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Old 01-24-2020, 10:09 AM   #1
White Tie
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Default White Tie's Default V6 Modders' Supplies

I have done my best to make the V6 theme as approachable to modders as possible, but I am acutely aware that generating images in three sizes is daunting work and there's not yet a great deal to choose from yet, for those who want to just swap out some elements. So I shall be providing some as time and inclination allows; all in 100%, 150% and 200%, all at exact sizes so you can just swap them into the default theme with no messing about with WALTER.















First up is some standard dark buttons. The science is clear on this; having all the button look similar is bad for visual searchability ...but it does look prettier overall, lets face it Fair enough HERE you go.

Also in there is:
  • A set of gradient meters.
  • Some fancy knob stacks (in all 3 sizes)
  • An implementation of the 'full colour only on TCP sidebar' technique, with a choice of opacities for the custom colour on the rest of the panel. This is a hack, but it works.
  • Transport buttons - play and record that match the styling of the other transport buttons (all 3 sizes).
  • Button images (all 3 sizes) and WALTER for moving the repeat button to the end.
  • WALTER to stop track names from taking on custom colours.

The supplies are for modders to use, so if you're a new to this sort of thing please make sure you've read THIS STICKY for instructions on how to unpack and refresh a theme.
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Old 01-24-2020, 10:10 AM   #2
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HERE is a theme build (for testing only, I've no idea if its broken) with some of the supplied elements in it, if you want to see them in action.

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Old 01-24-2020, 10:10 AM   #3
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HERE is a (slightly out of date) build of the V6 theme, with the strip MCP layout from the V5 theme hacked in.
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Old 01-24-2020, 10:32 AM   #4
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White Tie,

Wow, thank you!!! You are incredibly awesome B)
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Old 01-24-2020, 12:48 PM   #5
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That's smart. I've wondered for a long time why there weren't any standard sizes for elements. Most people probably don't want to muck with text files just to get a different look for a button and now they might not have to. And finally, there's a logically represented width knob! Bravo, sir!
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Old 01-24-2020, 01:43 PM   #6
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Very cool.
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Old 01-24-2020, 02:57 PM   #7
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that's volume knob is amazing idea
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Old 01-24-2020, 03:28 PM   #8
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Thank you, WT. Very cool of you, indeed. Cheers.
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Old 01-24-2020, 04:49 PM   #9
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Very cool and thoughtful of you White Tie...I'll make use of these for sure!
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Old 01-24-2020, 10:24 PM   #10
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Very cool White Tie. Thank you for this!

While we're on the subject of modding - there's a feature in the 6.0 default theme that I haven't seen discussed anywhere, it's giving me trouble with my mod, and I don't know how to disable it -

Whenever I have a multi-output VSTi on a track, the MCP layout expands massively. I can see why this could be helpful, it lets you get a clear view of the multiple output sends in the mixer.

How do I turn it off? I don't see an option in the theme adjuster... is there something I can amend in the Walter code to stop this larger track expansion on multi output VSTi's?

Cheers!
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Old 01-25-2020, 12:28 AM   #11
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Thank you so much you very kind gentleman.
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Old 01-25-2020, 01:55 AM   #12
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Hi WT,

Is it possible to also mod the values for the theme adjuster label/volume expanders to add more intermediary steps? I was looking into the lua but didnt quite got it how its made.

Thanks
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Old 01-25-2020, 03:04 AM   #13
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Chaps, don't hijack a thread with unrelated questions please.

If I answer it here, I help one person, once. If you start a thread, I and/or a number of people could answer your question, and then there would be a googlable reference for posterity.

As evidence of this, both unrelated questions asked here I have already answered elsewhere, but mixed in with other threads about who knows what. And you chaps didn't find them. Frustrating, yeah?
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Old 01-25-2020, 03:14 AM   #14
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Ooooh, like a build your own theme construction set! Thanks WT
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Old 01-26-2020, 04:14 AM   #15
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This will come up very handy!!! I started something like this about a month ago! Stay tuned for Spare Parts for Themers
Question (naive maybe): Wouldn't it be enough to provide only the 200% and letting modders downsize the image to 150% and 100% ?
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Old 01-26-2020, 06:09 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Soulshade View Post
Wouldn't it be enough to provide only the 200% and letting modders downsize the image to 150% and 100% ?
Not that simple I'm afraid... Images with Pink and Yellow lines make it a more complex task.
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Old 01-26-2020, 12:28 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by synkrotron View Post
Not that simple I'm afraid... Images with Pink and Yellow lines make it a more complex task.
One can remove them (if present) and add new after resizing
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Old 01-26-2020, 02:39 PM   #18
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It's funny I was asking myself where WT is just a moment ago

"having all the button look similar is bad for visual searchability ...but it does look prettier overall, lets face it"
True, but pretty is cooler, I will buy glasses if necessary
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Old 01-26-2020, 05:24 PM   #19
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THANK YOU!!!!! To White Tie....much less pain to get started now
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Old 01-27-2020, 03:27 AM   #20
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Thank you!
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Old 01-27-2020, 07:02 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Soulshade View Post
Wouldn't it be enough to provide only the 200% and letting modders downsize the image to 150% and 100% ?
I generate all three sizes, by hand, at scale. Which is a huge task, particularly for 150% since things don't round out unless all the dimensions are a multiple of 4. Believe me when I say I wouldn't go to all that effort if I thought there was a way to get acceptable results by cheating

Making themes at 2 sizes is, I fear, going to be an unwelcome burden to the majority of theme makers, who I suspect will often just do the size they personally use and leave it at that. Doing themes at three sizes is ...well, its not unreasonable to suspect that perhaps no one will ever do it. Certainly in the short term I would expect V6 mods to be the way to get there, so that's pretty much why I'm doing this.
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Old 01-28-2020, 02:57 PM   #22
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I created an mcp_pan_knob_stack and i'm trying to use it in wt_mod_parts theme. I get this rounded rectangle around it. Any idea what it is and how to get rid of it?
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Old 01-28-2020, 03:30 PM   #23
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The knob stack gets composited on top of whatever the related knob image is, so you'll want to get rid of / blank that.
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Old 01-28-2020, 04:01 PM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by White Tie View Post
I have done my best to make the V6 theme as approachable to modders as possible, but I am acutely aware that generating images in three sizes is daunting work and there's not yet a great deal to choose from yet, for those who want to just swap out some elements. So I shall be providing some as time and inclination allows; all in 100%, 150% and 200%, all at exact sizes so you can just swap them into the default theme with no messing about with WALTER.



WT, this screenshot looks gorgeous. The pinnacle of awesome design! Thank you for doing this. Literally everything is perfect.
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Old 01-29-2020, 01:00 AM   #25
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White Tie,

I’ve been messing around with the V6 default theme and these new options are very cool! The V6 rtconfig is quite a complicated work of art / engineering. Creating the images at 3 different sizes... Is quite a lot of work (I don’t think people fully realize / appreciate).

I haven’t updated to REAPER 6 yet because my (WIP) theme based on your experimental V5 HiDPI theme doesn’t quite work properly under REAPER 6 (you warned me...). So, having all of these goodies plus the excellent instructions in the V6 rtconfig will go a long way to help me get there!

Thank you for your efforts and sharing your knowledge and expertise!
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Old 01-30-2020, 05:32 AM   #26
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UPDATE



added to the download in post #1 and the test theme in post #2:
  • The pan/width stacks that were missing
  • Transport buttons - play and record that match the styling of the other transport buttons (all 3 sizes).
  • Button images (all 3 sizes) and WALTER for moving the repeat button to the end.
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Old 01-30-2020, 08:12 AM   #27
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WOW..
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Old 01-30-2020, 09:27 AM   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by White Tie
Transport buttons - play and record that match the styling of the other transport buttons (all 3 sizes).
Button images (all 3 sizes) and WALTER for moving the repeat button to the end.
Thanks!
That was exactly what I had planned to do with the transport.
It's like you read my mind...

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Old 01-30-2020, 01:13 PM   #29
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That last transport looks so, so much nicer, to the point where making it the new default is warranted, imo.
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Old 01-30-2020, 02:49 PM   #30
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Thank you, White Tie. These, together with the more muted colours, look so much nicer than the current default V6. I'm currently still using the V5 theme, but if I can work out how to use this, I may switch. I have no idea where to start with making the correct images, I'm useless at artistic stuff. This is a huge help.
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Old 01-30-2020, 03:00 PM   #31
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Thanks WT, these new graphics are the best yet. The pots (gain, pan, width) are especially gorgeous and easier to quickly read.

I already spent a bit of time making the default 6 theme a lot darker, so I just went to the Theme development/tweaker panel and pasted "C:\REAPER\ColorThemes\Default_6.0_wt_mod_parts.Re aperThemeZip" in the Image resource path, and everything is perfect!
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Old 01-30-2020, 03:03 PM   #32
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White Tie,


Thank you for the additional elements! The new transport looks awesome B)
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Old 01-30-2020, 06:26 PM   #33
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My new default. Thanks, White Tie B)
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Old 01-30-2020, 11:17 PM   #34
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Thanks, WT. I know all of this came from the endless complaints from Reaper users... you're a big man to just keep it pro and give users an option after their persistent bashing of your 6.0 work.

On behalf of everyone... thank you, and sorry.
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Old 01-31-2020, 02:21 AM   #35
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I know all of this came from the endless complaints from Reaper users.
You don't know that, you've assumed that. And you have assumed incorrectly. Which is entirely fair enough, because no matter how many times I explain the goals of the default theme, my explanations never seem to penetrate the conversation, not on the internet at least.

Design in consumer facing software is almost always driven by the marketing and product departments. From day one a core requirement is for potential customers to take a glance at it and say "ooh I like how it looks." Reaper doesn't even have these departments.

Design for industry more and more follows the principles of data driven HFD (high function design). This is design where if someone accidentally presses the wrong button, people might die. Or (less dramatically but more commonly) if their 100,000 global employees take 500ms longer to find the "...and fries" button, that amounts to a vast cost when time is money. The design is repeatedly and exhaustively iterated, often automatically, and the data collected until it says the best design has been found. And that always seems to have one characteristic; its ugly. Oh so ugly. Like a slapped arse. But no one cares because in that world the data is king.

Which is the appropriate approach for a Reaper default? Reaper doesn't collect data on its users, and quite rightly too. And doing HFD without data is like dancing without music. So, strictly speaking, that's out. Many users instinctively have an expectation that it should take the same approach as other DAWs, even though the way Reaper is made ('themed' rather than 'designed') means that its never going to do that entirely successfully. The answer is, and no other DAW would have the balls to treat its users like grown-ups and to do this : a bit of both. The core lessons of HFD can be applied, for the most part, while trying to make it look at least somewhat appealing and not entirely like a slapped arse.

One of those core lessons is to have as wide as possible a visual hierarchy, so that nothing looks the same as anything else. Wildly disparate size, colours, shapes, visual styles and contrast levels. This is in direct conflict with people's instinctive desire for everything to look the same, neatly ordered and nice. So, lets take a look at that play button. Its easier for me to make it look the same as the other buttons; my computer has a fully functional copy and paste. Is the play button a top level control in the visual hierarchy? No one can say for sure; for the new user certainly, for the experienced user that's space bar and only the on state is important information. I decided it was, and made it big, chrome and bright, and made its surrounding elements of lower hierarchy. Much the same as I did with the volume control. But what if it isn't of great importance to you? Well, I have gone to great lengths to make it easy for you to change, and now I have also provided the button images. With pleasure.

Now that I have, again, explained a few things, I have no doubt that people will still say "yeah, but I don't like it". Even though the degree of that user 'liking it' is a currency I spend in order to maximise its chances being the best theme to still be using five years from now. For some people this translates into rancour on the forum, I understand this, and so long as its not disrupting my pre-release work threads I have to be (and am) at peace with it. Also, I have found that on the internet people say negative things in public and positive things privately, and even then I have been surprised and delighted by how little rancour the Def6 theme has caused, easily the least of any of the default themes so far. I consider it a triumph. But people have different needs, subjective opinions, and some people just want to 'like it', dammit, and all of this is valid. So I'm going to continue to provide images, instructions and encouragement. S'all good.
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Old 01-31-2020, 07:51 AM   #36
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Absolutely tremendous work sir thank you, both the original V6 theme and these updated options, and a fascinating explanation of design approaches to boot!

Pardon my ignorance if there's something simple I could already do to achieve this, but I would really like to have the new FX and routing buttons in the mixer window as well as the TCP.

Like a fool I tried using the same image but it looked like poo. Is there any prospect of getting mixer window versions of those buttons?
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Old 01-31-2020, 09:35 AM   #37
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Is there any prospect of getting mixer window versions of those buttons?
Yup, I'll get to them in due course.
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Old 01-31-2020, 10:05 AM   #38
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White Tie I get the approach you took and why, and I think big chunks of the 6.0 Theme are great. There are a few other things I don't personally like, like the green (peronsal preference - definitely just an opinion). But the thing I just personally just can't oblige in the default theme are the varying window colors. The mostly dark theme with bright window backgrounds is just visually jarring and can cause eye strain in dark rooms. It certainly does for me. I'm not one for hyperbole, so I won't say I'm going blind because of it (I'm not) but it does cause some eye strain and trouble focusing. Turn on the lights, and it's pretty much a non-issue. But some of us prefer to work in dark rooms.

I know you're limited by not everything being theme-able in Reaper and Theme Tweaker elements being used for multiple things, but it's totally possible to use Theme Tweaker to create a good looking dark theme from Default 6. It won't be perfect due to the non-themeable elements, but I'd never let perfect be the enemy of good. I'd guess a big chunk of the 6 complaints would've disappeared if there was more consistent use of color for window backgrounds right in the default theme. As I approach 40 I can deal with dark themes and I can deal with light themes, but I can't deal with mixed contrast where some large elements are dark and other large elements are very bright.
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Old 01-31-2020, 10:11 AM   #39
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Great stuff, much appreciated thank!
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Old 01-31-2020, 10:34 AM   #40
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Quote:
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it's totally possible to use Theme Tweaker to create a good looking dark theme from Default 6.
That may be what you think, but I disagree. And from a quorum of two, just you and I, we are able to have differing opinions then that rules out there being a 'right' answer. Just to repeat this again, there will always be complaints. I'm okay with it, and I have found the amount of complaints for V6 to be very low. And I'm very very clear that doing things based on minimising forum complaints is utter madness anyway, proved beyond any doubt in V4. There is no need to extrapolate what you believe my intentions to be, I'm straight-up telling you what they are
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