Rockbox Technical Forums

Support and General Use => Theming and Appearance Customization => Topic started by: PHK Brasil on February 28, 2007, 11:20:30 PM

Title: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: PHK Brasil on February 28, 2007, 11:20:30 PM
(http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/7446/tape1copyit3.png)

(http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/373/tape2copyyk5.png)  

(http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/8131/tapebcopybv3.png)

(http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/7746/tapebackyv1.png)

♪
This is my new theme, based on an analog cassete deck.

For the first time, I tried to be a few accurate to reality, with some details and daring to use 3D perspective plan. I liked the result.

1) The Play/Pause/Rew/FF keys got movement like a real tape-deck, according to the player status.
2) The Shuffle and Hold moving as push-buttons.  
3) A five position switch moves representing the Repeat modes.
4) The led meters are used to display Volume and Battery levels graphically, with numerical info below.
5) A led indicates Disk Activity
6) The progress bar is the tape itself, filling the cassete window. Obviously, just a symbolization, very far from a real tape movement.
7) The counter displays the current track time.

I did some versions with pannel colour variations.

I think in put movement in the cassete reels, but maybe will cause skips... I don't know.

Maybe I'll change something. Suggestions?

♪
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: Yotto on February 28, 2007, 11:32:26 PM
That's pretty sweet.  The only thing I can think of to "change" is to have the... what are they called?  The wheelie things that the tape rolls up on.  Have those actually turn.  3 graphics should be enough.  When playing, have a .5 second or so pause between changes in graphics.  maybe also have a single "they're moving too fast to see" graphic for FF and RW.
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: soap on February 28, 2007, 11:37:39 PM
Very impressive.  Lots of very well done details.
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: lights0ut on March 01, 2007, 01:35:56 AM
I have to say I'm impressed, PHK nice theme indeed. Go for it on the animation, that would be icing on the cake. I like the menu image, for the WPS I say go with the blue ( the brown is classic, but I like the look of the blue better)
again, nice work. ;)
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: Yotto on March 01, 2007, 02:47:42 AM
Another possible addition, the "Next" song could be another cassette, on its side.  Or the packaging to said cassette.  Don't know exactly how you'd do it, but as if it's sitting there, ready to put in next once this song's done.
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: bascule on March 01, 2007, 03:46:17 AM
That's certainly an exceptionally well put-together and detailed WPS. Makes me wish I had an iPod... :D

I like both of Yotto's suggestions; animated drive wheels and especially the 'side of a tape box' graphic containing the next track info.
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: Sherv on March 01, 2007, 08:16:10 AM
Wow, this is great!
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: mor on March 01, 2007, 08:24:43 AM
what i can say phk???
PUTAQUEPARIU! MUITO LOUCO ESSE THEME!
(For jesus sake! what a great theme!)
you themeas are "do CARALHO" phk ;0
dont even think in touching it, iit´s perfect - again.
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: mannequin on March 01, 2007, 10:30:11 AM
wow. was just thinking about the analog cassettes for some reason. great stuff,  PHK! too bad there's no way to port it to gigabeat  :P
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: Nate! on March 01, 2007, 10:43:39 AM
There's almost no need to port it to the Gigabeat.  With the new screen rotation patch, we can now use all of PHK's great themes.  (Unless, like me, you try not to use patches, because they get out of sync often.)  

This one is by far my favorite from PHK!  Thanks for your works of art.
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: Flid on March 01, 2007, 02:33:56 PM
That absolutely rules!!!
Shame it requires the scrolling margin patch though  :'(
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: denise118 on March 01, 2007, 08:11:10 PM
Great theme!
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: Yotto on March 01, 2007, 10:00:10 PM
This theme pretty much wouldn't work without the scrolling margins patch.  It'd quickly turn to garbage if the text just kept going off the cassette.
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: PHK Brasil on March 02, 2007, 11:40:46 PM
♪

Wow, what a good feedback! Thanks for all replies!

The animation is done. The reels are moving now. Worked pretty nice!

I didn't have to do different images for FF/REW, cause the image speed changes automatically, according to the speed of the current time. Good!!

I just had to invert the images sequence for REW, to gives the effect of reverse direction. Worked nice too!

The only problem is that there's no way to invert the progress bar, to starts from right to left. So, maybe I will invert the tape direction, as a reverse mode. Or not, I don't know yet.

And of course,  this theme requires scrolling margins patch.

♪


Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: mannequin on March 03, 2007, 01:18:55 AM
And of course,  this theme requires scrolling margins patch.

which seems to be out of sync with the latest svn updates.

anyway, amazing work on the WPS, PHK, can't wait to see the final result.
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: PHK Brasil on March 04, 2007, 07:42:41 PM
♪
The screendumps above are from a non patched margin scrolling version. I'll put this version for download too, for anyone who wants to check this theme. But, with long titles... they will exceed the cassete area.
♪
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: PHK Brasil on March 05, 2007, 02:26:12 AM
(http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/7177/phktapenz8.gif)

♪

Finished. Is on the gallery for download.

http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/WpsIpod5g#phkTAPE


PS: Attempt to download the right version for your build.

♪
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: ryran on March 05, 2007, 02:38:59 AM
That is damn impressive PHK.
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: Yotto on March 05, 2007, 02:59:56 PM
Sweeeeeeeeeet.

This is going to be the *the* wps I make sure to show people who've never seen Rockbox before.
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: delorean90 on March 06, 2007, 06:24:22 PM
very impressive, i wish i could make my WPS look even remotely that good
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: mainelli on July 22, 2007, 06:52:31 PM
Hi PHK. I would like to use a screenshot of this theme for a magazine article I'm working on about Rockbox. Would that be okay?
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: scorche on July 22, 2007, 09:38:28 PM
If you are writing a magazine article, please be sure to use these forums/IRC/MLs as much as you can in your hunt for information.  There have been many articles containing erroneous information that could have been corrected pre-print as opposed to in a letter after the printing has been done if they had only asked beforehand.  :)
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: bascule on July 23, 2007, 02:53:11 AM
Hi PHK. I would like to use a screenshot of this theme for a magazine article I'm working on about Rockbox. Would that be okay?
And remember that for this theme to work properly, it requires a custom build. Do not lead your readers into believing that they can just install Rockbox and immediately have a theme like this...
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: PHK Brasil on July 25, 2007, 02:35:22 PM
Hi PHK. I would like to use a screenshot of this theme for a magazine article I'm working on about Rockbox. Would that be okay?
♪
Yes mainelli, go ahead. And thanks for choose my theme.

And remember that for this theme to work properly, it requires a custom build. Do not lead your readers into believing that they can just install Rockbox and immediately have a theme like this...
bascule, I don't see the necessity to have some details mentioned, letting the readers confused. It's a Rockbox article, not a phkTAPE theme one.
♪
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: GodEater on July 25, 2007, 02:51:29 PM
bascule, I don't see the necessity to have some details mentioned, letting the readers confused. It's a Rockbox article, not a phkTAPE theme one.

Nope - I agree with Bascule completely. Any article about Rockbox which chooses to use an image that DOESN'T work 100% with a true Rockbox build, needs to state that. Otherwise we'll be deluged with new users wondering why the picture they've seen in the article doesn't work after they've faithfully followed our installation instructions.
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: Llorean on July 25, 2007, 03:44:54 PM
Yeah, leaving out important details like "if you install the official version of Rockbox, you can't use this" is more confusing, I think.
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: PHK Brasil on July 25, 2007, 06:20:06 PM
♪
Sorry if sometimes I can't express myself rightly in English.

What I want to say is that I don't see a necessity of minimum details infos on an article that will gives to the reader a panoramic vision about Rockbox. All complementary details, the interested reader will find on Rockbox site.

The phkTAPE theme for example: It has a version for standard builds too and these screenshots are taken from standard builds in simulator. The differences between the versions are clearly explained on the download page, and everyone who wanna use this will know about this.

Now, imagine an "detailed" Rockbox article saying:

- Rockbox has a lot of WPS themes options, but some are outdated with the new code, and will display errors
- Rockbox has 5 band parametric EQ, but depending the music format or kbps, it can cause skips on music
- Rockbox has Treble and Bass Shelving EQS, but not works on iPods
- Rockbox has Hardware EQ access on iPods, but the 3 central peak bands never worked
- Rockbox has blablabla but not works on Gigabeat
- Rockbox plays MPEG videos but blablablabla

That's why I think that some detailed infos are totally irrelevant in this case. Just will leave the readers confused.
♪
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: bascule on July 25, 2007, 06:38:10 PM
Yes, but look how many people we already get on the site who do not understand why all the flashy Album Art themes do not work on their player...

I know this theme works (partially) with a standard build, but with long tags it will not look like the picture.

There is more than enough mis-information out on the intarwebs about Rockbox without an article making that worse. So long as the disclaimer/explanation is clear, it is much better to be honest about what can be achieved with the standard build.
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: PromisedPlanet on August 01, 2007, 03:11:30 PM
Without a doubt, the best theme I've tried.  This makes Rockbox look REALLY good.

Bravo!
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: alejandro on August 06, 2007, 07:02:54 PM
HAHA! I was thinking of doing this for my next theme! Very well done!
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: RaiderX on August 07, 2007, 02:51:44 AM
Antoher quality theme from PHK! Keep making these man, I love em!
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: seani on August 07, 2007, 08:17:47 AM
Just popped this onto my landscaped GigaBeat and it looks terrific - absolutely nothing to quibble with from my POV.
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: spike66 on September 25, 2008, 11:38:49 PM
This is a very old thread, sorry about that, but decided to post here regarding this:

...
That being said, the wiki galleries are going bye bye soon when the official theme site goes live.  The graveyards I think can be left behind, but I would rather concentrate efforts on getting the gallery themes up and running.

Does it mean the graveyard themes are going to the trash soon or are you going to keep them around for archival purposes?
(taken from this thread http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=18633.msg135073#msg135073)

because although most of the themes in the graveyard do not work, it is possible to download them as they are, and fix them... for personal use. I rediscovered this theme there, and now I have a modified version in my iPod. I love it, I can't think of a better theme when listening to 80's oldies; yes I'm a nostalgic man, I know, but to the author of this theme, thanks, you've made a happy man very old  ;) Hopefully you'll come back to license your themes. And hopefully the answer to KarlTPB's question will be "yes, they will be kept available"

Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: audio-i on September 26, 2008, 06:08:58 PM
I got an idea that I would like to check, because I'm of course very concerned about copyright infringements; honestly I don't see any issues in what I'm about to propose, but of course I'm no copyright expert at all. So here's the idea.

I also use a personal version of this theme. What I did was using the original graphics, but I completely rewrote the whole .wps code. If both files are compared, they have very little in common, basically forced by the use of viewports. Honestly I only used the original .wps code as reference for positioning. So what if I could upload to the wiki, where this theme is, the .cfg and .wps files I wrote. What people would have to do was downloading the original theme exactly as it is, and then replace those files with the ones I uploaded. Maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way, but regarding the perspective explained, isn't this sort of of like replacing a firmware? What do you guys think?


Part 2

To better simulate the tape's winding, I'm using two progress bars instead of one (one that "grows" on the left wheel during playback, and one that simultaneously "goes smaller" on the right wheel). For that I created, without using the original graphics, two progress bar images. Again, if you compare the files, they have very little in common (both are quite simple actually). And again, the only thing that would be necessary, is to download this two additional image files and put them in the appropiate folder.
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: Chronon on September 26, 2008, 06:41:57 PM
I can kind of see where you're coming from.  I think that in that case -- without packaging it with any of the original theme's resources -- what you're really publishing is kind of a generic theme that can be used with any images of the appropriate sizes.  If an end user privately opts to use the images from the published theme this doesn't seem to represent any wrongdoing on your part.

To make things even safer, you could publish your theme with its own dummy images of the right size and maybe just containing a label for what they are intended to represent.  Then you can post it as a separate theme and just point out that it's compatible with the images from this particular graveyard theme.  In this way your theme would be a fully functional (if bland) theme.

I am also not an expert in these matters and I do not wish to steer the project unduly into grey waters.  Any other thoughts about this?
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: Llorean on September 26, 2008, 06:47:43 PM
Well, the thing of it is...


If the author was just looking at a screenshot of the theme, and using that to design the new one's spacing etc it'd be much more clear (in my opinion).

As it is, the author was looking at the actual content of the .wps file. That more or less makes it a derivative work (it's part of why authors don't like to read submissions from fans, once you've seen an idea you can't unsee it, and it's why some companies avoid GPL code like the plague because if their devs read it, and code something similar using ideas they got from it there may be room to discuss the issue of derivative works.)

One thing I'd do, first, if I were you is go through the original author's message history here on the forums. I thought I remember him discussing the licensing on his themes once.
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: Chronon on September 26, 2008, 06:56:33 PM
Good point about this instance.  It doesn't sound like you have a problem with the general idea of simple themes that are reverse engineered to use similar image sizes and positions, provided the author of the new theme doesn't use an existing protected theme's code as a starting point.

--------

I did a quick search of his posts but couldn't find where he gave any such permission.  I have just tried to contact him on Orkut.
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: audio-i on September 29, 2008, 12:33:58 AM
@ Chronon & Llorean, thanks for the perspectives given.

I also find that this specific case can be seen as follows. It was said here (http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=18633.msg135022#msg135022) that it’s OK to put instructions on how to fix a non working theme in the graveyards, avoiding to reproduce any of the original work. Since in this case I wrote all new .wps and .cfg files, the instructions to fix the theme would have to be “replace ALL lines with THESE new ones”; which is like replacing the whole .wps & .cfg files. These files and only this is what’s in the new zip file, that I uploaded to the wiki here (http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/WpsIpod5gGraveyard#phkTAPE). As I said before, I was using a modified version, that included changes like e.g the winding of one wheel, while the other simultaneously unwinds, using two progress bars, to better simulate the cassette tape’s behavior, but I even removed all those modifications to not alter the original graphics in any way.

Additionally to the people that already wrote in this topic about all this, there are some persons quite involved in theme licensing here (like Soap or BigBambi), so if they or any other person finds that there is a reason to remove the zip I uploaded, I’ll immediately remove it (I mean, to not even bother anybody to do that), just let me know.

I’m glad that the new uploading requirements will include proper theme licensing, that will avoid that these situations will happen again in the future. I’m also aware that the themes in the graveyards might be “erased” soon anyway; it is just that I personally believe that former efforts that added value to the project, all in their own measure and proportion, shouldn’t be wasted, so this is just something to try and preserve that.
Title: Re: Analog Cassete Deck Theme
Post by: ZonderP on November 02, 2009, 03:40:11 PM
Dear PHK Brasil!

Noe clue, if you're still around here on this forum, but if - please hear me begging!

I love this theme! :o
But now it doesn't work for me anymore. :(

Is there any chance you could dig it out of the graveyard by allowing redistribution under a CC license.

Please, please, please...