Old 07-07-2007, 08:24 PM   #1
Mjolniir
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Default 2d themes

Now that there is so much great functionality in skinning, its time to go 2d!!

Seriously though, I have never skinned anything myself so I am not sure how to begin, but I would really like to see some 2d styles going (like Ableton Live). I am going to give it a go but I am hoping some more experienced guys might put something together.
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Old 07-08-2007, 02:25 AM   #2
doclike
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dont know if this will work. Ableton got round "knobs" and stuff.
But this would be great, because the Mixer/the track panels as it is right now, takes very much space.
It could be way more compact.

doc
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Old 07-08-2007, 03:40 AM   #3
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Yes, i'd like that too.
Cursors & faders "à la ableton" would be neat.
Not necessarly grey, but for the faders, i like having nothing to "grab", but moving the mouse on the line instead(i don't know how to explain better).
And i like minimal & functionnal skins, pleasing for the eye and letting you focusing on music.
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Old 07-08-2007, 08:15 AM   #4
matt avery
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sinkmusic View Post
Yes, i'd like that too.
Cursors & faders "à la ableton" would be neat.
Not necessarly grey, but for the faders, i like having nothing to "grab", but moving the mouse on the line instead(i don't know how to explain better).
And i like minimal & functionnal skins, pleasing for the eye and letting you focusing on music.
sink i love all of your old themes. are you planning on designing an advanced once in the vein of your older ones? I would love to see a flatter theme as well.
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Old 07-08-2007, 08:23 AM   #5
alex zonder
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Ableton... fine looking app...

but personally I think all these imitations of other DAWS are detours... wouldn't it be the greater ambition to create a REAPER that visually stands out on its own, recognizable from a far such as Ableton... so - rather different from that and other DAWS?
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Old 07-08-2007, 08:42 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by matt avery View Post
sink i love all of your old themes. are you planning on designing an advanced once in the vein of your older ones?
Thank you.
(But i didn't made the icons myself, just the color scheme).
I have posted one week ago an update for my 2 themes i use the most (nothing big, but a bit better).
I don't have the time at the moment to create new design, but once i will have more free time, i will try (even if my skills in icons creation are ver poor).
Cheers
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Old 07-09-2007, 03:58 PM   #7
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Over at KVR I wrote -

"Ì recorded a world-famous chamber orchestra with a world-famous violin soloist in my home city's biggest concert hall last night, using Reaper with one of the new "Coffee & Cream" style skins - and found myself unexpectedly a little uncomfortable with the look of the thing with the hall's sound staff around. The older look was perhaps actually more pro and functional looking - there's a danger that the current early skins can look a bit "toy DAW" or "me too" or "home studio"(though the guys producing them have done great work, and I'm just talking about my personal preferences). Perhaps in due course (it's early days!) there will be a more restrained skin - something good looking that none the less doesn't try to be a picture of something real - 'cos we all know it isn't!"

Maybe it's a 2D theme I'm thinking of?
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Old 07-09-2007, 07:06 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Art Evans View Post
" and found myself unexpectedly a little uncomfortable with the look of the thing with the hall's sound staff around. The older look was perhaps actually more pro and functional looking - there's a danger that the current early skins can look a bit "toy DAW" or "me too" or "home studio"(though the guys producing them have done great work, and I'm just talking about my personal preferences). Perhaps in due course (it's early days!) there will be a more restrained skin - something good looking that none the less doesn't try to be a picture of something real - 'cos we all know it isn't!"
Wholly seconded. I enjoy a certain amount of 3D graphics look, but having everything completely tarted up 3D stylee can:

(a) make things a bit too busy and be a bit distracting to the actual work I'm trying to do; and

(b) look a bit "contrived" or "toyish", etc.

For my personal tastes, I like something a bit more subtle -- a balance somewhere between a 2D and a 3D look.

I like for my eye to easily identify and move to anything that I might need to grab or otherwise work with, but not to stick out so much that it distracts from other things I might be looking for.

Eli's theme that he's working on (the one in the "Quicktime" thread) is perhaps the closest I've seen to that so far -- for my tastes.

One thing about Reaper's work flow and original look that grabbed me in the first place is that it felt the most like working on a real console/analogue setup -- without having to look exactly like a real console in a "photo realistic" sense.

I think that software requires different things to achieve the same ease of navigation as hardware, because you have less space for labelling, etc., with software than with hardware, especially when you are attempting to put up what amounts to an entire studio's worth of information for a large mix up on a small screen (or even two!). On that same point, I'm personally not crazy about large/oversized icons/buttons, etc. either for the same reasons.

But, as Art said, this takes nothing away from the great work White Tie and others have been doing with this stuff. I really like some of the things I'm seeing in some of the themes that are not yet to my tastes. One example is the subtle 3D look of the meters in one of WT's recent new skins.

I like the fact that, as more themes are developed, Reaper potentially can have a look to please pretty much any taste.
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Old 07-10-2007, 05:59 AM   #9
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Last night I switched from an edited Cream&Coffee theme back to my custom Protools theme and was genuinly surprised to see how well I could all of a sudden spot the elements I was after.

I've posted a number of shots of themes I've changed, or am in the process of changing to meet my needs. Sometimes this is met with limited success. In the shots, to which I am only posting the links, because they're 100-250kB in size each, you'll see a full mixing project running, with a few buttons on the automation modes changed in tracks that don't matter at that particular point in the playback, just to show off how well or not they can be spotted when working.

Advanced - Coffe & Cream Edited

Advanced - Cornish Edited

Advanced - Silver

Standard - Box

Standard - Protools3 Anticlick Edited

Btw, Reaper was stuttering a little bit for unknown reasons. So there's a small glitch in the display of the last shot, and perhaps in the others as well.
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Old 07-10-2007, 07:03 AM   #10
alex zonder
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Art Evans View Post
found myself unexpectedly a little uncomfortable with the look of the thing with the hall's sound staff around.


Art, here's something to feel maybe a bit more comfortable when you got a top chamber orchestra in front of you



Iconset is the blues.zip posted elsewhere.
Attached Files
File Type: reapertheme Opus.ReaperTheme (1.7 KB, 267 views)
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Old 07-10-2007, 10:20 AM   #11
Mjolniir
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Nice! I really like that Opus look. I am not too hot on the brown but the whole effect to me seems subtle and professional. Very Nice.
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Old 07-12-2007, 11:25 AM   #12
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Default back to ableton then...

.. despite the fact that Alex is right about copying other apps interfaces I think that the Ableton approach is definitely one of the most efficient around. I personally don't like the fatty 3D approach. It's basically nostalgic which is strange when you think of our forward digitarian approach towards music construction. The 2D approach is much more clear and efficient. The operator is not distracted by fake shadows, fake glimmering, fake led lights. I mean, if we really wanted to go back to the originals: why not use the classic vu meters?

Anyway: anyone who is clever with the photoshop stuff willing to try and designing the ultimate 2D interface (with ableton as example and/or inspiration) will have my full support!
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Old 07-21-2007, 12:38 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alex zonder View Post
Ableton... fine looking app...

but personally I think all these imitations of other DAWS are detours... wouldn't it be the greater ambition to create a REAPER that visually stands out on its own, recognizable from a far such as Ableton... so - rather different from that and other DAWS?
I agree! I think Reaper deserves it's own uniquely identifying interface.
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