Zitat von Scotty

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but it will take some time to get 2D running similar.

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We can wait. We need not to hurry! Not at all, Scotty. Don't worry, take it easy... ;-)

What does "GUI" mean? --> Graphical User Interface

http://www.usabilitynet.org/tools/style.htm

Well, I wish I had been working on some other part instead, because I've just made several sets of premium space textures. Would it be impossible to add a "browse for jpg" button in the color picker? Of course it would be nice to have all aspects of the skin packed together, but if that is too much trouble then ANY way to do it would be fine with me. In my opinion it wouldn't look as good to have a solid color over a textured board, but that's just my opinion! Maybe if there was a way to take a default board texture and tint it to whatever color you wanted...? Images as textures would be better, but I understand if you don't want to use those. You guys built the building, I'm just here to paint it (possibly).

And yes! Take your time! Take a look at some of my ideas when they are done, and then you can decide if you want to pursue making Scrabble3D skinnable!

Zitat von Apollonius

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1. In my opinion it wouldn't look as good to have a solid color over a textured board, but that's just my opinion!
2. Well, I wish I had been working on some other part instead, because I've just made several sets of premium space textures.
3. Images as textures would be better, but I understand if you don't want to use those.
4. You guys built the building, I'm just here to paint it (possibly).

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1. I agree, this is also my opinion!

2. No, don't worry! I am already very curious to see what they look like...!

3. I agree again! But of course, it is Scotty, the developer of Scrabble3D, who will decide what is possible for him to do and what will be too laborious to realize.

4. In fact! For me, our Scrabble3D.exe is a beautiful girl that has only a few simple dresses, among them the nice little green one, but now hopefully our sexy Exy will get gorgeous Haute Couture ball gowns!

With collection I have some bitmaps copied together in mind. So your work isn't a waste of time.
Let's discuss the difference between one texture for each fieldtype and one texture for all that is modified by color. The disadvantages of many textures are increased memory usage, difficult interface handling, and, in my opinion, cluttered view. An advantage is, of course, a higher degree of freedom for designers.
You can test the one-for-all type in 3D mode. Take a look on the technical aspects - a high level of detail doesn't work because the view is usually zoomed out.

Zitat von Scotty

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1. With collection I have some bitmaps copied together in mind. So your work isn't a waste of time. [...]
2. The disadvantages of many textures are
a) increased memory usage,
b) difficult interface handling, and,
c) in my opinion, cluttered view. [...]

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1. Fine!

2. a) Yes, of course --> does it affect RAM memory?

2. b) In which sense? What would be difficult in handling, if we will have whole theme packages that can be downloaded as sets like dictionary and language files and charged in the program by clicking on the corresponding item in a pulldown menu (like dic and lang files)? I think Apollonius should not offer different single textures which will be composed by the user. I would prefer whole sets like Spring Theme where the artistic composition of different textures has already been made by Apollonius himself, i.e. by the artist - not by the user.

2. c) That will be the great challenge. But it will be the artist's business to make sure that the view will not be supposed to be cluttered, when a certain artistic design preset is charged in the program.

Well here is the most developed skin so far. It was just an experiment to begin with, but I wound up finishing the board design. Since there are many types of premium tiles which can exist in Scrabble3D, I went ahead and included several different designs and colors.

Zitat von Bussinchen

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2. b) In which sense? What would be difficult in handling, if we will have whole theme packages that can be downloaded as sets like dictionary and language files and charged in the program by clicking on the corresponding item in a pulldown menu (like dic and lang files)? I think Apollonius should not offer different single textures which will be composed by the user. I would prefer whole sets like Spring Theme where the artistic composition of different textures has already been made by Apollonius himself, i.e. by the artist - not by the user.

2. c) That will be the great challenge. But it will be the artist's business to make sure that the view will not be supposed to be cluttered, when a certain artistic design preset is charged in the program.

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Would this mean that once I made the skin, it could not be altered or further customized by anyone? If I, say, chose the white flower to represent the 4xletter space for the skin, would people be able to change that? I was rather hoping that people could go to the part of the program designed to assign colors for premium spaces, and find a button for "import texture" or "browse for texture" there...but I am far from a programmer! I don't know what is possible and what isn't. Plus it sounds like you may not want that anyway...but what about people who want to make a custom game while a skin is worn?

As you can see in this screenshot, my board backgrounds have 2 parts; a background image, and a blank grid overlay. I was hoping that I could just leave the board (with grid) blank (as shown to the left in the image below), and that way the default board setup would look like a normal game. However, if people wanted to make a custom board layout, they would have a blank board to begin with.



That's all of the parts of the board together...the blank board, and the premium tiles. You can just see the edge of the grid overlay to the right. Some of the premium space textures need to be completed, but I wanted to show what I have so far. (I'm also working on 2 other skins, but this is the furthest along). Since this is composed of several parts, I can edit any one of them and recompile the board. For instance if it's too busy, I can edit the repeating grass pattern, or replace it completely. I can even scrap the whole thing if a) people dislike it, or b) it isn't technically feasible! I learned a lot while making this, and that grid overlay alone was a lot of work that I can use for unlimited skins in the future. I just realized that I used transparent gif files for that to make the flowers look better against the background, but again...I'm flexible. I can do those differently in necessary.

But here is the (default) board so far:



I'm also working on a theme which uses some of my artwork, but I thought I'd try to fly this idea first. :)

Oh, and I was thinking of using that repeating grass pattern for the main program texture and the menu panels as well, but again...let's see what people think of these first!

Just beautiful!

Thank you!

Zitat von Apollonius

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Thank you!

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Of course, there are more aspects to consider:

Difficulties for Scotty in programming
Inplementation in such a way that transperancy for the "normal user" is not impeded

Anyway, I do like your creative ideas!

Of course, yes.

And thank you again!

...Although I don't quite understand what you mean by 'impeding transparency'. Can you explain?

Really nice design. And this example shows to me that premium fields shouldn't be just colored. But you placed different grasses on the floor, that wouldn't be possible.

Zitat

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...Although I don't quite understand what you mean by 'impeding transparency'. Can you explain?

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I´m not Grangrau, but I think he means with "impeding transparency" that the user might be distracted by the design. As Scotty mentioned it is not possible to design every basic field individually. This could be a chance to minimize this risk. Don´t get me wrong, i also love this ÖKO-design (ÖKO: german abbreviation for ecologically). Which additional flowers should we chose for Superscrabble?

Gero

I understand, and I will work on this skin using one texture unit repeated for the basic board spaces. Naturally (hah) I would love to have one image as the entire board, but that is not how the program works. If I want to accomplish anything, I must work WITH the program! I will try different ones until I find a cubic unit of that background that will tile well, and then I will offer another example.

I'm sorry, I didn't quite understand how this would work before!

[EDIT 1]Better?



[EDIT 2] Thanks, Scotty!

[EDIT 3] And now these don't have to be transparent gif files any more.

Dear Apollonius,

let me tell you that I really love your innovative thinking, and your flower garden Scrabble board as well!
Before you joined us in our forum, I never had imagined any Scrabble board design in these terms!

Zitat von Scotty

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[...] you placed different grasses on the floor, that wouldn't be possible.

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Of course not yet, but hopefully in the future! I must say that I prefer the different grass pictures, because the board looks more natural. IMHO repeated texture units are boring and above all they are not suitable for real Loren Hall themes in Natural Painting style which I am looking forward to. That's what I meant when I said that users should chose whole presets for different themes, not customize their boards themselves - because chosing n x n different textures for all the squares of the n x n Scrabble board would be too intricate for the users. At least all single texture units for the squares of the board foreground (currently choosable field colors) should be merged to one picture that will cover the whole board. I know that there is a problem for the 2D view of Classic Scrabble, Superscrabble, individually customized board sizes like 17 x 17 for the italian Scarabeo and other personalized boards. Maybe it could be possible for the program to create field units itself by segmenting one big picture for the whole board before loading it. So the same picture has to be segmented in 15 x 15 units for a Classic Scrabble, in 17 x 17 units for a Scarabeo board, in 21 x 21 units for the Scuperscrabble board and in n x n units for any indivudually customized board. That means that we should not compose the board by using different small textures, but load one picture for the whole board foreground. I am aware of the programming problems, because just now this is absolutely not possible. But it would be nice to have this possibility.

Zitat von Apollonius

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Would this mean that once I made the skin, it could not be altered or further customized by anyone? If I, say, chose the white flower to represent the 4xletter space for the skin, would people be able to change that? I was rather hoping that people could go to the part of the program designed to assign colors for premium spaces, and find a button for "import texture" or "browse for texture" there...

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Well, I think in principle both solutions could be possible, but you know, all config files need to be stored in the config directory (you can open the config directory, if you click on the button with the three little points when you open the dialogue by selecting Configuration > Settings > Game Options > tab Options). If you have many different themes or skins for Scrabble3D, that means that you will have plenty of files in your config directory and then it could be hard to chose the right file for the right square. So maybe the alternative offering a pulldown menu with theme presets would be easier to handle for the user.

What should happen with 3D cube? Should textures applied there as well?