Version 2.1 Available

foo_looks mirrors


Changelog

1. Compiled with 0.8 SDK
2. Lua is now integrated into foo_looks and you can remove the lua dlls from the foobar folder
3. Removed "look swap" and all items associated with that functionality. No longer useful with scripting support
4. Per pixel alpha blending with the desktop. foo_looks is compatible with Win2K and WinXP only
5. new section window property int blendflag valid values are

• blendflags.Opaque (use this if your look has no per pixel alpha for better speed)
• blendflags.Alpha (required if you want to blend to desktop)

6. new rendermap flag - render.Erase used mostly for the background sprite in a look using per pixel blending to prevent "onion skin" effect
7. minor optimization to ignore spectrum data when look is not active
8. lua function change for mouse handlers - x.y passed to all mouse handlers. Note your current handlers still work since lua is very loose about parameter passing but you must include then in the parameter list if you wish to use them. These can be used in place of look_mouseX(), look_mouseY() in these handlers.

• function onleftbuttondown(this,x,y)
• function onmouseenter(this,x,y)
• etc.

9. new parameter passed to function onplaybackstop(reason) values for reason are

• 0 - user
• 1 - end of file
• 2 - new track

10. organized Components/look menu and added "looks" popup menu
11. moved all default look assets to "foo_looks\Default" folder. You need to update your look if you are importing the foo_looks_common.ski file. Also you can delete the default look assets from the foo_looks folder from previous version
12. new lua functions

• void window_setAlpha(a) -- a is 0 to 100 - sets alpha for entire window regardless of per pixel settings and requires blendflags.Alpha
• image look_getImage(sprite)
• look_invalidate(sprite [spritelist])
• {a,r,g,b} image_getPixel(image,x,y)
• void image_setPixel(image,lookColor) -- performance issues
• int image_getWidth(image)
• int image_getHeight(image)

foo_looks essential information recap.

1. Installing the plugin

Step 1
extract the plugin into your foobar2000/components dir

..if you are using win2k, you will also need to install the following:
- GDI+ dll's(from www.microsoft.com)

IMPORTANT: because of the advanced alpha-blending features, the foo_looks plugin only works on Win2k / XP

Step 2
start Foobar2000, and watch the console for any error messages.
(if you get an error, then paste it in this forum)

Step 3
hopefully, there are no errors. so go to the components menu in foobar2000, and select Look > Show > Activate
you should now see the default skin on the screen.

note: as long as foo_looks is activated when you exit fb2k, you will not be reuired to manually activate foo_looks again for the next session.

Step 4
download some more skins!!
get them from:
the gallery (needs updating)
the old foo_looks topic (the latest skins are found here, but it requires browsing through 24 pages)

remember to extract the skins to foobar2000/components/foo_looks/

Step 5
if you want to change 'looks', you have 2 choices.
(a) go to your foobar2000 preferences, and go to the preferences for '+Components+Looks'
(b) on the components drop-down menu, select Look > Looks > ..then pick a skin

that's it.

---

2. Start contributing!!

we need advice, tips, ideas, bug notifications, designs, help, support....
but most of all.... WE NEED YOUR SKINS!!!

we would really like people to contribute skins to the project, either by creating original GUIs, or by asking permission & porting winamp2/3/5 skins

for a complete beginners guide to building a foo_looks skin, check my tutorial

then after reading this, check out the 2 additional how-to guides ( 001, 002 )

for an idea of what sort of things are possible, check out this prototype version of my new skin Graviton:


download tk32-graviton_0.7.zip (still in development)

--
if you have any questions, about anything, then i'm happy to answer emails

tkelly32@btinternet.com

....
finally, the official foo_looks resource pages contain all the information above, and will soon be updated to contain even more.
- more tutorials
- more skins
- more FAQs
etc...

picking up from the other thread...

tk32:
sorry it took me so long to get this posted.. my connection was... well.. disconnected..

here's the lid graphic

i can email the entire skin in PSD (or whatever format you'd prefer) if you need it to get an idea of how that lid fits into the skin..


danz:

the good news: the recompiling with 0.8 SDK seems to have fixed the exit button crash

the bad news: Always on Top seems to be permanently enabled.. the toggle is stuck in the on position and doesn't respond to clicks.. i've tried updating my script to take the new "Show" submenu into a account, and the toggle remains unresponsive.. the menu command itself doesn't work either..

since there's no real point in having a look activated if it's not always on top, this doesn't seem like much of a problem, but i liked being able to use the "show in taskbar" function without always on top, to keep the look readily accessible but out of the way.. looks with compact modes don't have this problem, but neither of the ones i'm making have a compact mode yet.. (not until i get the standard modes working fully )


peas,
bogce


ps: @tk: that volume knob script is just about the only thing missing from my first look right now (aside from the aforementioned compact mode).. any progress? apologies if i'm being a nuisance

I take it from the "because of the advanced alpha-blending features, the foo_looks plugin only works on Win2k / XP" that there was no looking into the Win9x version of GDI+'s "fake" alpha-blending/alpha-transparency? It does seem to work quite nice in the LiteStep modules that use it from what I've heard. It may not be perfect, but at least it works.

I am not sure how I can constructively help with this except by posting my own experience. On my machine, "Always On Top" works perfectly, except that the tick to signify whether it's toggled is not there.

No problems here so far danZ. Excellent work as always.

I have WinNT 4.0 / SP6a at the office and i got a coloured box instead of the skin( i posted about this issue in another thread). Is there any solution to make it works on WinNT4? ( i got no problems with foo_looks 1.0.x.x and Foobar 0.7)

I am using foo_looks with the micropanel skin but i just use it in the small mode, so my question is if there is a way for the skin to remember that it was small. It always changes back to the big normal mode when I restart foobar.

Linkin see here: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....ndpost&p=190426

Hi there

I've just tried foo looks for the first time and I really like the default skin ...

I guess this is a really stupid newbie question but where can I set the path to the album art to appear in that little window? I have the album art for every album saved in the respective album folder. I did try to search the forums but I got lost in that 24-page-thread.

Thx

It should just work as it looks for the album art in the same folder as the song that is playing. My guess is the search isn't finding your album art files. How are they named?

I could probably check the OS version and then have 2 drawing routines - one for XP using alpha and one for the older operating systems that would not support the alpha. I'll have to see how big of a pain that would be to support.

Yes, it looks like I missed an SDK change - the way you add a checked state to a menu has changed in 0.8 from 0.7. I'll get this fixed up next time around.

Thx a lot ... i did not rename the jpegs after downloading ... now it is working.

Looks nice. Just a little bit too tiny with SXGA+. Would be nice to have a (double-size) feature like in Winamp. TV mode is no option for me as it is too large and changes resolution.

DanZ, back in December in this thread you mentioned that there might be a possiblity of making a look On Top only of foobar2000 rather than all apps:


I presume this isn't yet possible, as I can't find an appropriate option in 2.1, although I admit I haven't been following the foo_looks thread so I may just have missed it. Anyway, if it isn't yet available is this still something you would consider adding?

An example of how I would like to use it is to take a transparent cover art look which just shows the album art, similar to the one by melomane here, and place it over the main playlist.

good to know..


i figured out a slight work-around.. it will probably be made redundant by the next update but for anyone else having this problem, here goes: i've been able to successfully activate and de-activate Always on Top mode using the menu command.. the LED toggle switch in the look doesn't follow automatically, but when AOT mode is off, and the LED is on, the LED can be clicked off.. but then the menu must be used to turn AOT back on, and the LED can then be clicked to the on position.. basically i guess checkAOT() can't check, hence the script won't work..

that's probably incredibly obvious to everyone already, but i had to type it out like that to understand it myself.. so..


peace,
bogs

just to let everyone know that i'm home again, and i can start to answer all your questions one-by-one

i'll try to answer all questions and emails by this evening

use mine...

What I would really like is to see the cover art within the main foobar GUI (or foo_ui_columns if that is what I am using). Unfortunately there does not seem to be a way of doing this or even really a suitable place to put it. So my idea was to use foo_looks with a transparent cover art look like yours (but without the mouseover functionality) over the playlist, so the album art effectively appears as a background to the playlist.

The problem is I don't know how to acheive this. The look should only stay on top of the foobar2000 main window. But if I select Always On Top then it stays on top of every application, and if I deselect Always On Top then it becomes hidden behind everything, even the foobar2000 main window. If I understood DanZ's comments correctly, the functionality to acheive this doesn't currently exist within foo_looks. This is what I was asking for.

Use mine... (reload it )

set look "always on top" AND foobar "minimize in the system tray" (preferences/display/defaut user interface/system tray)

to kill mouseover functionality change this:

alpha = 40
fadeto = 40

function onupdate(this)
if (look_insideSprite(this,look_mouseX(),look_mouseY())) then
if (alpha < 100) then
alpha = alpha
window_setAlpha(alpha)
end
elseif (alpha > fadeto) then
alpha = alpha
window_setAlpha(alpha)
end
end

endlua

Did I mention I now use Gravitron to convert Winamp Users to foobar? ^^
go tk32 go!

in that case i'll have to get to work on the missing features



apologies that i've been AWOL most of the week - had a busy work schedule

EDIT: i have a free evening tonight - so i'll be available & adding new features over the next few hours

bogsnarth, animating drawers / sliding trays is much easier than trying to do a lid, because you can slide them behind something

like this...

image


if you want to animate a lid like you showed me, then it depends on where you imagine the lid going when it's open

if you imagine a 'real life' sliding lid, it can either slide up & over/under something else, or else it can slide on an arc into the skin (like a garage door)

.. in other words - i need a little more info before i can code it for you


Moderation: large image linked

Open Projects

the following projects have been started, but not completed (for whatever reason)

anybody is free to download the files and continue working on them

you are even permitted to edit the graphics in any way

---
1. AstAmp

a port of the winamp skin used for the AstonShell GUI replacement.
includes all graphics required

info & download: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....ndpost&p=187407

screenshot: see image
this screenshot is half-size

---
2. Mac Attack

something i made in a hurry and never developed.
requires more graphics (which is why i included the PSD file)

info & download: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....ndpost&p=185013

screenshot: see image

---
3. Albumart Frame

something i put together in a hurry to demonstrate albumart, sliding drawers & toggle display
see the info link for details of what features you can try to add

info & download: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....ndpost&p=183314

screenshot: see image

AlbumDisplay has been updated for Foolooks 2.1. It now features a coverart only mode, so if u want coverart and don't want to use foo_looks for commands etc then u might like this. It features no text and only one small button in the bottom corner to load up the full look again (appears on mouseover only). This can most probably be hardcoded out altogether when i add in more .ski comments.

I'll post a link when a few ppl have tested it for me.

EDIT: Any suggestions why

results in a foobar failure error?

the exit button error seems to have been fixed for me with the latest foo looks 2.1 and fb2k 0.8

be sure you remove the old foo_looks.dll from your /foobar2000/components/ directory, or you'll have some weird problems..

i use this for the close button in graviton:



and i never get any errors/failures

no old foo_looks.dll files anywhere in sight...

Thanks melomane. This kind of does the trick. However, there are two problems for me. Firstly, I tend to focus other apps just by clicking them in the task bar. It is a pain to have to minimise foobar2000 first. And if i don't minimise it then the look is still on top of everything. I don't know of any way to make foobar2000 automatically minimise whenever it loses focus to another app.

Secondly is something I hadn't considered which is that using a transparent look as a background doesn't really work because of course really it is still on top so when I click on the playlist where the look is, the playlist doesn't respond. I am actually clicking on the look. I presume there is no way round this, unless it is possible to configure a look to ignore mouse input and pass it to the window behind it?

for the background section try using this:


i don't know whether this will prevent dragging as well, too early for me to start working.

when you use render.erase on the background sprite, any pixels that are totally transparent pass mouse input to the window beneath

go back to my post on 'open projects' (page 1) try out #003, called albumart frame

play a song that doesn't have any albumart, then position the skin over the fb2k playlist... you'll be able to click right through the center of the skin!

Hmm.. the look I am using from melomane doesn't have any part that says "background section" (or "section background"). I don't know anything about ski files.

There is a line with the text "sprite background" so I tried creating a new line under that with the text "bool mouseinput false" but this didn't seem to have any effect.

So I thought perhaps I needed to create my own background section so I added a new line with the text "section background" at the end of the file and then a line with "bool mouseinput false" under that but this also didn't seem to have any effect.

I loaded the tk-albumart_frame.ski look and I get errors:

I'm afraid I don't know anything about .ski files so don't know what to do about these.

Presuming this is an unrelated issue, looking at your explanation I guess this means I will only be able to click through the album art where the pixel colour in the image is white? Is this correct? Is there any way to make it so all pixels are clickable through?

ok, the albumframe errors are due to the relocating of the common scripts file

i'm sorry i didn't see that issue before it happened

i'll fix that ASAP


as for your requests - i'm starting to get the feeling that the kind of functionality you are looking for is very different to that of a typical skin

by reading your comments i think you need a dedicated albumart plugin.

foo_looks can achieve this, but it won't pass mouse input to the window beneath unless you are clicking on invisible parts of the skin

so if you tried to click through an album cover, the fb2k window wouldn't respond

Thanks


Yes, I'm starting to think you're right.


Is there any way foo_looks could be changed to allow this behaviour? The beauty of foo_looks compared to other solutions is how configurable it is. I can't see I would be likely to get that level of configurablility with an album art plugin. Also if it worked how I wanted I could then use this with any playlist GUI: the default one, foo_ui_columns or whatever else comes along in the future.

Putting aside the click-pass-through issue for a moment, is there an answer to my other question: is it possible to make the look window always on top of the foobar2000 window but not on top of other applications? An example of what I would like is the foobar2000 console window. This is always on top of the foobar2000 main window, but if I bring another app to the front without minimising foobar2000 then that app is on top of the console window too. It would be great if foo_looks could do this.

Not presently because the look window is a child of the desktop window. I can see about adding a config setting to allow this to be configured so that foo_looks can be a child of the foobar2000 window.

Thanks DanZ.

You will still have issues with other apps getting in the way, but you could have a transparent fb2k window ontop of the albumart window. That way atleast you could see your art, and click on the playlist...

This has nothing to do with the previous post, but I wanted to add a small contribution...

I like the exit button from foo_looksv1 default skin 'mini', and I miss it in the new foo_looksv2 default skin 'mini'. I also need a button to show/hide foobar's main window . Thus I've made small mods to foo_looks.ski includind these features (modded .ski here)

Maybe the developers (danZ, tk32 ?) could include these small (but handy, at least for me) features in the next foo_look versions ?

danZ is the plugin developer

i am the skins, scripts & tutorials guy

the default look was created by danZ as a feature-showcase. i'm sure he'd be happy to add requested features, but if you are able to add them yourself, then that's even better

i love the idea of users modifying the skins to their own needs - that's what i call uber-customization!

Great effort guys thanks. Now we need more skins. I think updating the foobar looks site would attract more developers, wouldn't it?

or how about updating the new foo_looks 2.0 gallery?

yeah

the 2.0 gallery is my responsibility

i will bring it up to date as soon as possible

however, i'm not sure when AngelGR will update foobarlooks.tk - it's still only 1.0 compatible. i have a bad feeling that site will fizzle out - as i asked him to make an update 2 months ago.

here is a provisional list of skins - if anyone knows of any i forgot, then please emend the list

foo_looks 2.0 compatible skins:

• default look - danZ
• fooAMP - tk32
• micropanel - tk32
• carbon - DocUK
• concept - UpNorth
• Graviton* - tk32
• Hand Orb* - tk32
• coverart - melomane
• aeroamp - aero
• orb* - anza
• skin raw - URMEL
• bogslook* - bogsnarth
• AlbumDisplay - Overdo

* this skin is still in development

hope i didn't forget anyone

IMPORTANT:

possible bug when used with styleXP
=========================

i've had emails from 3 different users reporting that foo_looks does not work while using the windows XP theming software StyleXP (http://www.tgtsoft.com/)

all 3 users have reported skin display problems like this, even after uninstalling StyleXP:



i've even heard of the program messing up winamp skins too, although i've been too scared to try it for myself.

if anyone here is succesfully running foo_looks & styleXP together, then please let me know by email.

tkelly32@btinternet.com

....as for the rest of you, you can't say you havn't been warned

---
btw...

Graviton update in the next day or 2!

....foo_looks & styleXP works fine here

Anyway, StyleXP (v 1.01) with skin "brushed" already caused trouble when I wanted to have access to "Software" under XP. Uninstalling of programs was not possible anymore. It took me me some time to figure out that StyleXP was the reason. It was possible again when I changed the style.
There are also some other styles that seem to be critical.
So I´m assuming that SOME STYLES are causing the trouble. Anyone who has problems of this kind should try to swith to the standard style (without disabling StyleXP) to see if everything is works fine then.

In that case you should try another style.

Style XP and foo_looks working well here (unless the problem I've got with the always on top is related to this, I have to investigate further).

thanks for the feedback guys

... the plot thickens ...

perhaps it's a graphics card driver problem

maybe some 2d hardware accelerations that are screwing with GDI+

(i'm no expert on this topic so we may need to find one)

the AOT problem is generic, i have it here and i'm not running StyleXP.

tk32 - u forgot to list me

Download AlbumDisplay0.2

There is a coverart only sublook, everything is pretty self explanatory, just have a play and use both left and right mouse buttons I'll add some extra features in later, this is just so there is another skin available to choose from.

Well,... I wouldn't list my skin as "not under developement".
Shure, I paused (don't know how long, gotta redo the whole thing ) it, but it's not done.

I have this problem solved using the 'F9' key. (I don't use styleXP). But this is still unsolved in 2.1 (still need 'F9')