Skin Color format (SkinUserBGColor)?

[Bill DeWitt]

I have tried several color models to adjust the SkinUserBGColor to match my rgb<000,255,000> without success. I have tried CMY, CMYK, HSB, HLS and YIQ.

Unless I have done something wrong (which is not unlikely), it's some odd value or method. It has 8 digits, which seem to operate randomly. Anyone know how to convert?

[Carl2]

Bill DeWitt,
  I'm looking at the blued.uhp, SkinUserBGColor=11316396
    this means red = 113, green = 163, and blue = 96.
    For the brain.uhp it = 0
               red=0, green=0, blue=0  yeilds black
                          for =255255255
                red=255, green=255, blue=255 yeilds white
Hope this helped.
Carl2

[Bill DeWitt]

Thanks for looking into it Carl, maybe I was just working on it too late in the evening. But I am sure I tried 000255000 and got red or orange or an error message.

I'll get to mess with it some more in a little while

Thanks again! Bill

[Bill DeWitt]

Well, it is still not responding with typical rgb format.

SkinUserBGColor=000255000 gives me orange.
SkinUserBGColor=100200100 gives me a error.
SkinUserBGColor=1010010  gives a dark brown

The last should only happen if it were 10, 10, 01...

I'm so confused...[]

[Bill DeWitt]

quote:Originally posted by Carl2

Bill DeWitt,
  I'm looking at the blued.uhp, SkinUserBGColor=11316396
    this means red = 113, green = 163, and blue = 96.
    For the brain.uhp it = 0
               red=0, green=0, blue=0  yeilds black
                          for =255255255
                red=255, green=255, blue=255 yeilds white
Hope this helped.
Carl2

Carl, did you try 255255255? I get an error, not white. I can't believe I have spent two days trying to get one color value right.

[Art]

Yes, 255,255,255 = White

Perhaps the following link might help:

http://www.web-source.net/216_color_chart.htm

[Bill DeWitt]

quote:Originally posted by Art

Yes, 255,255,255 = White

Thanks Art,

Except it doesn't seem to work that way in the SkinUserBGColor parameter. I get an error. I have found several ways to make white, but 255255255 is not one of them.

I do know the RGB format, and have certainly tried that, so can I assume that there is a problem with my copy of Hal? Have you actually used this to make a background color in the user input text box?

I also read a post about this which suggests that the format is (red+(256*green)+(256*256*blue)) but I didn't get a chance to test the many ways this might possibly be implemented (for instance, what is green? 010? 1.0? IOW, how are the indivicual colors formatted before you start multiplying).

Urrgggh! Third day on ome little not-green box.

[Darius]

quote:Originally posted by Bill DeWitt
I also read a post about this which suggests that the format is (red+(256*green)+(256*256*blue))

right in VB

Public Function rgbtocolor(r As Byte, g As Byte, b As Byte)
  rgbtocolor = r + (g * 256) + (b * 65536)
End Function

Public Function colortorgb(color As Long) as string
Dim r, g, b As Byte
  r = color And 255
  g = (color  256) And 255
  b = (color  65536) And 255
  colortorgb = r & "," & g & "," & b
End Function

Color white is not "255255255" but 16777215, red=255, green=65280
and blue=16711680

[Bill DeWitt]

quote:Originally posted by Darius
Color white is not "255255255" but 16777215, red=255, green=65280
and blue=16711680

That's what I needed to know. Worked first time every time... many, many thanks.

Now at least I can move on to some other trivial problem that will completely stump me until I grind my teeth to stubs....

BTW, I always used a color picker in Visual Basic, but is there a history to this unusual way to set a color? Just curious...

[Carl2]

Darius,
  Thanks for the info, I've made a copy since I've seen this mentioned before.
  Bill D,
  Sorry to be giving you the wrong info, I made a skin ages ago, modified paramaters, must not have gotten into this area. Glad to see someone gave you the right info.
Carl2

[GamerThom]

OK, I guess I'll help you nice people out with this one.
Here is a sample of a proper skin.uhp for use in Hal 6.0
along with the proper designations for colors. []
Just input your skin and button names for the bitmaps you
are using, along with the bitmap and text I/O box coordinates,
and the transparency matrix coordinates from the .dat file that
you will have to generate using the Make Transparency Tool. []
__________________________________________________________________
[Ultra Hal Assistant 6.0 Plugin]
Type=Skin
Name=nameofskin
Author=your name
About=description of skin

;Base size and bitmap of background
SkinPic=nameofskin.bmp
SkinWidth=
SkinHeight=
SkinFontSize=10

;Coordinates of Animated Character
SkinFaceX=
SkinFaceY=
skinFaceWidth=
skinFaceHeight=

;Coordinates and bitmap of menu button
SkinMenuPic=MENU.bmp
SkinMenuX=
SkinMenuY=
SkinMenuWidth=
SkinMenuHeight=

;Coordinates and bitmap of microphone button
SkinMicPic=MIC.bmp
SkinMicX=
SkinMicY=
SkinMicWidth=
SkinMicHeight=

;Coordinates and bitmap of minimize button    
SkinMinimizePic=MIN.bmp
SkinMinimizeX=
SkinMinimizeY=
SkinMinimizeWidth=
SkinMinimizeHeight=
   
;Coordinates and bitmap of close button    
SkinClosePic=CLOSE.bmp
SkinCloseX=
SkinCloseY=
SkinCloseWidth=
SkinCloseHeight=

;Coordinates and color of Hal's output box
;The background of the output displayed is transparent to the background bitmap
SkinHalBGColor=16777215
SkinHalFGColor=0
SkinHalFontName=Verdana
SkinHalTalkAlign=Center
SkinHalTalkFontSize=12
SkinHalX=
SkinHalY=
skinhalWidth=
skinhalHeight=

;Coordinates and color of User's input box
;The background of the input displayed is transparent to the background bitmap
SkinUserBGColor=16777215  
SkinUserFGColor=0
SkinUserFontName=Verdana
SkinUserTalkAlign=Center
SkinUserTalkFontSize=12
SkinUserX=
SkinUserY=
skinuserWidth=
skinuserHeight=

;Microphone Meter Settings
SkinVolBGColor=2550255
SkinVolMode=3

;Coordinates and color of Caption where both Hal's and the User's name is displayed
;The background of the text displayed is transparent to the background bitmap
SkinTalkFGColor=0
SkinTalkFontName=Verdana
SkinTalkAlign=Center
SkinTalkFontSize=8
SkinTalkX=
SkinTalkY=
SkinTalkWidth=
SkinTalkHeight=

Transparency= (tranparency map coordinates are inputted here)
***You need the MakeTransparency Utility from zabaware to generate
    the .dat file coordinate matrix from the skin bitmap image file.
    Then copy and paste them here. Any areas you want to be
    transparent should be colored using a palette setting
    of 2550255
____________________________________________________________________

If you can't find the MakeTransperancy Utility on the
plug-ins page here, you can also download it from the
Archive section of my web site. []

http://www.charctercreationsanddesignworks.us/index.html

[AnArtist]

I found this topic when searching for an answer myself.

I eventually found at least a partial solution (a list of color codes that works). It's apparently a Windows proprietary thing:

http://geni.embeddingperl.com/public/images/pbcolors.png

I'm also attaching the chart in case the link goes down.

[AnArtist]

Actually, I found out that doesn't work either. Still get the errors, though at least now the background is white instead of black. Does anyone know how to change these colors? It's maddening.

[Carl2]

AnArtist
   Frist I find this a bit confusing, I originally thought of the characters skin coloring but find in this case skin means the Graphical User Interface or GUI.  I refer to the characters skin coloring as the body skin.  I am using Paint Shop Pro and created my own skin ( GUI ) without the need to go into the  formatting of the color code.  I basically just drew a picture of the GUI complete with all the buttons and interfaces and put them into the Skins folder. 
  There are some skins for use with Ultra Hal available for download at http://www.global.datahopa.co.uk/hal/downloads/ ......
Carl2

[AnArtist]

I've created my own skin too, including buttons - but it needs a UHP file to specify the coordinates of the buttons, input and output boxes, etc. Even when I delete the 'SkinUserBGColor' and 'SkinHalBGColor' lines it still shows those boxes as black. I simply want those boxes to be either transparent (to show the color I put in those boxes on my GUI design), or else to simple reiterate that colour (which is HEX #F7EED2, or RGB 247,238,210).

I attempted to simply use the 'Cream' colour from the chart above, which is somewhat close. Although it does change the input/output box colours from black to white, it doesn't change them to creme - plus it gives a number of errors when Hal is opened that one must click 'Ignore'
through.

Granted, to create my UHP file, I created a new copy of LrgeChar.uhp which I renamed, retitled, and edited. The only two BG colours specified in my variant are the input and output boxes, however, and they still appear either black (without errors) or white (with errors) only, regardless of the colour specified.