Hi, all;
I downloaded and fell in love with the general feel of a theme made by Aston2. I haven't found a way yet to load it in SkinStudio. I intend to completely rebuild it, including all possible apps, buttons, my own new graphics, etc. Aston2 primarily replaces the Windows XP (in my case) shell. By changing the Aston2 native file extension .a2theme to .zip, I can use PowerArchiver to see and hear the files, even the animated ones.
I'd like to find a way to import this directly into SkinStudio to make it easier to tear apart and replace bits piece by piece. My brain isn't working well enough to wrap it around the problem, and to arrive at a solution. I'm new to both SkinStudio and WindowBlinds. I'm actually new to skinning in general, but have a lot of experience with graphical work.
If anyone who understands what I'm trying to do could give me some direction, I'd be much obliged.
Peace,
Mally
You can't load it in skin studio. You might be able to import the individual parts into SKS (skin studio) , but the end product wouldn't qualify for upload, it would be for your use only.
I don't personally have the experience with SKS to help you further.
Have you considered just using Aston2 to load it?
Heya, RedneckDude;
Long time, no speak! Yeah, I have the original skin on Windows XP; used Aston2 to do that. You did give me a clue, though. If I can import the individual parts into SKS, and use SKS to build a brand new skin, I'd only want the original graphics as a sort of guide to know where things go, and how they are made and work. Gonna give that a shot. Thanks for the idea!
No way to port it into SKS, Mally. I'm afraid you'll have to disassemble the .pngs in the .a2theme file and drop 'em back into a Windowblind. Keep in mind WB's use .tgas instead of .pngs but there shouldn't be any problem with the conversion. Also, most A2 theme images are pretty much named the same as images used in a Windowblind (startmenu, tray, task, etc.) so there shouldn't be a big problem with associating which images go where. Obviously there won't be nearly as many images as in a typical WB and you'll have to create your own matching window images (frames, buttons, etc.), shell images (XP), shutdown/logoff images, etc. since Aston doesn't skin those elements but you sound pretty clever so I don't think you'll have that much trouble with it. Good luck!
Thank you for those tips, navigatsio! You both have given me information that I wasn't able to find out there on the www. I suspect that this thread will be visited again in the future, though. There are some really beautiful Aston2 skins, and I don't think they will long be supported. I'll try to keep this thread updated with new questions and progress reports to that end. Your kind words of encouragement come with many thanks, too.
The process you are attempting is called 'porting' .... the conversion/adoption of another person's graphics from one program into another.
It's a very common occurrence in the skinning / GUI modding game but it comes with one restriction....that of the rights of/for redistribution. That's specifically a copyright issue.
The artist responsible for the Aston shell graphics you wish to 'insert' into Windowblinds via Skinstudio would need to be contacted for consent if you wished to distribute the resulting WB skin via upload to the web [here].
This process is very common within the alternate shell fraternity [Litestep is a prime example], though it's also common for 'themed' skins to be adapted/ported from Windowblinds into other proggies such as Winamp, etc.
I guess I should have said, unless you get permission from the original author.
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