pasztor.laszlo Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 Hi! A few days ago i downloade WindowBlinds v4.6. i installed the aero theme, and im still using it. but when i started some apps what doesnt have a title bar (windows media player 10, msn messenger, my tv-tuner app, etc.), i found a very cool effect, maybe a "bug". it is similar (or almost the same) to the glass effect found in longhorn 4074, not the full glass effect, but the one when you renamed the actual theme to aero, you know :D . it had the same effects. but now i have the same glass effects on windows xp sp2. my apps installed that can effect this: windowblinds 4.6 windowfx 2.12 TaciboY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pasztor.laszlo Posted August 19, 2005 Author Share Posted August 19, 2005 and the one with the msn messenger... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceemji Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 Kinda distracting. I smell a bug I think, because of your TV tuner app. Question to you is-- Can you still move the window with the mouse over that glass effect? Normally, I think you cant in the media player case, when the title bar is gone, it is gone and has to be brought back up to move it with. I willing to guess that vista has built in glass affect in it and not part of the actual theme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pasztor.laszlo Posted August 19, 2005 Author Share Posted August 19, 2005 Can you still move the window with the mouse over that glass effect? 586402676[/snapback] no i cant. but anyway it is a nice effect :D . and windowblinds will have a full-featured glass effects. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commodore Max Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 This has already been posted. It's still cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Veteran Posted August 20, 2005 Veteran Share Posted August 20, 2005 It's not a bug with the TV-tuner card, it's to do with the way those applications skin their windows. When you hide the title bar in the MSN Messenger contact list, for example, the actual size of the window being reported to the OS doesn't change - it's just the top part becomes transparent. Those shadowing programs work by finding the reported height, width, and position on screen of all windows and then drawing shadows in the appropriate locations. When bits are transparent, this effect doesn't work and you get the bug as shown in the screenshots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTD Posted August 20, 2005 Share Posted August 20, 2005 Yep. YZ shafow does the same thing. But this bug isn't anywhere near as nice and cleanly done as the *real* glass effects of Vista. The bug looks OK, although the effect is uneven. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golazo Posted August 20, 2005 Share Posted August 20, 2005 yup y'z shadow does the same thing i thought it was annoying so i disable it lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamon Posted August 20, 2005 Share Posted August 20, 2005 off topic but..... which wall are u using in the first screenshot :D ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Lafing Posted August 20, 2005 Share Posted August 20, 2005 Hay, call me a n00b if you like but please can someone tell me 1.What the Glass efect is 2.How to get it on Vista Beta 1? thanx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamon Posted August 20, 2005 Share Posted August 20, 2005 Dai Lafing, 1.Glass effect is the transparency in windows vista 2.Search the forum... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pasztor.laszlo Posted August 20, 2005 Author Share Posted August 20, 2005 off topic but..... which wall are u using in the first screenshot :D ? 586405855[/snapback] this wallpaper come with msn screensaver beta... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Dee Posted August 20, 2005 Share Posted August 20, 2005 this wallpaper come with msn screensaver beta... 586406646[/snapback] Looks like Hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy2004 Posted August 21, 2005 Share Posted August 21, 2005 yeah the api which draws windows forms in vista is different to that in xp . I believe in xp each windows form does its own drawing but in vista there is a dedicated api which does all the drawing of forms on the screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcv Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Yeah, per-pixel alpha tranparency is possible in XP (and maybe 2000, I'm not sure). Winamp3 made use of this, and so do a lot of other apps. However, Vista does a LOT more than that. It uses pixel shaders in addition to the alpha transparency so you can do effects on the windows, like a frost/glass/blur effect. XP can not do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahmz Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Looks like Hell. 586407951[/snapback] Looks like a desert ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#Michael Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Yeah, per-pixel alpha tranparency is possible in XP (and maybe 2000, I'm not sure). Winamp3 made use of this, and so do a lot of other apps.However, Vista does a LOT more than that. It uses pixel shaders in addition to the alpha transparency so you can do effects on the windows, like a frost/glass/blur effect. XP can not do that. 586414025[/snapback] Per pixel alpha transparency IS NOT possible in XP using the default uxtheme.dll themeing engine. The reason why winamp can do it is because winamp is its own skinning engine (i.e you create its own skins). Windows 2000 doesn't even have a skinning engine, therefore it can't possibly have PPAT. You can create transparent effects using 3rd party apps in XP with such programs as Y'z shadow, Windows FX, glass 2k, and a couple of others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smit Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 In XP you can set an applciation to be transparent by using the Get/SetWindowLong and passing it the WS_EX_TRANSPARENT flag. You can then set the overall transparency or colour key it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NienorGT Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Thoses applications aren't really skinned like this in fact. They are square like any others. It's just invisible + click thourought (or call this like you want...) effect. But a program like WinFX, that put shadow on applications will just see the REAL size of the application. Like the MSN had in normal a titlebar, if you remove it, it will STAY there but you will not see it. Just try to move MSN (witout the title bar) in the upper of the screen, you will understand better... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcv Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Per pixel alpha transparency IS NOT possible in XP using the default uxtheme.dll themeing engine. The reason why winamp can do it is because winamp is its own skinning engine (i.e you create its own skins). Windows 2000 doesn't even have a skinning engine, therefore it can't possibly have PPAT.You can create transparent effects using 3rd party apps in XP with such programs as Y'z shadow, Windows FX, glass 2k, and a couple of others. 586414527[/snapback] Uh, I never said it was through uxtheme.dll anywhere. You do it through a new API, not through a theme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#Michael Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Uh, I never said it was through uxtheme.dll anywhere.You do it through a new API, not through a theme. 586416124[/snapback] Care to explain what that new API is and why no one else has heard of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcv Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 (edited) Care to explain what that new API is and why no one else has heard of it? 586416852[/snapback] SetLayeredWindowAttributes and UpdateLayeredWindow. Here's an example of them in use: http://www.codeproject.com/cs/media/CsTranspTutorial3.asp 4th thing in the article (per-pixel transparency) Here's some more code that does it using the API: http://www.vbaccelerator.com/home/VB/Code/...cShadow_ctl.asp Edited August 22, 2005 by vcv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#Michael Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 SetLayeredWindowAttributes and UpdateLayeredWindow.Here's an example of them in use: http://www.codeproject.com/cs/media/CsTranspTutorial3.asp 4th thing in the article (per-pixel transparency) Here's some more code that does it using the API: http://www.vbaccelerator.com/home/VB/Code/...cShadow_ctl.asp 586417225[/snapback] See that is something completely different. That is PPAT using c# and gdi+ engine, having nothing to do with uxtheme. In that term, yes XP can do PPAT when coded for objects like that. Now when you are talking in terms of the themeing engines (XP vs. Vista) XP can't do PPAT do to the limitations in the uxtheme engine. But the new engine in Vista can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcv Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 See that is something completely different. That is PPAT using c# and gdi+ engine, having nothing to do with uxtheme.In that term, yes XP can do PPAT when coded for objects like that. Now when you are talking in terms of the themeing engines (XP vs. Vista) XP can't do PPAT do to the limitations in the uxtheme engine. But the new engine in Vista can. 586417384[/snapback] I NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT UXTHEME, YOU DID. All I said was XP can do it, and you just admitted that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mircleman Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 sighhhh we had this arugment in the vista glass video debate. I said then,this can be done xp can be made to look and run like vista. It is being done there are those of us using these shells. What people dont realize is you act like the entire damn shell is different in vista and xp. it is not. most ( not all ) but most of the things vista does xp can graphic wise, IF you know what your doing and how. my 2 cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts