting with them..
They have to be a part of your skin and your design, like here for example
http://www.winamp.com/skins/detail.j...ponentId=83774

[PrincessArtemis]

Ahh, hmm. Well, I may be able to do that with some of them, but not the others. Might have to wait on another skin to do that. I'll see what I can do...

[dam]

Use those filters.Enuf said.

[Atmo]

Filters arent always necessary. Im using that 1 pixel paint brush more often than filters nowdays.

[dam]

Filters are an integral part of skinning.

I cant live without the airbrush though.

[PrincessArtemis]

Those tutorials were cool, I DLed 'em all...used the cutout button one to make Highwind lots and lots of little gray buttons, and I'm probably finished with that, for the most part (maybe very very minor changes)...the other windows may not blend in, but sometimes ya just gotta stop and say, "Look, this is as far as I can take this, try again next time." Skinned MikroAMP for that too (ss's updated to reflect changes to Shinobi and Highwind).

Still thinking about how to integrate the eqbars in the ones I think I can do that...probably do something below them...maybe some fire for Nazg Amp, a funky scientific experiment setup for STRIFE...

Filters are nice. Single pixels are nice. Smudge is nice. I used to use airbrush a lot when I was making pictures on my Atari ST :)

[Kenny D.]

Good work, the different componets need to match a little better though at least in "Highwind". The blue mb doesn`t go well with the rest of the skin. I think a reddish frame like in the playlist would look good on main, eq, and mb. Also the pressed states of the buttons could stand some work. I like the cursors though you could have more than two types.
Hope I don`t sound too critical, just telling you what I think.

[PrincessArtemis]

Thanks for the thoughts on it. They don't sound too critical, especially after having it lumped in with the skinner.exe skins and given the "This sucks but we'll put it on the DB anyway, just bury it riiiiight above the 'serial skinners'" treatment, and then have people say they thought it was skinner.exe'd too :)

But, at least for Highwind, like I said, I'm pretty much done with it. It's at the point where it would have to be started over pretty much to improve it, at least in my mind. I could do the reddish frame on the MB and AVS I suppose, but no more than that. Actually, the small number of cursors was an active choice...I always thought Winamp had a rather...enormous...number of them anyway, and how many different hands do you need to slide sliders and stuff? ;)

Seriously tho', thanks for the input. I *might* redo the MB and AVS on that one to match the playlist, but dat be it. I'll keep the framing the other parts suggestion in mind should I ever decide to do a skin that had frames around each part.

[Kenny D.]

I know what you`re talking about. When I do a skin I am basically thru with it. Seems a waste of time to go back. I just want to get on with the next idea. The main thing is do what you want and have fun. If others like it that is a bonus.

[PrincessArtemis]

Yeah, basically :) Although when others dismiss it as a 'skinner.exe' because it looks a certain way, that stings ;)

Anyway, I was thinking more in artistic terms; I'm not perfectly satisfied with Highwind, but I'm either at the point or real bloody close to it where I would be banging my head against a brick wall if I did more on it! That means, it's done, or close enough to warant going on to the next thing.

I'm thinking of other ideas for other skins...ponder, ponder. Very important that it be fun and very important it be one that I would use a lot too ;)

[PrincessArtemis]

Arright arright...Highwind has reddish frames for the MB, Playlist, and AVS. It's dooooooone as it's gonna get.

Nazg Amp has an experimental thing to make the eqbars look more like they belong. Let me know if it works or not. SS's updated to reflect changes.

[Atmo]

Definate improvements

On highwind, would it be possible to make the close/winshade/minimise buttons on the main window match the eq and playlists close and minimise buttons??

And maybe edit text.bmp and numbers.bmp so it doesnt just have a black background?? I they could be made to blend in better.

[PrincessArtemis]

Actually...the buttons on all of the windows match, they just turn dark if the window is not active. That would be easy to change if it's an annoyance.

As for the black background on the text.bmp, you'll notice that the text is placed more than half across the Highwind, which in this picture is dark, so I would be wary of changing it to blend in with the rest, which consists of skin tones, dark, blue, and brown. Kinda tough to make it blend. Do you have a color that you could suggest that might harmonize with all the colors text.bmp crosses?

Also, there's something similar going on for numbers.bmp (most of it is over a dark part of the picture)...and I dunno if it's just not showing up, but numbers.bmp has three levels of purple in it (like the game the skin is based on--the countdown numbers were similar). Again, do you have a suggestion on a color that would blend in with the dark shadow and the yellow and pink the numbers.bmp cover? (I would possibly use nums-ex.bmp so the first number blends, but Winamp has a read bug on it that makes it flicker back and forth if it's paused.)

[Atmo]

Having the close/minimise buttons change when active is fine.

Maybe a 1 pixel border could be added around the track info area. And maybe add a border around the time area and fill the gaps between the numbers with the same color as the background for numbers.bmp.

The bug regarding nums-ex.bmp doesnt show if you dont skin that last number.

[PrincessArtemis]

OK, I tried those ideas, do they help?

As for nums-ex.bmp, the only reason to use it is to get a nice negative sign as far as I know...I'd like to be able to with this particular set on numbers, but alas, the bug gets REALLY obvious with it >_<

[Atmo]

It's looking better.

One more thing, The buttons seem to have a stuck on look, they dont really blend. But you could give it a more 3 dimensional look by addind a slight drop shadow behind each button.

If youre using layers, then just select they layer that includes the buttons main body. If you arent, then just use the selection tool to select the buttons and add a drop shadow.

[Mr_Tough_Guy]

if you move the background pic down a bit the numbers would fit into the dark part more, I'm guessing you're not gonna change that though since you've pretty much finished it, but maybe it's something to think about on your next skin. Good picture placement can really make or break a picture skin, the pic placement on the highwind skin is pretty good but it could be a bit better.

[PrincessArtemis]

oooghhh....no, I won't be changing the location of the picture, that would involve changing WAY too many files >_< Highwind's the first picture skin I've done, I'm hoping the other ones look better as far as placement...but they probably don't.

Anyway, Atmo, I don't think I'll add drop shadows for the buttons, since being stuck on seems to me to be better than to have them possibly look like their floating in mid-air. I might add one of those green lines to it tho', something to place it the same way the volume, balance, and eqbars are. That might not totally solve the problem...but...well...I'll try it. Soonish...

[Atmo]

A drop shadow doesnt necessarily have to make the buttons look like theyre floating.

See attachment..

Ive tried a few different colors to show you whats possible.

[PrincessArtemis]

Ahh...seein' what you'r getting at. Maybe I will try that after all...after I try green lines, since there are already green lines...

It does make them look like their on there, at least, some of the colors do...well, worth a try anyway.

[PrincessArtemis]

I diddled with your suggestions Atmo, but I couldn't come up with anything I was satisfied with. Anyway, therefore, Highwind is done. Haven't decided if I'll submit it or not yet.

Anyway, there are the other skins I would like to fiddle with and make better. I have an idea of reskinning Shinobi's minibrowser with a background, have an idea hor "placing" STRIFE's eqbars, and I'm curious about if the fire helped 'place' Nazg Amp's eqbars.

Any opinions? Thanks in advance.

[Atmo]

The flames look great...

[Jellby]

Originally posted by Atmo The Freak
The flames look great...

I agree, only you could try to blend the lower part better...

[PrincessArtemis]

Do you mean blend them with the eqbars? That'll be a toughy, but I can give it a go...

[Jellby]

Yes, I meant the lower part of the eq-bars. I know it's tricky, but those discontinuities don't look goot at all :/

[PrincessArtemis]

I tried changing things a bit. I know it's still noticable, but less so?

[Xerxes]

Originally posted by dam
Filters are an integral part of skinning.

/xerxes' very soul shudders at the thought...