[Theme] Art Book

spoonmugen

@alphatoanant i'm using a pi3 - it used to run like butter now its really laggy at spots in the main carousel.

i tried art-book pocket... main works like a champ!
really like this one too :)

pjft

@alphatoanant Ok, so that's double interesting.

The glGetError means the GPU runs out of video memory. I usually recommend setting VRAM to 80 to work around that, but in this case I'm inclined to suggest using 1280x720 PNGs on the system view.

I am not an expert in the image processing pipeline on ES, but from recollection SVGs (vector) and non-vector assets are handled significantly differently. Vector images are resized in memory to take up the needed size at full resolution, so I am willing to believe that they are in fact being rendered as full-on 1080p SVGs (or whatever screen resolution you're using). The reason why "1280x720 svg" doesn't really make much sense is that the SVG resolution per se doesn't matter much as vector images are really meant to scale to any resolution and stay as sharp as a native-resolution image.

I'd recommend trying to make those PNGs and see if the performance improves.

alphatoanant

@pjft good call. You are on to something for sure as I just did a test of scaling the viewbox of a few SVGs down to much lower resolution and even with that I can still see the error. So even though the image is smaller in resolution I can imagine ES still seeing it as "this is a 1080p image that I need to render somehow". Going to work on converting a few to PNGs.

For now I have removed the controller background from the main theme.xml so at least it won't affect live installs until I work out another approach.

@spoonmugen you should be able to get latest now

Thank you both for your help

spoonmugen

@alphatoanant just refreshed :) - tbh i prefered the clean look/performance of being just logos

alphatoanant

Updates 9/29/17: just some simple housekeeping tweaks I have been meaning to get to

made genre wider (less chance for ellipse to display now)
made the gamelist a "tad" bit wider - its not a huge amount (about 60px on a 720p display) as I still want to keep the spacing balanced. More to try but this its at first pass at least
cleaned up spacing on landscape layout
on landscape view vertical snes boxes are centered better now to balance things better when mixed with standard landscape ones

duiz

Is there a way to display Developer and Publisher info rather than rating and last played? I don't make much use of last played or ratings so having more actual game info would be a plus.

HurricaneFan

@alphatoanant Are you going to try png controller backgrounds in your next update, or is that on hold?

alphatoanant

@hurricanefan yes I am going to work on that when I get back from the trip I am on.
I had an idea to be able to keep them as svgs - just want to test it further before pushing it to master . When I get back i'll try to create a zip to test with.

@duiz, showing publisher and developer info is not in my current plans for the theme. That could change just right now I plan to spend time on system view before anything else.

HurricaneFan

@alphatoanant Hope you have a good rest of your trip!

spoonmugen

@hurricanefan prefer not to have any controller image background ... keeps it cleaner and lean

greekmanx

@spoonmugen you are the only one so far that has disagreed most others want a little more to carousel

spoonmugen

@greekmanx define how u came to the conclusion 'most others' ? as no one has really commented/or polled votes?
just voicing my opinion that i preferred a minimalistic front end

if @alphatoanant decides to put controller images/and pink unicorns everywhere on the theme then i'd either edit them out of the config or just switch themes...

greekmanx

@spoonmugen no poll just meaning everyone that responded in regards to adding color and images to theme until you that is all no biggie

Sashby

@spoonmugen +1 for pink 🦄

fastpop72

@alphatoanant These images are cool but please KEEP ARTBOOK CLEAN! It's my favourite and only theme! I love the clean aspect of the theme.

Please notice too there are missing images like NEO GEO and DAPHNE.

fastpop72

@duiz said in [Theme] Art Book:

Is there a way to display Developer and Publisher info rather than rating and last played? I don't make much use of last played or ratings so having more actual game info would be a plus.

I have the same request! I use a fixed gamelist.xml and the lastplayed tag is never updated. I much prefer to see publisher and/or developer instead. Rating is OK.

HurricaneFan

@fastpop72 You can tweak the xml file to do this.

alphatoanant

So here is what I have been working on for system view:
alt text

My aim for this theme is keep the views simple and understated and I feel good about how this approach balances that with something a bit "extra" (and this change only applies to system view). After using this for the last few days I do like it quite a bit but wanted to see what you thought too.

Before any of that though I do need to check with @herb_fargus as I am using controller graphics from carbon for this initial testing. They helped me get the layout set up quickly and I ended up really liking how they look but since they were created by someone else I want to make sure to give proper credit and see if its ok if I can use them. @herb_fargus would it be possible for me to use the controller graphics as long as I give you credit in the theme xml and on my github readme? I totally understand if not - just let me know either way what works best.

Thank you for taking a look and for any feedback

@fastpop72 re: developer and publisher I'll try to write up how to modify the theme xml to add those values in as @HurricaneFan had suggested. I currently rely on rating and last played for an arcade setup I built for my team so we leverage those frequently for scanning purposes. I can see your side though where you might want to scan based on developer instead. I don't plan on adding them to the base theme for now just because I don't have an idea yet how to add them in while keeping rating, last played and having the spacing I am looking for. But I'll keep it on my list to see if there is a way.

herb_fargus

@alphatoanant @Rookervik is the one who did all the art, I just modified bits of code so I'd ask him. As far as I'm aware the carbon licence doesn't forbid their use but attribution I'm sure would be appreciated either way.

alphatoanant

Thank you @herb_fargus. Makes sense on the license. Just always like to ask just in case as well as to give a heads up.

@Rookervik in prototyping the system view for this theme I used the controller images you had created for Carbon and really liked how they ended up looking (an example is 2 posts above this one). Would it be ok for me to use your controller graphics as long as I give you credit (in both the theme xml and github readme)? Something like "All controller images created by @Rookervik and originally from the Carbon theme"