TWRP Theme - shall I keep going? - Kindle Fire Themes and Apps

I thought it would be fun to try to create a TWRP theme. I've never been amazingly good with GIMP/Photoshop, but I really want to make a theme or two of my own to both sharpen my skills and learn more about the process.
My first idea was, for some strange reason, a Star Trek LCARS interface theme. I mocked up some screens (see attached images) and wanted to poll the readers here to see if anyone thought this was a good idea or a horrible interpretation (or both, I guess).
I know that there likely will be several problems with what I'd like to do vs. what I will be able to do, but I am trying to figure out the base set of screens before I actually go make the individual images and start working on the XML. Maybe some of you out there who have already created themes could share some tips....?
Feedback welcome!

Resources
anorris666 said:
I thought it would be fun to try to create a TWRP theme. I've never been amazingly good with GIMP/Photoshop, but I really want to make a theme or two of my own to both sharpen my skills and learn more about the process.
My first idea was, for some strange reason, a Star Trek LCARS interface theme. I mocked up some screens (see attached images) and wanted to poll the readers here to see if anyone thought this was a good idea or a horrible interpretation (or both, I guess).
I know that there likely will be several problems with what I'd like to do vs. what I will be able to do, but I am trying to figure out the base set of screens before I actually go make the individual images and start working on the XML. Maybe some of you out there who have already created themes could share some tips....?
Feedback welcome!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are you using to make your shapes/frames with? Do you have Adobe Illustrator? If so, i recommend you use the pen tool in there to make your shapes/frames. It creates vector art that you can enlarge or decrease to any size without losing resolution. Check your inbox.

Right now, I'm just using GIMP (on Win7) for everything. As I said, I'm not really that good with it, but I'm trying to learn. Could GIMP do the same with the path tool?

anorris666 said:
Right now, I'm just using GIMP (on Win7) for everything. As I said, I'm not really that good with it, but I'm trying to learn. Could GIMP do the same with the path tool?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same in principle, but not going to look nearly as good as Illustrator. GIMP is good for open source, but can't compete with the quality of Adobe.

Now thats an awesome theme.
Keep on going.
Hey deadpool, where did you get your kindle fire font? (the one in your sig)

Jaa-Yoo said:
Now thats an awesome theme.
Keep on going.
Hey deadpool, where did you get your kindle fire font? (the one in your sig)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check your inbox

Doooooo iiiittttt!!!!
Sent from my CM7 Kindle Fire

@OP That. Is. Awesome.

Release this already! It looks amazing, do not stop.

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm actually reworking some of the base shape primitives to ensure better quality at the resolution. Same idea as CodenameDeadpool was getting at with the vector-based shapes suggestion, but not quite the same as having Adobe Illustrator doing the heavy lifting.

Related

a few themes (anime related)

^_^ well, im in the process of learning about making themes... and I wanted to share what i have so far.
these all support landscape. They are QVGA.
(I did not draw these... I only made the themes.)
im still struggling with getting the Start menu text from white to black upon changing a theme... Is there a way for this to be done automaticly instead of with a reg tweek on the end user's side? ...
hmm...
*******edit update: whoa! the setting to change start menu colors was right in my face. wow... so im fixing all the ones that need fixed. *done*
Download my all tasks made before 12-21-2006...
(including, christmas and recently fixed versions)
all the others will be posted throughout this thread.
***yet another edit...
I set up a page with my themes located:
http://ookami.n2-network.com/pda/index.html
Feel free to download from there ^
any christmas themed-anime-theme? something in red-white-green would be fine
ah sure ^_^ I didnt make any because Its so close to being over with the season. But yeah, not a problem. As soon as i get home today. Looking forward to it.
These themes are really good, 0okami. I'm using the nekomimi theme now. But you are right that it'd be nice to see the text in black in some of the others.
Must a say nice work !!! Keep it up !
I've got this image.. but lazy to do a tsk. See if you can use it. (PNG in ZIP attcahed)
UPDATE: TSK uploaded. Frosty effect on the start menu. Made the tsk a bit way too big though.
Guys, I'm sure it doesn't need to be said, but try not to go too explicit/hardcore. Ie nothing with four legs or feathers... otherwise, please use your own judgement.
V
here's another...
vijay555 said:
Guys, I'm sure it doesn't need to be said, but try not to go too explicit/hardcore. Ie nothing with four legs or feathers... otherwise, please use your own judgement.
V
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eh? nothing with 4 legs? or feathers? ... *confused*
hardcore? no problem I know my limits in public ^_^ no hentai.
Hahaha! random imaginative thought: "vijay555: echhi na no wa ikenai to omoimasu"
(refference from an anime called "mahoromatic" for those who dont know it... its phrase from a maid who dislikes ero ero) I Will comply. (^_^)/
hanmin said:
I've got this image.. but lazy to do a tsk. See if you can use it. (PNG in ZIP attcahed)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
kawaiii !!! dejiko-chan of digi-charat! I Will definetly do some of digi-charat! but that image is a little small to play with.
All things said, here are some more themes for you:
the first one suffers from the same as the other light color ones... the start menu's white text...
Which software package do you use to make these themes, 0okami?
Quite cute!
ennui: isn't it themegence?
V
This program is pretty cool.
0okami, to change the start menu text color, see below:
vijay555 said:
... but try not to go too explicit/hardcore. Ie nothing with four legs or feathers...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
four legs or feathers ... Ooops
lol - hanmin, you've met my wife?! Where'd you get that photo? She's nekkid!
V
ennui said:
This program is pretty cool.
0okami, to change the start menu text color, see below:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OMFG! it was right in front of my FACE all the time! i cant believe that! awesome! Thanks.
*fixing* I'll re upload a full zip of all the ones i've made so far. You will; find that in the second post on this thread. ^_^
for quicker access follow this link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=1081624&postcount=2
I gota admit, I love some of these themes. Keep up the great work! Looking forward to seeing more!
These are really nice Ookami! Keep up the wonderful work ^_^
I understand which one vijay555 decided to give his warning about. Dp_moe_2 I have that image as one of the 2000 or so images that are randomly selected for my computer's wallpaper ^_^ I also like the xmas ones. It's too bad that the memory in the 8125 is so small since I can't store themes on the storage card >_<
Souseiseki from rozen maiden.
^_^
*taken down for a moment. * issue with bg and messages. looks terrible.
*updated... fixed as of 7:27pm.
Guys, just to re-iterate, I love this work. Try not to go too explicit or you'll get Flar on your tail, but otherwise, great work.
V

new themer needs some help

First things first. I want to take the current ROM I'm running, which incidentally is damagecontrol 2.07, and build a custom theme that is much darker than the stock HTC Sense, with some transparent elements, and changing every single bit of that day-glo green color into a nice cool blue, while keeping LWP fuctioning. I figured I would be using Metamorph for this, unless there's some sort of incompatibility issue that I have no clue about. Fairly simple, so I thought.
I'm new to android, but I have done themes and skins for things like winamp in the past. Lets be clear up front, I am in no way a slick coder, I haven't the slightest idea how to code Java, or Android, or the Linux it is based on. I'm a graphic designer through and through, and that's about as far as my knowledge goes.
Currently, I need help with setting up Eclipse to compile .9.png images for my theme. I've tried to research and get info on the .9.png images, and I understand how they work, I just haven't been able to find anything to tell me which version of Eclipse to download, (there's several on the site) and how to set it up with Android 2.1, (and a fairly new leak from Sprint) which is what the ROM is based on.
I can't help but think that what I'm asking help for has been asked before, but I don't know if I'm just searching or looking for the wrong thing, and I'm having a tough time finding answers to a very quickly growing list of very specific questions. If there's any thread's you guys know of to help me out, or specific resources to check out, let me know, so I can stop cluttering the forums.
In 5 days I'll have my newest thearmo theme up. Every bit of green is being replaced by cool blue. If you want, you can use my blue framework files to build your theme around. I've spent hours making everything that was green into blue. It's insanely tedious, especially the 9.pngs. I'm working on those right now. The offer stands...if you want to save yourself some time, you can build your theme with the files from my framework, etc....
hope that helps.
-alex
I hate to be a wanna-be mod, but this is posted in the wrong section. This is only for ROM development, not theming.
good luck with the theme tho, sounds awesome.
alexthearmo said:
I've spent hours making everything that was green into blue. It's insanely tedious, especially the 9.pngs.
-alex
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you whole heartedly (but you also know how rewarding it is when you see the finished product )
beyondinferno said:
I hate to be a wanna-be mod, but this is posted in the wrong section. This is only for ROM development, not theming.
good luck with the theme tho, sounds awesome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...and I agree with you as well
Konikub said:
I agree with you whole heartedly (but you also know how rewarding it is when you see the finished product )
...and I agree with you as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And I agree with you agreeing with them.
yes it is in the wrong area but still why not help answer the guys question. if you are looking to theme I wrote up a pretty comprehensive guide on how to do it you can find it in the wiki pages or just click here.
nuformzdesign said:
First things first. I want to take the current ROM I'm running, which incidentally is damagecontrol 2.07, and build a custom theme that is much darker than the stock HTC Sense, with some transparent elements, and changing every single bit of that day-glo green color into a nice cool blue, while keeping LWP fuctioning. I figured I would be using Metamorph for this, unless there's some sort of incompatibility issue that I have no clue about. Fairly simple, so I thought.
I'm new to android, but I have done themes and skins for things like winamp in the past. Lets be clear up front, I am in no way a slick coder, I haven't the slightest idea how to code Java, or Android, or the Linux it is based on. I'm a graphic designer through and through, and that's about as far as my knowledge goes.
Currently, I need help with setting up Eclipse to compile .9.png images for my theme. I've tried to research and get info on the .9.png images, and I understand how they work, I just haven't been able to find anything to tell me which version of Eclipse to download, (there's several on the site) and how to set it up with Android 2.1, (and a fairly new leak from Sprint) which is what the ROM is based on.
I can't help but think that what I'm asking help for has been asked before, but I don't know if I'm just searching or looking for the wrong thing, and I'm having a tough time finding answers to a very quickly growing list of very specific questions. If there's any thread's you guys know of to help me out, or specific resources to check out, let me know, so I can stop cluttering the forums.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you pm me your google talk, I can help you set it up in 5 minutes later and show you how to compile the .9s and all that
nuformzdesign said:
First things first. I want to take the current ROM I'm running, which incidentally is damagecontrol 2.07, and build a custom theme that is much darker than the stock HTC Sense, with some transparent elements, and changing every single bit of that day-glo green color into a nice cool blue, while keeping LWP fuctioning. I figured I would be using Metamorph for this, unless there's some sort of incompatibility issue that I have no clue about. Fairly simple, so I thought.
I'm new to android, but I have done themes and skins for things like winamp in the past. Lets be clear up front, I am in no way a slick coder, I haven't the slightest idea how to code Java, or Android, or the Linux it is based on. I'm a graphic designer through and through, and that's about as far as my knowledge goes.
Currently, I need help with setting up Eclipse to compile .9.png images for my theme. I've tried to research and get info on the .9.png images, and I understand how they work, I just haven't been able to find anything to tell me which version of Eclipse to download, (there's several on the site) and how to set it up with Android 2.1, (and a fairly new leak from Sprint) which is what the ROM is based on.
I can't help but think that what I'm asking help for has been asked before, but I don't know if I'm just searching or looking for the wrong thing, and I'm having a tough time finding answers to a very quickly growing list of very specific questions. If there's any thread's you guys know of to help me out, or specific resources to check out, let me know, so I can stop cluttering the forums.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is EVERYTHING you could POSSIBLY need.
Android Ultimate Theming Guide
LINK: https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AcdxIJRSH9ypZGZzc2pxNDlfMjdnazk4OHNxZA&hl=en​

Themes

Does anyone have a list of all the locations of image files for editing your own theme? I want to jump into the theming world.
Something just to get started.
riggsandroid said:
Does anyone have a list of all the locations of image files for editing your own theme? I want to jump into the theming world.
Something just to get started.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not that i know of. Your gonna have to go through all the files and figure out what files go where. Sorry I know it sucks but at the same time its part of the learning process.
ya. download a theme and start seeing what icons and stuff they changed. That's the best way to get acquainted. Good luck! It's fun and addicting. Feel free to hit up cbarlan or myself if you have questions. We'd be more than happy to help! God bless!
Thanks guys. I'll download some themes and see what I find.
What software do you guys use? Gimp, paint.net? Photoshop?
Thanks again. Also will try to compile a basic list as I go to help others.
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
One piece of advice as you get into this...
Take note of the approximate filesize of whatever you are changing and try to save it in png-8 or png-24 with as few colors as possible.
I have made some taskbar icons and after the first couple sets it was weeks later that I realized the originals were less than 400bytes and the ones I made were like 1.5 to 2.5 KB!!! May not sound like much but it adds up.
PhotoShop's color replacement tool will save you hours!
Most of the stuff u r going to change will be in com.HTC.resources.all and also framework:-res .apk. not all of them but a lot. They will be in the "drawable" folders that are in the res folder. Hope that helps u start.

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.

[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.
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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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd like this option.

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