Hello, all; I've been reading this forum for a while, and have been studying the excellent tutorial found here. I'm on p. 5 at the part where the author talks about slicing the start menu for reassembly in SS. My start menu isn't exactly square like the illustrated one is, so I'm not very sure about how to go about slicing it. Is it safe to publish an image here of a work in progress, or is that not recommended for security reasons?peace,
Mally
Edited to correct link
With the help of GameStop's phone support, I found the download link for Impulse.
peace,
If you like Steampunk, checkout this theme designed for Ubuntu.
That's a lot of work. Windows is much easier. Click click...all done.
Not sure what you mean, Uvah?
I doubt he does either.......
Ok, I give up !!! What IS Ubuntu ??...more than a new skin here @ WC ??
Ubuntu is a popular "brand" of Linux. I only brought it up because there were some great examples of Steampunk linked to that page. Some of the graphical work there is beautiful to me, and I thought it might give people interested in Steampunk some inspiration. It's hard to create good art in a vacuum, that is, if you never go to a museum or gallery to see good art. I sure didn't mean to start a controversy.
Course not. We do this all the time. Just ask Anybody.
This all worked beautifully for the base layer! Once again, thank you Xiandi.
For the additional layer 1, I can't add the image dimensions, that is to say, there doesn't seem to be a place in which to apply them. Instead, I see distance from parent level's edges I left those all at 0 for now since I used the same guide lines to make the cuts, zooming in as far as possible to be sure I was cutting on the guide lines.
This additional layer is not to stretch. How do I keep it from doing that, or this? I haven't been able to find an option that wouldn't do one or the other.
Notice also in this image how far the text and arrows can extend beyond the border of the Places List on the right. Is there a way to allow the two panels to stretch horizontally as well as vertically to accommodate that?I've been reading ahead a bit. A question about my name and image. I don't mind them in the top, though I found how to hide my image. I'd really like to put a search function either there or at the bottom bar, but it seems like they must both be included in the Top Part? If that's the case, how do I remove my name from up there?
Alrighty, have at it then. Anybody just sent me an IM, and said it's all true.
He did?? Uh oh....
For the wonky looking graphics:
This is where your painting margins come in. Make sure you have the second layer selected when you change them! You want your painting margins to cover pretty much all of the graphic, leaving a small part to stretch or tile (an empty space if you have one).
You see that I had a lot of empty space on this one to play with, so it was fairly easy. I just covered the image with the bottom margin, which prevents it from getting stretched upwards, and the right margin to prevent it from getting stretched sideways. Note that I have it set to stretch, not tile. This works if you have the blank area to play with, or the graphic you are using can be stretched at a certain point.
If you do have not blank space in the graphic, you are going to need to find a spot that you can tile without it looking terrible, which can sometimes be very tricky. Sometimes that spot is only one pixel in height and you have to set your painting margins to cover everything except that one pixel. It's all a matter of trying out different margin setting and applying it to see how it looks.
Note: if you are tiling an image, check those boxes that say "Tile".
If any of this is unclear, let me know!
For the text and arrows that are not where you want it:
This one is not too hard. On your base layer for each part, you need to set your text margins in the Text tab. Think of the text margins as 'content' margins. They keep the content from spilling out. You will have to set them pretty large for this start panel. You will want them covering everything except the place where you want the text to be, in this case I recommend setting them to be just inside the gold border you have on the base layer.
Name and image info coming up shortly....
First thing you need is an invisible text. Ever since I learned this trick, I've been adding it to all my skins:
1. Go to the skin Fonts section.
2. Add a new font.
3. Name it. I usually just call it 'invisible'.
4. Click the Change Font button.
5. Drag the Alpha Level slider all the way down.
You now have an Invisible Text to use in your skin when you need it!
Now you need to apply it to the top part of your start panel....
Once you select it here, apply it and your text will vanish on the top part of your start panel.
I haven't been following this thread since the ps people started to respond but I'm glad I stopped back by.
Cyndie thanks for all of the sks tips and Mally, looks like it's coming along just fine.
Somebody give Xiandi a medal--make her a Master, or something. (Oh that's right, she already is).
Even I can follow this. Keep going.
Welcome!
Laughing, that's a mistake I have repeatedly made!
You always write with clarity, Cyndie. In this case, I think I must have missed something you said. My results aren't working like yours. Here's where I am:
I have plenty of empty space around this graphical plumbing thing. Moving the right margin creates no distortion:
But as the next two images will display, moving the bottom margin doesn't work so easily.
Bless you, Cyndie, for all the time you spend with me on this. I feel like I have my own personal tutor.
You're right. It wasn't too hard at all. In fact, I wish I had thought to do it on my own. I'm seeing a pattern developing, though the pieces haven't all fallen into place yet.
gmc2, yes, there is a fair amount that's PS specific, but Cyndie's making a lot more illustrations from SKS than PS. That's how it should be. There are already so many PS tutorials that anything someone suggests that I do in PS that I don't already know how to do, I can write them by private IM, and / or search for one of those tutorials my self. I'm glad you stopped by again, too. And thanks for the encouragement! peace,
The preview window for the painting margins tends to make your graphic look squished. Check this out, this might be of some help to you:
Click that and you will get a pop up window that shows your image true size, without any shrinking. I'm betting your bottom margin is not high enough yet.
I want to learn this technique, too. When I get to this step, though, the background goes black, like this:
What might I be missing?
I think she oughta be put on Stardock's payroll.
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