Classic Shell: Forum

So how does this work?

Sequence of Jpegs?

only GIFs?

Animated Sequence of PNG's???

No. http://www.classicshell.net/tutorials/b ... orial.html

ummm.. wow... read it.. didn't understand a word of it.... my brain has officially quit on me... going to need to rest my brain for a bit...

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"A book is a mirror. If an ass peers into it, it doesn't expect an apostle to peer out." - E.M. Forster

Ill try to explain it simpler and in different language (maybe something was lost in translation, and 2 references can get you through).
Pixels are read from left to right, top to bottom. Pixel 0 is the first pixel.
the first row of pixels isnt displayed at all (if the color for the first 2 pixels is R=65, G=78, B=77, and R=66, G=84, B=78 )
It is there to store data... since you can't reliably attach text to an image file

The 3rd pixel contains 2 bits of information;
- the number of rows to exclude from the image (if for some strange reason you need more than 1 row, which is unlikely, since most buttons should be at least 20 pixels wide...
- the number of frames the image has (in the case of the tutorial it is 12) This means that the color of the 3rd pixel should be R=1 G=(Doesn't matter?/0) B=12


*It should be noted here that the images height minus the Red value in the 3rd pixel; should be divisible by the Blue value of the 3rd pixel..
So in the case of the tutorial, a height of 1201 is good because (1201-1)/12 is a whole number... which leaves 12 frames 100 pixels tall



the 4th pixel tells classic shell how many frames are in the normal state (when the buttons sitting there all on its own) So if its color was R=0, G=0, B=3 The first 3 frames would be reserved for the 'normal' animation (However, in the current version of classic shell, the normal state won't be animated, and I assume just the first frame will show? This is because it would take constant CPU usage to animate it all the time. Also It would likely be distracting.)

The 5th pixel defines the frames played when the mouse hovers over the icon. the animation is played from top frame to bottom, and in the tutorials case it will play frames 2-11 freezing on the 11th frame In the example it would read: R=0, G=0, B=2

The 6th pixel defines the frames that represent the pressed state (after the button is clicked) In the example it would be as follows:R=0, G=0, B=12

This would tell classic shell that the pressed state starts with the 12th frame, and goes to the last frame in the image where it freezes (which in the example is also the 12th frame)
(Classic shell does not support animation of the pressed state, for some reason I can't understand, because the menu could still pop up right away, without waiting on the animation to finish, so the responsiveness excuse is void in my opinion)


Transitions define the animation itself..

The 7th pixel tells Classic shell 3 pieces of data (from left to right) for the first transition (normal to hover);
Blend: The Red value for the 7th pixel should either be 0 or 1 (1 is the recommended default)
Range: This is the green value of the 7th pixel and can allow for more complicated animations to be defined... (Its probably best to leave this at G=1 for now)
Duration: the TOTAL time the animation will last (which will be divided among the frames that play, as defined by the next pixel(s)

The 8th pixel in the example, reads: R=10, G=(Doesn't matter/0), B=0
This says that the animation starts on the first frame (B=0), and ends on the 10th(R=10)
If you were to write: R=0, G=(Doesn't matter/0), B=10 Then it would start on the 10th frame, and run backwards to the 0 frame.


Hopefully that helped...

Nice! That is far easier to understand! tyvm.

So, can animated start buttons be made via GIMP 2? If so, do the images used to make the animated hover image need to me open in the same layer, or in different layers?

_________________
"A book is a mirror. If an ass peers into it, it doesn't expect an apostle to peer out." - E.M. Forster

only 1 layer is needed, and yes GIMP has all the tools needed. And in fact could even be made in MS Paint, if you don't care about transparency
No multiple layers aren't necessary. (with exception to the alpha layer for transparency)
.PNG files merge your layers together automatically I believe, but you can do it in GIMP with Image>merge visible layers (ctrl+m)

the entire start button is a single image

sweet! tyvm. I've actually been making regular start buttons with each image as a different layer tbh, rofl. Didn't realize that wasn't necessary, rofl.

_________________
"A book is a mirror. If an ass peers into it, it doesn't expect an apostle to peer out." - E.M. Forster

Its not necessary, but when it comes to editing layers are a godsend, especially with more complicated works... (though It only helps if you keep the source files)

Well, I've losed. I was making a Animated Start Button.

Normal: blank
Hot:
S
ST
STA
STAR
START
(Windows Logo appears with no colors)
(Red on logo appears)
(Blue on logo appears)
(Yellow on logo appears)
(Green on logo appears)
Pressed: Colored Windows Logo but the logo is dark.

There is a preview (Attachement only cuz the images is put on my dA but it's banned)

Looks like your image is treated as a simple 3-state button. Most likely you are missing the first row of pixels that describes the animation sequence.

Yep. Can you help me then or make me a start button for me? Did not understand in the forum or in the animation page.

I have the version of your start button that works correctly, I got a start button that was supposed to work like that and I copyed the first row of pixels.
I have the 2 photos, if you need to make a start button like that ag

ain, paste the Anitop on top of the start button.

Sorry, I forgot to put in the photos, here they are.

Anitop:

Bigger Anitop:

In mspaint, resize anitop to 14x1