[Q] Simulate screen images? - General Questions and Answers

Greetings-
I couldn't decide weather this belonged in "general" or "Q & A".
Correct me if I am wrong.
This question seems so simple, but I have always wondered how it is done...
How are screen images simulated on advertisements for phones and ROMs?
(Not video commercials, but actual "photos")
For example, a carrier has a poster display of a new phone. The Home screen, apps, etc are all superimposed on the phone on the poster.
Another example are banners/advertisements for ROMs.
Lets take the Virtuous Unity 2.35.0 ROM thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1115312
Look at the top banner... none of the phones displayed are shipped with Sense 3.0, yet they all display the Virtuous Unity ROM.
Is it just phone images taken from websites, and screenshots carefully pasted on top in Photoshop? Special attention to resizing and display borders/placement? Or is there another, easier, and more professional looking method?
As I am writing this, I feel so dumb (answer: "duh, photoshop")
But the simulated images always seem so natural looking and perfectly placed!
/rant
Thanks,
[::AP::]

duh, photoshop
At least in 99% of the cases.
You can even catch some big guys ****ing up their photoshop, i.e. "Phone App" on the display of an ipod touch advertisement.
edit:
Haha found it
One could also probably take a screen shot, put it in fullscreen on another phone and photograph it with that.
But that doesn't look as clean and good as a fully photoshopped one .

Dark3n said:
duh, photoshop
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AHG! I feel so dumb! Lol.
Alright...I just didn't know if there was some fancy alternate method.
Thanks
And the iPod Touch thing is funny...
The reflection/glare is always the same on their photos...even when lighting angles don't make sense....

Related

Touch2 MyMobiler skin

Dear all,
Thanks for all the useful tips over the past few years, I've finally done something worth giving back to the community.
I noticed the HD2 and diamond skins but there wasn't a skin available the correct resolution for my QVGA Touch2... So I decided to make one using the existing skins as examples. The process was pretty straightforward and took me about an hour playing around to get it right.
I know that there will be some issues so let me tell you what I already know before you come back to me to tell me.
Anti-aliasing is a bit rough around the edges, it looks best on white backgrounds. At any zoom level other than 100% it does not go transparent and you have a white edge (which looks a bit ugly). According to other similar threads this is due to a bug with MM not the skin itself.
Also if you switch the skin into landscape it goes wrong. I am hoping that somebody may have some ideas as to how to get MM to rotate the skin, or be able to set a landscape skin up. I could not find any examples of this.
Also I don't think the start button works, although the button is mapped out.
Enjoy, let me know if you have any ideas about rotating it. I don't have much time to adjust but thought other people may well want the same as I did, so here you are. Feel free to improve on it.
Mr Gringo
Edit: Attaching screenshots
Hei, can you post screenshots, i dont understand whats that...
Apologies for the confusion, I have appended a screenshot as requested.
Do I miss something?.....screen shots look like default Mega.......
Frank Caarls said:
Do I miss something?.....screen shots look like default Mega.......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look in the second picture above Task manager line
Frank Caarls said:
Do I miss something?.....screen shots look like default Mega.......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is the point! But there was not a skin for My Mobile which makes it look like the Touch2 until now. Those screen shots are actually displaying my phones screen, not an emulator or static screenshot.
Have a look at this site: fuzemobility.com/mymobiler-skins-for-htc-hd2-tp2-and-more/ and you should catch on.
Ok, thought that the screen was "automatically" displayed by mymobiler.....
And since I use direct mobile device connection, never had the need for mymobiler .....
Will give it a try.....thanks for clarification!

Possible theme that improves upon stock HTC Sense

I just recently moved from iOS to Android, and I like it so far but it looks kind of... cheap. I'm talking about HTC Sense specifically, stock/AOSP Android is well design but albeit dull to some (although I don't agree, I prefer the minimalistic design). Some of it is okay while other parts don't make a whole lot of sense or just look plain amateur. Most of all, I think it's way over exaggerated. I hate looking at the browser bar and seeing a heavily glossed bevel with a near near flat text input and a inset button. Why would a button be even inset?
Anyway, I like some of Sense's additional features, and since Cyanogen isn't stable yet, I'd like to re-design Sense to be more subtle and just better designed. I'm a well established UI/UX designer but always have a lot of work on hand. So if someone who is knowledgeable with the graphic files that make up Sense (preferably in the new Froyo build) and is willing to identify and send the files (preferably in a zip of organized folders so I could just re-design and leave as is which could then be easily turned into a usable update file by someone), I'd get started ASAP.
The EVO is fine as is, but improving the appearance of Sense would go a long way in calming my OCD mind Attached is a quick example of how it would look like. It's the "to" contact bar in the HTC messaging app - the top is default, the bottom is my redesigned version.
My main beefs with the default graphic are:
a. It's too glossy making the outset depth of the bar appear high, problem is that a flat element (the text input box) is laid on top of it thus making it look weird and unnatural. Plus it makes it look like cheap plastic.
b. The button is inset. Why? Have you ever seen a inset button? Maybe once or twice. Looks more like a active selection than a button. the lighting is also off and just plain looks terrible.
c. The corners are rounded, but why? It looks out of place and loses fluidity with the rest of the layout. One thing I noticed is that HTC likes to throw in rounded corners in just about everything they can.
Like I said, this will be a very subtle theme but I think it will help make the stock Sense theme better. So if anyone wants to help identifying the files or knows a known resource (which I doubt since Froyo must have changed things a bit), just PM me.
I second this request. I wish I could help.
I totally agree with you in that the Sense theme needs to be more subtle.
I have always wondered why it has taken so long for someone to come up with this theme.
that would be nice
I like the idea!
Heres what I have so far.
In framework-res, I have included everything I think you will need. You'll have to let me know how much theming you intend to do. ie buttoms/selections (everything with a stock gloss?) or not.
I will continue to dig up more of what you need once I hear how deep you're looking to go. I included the taskbar icons because those will need to be changed to fit whatever the taskbar changes too so they will match. Obviously I have yet to include the signal ones along with 4g, as well as the individual app status bar notifications.
I'll wait to hear back before I progress much further.
Again, very nice looking.
Edit: Updated my post to add more.
I want to fix as much as possible. Anything you send, I'll theme. I'll commit to that.
But at the least, I want to redesign buttons and major UI elements like the example I showed. I definitely would like to redesign selections -- I'm not sure why they are "crystal-like", I much prefer a AOSP-like selection but of course in green for Sense.
I'll look through these and see what I'll do with them.
Award Tour said:
I want to fix as much as possible. Anything you send, I'll theme. I'll commit to that.
But at the least, I want to redesign buttons and major UI elements like the example I showed. I definitely would like to redesign selections -- I'm not sure why they are "crystal-like", I much prefer a AOSP-like selection but of course in green for Sense.
I'll look through these and see what I'll do with them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, don't know if I edited my post before or after this, but I added more to the framework-res folder with an updated zip. It now includes everything from there you should/could need from that particular file. See what you can do with those. I'm not 100% sure if any of the files used in froyo have changed (what gets used in those folders and what doesn't) so bare with me. But for the most part it shouldn't be that difficult to dig up the rest of the important stuff.
I just pulled it now so it should be the latest files.
I just pushed that sense folder to my work server, once something is in there, they get done. I'll update the folder as I get more items.
barnacles10 said:
Ok, don't know if I edited my post before or after this, but I added more to the framework-res folder with an updated zip. It now includes everything from there you should/could need from that particular file. See what you can do with those. I'm not 100% sure if any of the files used in froyo have changed (what gets used in those folders and what doesn't) so bare with me. But for the most part it shouldn't be that difficult to dig up the rest of the important stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright so this is what I'll do. I'll theme these current files and when I'm done I'll post some previews and then you or someone else who is willing can send a new batch of files. That way it can be done in waves and can be easily managed.
So I'll finish these and post back soon.
Award Tour said:
Alright so this is what I'll do. I'll theme these current files and when I'm done I'll post some previews and then you or someone else who is willing can send a new batch of files. That way it can be done in waves and can be easily managed.
So I'll finish these and post back soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, well this has totally got me pumped, so I went through and did more for you. I've included the other files out of ease, so what I have done is labeled all the folders which have new files (new from that one posted above) and added "contains new" at the end. Then within each folder i have created "new" folders for what I have added. That way you don't have to go through and figure out what you have done and whats been added.
This should keep you busy as I'm done for the night. This is a lot of the major stuff though. I will report back with anything else I find later on.
Award Tour, just curious, do you have experience with .9.png's?
Barnacles, I noticed you pulled stuff out of framework-res, did you toss him the stuff from com.htc.resouces.apk too?
nebenezer said:
OP, just curious, do you have experience with .9.png's?
Barnacles, I noticed you pulled stuff out of framework-res, did you toss him the stuff from com.htc.resouces.apk too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah the second file I posted here has pretty much everything he needs to start. Most everything from resources, and framework as well as other stock apps
nebenezer said:
Award Tour, just curious, do you have experience with .9.png's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not yet, but I understand them now I think. I noticed immediately that some of the files had to scale somehow and from your post just noticed that those files are the .9 files you speak of. I'll look into it but I'm just gonna assume that they have some sort of meta info in them for now. I'll work on those last so I can read up on the file format.
barnacles10 said:
Yeah the second file I posted here has pretty much everything he needs to start. Most everything from resources, and framework as well as other stock apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, sorry to interrupt, just wanted to make sure
Award Tour said:
Not yet, but I understand them now I think. I noticed immediately that some of the files had to scale somehow and from your post just noticed that those files are the .9 files you speak of. I'll look into it but I'm just gonna assume that they have some sort of meta info in them for now. I'll work on those last so I can read up on the file format.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah they have invisible guides that tell the OS where to stretch the image to suit whatever purpose it needs.
When you open, edit and re-save them the guides disappear so you'll have to redraw them. You will find plenty of info on .9's.
The search bar you did looks much better than Google's version, I'm sure this will end up being a pretty sweet theme
This is no small undertaking or I would jump in on it and help out.
There are tons of people here who are more talented and experienced than I but if you have any questions you're welcome to pm me.
Hey guys. I am up for the night and addicted to flashing **** so let me know if you need a beta tester.
Once you finish what's there feel free to send them back to me and I can throw em back where they need to go and make a morph for the changes to test them out.
ok so are those .zips flashable? any screens of what you have done? it looks nice on the first picture
magicalan said:
ok so are those .zips flashable? any screens of what you have done? it looks nice on the first picture
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only spent like 20 minutes on it today during work but I should do a hour or so more later tonite.
I finished some of the status bar but I was disappointed to see that the background image for a notification item was missing. I still designed it but if anyone knows how I can throw it in sense (maybe a simple file with the right name? maybe check a AOSP build because it should be in there) let me know.
Here it is for those that are interested, I will probably refine it further but this is what I got so far:
The aim, if you haven't already noticed, is to combine stock AOSP Android with a Sense-like look.
Award Tour said:
I only spent like 20 minutes on it today during work but I should do a hour or so more later tonite.
I finished some of the status bar but I was disappointed to see that the background image for a notification item was missing. I still designed it but if anyone knows how I can throw it in sense (maybe a simple file with the right name? maybe check a AOSP build because it should be in there) let me know.
Here it is for those that are interested, I will probably refine it further but this is what I got so far:
The aim, if you haven't already noticed, is to combine stock AOSP Android with a Sense-like look.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks good! Ill look for the notification bg image for ya when I get home tonight.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
magicalan said:
ok so are those .zips flashable? any screens of what you have done? it looks nice on the first picture
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are not flashable. Sorry for double posting but can't multiquote. They are simply folders. Had to zip them up to attach them is all
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Try to send me a new batch as well, I *think* I'll be done with this in a hour. If you can, send me the froyo ones.

[Q] What's a good resolution for Wallpaper?

We all know Android's wallpaper scrolls left/right, so wallpapers are not the size of the screen's resolution.
Anyone figured out what the right size for the Transformer yet?
EDIT: So I used the app "Wallpaper Set & Save" and Saved the stock wallpapers.
Guess what the resolution is.... 1920X1408!!! crazy.
It's 2135 x 1408 pixels. More details in my list here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1033811
this is all so dumb, I can never get a damn wallpaper to show what I want.
****
stuntdouble said:
It's 2135 x 1408 pixels. More details in my list here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1033811
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it definitely 2135x1408? I was messing about with some yesterday and found that 1920x1408 seemed correct... am I missing something?
Disinform said:
Is it definitely 2135x1408? I was messing about with some yesterday and found that 1920x1408 seemed correct... am I missing something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Neither of those work for me though.
god dammit
Zach Alt said:
Neither of those work for me though.
god dammit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I modified that template that's been floating around - resized and I added some yellow shading to show sections that appear as you scroll between screens...
Hope this helps, or at least gives people a springboard to start showing me the error of my ways.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3680556/Wallpaper-Template_main.png
Edited to make link instead of destroying page.
Disinform said:
Is it definitely 2135x1408? I was messing about with some yesterday and found that 1920x1408 seemed correct... am I missing something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first person who had extracted the default asus trees wallpaper image said that it was 2135x1408pixels, and I had no reason to doubt them. I think what most people aren't realising is that there's an 'overscrolling' part to the image, so when you get to the furthest left or right screen, it scrolls a bit more if you try to keep scrolling. That image posted in the tips thread wasn't exactly to size by the way. It was just a representation of how the panels are, and what screens you see them on. The top and bottom of the image are only shown if you bring up the apps or home menu screen respectively. I'll probably modify it a bit later.
You can use any image and it will stretch it just fine anyways.
Can someone size these so I see them on my first page?
Everything I try messes up!
Zach Alt said:
Can someone size these so I see them on my first page?
Everything I try messes up!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I tried can't. I made it exactly as what I extracted from the stock wallpapers and still cropped all over the place.
This is really confusing/frustrating. argh.
nxt said:
Yeah I tried can't. I made it exactly as what I extracted from the stock wallpapers and still cropped all over the place.
This is really confusing/frustrating. argh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
son of a *****
A great workaround is the wallpaper slideshow live wallpaper. Just put your 1280x800 image in a folder and select the folder in the settings. Positions perfectly and doesn't scroll off.
here you go... when you go to set the cropping, put the box all the way to upper left and expand it to the bottom right all the way... that should set the image to the center home screen, with some black bars on pane A B D and E... these are inevitable unless if you can source an image that is extra wide... use the image i provided to create the rest of your wallpapers... let me know if you have any issues...
Man, it's really hard making a wallpaper that has a picture of people/things and make it show up correctly, even with the template.
With patterned pictures, it's easy but a picture of something it's hard. Easy to just make it centered and have blank top/bottom/left/right, but it's ugly heh.
I think the Transformer/Honeycomb treats the tablet when setting wallpapers as Portrait instead of Landscape. I'd prefer it Landscape like on phones, makes cropping wallpapers easier.
If you want a wallpaper that works good in both landscape and portrate try
1608 width x 1280 high works good for me
Has anybody been able to get a definative answer on the right resolution to use for custom wallpapers yet? I to have tried a few different ones and am having 0 luck
stuntdouble said:
The first person who had extracted the default asus trees wallpaper image said that it was 2135x1408pixels, and I had no reason to doubt them. I think what most people aren't realising is that there's an 'overscrolling' part to the image, so when you get to the furthest left or right screen, it scrolls a bit more if you try to keep scrolling. That image posted in the tips thread wasn't exactly to size by the way. It was just a representation of how the panels are, and what screens you see them on. The top and bottom of the image are only shown if you bring up the apps or home menu screen respectively. I'll probably modify it a bit later.
You can use any image and it will stretch it just fine anyways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I created the template, which is just that a template so that people can tell what part of the image will be shown on the wall. The new crop tool in 3.1 helps resolve this issue, but its still nice to build them outside of Android for many reasons.
Never really thought about the over-scrolling. That maybe because I like static walls that do not move. Its much easier to design interesting layouts when they are static.
One think that YOU may be overlooking is the fact that using the crop tool to scale a larger image WILL NOT produce as clear an image as doing so im photoshop and making the image fit with the native resolution of the screen. Is it a large difference in quality? No, but for graphics nerds its noticeable.
Zach Alt said:
Can someone size these so I see them on my first page?
Everything I try messes up!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These walls are not large enough to be used on these tablets. If you want a good spot for HD walls check out wallbase.net I get most of my walls from there.
On another not this is the EXACT reason why I want an alternative launcher like ADW or LP so that I can stop the background from scrolling.
I think a more important question is the aspect ratio. Can't find the sweet spot for both landscape and portrait wallpaper
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
You can't use 2135x1408pixels because when you go to the gallery to fetch the wallpaper you select the image and you are confronted by the 'selection block' (where you have to drag the area to select your wallaper) and 2135x1408pixels doesn't fit within the parameters eg: it's to wide.
If you want to use something that big use 2135x1700
after searching around and trial/error, i've found that 2048x1504 works fine for me...

Theme or ROM?

So I'm curious about looks vs. functionality
Each one of my little drawings here satisfy both.
First off, I apologize for being a retard and using cam scanner to make these images sideways (although they were right side up originally).
Seeing as I can't attach images directly from my phone onto this site, I had to email them to myself, download them and then re attach.
Also another retard thing, I made a home button (app) thing on both of them even though there is a physical one on the phone itself.
Have a look
Also clarify with me which is which (theme or ROM).
How hard is it to design/engineer this and actually have everything function properly?
Theme/ROM 1
Them/ROM
it looks like you want to pull the whole status bar to the bottom of your phone. i didnt think you could just move that stuff around. a Dev would would be able to give u a yes or no.
im leaning more towards a theme than a Rom. but you can only theme what the Rom has. and NO rom has that, that i know of. so its like a combination of both.
Those drawings appear to be a significant layout overhaul, a la Sense and Touchwiz
It would either be:
1) a full-blown ROM
2) A replacement for a number of system apps (but could be an add-on), at the very least the launcher and probably the lockscreen
More than just basic theming, that's for sure.
Well it certainly gives the phone a neater, "in my opinion more efficient" functionality.
The one with the radial app dial, that spins, (you guys probably could tell that already) can fit either 7 or 8 apps.
When you press the home button the phone app automatically aligns directly above the said home button (non physical assuming there are 7 apps not 8).
The apps that go on the radial thing-a-ma-jig are your primary apps.
However since that non-physical home button is not needed, then the phone would be in the center or perhaps you'd like the browser.
In any case whichever app you use most extensively (ie #1).
I certainly cannot do any of the ROM creating but I was hoping to spark interest with the ones who are able to do so with ease.
The one with the triangle side bars (next image) these have 1-3 icons on them, when you tap that icon the first time a box will come up over lapping everything else in the background (or with slight opacity) and that gives you more detail rather than just an icon.
I think it would be neat as hell if this was done.
So is it like, theme = aesthetics ; rom = function
In this case I'd like to do both.
Also the capability to assign any app in that 7-8 slot (radial) would also be nice.
Perhaps done through the command prompt.
This is a feature I picked up from a blackberry (ability to assign any icon to a specific design/theme).
Thanks for the interest, I'm going to try and fix the orientation.
Some of what you're looking to do (the home-dial concept) may be doable without any ROM development at all - after all, plenty of launchers are installable as apps and what you're describing there is a launcher concept.
Notification bar moving could be a lot harder though.
FYI I'm a kernel guy not an app developer, so I can't help you much other than say that I'm fairly certain one of the features you want to implement can be done as a launcher app for any ROM.
Alright alright, we're sifting through sonething here.
I have very little knowledge od 'kernel' 'launchable' 'rom' as far as developing them goes. Are there tutorials ? (search bar probably)
Thanks for your contributions
What about color (borders keys etc)
Nice drawings man
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda premium
Hey thanks DevilDogAK
It's one thing to draw the idea by hand but to actually create it with code...
That's where the tires hit the road one might say.
I need to do some reading to get an idea of what I have to accomplish.
Thanks for the interest, as always it starts with a dream
I'll let you guys know whats up when I actually get to the point of dev
But team work goes a long way (hint hint hint)
sweet... great concept imo, & hey, cyanogen started with just a concept. wish i knew more to help you out, but we're with you in spirit nice drawings too lol
from Sams inFuse... inFused GB
About the launcher comment, does having two mean more computing power needed to run the first and second launcher or can I just do one primary launcher?
If I can just move things around, what about putting some notification components under the wheel? Components such as the wifi toggle and the data image or perhaps the data and battery.
Anyone smart enough to do that probably isn't dicking around on XDA. You never know though.
Well... I'm here
Haha just kidding, I do wish somebody with some experience knowledge (ie developer of Serendipity etc... ) a man can dream... a man can dream.

[APP][2.2+/3.0+][open source] Pixelesque - Pixel Art Creator

So I found out there's no pixel art creator/editor/drawer for android. Naturally I had to write one. 72 hours later: Pixelesque.
Backend is done with Processing, and all the android buttons were made with the app itself.
100% free
Market: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.rj.pixelesque
Source: https://github.com/rjmarsan/Pixelesque
You can edit, export, share, etc.
I'm super interested in feedback; ease of use, feature suggestions, etc.
Hey, thanks for working on this. It is a very good start and a good idea since it can be a quick few minute diversion while waiting in line, on the bus, etc.
Additions that would be cool to see-
ability to choose the size of the canvas and be able to add or remove rows/columns.
see a preview of the picture quickly while creating it
have an optional coordinate system (a la excel) to keep track of space, symmetry, etc
(far off thought) social aspect! Have browsable creations from other artists, ratings, tagging and sorting, etc
silentheero said:
Hey, thanks for working on this. It is a very good start and a good idea since it can be a quick few minute diversion while waiting in line, on the bus, etc.
Additions that would be cool to see-
ability to choose the size of the canvas and be able to add or remove rows/columns.
see a preview of the picture quickly while creating it
have an optional coordinate system (a la excel) to keep track of space, symmetry, etc
(far off thought) social aspect! Have browsable creations from other artists, ratings, tagging and sorting, etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good suggestions. The preview and coordinate system seem totally doable. As for the first one, do you mean resize things, or making new ones? I thought the 'new' dialog did a good job of choosing custom sizes.
The social part is certainly something I had thought a lot about, but don't have the time or skill to write the server/browser side (anyone want to help?)
awesome!! i am huge into low-res pixel art (weird, i know) so i am very excited about this. just got a warranty replacement on my phone so i have to upgrade to 2.2 again before i can install but i'm definitely going to try it out.
as for quickly resizing to look at the overall picture: in a pixel program i use (GraphicsGale) as well as photoshop and whatnot, you can set a little "preview" window of your image to see how it looks zoomed out. it really helps being able to glance over and see the image to make sure it's all coming together and the composition is right, and as it might be bulky doing something like that on a phone it would be equally useful to have a quick "zoom out/zoom in" button to look at the overall image. i'm guessing that's what the other guy was saying - but like i said, i haven't gotten to install it yet so i have no idea if this kind of thing exists yet!
lauu said:
awesome!! i am huge into low-res pixel art (weird, i know) so i am very excited about this. just got a warranty replacement on my phone so i have to upgrade to 2.2 again before i can install but i'm definitely going to try it out.
as for quickly resizing to look at the overall picture: in a pixel program i use (GraphicsGale) as well as photoshop and whatnot, you can set a little "preview" window of your image to see how it looks zoomed out. it really helps being able to glance over and see the image to make sure it's all coming together and the composition is right, and as it might be bulky doing something like that on a phone it would be equally useful to have a quick "zoom out/zoom in" button to look at the overall image. i'm guessing that's what the other guy was saying - but like i said, i haven't gotten to install it yet so i have no idea if this kind of thing exists yet!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The preview is an excellent idea.
I'm slowly starting to realize I have more ideas than space on the screen. Is there anything that's less necessary, or confusing about the UI? I'm debating having a quick popup on startup explaining how to use it, but i sort of hate those apps.
Someone mentioned to me having the bottom bar of tools swipe side to side like launcher pro. Don't know if that's 'intuitive' or most people wont notice it.
rjmarsan said:
The preview is an excellent idea.
I'm slowly starting to realize I have more ideas than space on the screen. Is there anything that's less necessary, or confusing about the UI? I'm debating having a quick popup on startup explaining how to use it, but i sort of hate those apps.
Someone mentioned to me having the bottom bar of tools swipe side to side like launcher pro. Don't know if that's 'intuitive' or most people wont notice it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I finally got around to updating my phone to get pixelesque, and I love it. The UI to me is simple and straight-forward; if you're looking to downsize, the pencil/hand tools could probably be combined. It helps having the single-pixel option but I don't think it's totally necessary. I'm impartial to the whole "side-swipe" thing; if you add more options/icons yeah it could come in handy but for now I personally like it as is. One thing that could attract a lot more pixel art enthusiasts could be the option to begin with a canvas of large pixels (like it has now) or smaller (maybe half-size?) pixels, for better detail. Again I don't know **** about app development so I have no idea how difficult changes like this are
But so far I love it! I'll update here with some pixel art if I ever get the time
lauu said:
One thing that could attract a lot more pixel art enthusiasts could be the option to begin with a canvas of large pixels (like it has now) or smaller (maybe half-size?) pixels, for better detail.
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You and silentheero have mentioned the same point. Is this an extension to the "New" dialog, or something I'm missing?
Also, I'm almost done with making a 'fill' brush and some geometry brushes 'circle, rectangle, line'. I think I'll try to implement a live preview as well as a color picker for the next release (probably in a week or so), along with any more features you guys can think of.
Thanks so much for the ideas guys.
New update, added a preview on the bottom, brushes (fill, rect, circle, and line), and upped the single image size to 64x64. Performance also has increased quite a bit.
No color picker JUST yet, still working out exactly how I'd like to implement it. Ideas? Thoughts in general?
rjmarsan said:
Someone mentioned to me having the bottom bar of tools swipe side to side like launcher pro. Don't know if that's 'intuitive' or most people wont notice it.
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I tried if I could swipe the tools
rjmarsan said:
No color picker JUST yet, still working out exactly how I'd like to implement it. Ideas? Thoughts in general?
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How about holding the finger down on a pixel picks its color?
FEATURES I WOULD LIKE:
1) A textured background, so it is possible to distingush between a black pixel and a transparent one.
2) The ability to swich to fullscreen mode in the settings.
3) I can't save the file. I simply cannot figure out how to get a .png file out of the program. Export seems just wierd, I don't want to save at some other resolution than the one I draw in.
4) How about a simple in-game help text? I uninstalled Pixelesque once because I didn't discover most of the features (multiple canvas sizes, drag, zoom, auto-saved colors)
5) It would be nice if it was possible to import a high-res bitmap in the background, which I could trace as pixel-art. Then I could sketch naturally, either using a physical pencil, or another drawing app.
... Besides that, the app is perfect! Good work.
kasper hviid said:
How about holding the finger down on a pixel picks its color?
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I like that a lot. I'll just have to make sure to put a short help guide when the app starts.
kasper hviid said:
1) A textured background, so it is possible to distingush between a black pixel and a transparent one.
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Yup. Haven't done this one yet out of laziness, but I should.
kasper hviid said:
2) The ability to swich to fullscreen mode in the settings.
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How exactly does this work? Would the bottom and top bars just go away, and you hit menu again for them to come back?
kasper hviid said:
3) I can't save the file. I simply cannot figure out how to get a .png file out of the program. Export seems just wierd, I don't want to save at some other resolution than the one I draw in.
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Yeah... for now you can dig out the actual .png from the program folder (that's all it uses to save the images itself), but I should add an 'original size' to the export menu, if that works?
kasper hviid said:
4) How about a simple in-game help text? I uninstalled Pixelesque once because I didn't discover most of the features (multiple canvas sizes, drag, zoom, auto-saved colors)
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Definitely. coming soon.
kasper hviid said:
5) It would be nice if it was possible to import a high-res bitmap in the background, which I could trace as pixel-art. Then I could sketch naturally, either using a physical pencil, or another drawing app.
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I was actually thinking of making this a 'paid' feature, as it's a pretty intense. Not sure if this app is at a point yet where anyone would buy a paid version.
kasper hviid said:
... Besides that, the app is perfect! Good work.
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Thanks a lot man. Thanks for the feedback too. I pretty much make this app based off what people here ask for. The only other feature I've been thinking that you didn't mention, is a way to shift and resize drawings.
rjmarsan said:
Yeah... for now you can dig out the actual .png from the program folder (that's all it uses to save the images itself), but I should add an 'original size' to the export menu, if that works?
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That would be nice!
rjmarsan said:
How exactly does this work? Would the bottom and top bars just go away, and you hit menu again for them to come back?
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I would think of something like "stays fullscreen untill it's turned off again in the settings." I really like discrete minimalistic interfaces, so my ideal Pixelesque would probably be something like this:
img805.imageshack.us/img805/3075/pixelesque.jpg
I have removed everything, sized down the icons and removed the icons background, and added a bit of drop shadow.
After Chrome came out, Firefox copypasted its minimalistic GUI. So having less GUI must have some value. But I'm more fanatical about it than most.
rjmarsan said:
I was actually thinking of making this a 'paid' feature, as it's a pretty intense. Not sure if this app is at a point yet where anyone would buy a paid version.
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Making it a paid feature sounds reasonable, since it is more geared towards more ambitious users.
Another method would be to have a high-res sketching layer with a few basic sketching tools: Sketching pencil, larger pencil at the size of a "final pixel" and eraser. Colors won't be needed. That way, the sketch could be drawn to fit a certain pixel size, and the artist won't waste time with too small details.
A FEW SMALL IDEAS:
Ability to turn the grid off
Two-finger shortcuts like Menu+screentouch or Pencil+screentouch. Could be used to turn preview on/off or eyedropper.
Toggle small/large/both by clicking the preview
For some reason, the semi-opaque square at my finger "feels" sluggish, since it jumps to the current pixel.
Will definitely be trying this. Used to "draw" on my old ti-82 all the time.
Sent using Tapalk.
People invent fantastic and simply things sometimes...
maybe a dialog to save when exiting should be added ?
or some mechanism that saves the last made image automaticly when exiting ?
I love pixel art but never got into it but as a person who never done it... I think the ability to import a picture in the background and create pixel art over it is an awesome idea.
It shouldn't be only in the pro version since I think this single feature will let everyone try it out and create pixel art.
Perhaps free version is limited to 16 colors vs 256 of pro + more tools.
Just the ability to import a picture in the background and use 16 colors to recreate it (don't need tools really just a pencil tool) = free.
Pro should have more tools, ability to resize grid, upload options (Facebook?), and more.
G2x - 2.3.7 CM7
Transformer - 3.2 Revolver OC/UV
maepchik said:
People invent fantastic and simply things sometimes...
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Thank you very much. I really appreciate the comments people leave.
1immortal said:
maybe a dialog to save when exiting should be added ?
or some mechanism that saves the last made image automaticly when exiting ?
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I spent all lunch discussing your comment. I think what I'm going to do, is it will automatically save right before the app quits. That way you can open an existing image, edit it for a while, save it as something else, but don't lose your original. However if you edit it and quit, you don't lose your work. Is that a fair tradeoff?
player911 said:
I love pixel art but never got into it but as a person who never done it... I think the ability to import a picture in the background and create pixel art over it is an awesome idea.
It shouldn't be only in the pro version since I think this single feature will let everyone try it out and create pixel art.
Perhaps free version is limited to 16 colors vs 256 of pro + more tools.
Just the ability to import a picture in the background and use 16 colors to recreate it (don't need tools really just a pencil tool) = free.
Pro should have more tools, ability to resize grid, upload options (Facebook?), and more.
G2x - 2.3.7 CM7
Transformer - 3.2 Revolver OC/UV
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I have a really tough time with making a paid app. I've never done it before, as it feels really mean. On the one hand, I want the paid app to be for hardcore users who want the 'power tools' that are tough to implement and only benefit them. On the other hand, I don't want to purposefully lobotomize the free version to force people to upgrade... The image as a background is a handy feature, albeit a bit of an intense feature. I think I can work it in the free version, or alternately just may give away the pro version to you awesome xda guys.
rjmarsan said:
I spent all lunch discussing your comment. I think what I'm going to do, is it will automatically save right before the app quits. That way you can open an existing image, edit it for a while, save it as something else, but don't lose your original. However if you edit it and quit, you don't lose your work. Is that a fair tradeoff?
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fair enough
you're doing a great job, thanks for all your time and work !
rjmarsan said:
Yeah... for now you can dig out the actual .png from the program folder (that's all it uses to save the images itself), but I should add an 'original size' to the export menu, if that works?
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Where is the Program folder? I can't find it on my SD Card.
This App is FANTASTIC. It's perfect for making my Rockbox Artwork. My suggestions so far are:
1) An easy way to export my created art in one go, rather than one at a time. The current way isn't that good for me. I see no point in having the option to export in the current Low, Medium and High resolutions. Like, what's the point? I'd just like to see it export the image(s) I've created in their existing size and be able to chose from one/many or all to export at once. ie transfer them to my PC.
2) The ability to Play the created files as an Animation or Flip Art. ie Let me choose a list of files I've created (all the same grid size) and the order I wish to see them shown and the speed. Similar to this:
https://market.android.com/details?...51bGwsMSwxLDEwNCwiYWlyLkJyaWRnZUludmFkZXJzIl0.
Check out the Vimeo link there.
3) The option to save them as bitmaps,preferably with colour options ie 2 colour Black and White.
4) I'd like to see the "Save As" option in the same Menu as the "Save". If I'm creating multiple files in succession, it would be nice to only have to tap the menu once and not click "More".
5) The option to choose Preview Size. I'd like a larger preveiw that what's there now.
Thanks for the great free app. It's a lot of fun.
---------- Post added at 07:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:53 PM ----------
rjmarsan said:
I spent all lunch discussing your comment. I think what I'm going to do, is it will automatically save right before the app quits. That way you can open an existing image, edit it for a while, save it as something else, but don't lose your original. However if you edit it and quit, you don't lose your work. Is that a fair tradeoff?
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I'd like this option.

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