[em0ne]

Is it possible to make a Kodi skin where the video screen can be swiped off screen?

To perhaps go one step further could it also be possible to animate a video pan with simple effects such as smoothly zooming in and out, or making a video box follow an animated trajectory on the screen (or both), or perhaps even a transform or scew effect?

Is any of this a built in functionality? Perhaps it is possible with a hacked together method?

[PatK]

Kodi is an entertainment hub that brings all your digital media together into a beautiful and user friendly package, not a video editor with special effects.

[em0ne]

Kodi is an entertainment hub that brings all your digital media together into a beautiful and user friendly package, not a video editor with special effects.

So, it isn't a video editor. Neither is it a game engine which can utilise 3D effects in the UI or so I am told in the irc channel.

Most UIs and operating systems do support video pane effects that I am talking about. There used to be a time when the UI of xbmc was years ahead of anything else. Today it is far behind every UI.

Take the YouTube app on ios or android as an example. When you swipe down to leave fullscreen the video pane will do a nice scaling effect/animation to zoom out. The YouTube app is a simple video player and not a fully featured media center, yet it can do such a small and simple effect.

There are probably other UI features missing in Kodi which are simply done in other UIs. Should this maybe be a feature request or do you honestly think this is not in the spirit of kodi?

[jjd-uk]

Simply put, Kodi is primarily designed for control via a remote and not by touch.

[FXB78]

Kodi is primarily a 10-foot interface, if you want a closer comparison you should compare it to the YouTube Smart TV app, rather than the Mobile Phone/Tablet UI. I doubt any touch screen swipe actions will be added any time soon, given the vast majority use it with a remote control rather than touch.

[em0ne]

All smart TVs today are also controlled by a remote control and most of them can do simple transition effects.

I haven't seen the more advanced effects like skewing a video pane but most smart TVs are capable of smooth animations, transitions and smooth resizing or flipping of a video pane. Try it for yourself if you don't believe me. This stuff has been done for quite a long time now.

[FXB78]

All smart TVs today are also controlled by a remote control and most of them can do simple transition effects.

I haven't seen the more advanced effects like skewing a video pane but most smart TVs are capable of smooth animations, transitions and smooth resizing or flipping of a video pane. Try it for yourself if you don't believe me. This stuff has been done for quite a long time now.

I've used the Samsung Tizen YouTube app and it's clunky as hell in comparison to Kodi with Arctic Horizon.

[FXB78]

What you are talking about in the OP is something that the TV Guide addon has done for many years, minimising the playing video is not something Kodi is incapable of, it's just something that doesn't seem to make sense on anything other than a TV Guide.

[em0ne]

Exactly. Some smart TVs have amazing UIs while some have really clunky web1.0 looking UIs and yet others seem to be stuck in the web2.0 era.

[em0ne]

What you are talking about in the OP is something that the TV Guide addon has done for many years, minimising the playing video is not something Kodi is incapable of, it's just something that doesn't seem to make sense on anything other than a TV Guide.

That's what I wanted to know. Thanks
I wanted to know if this kind of thing was a built in feature.

Do you know if it is possible to "swipe" away a video window (with a remote)? I would for example want to have the whole video move 25% of the screens width to reveal a menu underneath it.

[Klojum]

Do you know if it is possible to "swipe" away a video window (with a remote)?

Right now? No.

I don't think you realize that all your animation and transition fetish will need to work in every Kodi application, as Kodi is a multi-platform application. It's much simpler to slide out a menu on top of a video than it is to slide out a full screen video display for just a menu section to appear. Functionality is more important than make-up in my view.

[em0ne]

So far I have been studying the Kodi manual. As far as I understand it is possible to animate "video windows" which are video boxes in the skin. But these animations don't apply to the main full screen video.

Does the zoom attribute apply to these video windows?

Wouldn't it theoretically be possible to turn the full screen video into a video box momentarily to do the effect inside the XML skin, only when the assigned button is pressed?

Klojum, I agree with you that functionality is more important than UI features. I am looking forward to trying PiP for example.

[FXB78]

This video shows how the main video window minimises within the TV Guide addon, however exiting the addon will revert the video to play in the background. There is no way to navigate around Kodi with a PiP window outside of an addon using the functionality https://youtu.be/2-avJPRCK6k?t=174

[em0ne]

That is a beautiful minimising effect. It minimises and reveals the UI that is behind it. That is one of the things that I am looking for.

This gives me hope that I might be able to emulate the effect that I have in mind.

Thanks for sharing FXB78!!!

I have looked at different kodi plugins and skins and have found some small elements which look aesthetically pleasing. I think a modern and very dynamic skin can be achieved out of these small pieces.

Now I just need to figure out if a whole full screen video can be moved off screen.

[PatK]

I should note you can map a button to use the windows o/s 'windowed mode' (if you have that o/s up) which will exit the full screen to a configured smaller window with drag bar and back again, to enable other desktop functions.