Watercolor Emico

[tehmemories]

Hrmm I like the idea Cap. Now only if i knew advanced Winamp skinning :)

Edit: Some program buttons don't shadow properly. probably nothing you can do though.

Edited June 19, 2008 by tehmemories

[Jamushroom Veteran]

That's an application bug. I've seen more apps doing that with other visual styles as well :)

[Yggdrasilly]

@Yggdrasilly: I didn't mean adding the blocks :p Because for that kind of a shellstyle it shouldn't be in there. It looks better without that part in it. I made a mockup yesterday where the bar would go from the light blue to the darker blue but that didn't look so nice.

Oh, I know. I was just playing around, trying to see if there was anything 'nicer' I could do with it. I was actually trying out a bar that was... Dark, like the right end of the caption bar, then transitioned to another, darker, blue. It looked pretty good, except for the stretching. :laugh:

Oh.. and another thing. Watercolor Emico: Black is done and will be sent out to the testers later today. A release can be expected tomorrow. Maybe even today if I'm in a good mood :p

This is great news! :) I can't wait!

[StarLion]

Whipped this up in about an hour. It's just a concept at the moment, but I could have it made into a working login screen in about 15 minutes.

[Krokus]

Wow..

That looks nice! :)

[Jamushroom Veteran]

@StarLion: That looks cool! I've got a "Userpicture" frame for a "Vista-ish" start panel that I could give you.

It would also be cool if you'd make a wallpaper from the background that you've used in that logon screen.

[StarLion]

Here's the background, I did it all in vector so I went ahead and rendered it out stupidly large (2560x1600). Should I go ahead and make the concept into a working login screen, or throw together a few different variations first? I've got something more akin to the default XP login screen in mind that might look nice as well.

[Jamushroom Veteran]

I would like to see that other login screen which looks more like the default XP login :)

[Dc'1]

Sexy :) I like the classic version best. I'm using it now!

[ViperAFK]

This skin makes me wish I was still running xp on my main pc lol, I can't wait for the black one. This is the best XP theme I have seen..ever. Most polished and "usable" theme.

[StarLion]

Here we go, tweaked the login screen to fall more in line with the default XP look. As a whole, I kinda like this version better than the previous one...but at the same time there are parts of the previous one I like, so I'm going to take one more stab at it and see if I can find some sort of happy medium between the two styles.

[Jamushroom Veteran]

^I think that the blocks should look as sharp as the captionbars. Same counts for the the userpicture frames.

@ViperAFK: Woah, thanks for the comment! :D

Edited June 19, 2008 by Capric0rn

[StarLion]

Edit: Do you mean the shine on the blocks? I tried making those sharper and it didn't look so hot, it caused the screen to look very cluttered and visually "noisy". Softening the shine on the background blocks killed this effect and popped the user interface back to the surface (I can show you a screenshot with the sharp shine, but it's not pretty).

As for the shine on the userpicture blocks/frames, I just left it there as a placeholder, when the login screen is actually in use the centers of those blocks will get covered by each user's userimage overlay.

Edited June 19, 2008 by StarLion

[Jamushroom Veteran]

Do you maybe want to use something like this for the userpicture frame?

It's from an old mockup so the colors aren't correct.

[StarLion]

Ooh, that does look nice, let me give that a shot real quick.

Edit: Nice work on that frame man, it fits perfectly

Edited June 19, 2008 by StarLion

[Jamushroom Veteran]

Once you decide which logon screen you want to release, I'll give it the colors that it should have for the Blue version.

About the blocks; you should give them a full gradient instead of the gradient it has right now. It kinda looks weird and with the gradient it'll fit the background a bit better IMO.

[tehmemories]

Definitely hot !

[acies]

I have to say, I am not a fan of the huge blocks in the background. Not sure what it is, maybe the gradient or shadows? :wacko:

[Yggdrasilly]

That login screen looks really good! I have one suggestion though. I wonder if the default Windows XP flag and logo could be switched out for the "Watercolor" versions? I don't know if you have a bigger version of the 'startbutton' flag that you used, Capric0rn, but that might fit, along with text like: 'Windows XP Watercolor Edition' or something like that?

Just an idea.

It's too bad I use the login window. I might have to switch back just to use this!

[Jamushroom Veteran]

^I was thinking way ahead of you, I was already thinking about making a bigger version for logon screens and maybe even wallpapers :p

@acies: I've got the same feeling. I don't know what it is either but it just feels weird.

@StarLion: Could you show us a version without the shadows on the blocks and with the blocks having a full gradient? :)

[tehmemories]

I think the blocks give it the "emico" edge. If they weren't there, it would look like a regular logon.

[StarLion]

Once you decide which logon screen you want to release...

I was thinking, how about releasing both logon screens (after the first one is polished up to match the second one)? The first one I made for Modern, and the second one to go with Classic?Just an idea, but if I had to pick only one, I would have to go with the second version.

I'll give it the colors that it should have for the Blue version.

The base colors used to make the logon screen were taken directly from your skin, it already matches...

About the blocks; you should give them a full gradient instead of the gradient it has right now. It kinda looks weird and with the gradient it'll fit the background a bit better IMO.

Which blocks exactly, the userpicture frames you just gave me or the background blocks?

[Jamushroom Veteran]

^The background blocks :p And the colors of the userpicture frame doesn't match the buttons for Blue because the frame was meant to be for Black.

[StarLion]

I went ahead and tweaked the color for you, looks like the correct shade or orange now :)

I made the requested modifications, personally I think I liked it better the way it was before, but I'll call for a community vote...

[zErO_gdh]

I went ahead and tweaked the color for you, looks like the correct shade or orange now :)

I made the requested modifications, personally I think I liked it better the way it was before, but I'll call for a community vote...

Looks good for me. :)