Fire Elemental part two

[xenosomething]

hows this look?.....remember:the more ideas you guys give the faster it finishes.

i need some fire realism ideas.....bubbling lava, steam, ect.

notice how i cleverly fixed the eq BG?

[dlinkwit27]

very cool!

[StillWater]

Looks good. Really, really good. I love how it now looks like a landscape, with the bottom of the MAIN/top of the EQ now looking like a horizon. Some suggestions:

-I hope you make the border more complex and/or organic than that. Likewise, I hope you do more than just a straight line to separate the EQ from the PL (I'm guessing you will)

-The protruding cbutton thing looks great, but I don't like (as I don't think it does the rest of the skin justice) the way the bumpy sections on it (you know, the ones that do, or will, hold the cbuttons) are so square. Make them more curved/melted/sexy

-The top left of this protruding cbutton structure just fades away with a gradient at the moment. Are you going to attach it to something?

-Looks like the volume animation might potentially be very ambitious and very cool-looking. Hope so!

[caz]

lol, i cant believe I never noticed this skin before - the new design looks kickass, very good work xeno ;P

the first initial design reminded me of the plant from 'The little shop of horrors' ...ahhh the memories lol

[e-raser]

ohhh, nice rebirth to the skin, sweet!

[skinme!]

Originally posted by ¤db¤
-The top left of this protruding cbutton structure just fades away with a gradient at the moment. Are you going to attach it to something?

Damn you! I hadn't noticed that and now you mentioned, it annoys me. And I can't stop noticing it!

Seriously, yummy. You could treat the area below the Main (i.e. EQ, PL) as the underworld and have fires burning and devils and stuff. Perhaps have a layer of soil between, from the bottom of the main to the top of the EQ bars, where the graph and eq on/auto/presets buttons are. Ideas enough for you?

[xenosomething]

I hope you make the border more complex and/or organic than that. Likewise, I hope you do more than just a straight line to separate the EQ from the PL (I'm guessing you will)

yes, it will...but im going to try to prevent the whole skin from being forced to the "standard" stacking order

but I don't like (as I don't think it does the rest of the skin justice) the way the bumpy sections on it (you know, the ones that do, or will, hold the cbuttons) are so square. Make them more curved/melted/sexy

yup right now they are just quick duplicate layers.

The top left of this protruding cbutton structure just fades away with a gradient at the moment. Are you going to attach it to something?

i didnt know what to do with that yet so i added a gradient to fill it in for now.

i already got some more buttons in....the preset button is a rock type platform that has sunk into the lava and it looks cool IMO.

i dig that underworld idea too, but the rest of the skin hasnt wreaked enough havoc to make it look good. but if i do something like that, it will definately be in the pl.

[dlinkwit27]

Originally posted by xenosomething
i already got some more buttons in....the preset button is a rock type platform that has sunk into the lava and it looks cool IMO.

*cough* screenshot *cough *cough*

[xenosomething]

im only going post a screen when it all looks polished, i dont wanna go into another postascreenshotevery5min-craze.

[skinme!]

Oh, why ever not? Feed the hungry populus. Come on, I'm all out of Dr Pepper and need my spirits lightened.

[dlinkwit27]

Originally posted by xenosomething
im only going post a screen when it all looks polished, i dont wanna go into another postascreenshotevery5min-craze.

ic, sorry. I thought it was ready.

[xenosomething]

new screen!

whats new?....

-fixed annoying yellow fire color(top right area)
-sinking preset button.
-eq on/off/auto area.
-fixed cbuttons(well, i think its better)
-made the lava look better, still not lava good though.

yup... doesnt look like like i did much, but it really did take me alot of time to do it.

[xenosomething]

FORGOT SCREENSHOT!!!!

[StillWater]

1- fixed annoying yellow fire color(top right area)
2- sinking preset button.
3- eq on/off/auto area.
4- fixed cbuttons(well, i think its better)
5- made the lava look better, still not lava good though.

1. That looks better. More interesting and less in-your-face. Looks like some more work wouldn't hurt it though - especially towards the top

2. The button looks cool. But see [5]

3. Yep. There they are

4. Much better. Though the left-most one is sharper than the others now. Soften up its edges a bit.

5. If you didn't say that it was lava, I never would have known. It took me a few moments to actually find the lava as it was. I don't know what you need to do to make it more lava like, but it's got a fair bit of work on it left, IMO. For a start, I think it's too smooth and should probably look considerably more violent. Try giving it a rougher texture, more shine/glow, bubbles, steam/smoke rising off it, maybe a volcano in the background to give the viewer a cue.........

[Mr_007]

Oh very good design!

[immortal]

when i saw that ss i said 'fu..k' xeno that is a really nice start to a skin, but will u just get it finished please! lol, this is 1 of the longest ive waited for a skin to be made :P

[xenosomething]

yeah i know....i was way in over my head when i started this thread(very naive)

but i'm mature now!

[dlinkwit27]

why not have that metal thing on the left go all the way up and be like the titlebar?

[not in santiago]

I really like the bit that transitions between the main and the eq. I don't know if it was your intention, but I like how it looks like hills in a desert, which makes the volume (I think it's the volume) look like an alien palm tree, which gives the skin a lot of depth, since you now have a foreground (Cbuttons), midground (volume) and background (hills fading off into the hazy distance).

I hope I'm not wrong. I find it rather cool. (Hot, yes. Hot.)

I'm not too fond of the yellow and orange background. I think it needs to be blended or blurred or smudged or given some depth or something. Right now it looks too filter-y and it doesn't quite mesh with the rest of the skin. As for the lava, my superuntrained eyes don't see any yet. Have you considered making your plastic-like structures transparent and placing some lava inside of them?

Or is that too cliche?

Please don't let this skin slide into the oblivion of unfinished skins (said the colossal hypocrite . . .)!

[xenosomething]

Originally posted by ¤db¤
I don't know what you need to do to make it more lava like, but it's got a fair bit of work on it left, IMO. For a start, I think it's too smooth and should probably look considerably more violent. Try giving it a rougher texture, more shine/glow, bubbles, steam/smoke rising off it, maybe a volcano in the background to give the viewer a cue.........

ill give it all i got to make it look like lava, but i must say i dont think ill be able to make it look as good as it should.
...and isnt lava supposed to be smooth?

Originally posted by dlinkwit27
why not have that metal thing on the left go all the way up and be like the titlebar?

well, where would it lead to? would it just hang in the air? i thought of this too, but i cant see how it would fit into the rest on the skin.

Originally posted by not in santiago
I don't know if it was your intention, but I like how it looks like hills in a desert

yeah, i wanted to give a "faraway" look.
but not hills though....just bad lava.

[dlinkwit27]

have it follow the black line in my attachment. Have it come around the corner, and taper off to a point.

[xenosomething]

its a good idea and doesnt look too bad IMO, but like i said i just dont see how it fits with the rest.

[dlinkwit27]

idk how well it fits either, but imho it looks better than the fade away, and it orivides some sort of border for that top part. Maybe if the point tapered off more twoards the close/min buttons, then you coudl have transparency? and you could have those sweet bars be the buttons.

(i can diagram in paint if you want)

[xenosomething]

ill have to play around somemore to see how much i like it.....and if i do keep it, it will be a big plus for the winshade.

[StillWater]

Originally posted by xenosomething
...and isnt lava supposed to be smooth?

I guess it is, but what I meant by adding more texture is to add a wider range of colours into it (red, orange, glowing amber....). I guess making it much brighter and hotter-looking would be a good start. And that smoke in the attachment looks good and lava-like.

[Jellby]

Originally posted by ¤db¤
And that smoke in the attachment looks good and lava-like.

Only when fire elemental meets water elemental

How about this?
http://www.raven.dreamhost.com/nature/lavamain.jpg

[xenosomething]

those are some nice lava pics, but i really dont know where to start with it...

screenshot

too dark?

[StillWater]

Originally posted by xenosomething
those are some nice lava pics, but i really dont know where to start with it...

I think you should try and make it glow somewhat - at least at the edges. I think that especially with your bright background, the lava just doesn't look bright and 'vibrant' enough.

[Jellby]

Yeah, make it glow through some cracks or something.

[not in santiago]

Okay, I'm probably the only person who holds this opinion, but does it have to be lava? Can't it just look hot? While those shapes don't really look like lava, they do look liquidy and warm. Would you be willing to settle for a bit of abstraction? I only wonder because I kind of like the way they look now. It'd be a shame to mess with it too much.

As for the border, I like it, but I think it should be thinner. There's a nice sense of distance and depth in the main and the superthick border makes it feel really contained.

[dlinkwit27]

Originally posted by not in santiago
Okay, I'm probably the only person who holds this opinion, but does it have to be lava? Can't it just look hot? While those shapes don't really look like lava, they do look liquidy and warm. Would you be willing to settle for a bit of abstraction? I only wonder because I kind of like the way they look now. It'd be a shame to mess with it too much.

I agree. It is fire elemental, not lava elemental.

[xenosomething]

thats true but i dont want it to be as boring and dull as it is now.

abstraction is definately something i can do, but i want it to be more than that.i'm striving for that "kinda like lava" look without making it too loud.

btw, the eq bar outlines arent neccessary since the bg is the same for each bar, its just in there cause it looks better.


i really want to start the shuf/rep too, but i dont want another thing like the volume sticking out though. any ideas?

--off topic, but some guy at 1k1ws commented my remix skin and said "There are 13 in a dozen of skins like these."
i know he's entitled to his opinion but wtf is he talking about??? --

[Krynis]

bassicly he said ur skins about as unoriginal as a skin can be and im sure hes wrong the remix skins are some of the most original skins to date

[StillWater]

I assumed he was reffering to 'breed-style'skins. But I agree, I don't know what he was talking about. I think this skin is well unique. To mention just two things: I've never seen a skinner with such an obsession for symmetry as peacemaker, which makes Arora quite different to begin with, and secondly, few skins which use as heavy detail for texturing and lighting as you used end up being so spacious and uncluttered. I definitely haven't seen 13 skins like this one ever, let alone 13 in a dozen...

[not in santiago]

Forget what I said about the border.

It didn't occur to me at the time that it was just the background your skin was on. It didn't occur to me to look at the elements of your skin and notice something like, oh, all the elements fit on the skin without appearing on the border.

(I'd like to plead clemency on the grounds that I usually comment on skins early in the morning . . . for me, anyway.)

Um, I like the return of the signature flower in the eq. As for the shuf/rep all I can think to suggest is whisps of smoke . . . if you can make it look definitive enough.

[xenosomething]

thanks for compliment ¤SW¤

i think the lava looks way better IMO, maybe a little work needs to be done...but its a big improvement i think.

that huge cbutton shape is smaller now too.


and.....:P

[k_rock923]

is the entire EQ window going to be that same shade of red? I'm not sure what but i think you need to put some other colors in it. maybe some yellow and orange. IMO having the entire window shaded like that doesn't look that great.

[dlinkwit27]

now I like the fat that it is for the most part all one colour. . I like how the EQ bar seperates it and whatnot.

[e-raser]

i'm thinking this is looking very sweet, compared to the almost gothic look it once had, this skin has come along way, indeed its a beautiful skin i'd love to get my hands on

[Krynis]

nuff said