VisualDesigner 2 - get ready for skinning

[Zorro]

Ok folks, here we go.

The new VisualDesigner is ready for download. Please continue reading before you download and install it.
Here are a couple of movies that show VD2 in action. Here's the FAQ link.

1. Uninstall any previous version of VD!
2. Make sure you have installed the .NET Framework 3.5 on your computer
3. Install the new version.
4. Go to the download section of the forum and watch at least the "Creating a new Centrafuse skin" tutorial movie.

Not shown in the video but also important:
To complete the procedure, you have to copy the according images from the images folder of the VD project into the newly created CF-Skins folder (Icons and Phoneicons). Also, copy the sound files from the Aura folder into the new folder.


You can download VD2 here.

Please note: You're allowed to use the images from either project file for Centrafuse skins only. Using them for other applications without a written permission does violate the copyright.



Post updated for version 3.0!

[house98]

Can't wait to dig in... Thanks Zorro.

[house98]

Ok... learning curve is going to be more than I expected. I can tell you've put a lot of time into this application. I just hope I can master half of what it can do.

[Zorro]

True, it takes a bit to get comfortable with VD2 but after your first skin its getting easier. I'd suggest to play around with Gizmo a bit before you start your own skin.

[kmp14]

Zorro.....gotta say it......you rule.

[house98]

Ok, so I've been playing with VD2 now for several hours -- almost have an entire new skin created! I've found a few bugs which I'll give you seperately that would certainly have sped up the process.. (such as the copy all properties not working -- that would be killer!)..

But I've got 3 issues with the ultimate skin that's created.
1) The web browser -- when I go into full-mode, none of the buttons work, and I can't get 'out' or 'back' to Centrafuse... I have to force-quite it.
2) The OSK for some reason now has the 'q, w, 'e' keys in tha vertical line (not over the keys they're supposed to be over), and if I were to press the buttons 'q or w' this nearly invisible 'block' shows me pressing all these keys: 'q', 'w', 'e' ... It's odd
3) Not until the last time I exported it did this happen -- but it has happened. The Media screen, lower-right button is the 'exit / power' button instead of the 'back' button. The 'back' button is now located in the background at the top-right of the page, but since it's in the background I can't get to it -- meaning I have to force-quite Centrafuse.

BUT OVERALL -- Wow... Impressive. Like you said I was a little put-off by it at first, and there are still several options that I do not understand how they affect the layout/design, but I seriously have put in about 20 hours from yesterday to today working on this.

Good job on the software.

[gtp0007]

Hi mate, love the new designer.

Im having some trouble though,

Ive been going through, your instructions in detail as I play with a new skin to learn.

When you say
3. Right click the first node (usually the skin name) in the Project Explorer and select "Open all" (be aware that this will take a little while and can't be interrupted).

Well I cant seem to find the skin name only new project, and then I hit open all, and nothing happens.

Also where do I find the Centrafuse editor??? to change the name of the skin?

Thanks for any help

[house98]

Hey Terry. The "First Node" is found in the 'Project Explorer', -- by default it's docked (minimized) to the left of the screen. If you click Project Explorer once, it should 'open' or 'expand' out -- from here if you haven't already, click 'open' then find the project you want to open. Then the first 'node' should be listed at the top of that list -- the top-most folder icon. If you're using Gizmo Blue as your default to get started, then the name is 'Gizmo Blue' Right-click that and 'Open All' -- or click it once, and then press 'CTRL+A' on your keyboard.

Hope that helps.

[house98]

Hey Zorro. I've finally gotten around to renaming the original project from Gizmo Blue to BMW Night ... renamed all the paths in "BMW Night.vdbproj"... but on exporting of layers, it appears to be 'exporting', but after a handful of screens go by, I get an error which reads:
"Export has failed.
Please check the export providers logfile."

The file simply has 1 line (I cleared it when I renamed all the files), and it simply says:
12/30/2007 9:37:15 PM Creating subfolders

No real errors that I can see. Help?

[house98]

Ok, so somehow I traced it down to the LOADING.xml file -- it had all the same content as an untouched LOADING.xml file (Gizmo Red) -- but I swapped it out manually (the entire file)... and it worked fine. I'm guessing somehow the XML file got corrupt, but not corrupt enough to show any signs of corruption within VD2 .. *sigh*

*continues to talk to himself*