Hello Guest it is March 18, 2024, 10:36:49 PM

Author Topic: List of Jetcam requests :)  (Read 107017 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Re: List of Jetcam requests :)
« Reply #60 on: February 18, 2007, 04:08:59 PM »
Hi Stan

Quote
Led Button combo
Brilliant!

Quote
Click LED
Brilliant!

Quote
Group Items
No longer needed as the above items will deal with it.

Quote
Automatic Script Generator
Great idea.

Stan, this editor is going to blow people away  :o

Cheers

Dave

Offline RandomAccess

*
  •  96 96
  • SubSurface
    • View Profile
Re: List of Jetcam requests :)
« Reply #61 on: February 18, 2007, 04:31:33 PM »
Hi All,

I made a mistake in my last post and an appology goes out to Art.
If a button has 2 images,  the button is not resized when pushed,
so there is no change required in MACH regarding button pushing
(clicking).

best regards

Stan
Download JetCam screen designer from
http://files.jetcam.net/stan/mach/

Offline RandomAccess

*
  •  96 96
  • SubSurface
    • View Profile
Re: List of Jetcam requests :)
« Reply #62 on: February 18, 2007, 05:35:29 PM »
Dave, 

Button Images and Non Rectangular Buttons


If you intend to use an image that will represent a non rectangular
shaped button (ie arrow,  circle,  or some other shape),  then you need
to adhere to the following rules if you want the screen designer (and MACH)
to be able to display them properly.

* Never use a JPG image.  Bmp is the preferred format.

* The area of the image that does not represent any part
of the button should be a single color only.  This almost
never happens with JPG images which is why they cannot
be used.

* The image must not include a shadow or any other type
of blended effect outside the button (or on the button border), 
because this violates the rule above and cannot be correctly
rendered in either MACH or the screen editor.


In order to correctly render a non rectangular button,  a method
called Chroma Key (or Rotoscoping) is used in order to mask out the
button shape.

The movie industry uses this method (ie Blue Screen),  to composite
images into a background frame.  Non rectangular buttons are
composited in exactly the same way onto the MACH background screen.

So Dave,  if you want to use any of those images you posted, 
with the new editor,  you'll need to clean them up first.
Which means,  remove the shadows,  give the shape a solid outline,
etc...)

What you gain by doing this,  is the ability to Move/Size the button at any time
in the editor without the need to worry about the background the button will
be displayed on.  The editor will correctly composite the button onto the
background for you.



regards

Stan
Download JetCam screen designer from
http://files.jetcam.net/stan/mach/
Re: List of Jetcam requests :)
« Reply #63 on: February 19, 2007, 04:03:37 PM »
Hi Stan

The need to have no form of effect on the button is a bit of a downside in my opinion. The ability to use the power of a drawing package allows a much greater range of styles to be applied without relying on you editor.

Have you tried using a transparent PNG image? These use a truly transparent background - i've attached one as an example.

Secondly for button down states, are we going to always have to add a second button down picture, or will the editor have some way to automatically create a resized or some other effect to denote button down?

You may be interested in these videos by Benny that describes the way we have been creating buttons, images etc using Real Draw Pro -

Quote
Video 1, "Preparing pictures for Screen 4"  (18 Minutes) http://www.machsupport.com/bennys*********/Untitled_media/Untitled.wmv
Video 2, "Using Pictures in Screen 4" http://www.machsupport.com/bennys*********/Untitled_media/p2.wmv
Video 3, "Creating LED BMPs" http://www.machsupport.com/bennys*********/ledsTUT/leds.wmv Partial Tutorial.
Video 4, "Making a Changeable BMP button" http://www.machsupport.com/bennys*********/ledsTUT/SHOME.wmv
The Software shown in the tutorial can be downloade from here http://www.mediachance.com/realdraw/ and has a 30 day fully working trial.

Cheers

Dave

Offline RandomAccess

*
  •  96 96
  • SubSurface
    • View Profile
Re: List of Jetcam requests :)
« Reply #64 on: February 19, 2007, 04:39:05 PM »
Dave,

You can have ANYTHING you want "on the button",  but not outside the shape.
The image is a rectangle,  but the button may not be.  So within the part that is the button,
you can have what you want.  Your arrow button is a good example of this.  Within the arrow,
you do what you like,  outside the arrow,  the image should be one flat color (a color not used
anywhere inside the arrow).

It might be a good idea if you post a button you'd like to use.
Then I can get a more exact idea of what is needed.  It can be
PNG if you like.


regards

Stan
Download JetCam screen designer from
http://files.jetcam.net/stan/mach/

ynneb

*
Re: List of Jetcam requests :)
« Reply #65 on: February 20, 2007, 12:06:36 AM »
Stan here are some test pngs as requested. No shadows.
They are transparent png files. I am not sure how your editor will see them. It may see them as black, in this case it wont be helpfull.

It may solve you some problems if you just accept transparent png files. I know the code is free for this. I also know Art has installed transparent pngs into mach.
I am not sure if you have played with transparent pngs, they are like gifs only they have much superior features, like true colour etc.
« Last Edit: February 20, 2007, 12:13:57 AM by ynneb »

Offline RandomAccess

*
  •  96 96
  • SubSurface
    • View Profile
Re: List of Jetcam requests :)
« Reply #66 on: February 20, 2007, 12:33:50 AM »
Hi Benny,

Thanks for those buttons.
Can I get an up/down where the button is NOT black.

Black Button
The image breaks my first rule (not your fault),  because the
transparent area is black - which is also a color used on the button.
So most parts of the button also become fully transparent.

In the case of PNG,  I hopefully will be able to get the
alpha channel data and perform the necessary conversion
to my own internal format.


Star
The Star image came in fine and I set the transparent color
to black to match the PNG.  It then rendered as a star.
I will try to code the image loader to automatically determine
transparency for PNGs.

Anyway,  they were great examples,  because they showed some problems
in the editor.

regards

Stan
Download JetCam screen designer from
http://files.jetcam.net/stan/mach/

Offline RandomAccess

*
  •  96 96
  • SubSurface
    • View Profile
Re: List of Jetcam requests :)
« Reply #67 on: February 20, 2007, 12:49:12 AM »
Benny,

I've been doing some checking concerning the PNG files,
and I have a question.

When you create the PNG,  are you able to tell your editor
which color to use as the transparent color when you save the
png to disk.  I currently suspect,  black is the default,  but it can
be changed.

The reason I ask,  is because if it can be changed,  you need to
use a different color in the case of your black button.

regards

Stan
Download JetCam screen designer from
http://files.jetcam.net/stan/mach/

ynneb

*
Re: List of Jetcam requests :)
« Reply #68 on: February 20, 2007, 01:30:58 AM »
Stan, a transparent PNG is just that, it is transparent just like a GIF.
It has no background color.
I strongly suggest you download the fully working 30 day trial of Real Draw. Most of us use this.
I promise its extremely easy to use, and you might even become hooked.
I think when you see what we do to create pictures, it may also influence how you design your designer.
you can download it from here, its only 10 meg from memory.  http://www.download.com/3000-2191_4-10446713.html

Offline RandomAccess

*
  •  96 96
  • SubSurface
    • View Profile
Re: List of Jetcam requests :)
« Reply #69 on: February 20, 2007, 01:59:32 AM »
Benny,

Bitmaps are fully rectangular.
Every pixel in a bitmap represents a color or an index into a color palette.
PNG is no exception.

Some bitmap file formats (such as PNG) also support alpha channels.
32 bit bitmaps (BMPs), store the alpha in the last byte of each pixel.
But each pixel has a color.

Png has 3 transparency modes.
None
Bit
Translucid

Bit uses a transparent color
Translucid uses aplha channel data.

My editor uses a transparent color property (Chroma Key Color) to
define transparent areas,  but renders the images using proper
aplha channel values.

I will analyse the PNGs you sent to find out how to best
deal with their transparency.




regards

Stan.
Download JetCam screen designer from
http://files.jetcam.net/stan/mach/