[agathorn]

A couple of things going on in this screenshot that I wanted to show everyone. The first is that this home screen is native NTSC. Up until now i've done all my work on top of the existing PM3 stuff in the PAL directory. As a result when I bring it up on my NTSC Xbox/TV, everything gets auto-scaled by XBMC to 720x480. It isn't a huge deal, and i've accepted it up until now, but I wanted to start moving over to the right resolution. So I built a new home screen, but instead of just copying it over, I actually re-did it to conform to the smaller resolution. As a result there is a lot less black, after all i'm losing 96 pixels in height! The end result though I am quite happy with. In fact I like it better than the PAL version right now :p

The other thing going on in here is a graphics upgrade. I've been focused on the layout more than the graphics lately, but i've not been happy with the graphics so far. When building this home screen I used it as an excuse to re-do the graphics as well and try to make them a bit more in line with what I originally envisioned. I tweaked and tweaked my glass in Photoshop to the point where i'm pretty happy with it, and the change in the colors i'm very happy with. The old blue was just not the blue I wanted. The more green/sea blue is more in-line with the colors I envisioned originally.

All in all this home screen brings Fusion a lot closer to my original inspirations which were Xephyr and Fluid for those who haven't read my first post on this thread Both those skins have totally inspiring and awesome graphics that while I can't quite touch, I can at least aspire to.

So here it is, the new NTSC native home screen. I'd love feedback on this graphics upgrade, or anything really.

[agathorn]

Playing around with modifying the TV TITLE view slightly. My mom has commented that she misses having the number of episodes listed like PM3 has. Apparently she used that to know if there were new episodes to watch without having to go "into" the show.

So I went about changing things to include that information, and while I was at it use the new graphics. In the process I thought about showing less show titles at a time but having them larger to better enjoy the graphics -- again the focus is always on the media.

So this is what I came up with. You would see three titles at a time (In NTSC mode. In PAL I _might_ be able to squeeze in a fourth. I havent' looked.), and the list would be a wraplist like it is currently, so that focused one would always be in the center. I'd love some feedback on if you think functionally this is better or worse than the existing view (ignoring the graphics -- just looking at the functionality of it).



EDIT: And while i'm at it, I might as well show the updated SEASON view as well. I'm not finished working on this one in the concept stage, but figure might as well throw it out there at the same time. So here you go. I really miss those 96 pixels in NTSC resolution

[agathorn]

So I had a lucky session with Photoshop -- I managed to go nearly an hour without it crashing! As a result, I managed to knock out almost all my new graphics.

I showed the mockups to my Mom and she liked the newer layout better than the old. That combined with myself liking them better, meant I just went ahead and redid them all. So at this point I have all the library views except MOVIES 2 redone with the new graphics in NTSC. I have not done PAL yet.

Here are some XBMC screenshots for you to pick apart.

[Livin]

I like the 'new' style.

[anoobie]

Just wanna say I like your skin.

[agathorn]

Thanks for the comments guys! I always appreciate feedback, good or bad. Working in vacuum is hard

[agathorn]

Ok everyone here is some more eye candy for you. This is my current mockup for the MOVIES 2 view in NTSC. I think the text layout might change SLIGHTLY when I translate it into code, but overall I really like it.

[Hitcher]

I can't load the skin - it just loads PMIII.

[agathorn]

I can't load the skin - it just loads PMIII.

Are you running in 4:3 or 16:9? If you are in 16:9 then it will most likely load PM3 because all the files in the 16:9 folder are still stock PM3. This skin is designed specifically for 4:3.

If that is NOT the issue, and you are in fact running 4:3, then let me know and we'll figure out what is going on.

[RockDawg]

I haven't tried this skin yet so I'm only going by what I see in this thread. For me the problem with this skin would be navigating large video libraries. I don't seen any screen shots with more than 5-6 movies listed at one time. I have 650+ movies in my library and there are a lot of people with way more than that and it would seem very cumbersome to me to continually have to scroll to browse for a movie.

IMHO you need at least one view with many more titles listed to facilitate quicker and easier browsing through large libraries. Maybe your list view without the movie info displayed and the whole left side a title list. Or check out xTV's list view. It displays the a large title list on one side with a large cover on the other side, but when you stop scrolling after a few seconds the large cover shrinks down and it displays some movie info like yours does.

Just some food for thought on an otherwise seet looking skin.

[agathorn]

I haven't tried this skin yet so I'm only going by what I see in this thread. For me the problem with this skin would be navigating large video libraries. I don't seen any screen shots with more than 5-6 movies listed at one time. I have 650+ movies in my library and there are a lot of people with way more than that and it would seem very cumbersome to me to continually have to scroll to browse for a movie.

IMHO you need at least one view with many more titles listed to facilitate quicker and easier browsing through large libraries. Maybe your list view without the movie info displayed and the whole left side a title list. Or check out xTV's list view. It displays the a large title list on one side with a large cover on the other side, but when you stop scrolling after a few seconds the large cover shrinks down and it displays some movie info like yours does.

Just some food for thought on an otherwise seet looking skin.

I appreciate the feedback. I'm confused though. I have a few hundred movies and TV shows in my own library as well, but I don't find it an issue. My main question to you is this: "How does having the view show more titles at once help you find the movie?" Regardless of how many movies you have, you still have to scroll one by one, yes? And if they are in alphabetical order, then you know where in your list it is. Its not like a scavenger hunt.

Maybe i'm just not understanding, but i'd be glad to be educated and have no problem with a view to help for larger libraries. Just help me understand the issue a bit better.

[agathorn]

I've just finished doing the MOVIES 2 view for NTSC in the new style. Here are some screens from the box to gander at.

For those of you running in PAL, unfortunately you are still stuck on the old style, but fear not. Only a couple more things to wrap up in NTSC for now, and then i'll get on updating PAL to the new style as well.

All of these changes are in SVN for those wanting the bleeding edge, but I have not done a release yet containing any of the new style graphics. Once I wrap up a couple more things in NTSC I will be doing an ALPHA 3 release for those without SVN.

[agathorn]

I'm hard at work on some "fluff" features that i've been wanting to try and do for a while now. I don't have any screenshots yet, but I have a couple of them working and its so cool.

Coming Soon
------------
Smart View Mode Controls

Toggling through views with a button is old school. Smart view controls present options such as "Auto Select" which selects the best view type based on the media being shown, Filtered list of views to choose from, again based on media present, and Next/Previous view mode buttons.

Dynamic Font Sizing

Why settle for static font sizes when they can be dynamic? Everyone's TV set is a different size and a different distance, and what works for one doesn't work for another. This feature currently lets you change the font size for plot/synopsis information ON THE FLY, from the handy pop-up menu. Three sizes available, Small, Medium, and Large fonts.

[shizzle]

hey could you post the latest svn revision also how do i change the wallpaper? BTW nice skin

[agathorn]

Ok everyone time for more screenshots!

These screens show the new features I mentioned a couple hours ago. I'm ready to actually show them in work now.

In these screens you can see the cascading menu system that is only visible when you need it.

Here you can see how you can set the font size of the text used in the Plot boxes, as well as the view mode menu.

In the view mode menu notice how the items listed under the seperator change based on what media is present. This smart filter displays only the views of relevance.

Auto Select will select the most relevant based on media, which actually corresponds to the first view in the smart filter list.

You can still of course select any view you want with the Next/Previous view options.

hey could you post the latest svn revision also how do i change the wallpaper? BTW nice skin

I will be updating SVN here in probably about 15-30 minutes (EDIT: SVN is up to date now). However I won't be releasing a full build until I finish one more thing. Right now the font changing doesn't affect movie plots, so I need to finish that. Once that is in I think I can release the next build.

As for changing the backgrounds, please see the README file.