Window Frame

ok, this is still rough, but i had a need for some window frames and they had to meet certain criteria. they had to have 'glass' that could show both a background through them and no background. i also needed some versatility in the texture and colors of the frame. and i also needed an adjustable pane number and size. i think others have done window frames but i either couldnt find them or they didnt suit.

i still havent worked everything out as you can see in this image. i'm trying to work out a better proportional system for the panes yet. you can see that the outer panes here are smaller than the inner ones... but, i'm working on it. i can adjust the number of panes and adjust them according to the size of the background image, but just not the proportional part yet.

but, it's getting close enough to do a preview; so, here it is this save shows donna's chilat river image as the background.

hi steve,

yeah, playing around with windows in ET.

PS = playstation? i dont have any consoles. always used pc's of one sort or another.

yes, i like the idea of the CAD but i'd need to be able to scale those bars equalaterally, which brings me back to the problem currently holding me up on this one. i could use one of the zoom/shrink snippets in the library, but they are ALL based on profile gradients... all of them. i need one that isnt and i dont know how to do it. i'll probably post a request in the filters wanted thread. i want these windows to work with odd sizes, not just squares.

hehe, yeah, multiplayer shoot-em-ups are a hoot. ET would be an easy way to break into those. it's free, readily available, has a large following and very easy to learn/play. there are also some pretty good mods and a fairly large mod community. so, even though the game is quite old now, it still manages to stay somewhat fresh and interesting.

and, as i mentioned to lynn in another thread, you can also get the free 3d editor for the game and experiment with 3d and textures. quite useful for see what actually works with some textures... and what doesnt.

david,

well, dilla's weave also uses profile gradients. and i dont really see a stretch/magnify aspect to it. and yes, he's using the different rgb values to seed other things, but again, no stretching/shrinking there. so, i dont think that one's the answer.

what i was thinking was that maybe something with frames and offsets might work. i seem to recall someone doing something along those lines but i cant remember or find that filter now and all the rest i've seen use profile gradients.

i could do what i want by simply adding single bars/stiles and simply positioning them individually and turning each on or off as desired, but that seems like a long way to do it too. i might be able to just get away with a strecher type thing based on offsets and simply stretch the vertical and horizontal separately. that might work.

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Kraellin wrote: PS = playstation?

Yup.....looking for something similar to "Armored Core" to play online.....

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Kraellin wrote: need to be able to scale those bars equalaterally, which brings me back to the problem currently holding me up on this one. i could use one of the zoom/shrink snippets in the library, but they are ALL based on profile gradients... all of them. i need one that isnt and i dont know how to do it.

I was looking for the exact same thing.....

Kraellin,
I have a filter, it places gradient lines on the screen equalaterally. I know you can use gradients, but I don't know why you couldn't replace them with something you can use. I am going to try to upload it today as a snippet called "Equal Division"

Kraellin,
OOOOOOOH! Now I understand. The image I loaded was 1200x1785, so the vertical worked but the horizontal was as you say 'broke'. Would a possible work around be to make sure the image is square (add a margin to one of the short sides) and after the 'grid' is made on a different layer, scale and move it and remove the margin. I suppose this would be a pain but this is what it would look like. I created the grid using my "Equal Division" snippet. I was able to upload so it should be posted soon.

Kraellin,

i was looking at the Rotate and Zoom snippets and they "break" on non-square images also, so I don't think

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a magnify/shrink routine

will work.

Unless you can create a gradient that does not repeat. Currently the gradient that is parallel to the long side of an image does not repeat but the second gradient does, and that is what (i think) causes the "Breakage".

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i still could do individual bars each way and just keep adding new ones like that, but that would soon get to be a lot of components and isnt very elegant.

Equal division http://www.filterforge.com/filters/3426.html is created that way and it "breaks"

Is there a way to prevent the gradient from repeating down the long side?

I think I will mop the blood off my keyboard, bandage my head, and give up for now. I think i'll stick with

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make sure the image is square (add a margin to one of the short sides) and after the 'grid' is made on a different layer, scale and move it and remove the margin. I suppose this would be a pain

It's less painful than what I've been trying.

I think it may be a BUG, you should be able to apply a gradient to a non-square image without it "Breaking".