[bbxstudio]

Not a Mac-specific topic, but GUI-related and created on a Mac by a Mac GUI guy (so sort of on-topic). It's also indicative of some of the stuff I've got in the works for you Mac kids:

for lab-white freaks:
The Official AlienWare WindowsMediaPlayer Skin

and for metal freaks:
The Official AlienWare ALX WindowsMediaPlayer Skin

Very sci-fi and BBX thru and thru... this is just some of the stuff I've been killing myself with this year... I've got even cooler stuff just waiting in the wings, but I have to be hush hush until it officially launches. Check it out

[iOliverC]

Originally posted by bbxstudio:
Not a Mac-specific topic, but GUI-related and created on a Mac by a Mac GUI guy (so sort of on-topic). It's also indicative of some of the stuff I've got in the works for you Mac kids:

for lab-white freaks:
The Official AlienWare WindowsMediaPlayer Skin

and for metal freaks:
The Official AlienWare ALX WindowsMediaPlayer Skin

Very sci-fi and BBX thru and thru... this is just some of the stuff I've been killing myself with this year... I've got even cooler stuff just waiting in the wings, but I have to be hush hush until it officially launches. Check it out

*Falls off chair* Awesome job.

[Frisbee]

I don't know what to say... I wish we had stuff like this on our macs. Stuff like this shows us how cool Omega will be. The main controller is one of the most amazing graphical works I have ever seen (and I haven't even seen it fully animated!), and the playlist and equalizer windows could be a very awesome theme. I'm tempted to pull of a cheap knockoff port right now...

[MacDog]

Originally posted by Frisbee:


I'm tempted to pull of a cheap knockoff port right now...

PLEASE DO! Because at 35 years old, I'm afraid I may be eating my dinner through a straw by the time Omega is released!

[MacDog]

Very nice work there BBX. Your use of light and shadows is unparalleled!

[voo]

The sounds are really cool, I especially like the ALX player assuming you made the sounds?
I cannot remember if it was Cinema4D that you use for this wicked stuff ain't it? then touched up extras and buttons in PS.

I find it interesting how the creator goes about making these designs

[Fonzie]

nice work. Now if only the WMP skins weren't so f'ing tacky . you can't use these skins on a bright bg because of the tacky edges. That goes for all the WMP skins. You should really make some Winamp5 skins instead.

[Frisbee]

Originally posted by MacDog:
PLEASE DO! Because at 35 years old, I'm afraid I may be eating my dinner through a straw by the time Omega is released!

Even if I did, I wouldn't release it- it's BBX's domain.

[voo]

Originally posted by Fonzie:
nice work. Now if only the WMP skins weren't so f'ing tacky . you can't use these skins on a bright bg because of the tacky edges. That goes for all the WMP skins. You should really make some Winamp5 skins instead.

aye but you have no choice with WMP as your stuck with magic pink, atleast Winamp5 uses png but somewhat heavier in use. Some Winamp skins fit really well with drop shadows and begin to look like widgets if done right.
But TSF simply outclass every player thats made because of their superbly done animations.

[JohnnyAppleseed]

nice...

[cube3]

*sobs* just give me the stuff please...

[Dace]

Any ETA on when the Alienware Windowblinds skins are coming out?

Will they look like the windows in the screenshots?

Did you have a part in their creation (windowblinds skins)?

And will their be icons included?

[Fonzie]

Originally posted by voo:
aye but you have no choice with WMP as your stuck with magic pink, atleast Winamp5 uses png but somewhat heavier in use. Some Winamp skins fit really well with drop shadows and begin to look like widgets if done right.
But TSF simply outclass every player thats made because of their superbly done animations.

can the skinners not blur the edges ? Or have I misunderstood?

[Dace]

Originally posted by Fonzie:
can the skinners not blur the edges ? Or have I misunderstood?

Windows is not an OS that cares about anti-aliasing...it resizes desktops poorly too.

[rpeterclark]

Originally posted by Dace:
Any ETA on when the Alienware Windowblinds skins are coming out?

Will they look like the windows in the screenshots?

Did you have a part in their creation (windowblinds skins)?

And will their be icons included?

A small clue to the Windowblind's style is in the screenshots, see the scrollbars and where it has "Title", "Artist", etc on the playlist windows? In WMP, those are displayed using the current visual style's elements...

Originally posted by Fonzie:
can the skinners not blur the edges ? Or have I misunderstood?

WMP doesn't support anti-aliased edges against the desktop, a lot of other programs do though.

[Brien]

Wow. Those look awesome.

[SafariX]

Nice job. If Omega is anything like this...


(itll look retro by the time it comes out! )

[Synotic]

I've had the pleasure (:sigh:) of using Windows for about a month so I figured I'd give some of the skinsfactory skins a shot. I first tried the Terminator one, and it's awesome. The graphics of course are stunning, the animations are excellent and the sound goes perfectly with the animation.

I have to say that as nice looking as the Alienware one, I still prefer the Terminator one The gyroscopic animations of the Alienware skin don't seem as real and tangible as the Terminator's opening sequence. And that "Alien blurb sound" that repeats as the gyroscope spins sounds like crap IMO. I dunno, as well done as the Alienware one is (the Aluminum version looks sweet) it doesn't have as much of that "wow, kick ass" effect. I really don't know what makes the gyroscope not look real to me but if that was changed somehow and better sounds (especially) I'm sure it could be much better. Keep in mind these are all my opinions.

If anyone gets the opportunity to play around with a Windows machine I'd definitely try these skins out, especially the Terminator one. Also, I'm on Windows 2000, so I don't know if that makes any difference. The buttons on skinsfactory are labeled "Download for XP" but work fine for me on 2000.

[NetworkShadow]

Great skin, one of the best I've seen... though it's like waving a new 40GB iPod around in our faces saying it's free but doesn't work with Mac. (maybe not the best metaphor but hay...)

Please say you're working on a theme other than Omega until SS 1.5a hits, I'm sure you could get at least one kick ass theme out before then...

[Apfhex]

I tried out the Alienware skin (I do want to see the Terminator one too, I'll do that later) on my friends XP machine the other day, and while it is fantastically well done, the lack of anti-aliasing that program has really destroys the look of all the good skins. And the sounds were rather...extremely bothersome. I don't know if you can turn them off, but I don't care, since I don't like WMP in skin mode, and I use a Mac anyway. ^^

[ender2002]

i bet there are three or four people out there stealing from BBX and making a theme.

[Ozzpot]

That's it! That's the last straw! I am getting a Windows machine!

I have just started a new, well paid job as a graphic designer, so I may use some of my new money to buy an Alienware laptop, just to see this skin in action. It's just mind-blowing.

[FB Eye]

Now just take two seconds to imagine similar gorgeous animations and smooth glowing leds directly into your prefered OS, and you'll understand what features of ShapeShifter BBX is waiting on...

I think all the BBX detracters will be reduced to silence once Omega hits our Mac interfaces...

'nuff said...

[Ozzpot]

Originally posted by FB Eye:
Now just take two seconds to imagine similar gorgeous animations and smooth glowing leds directly into your prefered OS, and you'll understand what features of ShapeShifter BBX is waiting on...

Is this opinion or fact?
Is ShapeShifter 1.5 going to do animations and stuff?

[fireside]

Originally posted by Ozzpot:
Is this opinion or fact?
Is ShapeShifter 1.5 going to do animations and stuff?

opinion most likely.

i doubt BBX will do something as tacky as having constantly flashing lights.

[Ozzpot]

I really wish I could see this thing in motion, but the only Windows PC I have full access to right now is my sister's. Unfortunately it's been f**ked for the past 3 weeks, and at the local repair centre. Go figure.

I might pop into the PC store I used to work in and get them to download it to their machine. I did the same with the T3 skin, and we were all blown away. Every time I see them now they ask if I have got Omega yet!

[NetworkShadow]

lol Nothing to get a PC over, but it does give M$ a few extra points for making software that can be skinned so dynamically.

[fireside]

Originally posted by NetworkShadow:
that can be skinned so dynamically.

only because they can't design a nice GUI themselves...

[NetworkShadow]

Originally posted by fireside:
only because they can't design a nice GUI themselves...

I never said they could, but you don't see Apple doing anything like that...

[Ozzpot]

Originally posted by NetworkShadow:
I never said they could, but you don't see Apple doing anything like that...

Yeah. I still don't get why Apple doesn't embrace themeing more. Why do they make it so hard to theme the OS? I know that someone has put a lot of work into designing Aqua and all that, but why not let people have a choice? I know we do have a choice, because we've always had third party themeing apps such as Kaleidoscope, Themechanger, Duality, SS etc, but it shouldn't be this hard. We shouldn't NEED to use third party stuff. And as far as media apps go, there's even more reason to open them up to skins. People want to skin that s**t. I know a lot of PC people that use WMP over iTunes purely because it looks so damn cool. The ones that use iTunes are the same people that paw over my iBook at every opportunity; the Mac wannabes. They only use iTunes because it makes them feel a tiny bit more like they're using a Mac.

I know we OSX people are blessed with the prettiest of OSs, envied by many... but our thing is customization. The desire to make everything look nicer is what makes us real Mac freaks. It makes me mad that Windows people have such a great thing in WMP skins. They don't deserve it because most of them don't appreciate good GUI design like us.

Maybe Apple is coming round to the idea though. The Dashboard widgets look like a promising development. I imagine iTunes will always look the same though.

[fireside]

Originally posted by Ozzpot:
Why do they make it so hard to theme the OS?

because Steve Jobs is arrogant, ignorant, and an asshole.

and thats why we love him.

[aristotles]

As "cool" as those animated themes may seem to some of you, it does not make it more usable. Also, some of the themes can cause instability and performance issues while multi-tasking. No doubt bbx is a talented artist but those themes are hardly practical. No offense bbx, they are really well done eye candy.

I don't miss them at all.

Dashboard will be good enough for me.

[phillryu]

Wow Bill, must be nice knowing that thousands of Alienware customers will be facing your interface on startup. Cool stuff!

[dggraphics]

William, Beautiful work!! Those animations are incredible. Wow 138 frames for one of them, crazy. Busy is not the word. I hope you are getting compensated for your carpel tunnel.

[TheDisaster]

Very nice BBX!

I hate to derail this at all, but to those talking about Omega and possible SS 1.5 features, I remember in one of the first posts in the Omega thread BBX mentioning animated icons. I don't remember anybody picking up on that and commenting, but if that's one of the features for SS 1.5, then I think I will be happy with it (1.5 and Omega).

[mugget]

oohhhh sweet!!

that's looking awesome! i just wish i could see the animations...

well at least now i know why BBX is so busy, working full-time at the Skins Factory mustn't give much spare time.

[Kristoff]

Originally posted by Frisbee:


I don't know what to say... I wish we had stuff like this on our macs.

I wish I had extra CPU cycles to waste on crap like this.
It's all I can do to bear using iTunes while I'm compiling code.

[eyevaan]

BBX - THAT is truely remarkable.
I was completely blown away in all the good ways.

getting a moving glimpse of some what you talked about in the Macthemes interview.

[bbxstudio]

For those who can't download the skin to check out the animations, here's a GIF of the spin open sequence... a bit of a download, but you get to see it in all its glory this way

http://www.bbxstudio.com/AWspinsequence.gif

BTW, I had nothing to do with the sound effects

[tjr124]

That's really nice looking. While I agree that it does not look like it would help with the usability, sometimes its nice to have things just because they are fun and cool.

BBX, I thought that I read in another forum topic somewhere that you use Cinema 4D for the 3D work. Is this still the case? If it is, would you mind providing a little insight as to why you prefer it to other 3D apps?

[MorphOSX]

These look great, BBX. Can't wait to see what you have for the MacOS.

[bbxstudio]

Originally posted by tjr124:
BBX, I thought that I read in another forum topic somewhere that you use Cinema 4D for the 3D work. Is this still the case? If it is, would you mind providing a little insight as to why you prefer it to other 3D apps?

It seems to be the one that's powerful enough to pull off cool things without being overly complex... I actually took training courses in Maya (with a guy from Disney and a guy from ILM), but I quickly came to the realization that Maya is just way too complex considering what I needed 3D for. I also like Cinema's Bhodinut shaders, modular scene setup and its ability to work closely with AdobeAfterEffects and Photoshop.

[NetworkShadow]

Originally posted by MorphOSX:
Can't wait to see what you have for the MacOS.

Ditto. (I think everyone on this forum can't wait)

[a holck]

Originally posted by bbxstudio:
For those who can't download the skin to check out the animations, here's a GIF of the spin open sequence... a bit of a download, but you get to see it in all its glory this way

Very nice! Some motion blur would make it even better....

[Lancer409]

GoooooooooRgeous ... should make this for a mac program. Then-again, I assume you got paid by alienware. Anyone wanna chip in for a mac version for ... VLC perhaps? Im going to download that for my pc =P

[Zimphire]

Apple needs to grab this guy before MS does.

[Ozzpot]

Originally posted by Zimphire:
Apple needs to grab this guy before MS does.

Yeah. But for some reason I get the feeling MicroSoft would be the ones more likely to see the potential in this kind of talent. I just seems to me that although Apple have always had more focus on GUI and eye candy than MS, the tables may be starting to turn. I have this uncomfortable feeling that MS are gaining ground on us. I don't know why. Maybe this whole thing about BBX's WMP skins has me shook up.

[cube3]

someone send Steve an email with a link to that alienware skin and ask him why iTunes can't do that

[Zimphire]

Originally posted by Ozzpot:
Yeah. But for some reason I get the feeling MicroSoft would be the ones more likely to see the potential in this kind of talent. I just seems to me that although Apple have always had more focus on GUI and eye candy than MS, the tables may be starting to turn. I have this uncomfortable feeling that MS are gaining ground on us. I don't know why. Maybe this whole thing about BBX's WMP skins has me shook up.

MS hasn't been gaining ground. They have been adding GUI stuff, but it's just AWEFUL.

It's the 3rd parties that have been gaining ground.

[codywalton]

Originally posted by cube3:
someone send Steve an email with a link to that alienware skin and ask him why iTunes can't do that

Change that "someone" to "everyone", and we might be able to get something done.