[Theme] Art Book

Pietze

@alphatoanant Your themes are outstanding!

Question: I worked on my own theme (https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/12229/240p-honey-theme-optimized-for-crts/8) and I used the svg logos and the three icons for all-games, favorites, last-played.

Is it alright for you, if I share my themes? I can mention your theme in the read me, if you want.

alphatoanant

Thank you @Pietze

I just checked out your theme and its looking sweet! I especially like how you are handling the system artwork behind the logos - its very nicely stylized.

Yes it's totally ok for you to use the logos and share your theme with them.

For the standard logos (nes, genesis, etc..) I sourced them from Carbon initially and then made changes to make them grayscale. So all credit on those really goes to Carbon.

For the ones I made (i.e. all-games, favorites, last-played, custsom systems) please feel free to use them as is. If I can help with additional logos/updates just let me know (I am glad to)

Thank you for letting me know and awesome work again on your theme.

Pietze

@alphatoanant Wow, such nice words from the guy making all those stunning themes. Thanks :)

Actually my biggest problem is, that every time I save a SVG file with Illustrator the image doesn't appear in the theme. I tried TinySVG, different version...

I will credit you in my readme file and link to your profile.

duiz

I got some more system SVG: PC98, Game com and CD-i

svg.zip

alphatoanant

@pietze I ran into the same problems when starting with SVGs as well. SVGs are... fun =)

If you are interested in trying a different SVG editor I really like using BoxySVG - https://boxy-svg.com/main.html#download. Its free, very focused and easy to use.

One thing that I ran into that could help... Make sure to convert any text you are using in the SVG to a path before exporting. For some of my SVGs that weren't displaying making this change fixed them (I think SVGs reference the font file used for text which is not picked up by ES - so converting it to path removes the need for the reference)

Also this tutorial by @UDb23 was a huge help for me too - https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/7357/tutorial-create-vector-logo-from-bitmap
It uses inkscape but the principles discussed apply well to boxySVG too.

Thank you for the credit and your nice words too!

Sashby

@alphatoanant I followed your github instructions but can't scrape anything from the commandline.
Raspberry Pi 3. Installed Sselph's Scraper as per: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-setup/wiki/Scraper#sselphs-scraper-advanced-configuration

HurricaneFan

@sashby Your screenshot shows the scraper started, did you cancel the scrape to get to the command line again? Right after hash.csv it usually starts showing each game rom name and if it found it or not.

You could try adding other console_src sites too, just in case SS site was down.

Example: -console_src=gdb,ss

pjft

I'm not sure if it re-scrapes pre-scraped games, though.

Sander2506

Is it possible to change the movies to ingame screenshots?

duiz

@sander2506 If you go into gamelist and put the path to a png screenshot rather than a mp4 video it'll show up.

Example:
<video>~/.emulationstation/videos/nes/Super Mario Bros. (USA).png</video>

Sander2506

@duiz thnx I will try it.

alphatoanant

Updates 8/15/2017:

added new themes: cdi, gamecom, pc-98, oric, samcoupe, trs-80, ags, astrocade, bbcmicro, channelf, residualvm, steam, stratagus, zmachine

@duiz cdi, gamecom and pc-98 are in place now. Thank you again for supplying the svgs and let me know if those aren't the correct folder names.

Also thank you for the tip on using images in the video tag! I had no idea you could do that and am looking forward to playing with it when I get back. Awesome =)

@Sashby I am away on a business trip and don't have my pi with me to try PS1 scraping. In the meantime have you tried posting in help section (as I gather this is not specific to the theme)? Sorry I can't be of more help right now but when I get back home I'll see what I can work out.

duiz

Here is the SVG for Neo Geo CD
https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/vsrecommendedgames/images/d/da/Neo_Geo_CD_logo.svg

I don't think there is much missing after this one :)

What are your plans for future improvements / inclusions for this theme? I'm excited for what else you can do with it.

alphatoanant

@duiz done and done - folder name is neogeocd. Let me know if that works out.

This is my backlog for next things to try...

adding additional logos (seeing what custom ideas come up)
testing out layouts for a 4x3 version
testing out layouts for a TFT screen version (320x240 res)
seeing what design works for the case of a game on detail/video view not having artwork to display (right now there is an odd blank space)
trying out theme variables to see if they can trim down things further

Before I dive into 4x3 or TFT versions I am going to take a break so I can come back fresh - which is why I am working on logos here and there =)

By the way I just got to test out your tip for using images in the video tag and it works really well. Its exactly what I was looking for in a low power build I am working on for a friend. Thank you!

alphatoanant

I have started on some concepts for a 4x3 version

Video View (NES)
alt text

View View (SNES)
alt text

Video View (TG16)
alt text

Detailed View (NES)
alt text

@barrymossel would it be possible to let me know the resolution you typically run your 4:3 setup at? (1024x768, 800x600, 640x480?)

It seems like these layouts could hold up at those various resolutions but I want to test. Going to try to have a release up on github this weekend under its own repo (likely called "Art Book 4:3").

lilbud

@alphatoanant The title can't be used as a themable element.

alphatoanant

@lilbud what looks like a title in the layouts above is actually the textlist element for the gamelist =)

I am sizing it to match the height of one item in the list so it looks like a title but still allows you to scroll through the list of games.

I was finding it tricky to fit a full size list in the layout I am going for while also keeping the metadata intact so I started experimenting with using the gamelist as more of a title

This is the prototype xml for it:

<textlist name="gamelist">
 <selectedColor>ffffff</selectedColor>
 <size>0.5625 0.070833333333333</size>
 <fontSize>0.058333333333333</fontSize>
 <forceUppercase>1</forceUppercase>
 <lineSpacing>1</lineSpacing>
</textlist>

I am essentially making the size of the element about the same height as the font being used to display the text.

NoP

@alphatoanant Wow very nice theme, very clean.

greekmanx

Iove this theme only thing I would like that I haven't seem anyone mention is gamelist on right side to he wider so more of the title shows and less scrolling

alphatoanant

Update 8/25/17:

4x3 version available on github (https://github.com/anthonycaccese/es-theme-art-book-4-3)

Finished work on the 4x3 version and uploaded to github. Going to test it for a few more days before submitting it to the official es-themes list.

Only changes are layout to fit 4x3 resolutions best (all systems from the 16x9 version are included)