Zabaware Support Forums

Zabaware Forums => Ultra Hal Assistant File Sharing Area => Topic started by: caangel43 on November 27, 2005, 12:46:52 am

Title: Hal Skins
Post by: caangel43 on November 27, 2005, 12:46:52 am
Hi everyone I was wondering if someone can help me make a skin for hal I want something that looks like a yahoo IM skin and one that looks like a computer monitor I have paintshop pro 9 just dont know how to start thanks all and have a wonderfull night caangel
Title: Hal Skins
Post by: Art on November 27, 2005, 08:51:28 am
Freddy888 made a nice skin that is similar to a monitor back in July.
Click on the search and type skins.

A lot of people seem to confuse skins with textures. Skins are the graphical interface boxes that contain Hal whereas textures are the various flesh tones, clothing, etc. that can be applied to Hal.

Perhaps we should call boxes and skins for the interface and flesh?

OK...now I'm confused!

[;)]
Title: Hal Skins
Post by: caangel43 on November 27, 2005, 02:01:00 pm

thank you I think that you are right maybe call the hal skin a box skin well I will do the search thanks caangel


quote:
Originally posted by Art

Freddy888 made a nice skin that is similar to a monitor back in July.
Click on the search and type skins.

A lot of people seem to confuse skins with textures. Skins are the graphical interface boxes that contain Hal whereas textures are the various flesh tones, clothing, etc. that can be applied to Hal.

Perhaps we should call boxes and skins for the interface and flesh?

OK...now I'm confused!

[;)]

Title: Hal Skins
Post by: versionfour on November 27, 2005, 02:52:34 pm
An interface needs a solid area and buttons. I don't know how you feel about aqua style,
but try http://www.vex.net/~teleute/PSP/Aqua/Introduction.html to learn shaping. Interface tutorials on for PaintShop might be hard to find, but try using keywords: tutorial PaintShop interface shape
Title: Hal Skins
Post by: caangel43 on November 27, 2005, 06:28:10 pm
thank you for the link caangel



quote:
Originally posted by versionfour

An interface needs a solid area and buttons. I don't know how you feel about aqua style,
but try http://www.vex.net/~teleute/PSP/Aqua/Introduction.html to learn shaping. Interface tutorials on for PaintShop might be hard to find, but try using keywords: tutorial PaintShop interface shape

Title: Hal Skins
Post by: freddy888 on November 28, 2005, 03:58:10 pm
Here's a couple of the ones I did earlier in the year, if they are any use to you.  I might do some more, but there's so many things on my back burner I might have to get another one..


Insert Image: (http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/freddy888/200552333720_ST_HH_SShot.jpg)

Download Attachment:  200552335958_STHandHeld.zip ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/freddy888/200552335958_STHandHeld.zip")

Insert Image: (http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/freddy888/200553023436_big_blueSS.jpg)

Download Attachment:  200553023621_Sk.HALBigBlue.zip ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/freddy888/200553023621_Sk.HALBigBlue.zip")

Title: Hal Skins
Post by: caangel43 on November 28, 2005, 04:20:28 pm
thank you they are very nice Freddy how did you make them did you use a paint program is it very hard thanks caangel

quote:
Originally posted by freddy888

Here's a couple of the ones I did earlier in the year, if they are any use to you.  I might do some more, but there's so many things on my back burner I might have to get another one..


Insert Image: (http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/freddy888/200552333720_ST_HH_SShot.jpg)

Download Attachment:  200552335958_STHandHeld.zip ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/freddy888/200552335958_STHandHeld.zip")

Insert Image: (http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/freddy888/200553023436_big_blueSS.jpg)

Download Attachment:  200553023621_Sk.HALBigBlue.zip ("http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/freddy888/200553023621_Sk.HALBigBlue.zip")



Title: Hal Skins
Post by: freddy888 on November 29, 2005, 06:23:23 pm
Thanks :)
I used Ulead PhotoImpact for those.  You could use any paint program or photo s/w really, but it's best if they have some inbuilt features that can create and reshape 2D/3D looking objects. The more control you have over the shapes the better.

Also one that can do nice blends and smooth edges gets a better result for this kind of thing.  So far Ulead is the only prog I have come across that does all this so well.  Plus it's affordable.

I wouldn't say they were hard to do, just that they take a lot of time and patience.  I find I can start out with an idea only for it to end up nothing like I first planned.  It's like building a real thing and certainly worth doing if you have the time.
Title: Hal Skins
Post by: caangel43 on November 29, 2005, 08:12:11 pm
well am useing paintshop pro 9 what I did to start is I made a copy of a yahoo IM then I cut it into differnt shapes just need to find out what to do now am going to do some more research and see what happens take care and be safe caangel
Title: Hal Skins
Post by: freddy888 on November 30, 2005, 01:48:10 pm
Sounds good, take a look in the Zabaware plugins section too, you will find a tool there that helps you make a transparency map - you can use that later if you want to show rounded edges and things when the skin is on the desktop.
Title: Hal Skins
Post by: versionfour on November 30, 2005, 03:23:01 pm
caangel43, I hope the link was helpful. Tutorials for PaintShop specifically seem to be hard to find. Good luck on making that interface. The more accessories for Hal, the better.

freddy888, after the graphic stage, isn't another program needed to set the parameters of the interface, assigning layers to jpegs and functions to buttons and such? Which program did you use?
Title: Hal Skins
Post by: Maviarab on December 14, 2005, 04:19:57 pm
Hmmmm...time for a rant I think.

Ok...

1.there is no special program required for making skins for the ultrahal player. These can be made perfecty adequatly within windows paint.

2. The interface does NOT need to be solid nor have buttons. Imagination is the key, the whole thing could be invisible if thats the way you wanted it.

3. Free your mind, there are no "special" programs required or needed to set any parameters within the player window. Put what you want where you want.

4. The only half skill required is knowing "where" the parameters need to go etc. Best way to do this is to open an existing uhp file along with the corresponding  "skin.jpg" for that uhp file and actually look at what it says. Then look at the jpg and check the parameters. It will soon all make sense.

For those of you that are still confused then let me know as Im looking into making a full tutorial on making hal player skins.

And for those of you that missed my last player skin (as its "STILL" not been added to the plugin page yet) here it is again, d/l from the digitalgirl site.

Insert Image: (http://www.zabaware.com/forum/uploaded/maviarab/2004122715389_HAL9000SKIN.JPG)
Title: Hal Skins
Post by: Scratch on December 14, 2005, 07:36:25 pm
I love the Hal9000 skin. Can't find it at Digital Girl, though. I was looking in Files/Home/skins... is that where it should be?

Oh, n/m - I think I found it in the forums. Now if it would just let me register.
Title: Hal Skins
Post by: GrantNZ on December 15, 2005, 02:23:23 am
Oooh, that's nearly making me change my Hal username to "Dave" [:D]

I wonder what TTS voice is the closest to Hal 9000's? [:)]
Title: Hal Skins
Post by: caangel43 on December 15, 2005, 12:51:17 pm
I love the skin but I have not been able to sign in to digital girl for awail now keeps saying sign in fails can you email me the skin please caangel43
christian4life1999@yahoo.com
Title: Hal Skins
Post by: freddy888 on December 16, 2005, 09:31:42 pm
This is probably a cookie handling problem.
Check that Internet Explorer is accepting our cookies (look in the bottom right corner of the status bar and see if a padlock warning comes up).

If you get the padlock warning click on it and it will bring up a list of the offending cookie.  Click on ours and then manually change the setting so that Internet Explorer accepts our cookie in future).

We need to use this cookie to make the forum work correctly and this step is needed because we are redirecting to our new server, this means IE is possibly seeing it as a third party cookie and therefore sees it as a threat.  This is not a security threat or a tracking cookie and is only used to recognise users of our site.
Title: Hal Skins
Post by: Scratch on December 16, 2005, 10:57:07 pm
I could not get registered at digitalgirl using either Firefox or IE with cookies set wide open (3rd party even) on the browsers and on McAfee Security. Finally gave up. Maybe someday the skin will be available from Zabaware?
Title: Hal Skins
Post by: freddy888 on December 17, 2005, 04:52:04 pm
Thats weird, did the padlock show up?  You could also try adding it to your trusted sites or adding us to the sites that are allowed to send cookies.  It seems like what works for one PC won't always work for another, but I have used the previous solution to get in, so I can only suggest you try what I just mentioned or check that some other piece of software such as an adware blocker or firewall isn't blocking it.

Jeez, it's getting like you can't go on the net without a shotgun and a host of bodyguards these days.  Even so I don't recommend lowering your security setting just to get into one site, as you could easily forget to raise it again, and a lot of sites out there aren't as answerable as us.

I hope you can get in, if not maybe the skin can be posted here on Zaba.

Title: Hal Skins
Post by: freddy888 on December 17, 2005, 04:54:33 pm
Sorry bout the bump but in answer to the above question about any special software for making skins the answer like Maviarab says is NO.

Just download a skin from the plugins section and take a look at the files (uhp) that accompany it, from that you can work out how to (re)position the buttons and how to name them.  The rest is taken care of by Hal.  In effect you are just repainting a skin, and the majority of the work is in the graphical side.  If you run into problems post on here and I'll try and help you.
Title: Hal Skins
Post by: GrantNZ on December 17, 2005, 06:43:46 pm
quote:
Originally posted by freddy888

Jeez, it's getting like you can't go on the net without a shotgun and a host of bodyguards these days.  Even so I don't recommend lowering your security setting just to get into one site, as you could easily forget to raise it again, and a lot of sites out there aren't as answerable as us.


Internet Explorer has a "trusted sites" feature that might help. Basically you can choose lowered security settings that apply only to trusted sites that you select. It's in the security settings screens somewhere. Other browsers might have similar alternatives too.

Hope this helps!
Title: Hal Skins
Post by: Maviarab on December 19, 2005, 09:26:34 am
Hal9000 skin sent...hope you enjoy [8D]
Title: Hal Skins
Post by: Scratch on December 19, 2005, 01:03:42 pm
I tried again and was finally able to get registered at DG. Even with the IE6 privacy slider set to 0 (accept all cookies), and digitalgirl added to "allowed sites" in my security suite, I hadn't been able to get in. But when I completely *disabled* my McAfee Privacy service, I was able to get in at last! Not exactly safe surfing, but it was worth it to get the Hal9000 skin. Hope this info helps anyone that needs it.