Help Wanted: Anyone who likes gui design like to help with making these modules look better?

[Strum]

Is there anyone out that enjoys designing GUIs that wants to help redesign the look of the modules?

I find it tedious myself and would rather focus on functionality.

[ghost]

i could come up with another design for your modules. What colors do you prefer? should it be in a yellow theme like your current one?

[Strum]

Whatever you fancy, just try and keep them as small as possible.

I kind of liked the idea of have the backgrounds a bit transparent though.

[Strum]

Looks good by the way, and thanks for the offer.

Some consistency of style and colour scheme across the set is also somewhat important, but I'm not a graphic artist and I'm open minded to anything that looks better than what i've done which was very much a rush job and not a high priority for me with this project yet..

[ghost]

if you didnt already see my modules... i plan also to keep the color sheme to all my upcoming modules.
I will do that with your modules too. so all will have the same colors in it. I shurely can make them transparent a bit.

btw i was wondering why none of your modules have screws.

[Strum]

I left the screws out to save space basically, they aren't necessary, just there for the look.

I also wanted them to look different from everyone else's, hence the transparency , but mostly I was just trying to make everything as small as possible.

Which modules are yours?

I'd orginally hoped to add some nice paisley patterns as an over lay on the background but haven't worked out how to deal with bitmap patterns in the vector format or found any good vector patterns yet.

[ghost]

yea that makes sense. i just found it very nice to have the modules look like the real deal somehow :D

mine are the ms-modules.

i can try to add some paisley pattern on the background.

[Strum]

I hadn't looked at your modules yet, they look nice, a bit of a style. I'll have a play with them.

You've gone for a blue based colour palette in yours, if you use oranges, yellows, browns and reds for mine that should help differentiate them. Perhaps you could round the corners of the rectangles behind the ins and outs as well to make them different.

How are you getting everything to line up? that's the thing that was taking all the time.

Oh and feel free to move the interface elements around a bit or change the types of sockets, lights and knobs if you want, just try and keep things about the same size, a little bit bigger is ok but not much, screen space is valuable.

[Strum]

A bit of transparency on the coloured rectangles so you can see the background pattern through them would be nice also.

[ghost]

I tried to include pattern. I could do it but somehow rack doesnt show them. But Andrew mentioned some time ago that not all features of the SVG´s will be working.

Well, I could include my inputs/output svg´s into your modules which are a bit smaller than the regulars from rack. But I definitely wont change the sizes of your modules. I also like this size.

Ok, I will send you what I did so far later tonight.

[Strum]

cool, look forward to seeing what you have done.

[ghost]

sadly i didnt have enought time to play around with your svg´s but i think this one looks quite nice..

[ghost]

if you like it i will make all other modules the same way.

[Strum]

Getting there, but can you change the background colour to more like the original orange and I don't like the font much.

I liked the lilyUPC font i used originally.

made a few changes to the code tonight so you might want to update

[ghost]

okidoki ;)

will make the changes you suggest.
do you mean the very light yellow-ish which is in your orginial backgrounds images?

[ghost]

reverted back to the lilyupc font ;)
ajusted the color of the background a bit.. still not quite there.. will get the correct color out of your orginial background..

[Strum]

Yeah, really nice, i like it.

if you upload them somewhere i'll put them in the repo.

[ghost]

ok perfect. i will use the same color sheme on all of your modules and send you a dropbox link to download it...

[Strum]

Awesome, thanks so much, it will make them look a lot more professional.

Perhaps we can work together on interface design for new modules and I'd be happy to help you with coding your modules if you want.

Brainstorming concepts for modules designs might also yield some interesting results, I'd be interested to hear what ideas you might have for new modules.

[Strum]

Have you changed any of the code to reposition things and change the knobs and jacks? or have you only modified the .svg files?

I'll need to either merge your changes, which will be another first for me, or add them myself.

perhaps if you move something or change the look of a knob jack or switch you could make a note that the code needs to be changed to suit

[Strum]

You may find this useful.

https://github.com/VCVRack/Rack/issues/261#issuecomment-337953776

i'll try it myself when i get time

[ghost]

yea in the A/B Switches module I mad small ajustments to the buttons. to place them more centered between the inputs. the new inputs/outputs are svg´s but a tiny code need to be added to the mental.hpp file. which i will send you so that you can just use the one I altered or to look at it and make the changes to your currect one. The code I used to do that comes from rack´s components.hpp. which can be found under rack/include/...

Right now I m trying to figure out a way to change the cartesian sequencer to look better. because there is alot of empty space in the module. Even with the color sheme and style it doesnt look very good. (at least I dont like it) :D
Maybe I will use bigger knobs instead. If this is ok with you. Therefor its possible that the size of the module changes.

About your offer to work together: for sure. I like graphical stuff. And I m fairly new to coding as my modules are the first time I even wrote c++.

[Strum]

I agree about the cartesian module
it doesn't look balanced that small.

try using the way andrew has described in the issue above and place the knobs how you think looks best use whatever knobs you feel suit best.

[dBiz]

Hi, first of all, thx for the great job u made!
Here's my attempt to make modules more suitable to me!

I've also started making my component library, just for fun ;)
Plan to upload everything later.

[Strum]

wow thanks @dBiz, I've sort of settled on the look the @Phal-anx has been working on.

I like what you've done but i wanted a consistent style and colour scheme across the modules and keeping them small was a major consideration in my original layouts.

Feel free to make them how you like and distribute them if you want though.

[ghost]

wow @dBiz :) very nice!!

i really like the knobs and lights on the cartesian squencer. also the idea of the arrows instead of written words is quite nice. I will add some of your ideas into the backgrounds if thats ok for you.

[Strum]

Awesome @Phal-anx, that's that way to collaborate.

[dBiz]

No prob @Phal-anx , I've made a repo with my stuff ;)
I've also started a stereo mixer prototype, based on StrumMixer,
it works but for sure I've done something wrong with the code;...

[ghost]

so here is a little update ;) the cartesian sequencer cost me like 2 hours to place everything properly :D
but the rest of the modules will be finished fast, because i already finished the new button, knobs and outputs.

[dBiz]

Cool!

[Strum]

@envelopegen

Why don't you just turn the filter off while you are using rack?

[Strum]

@jonheal, no worries, I'll get round to reskinning them myself eventually if someone else doesn't do it

hopefully rack with eventually support switchable skins so people can pick a look they like.

[envelopegen]

the light grey the nobs use would work well as a background, if you want to keep the blue... i'm happy to turn off the filter, but a first time user of the modules just might just be confused and turned off if they are using a mac with night shift. I'd love to contribute, i've been looking into editing svg files... i'll see if i can switch this myself, then pick up design where jons left off... any tips or tutorial links you could push my way @jonheal would be appreciated. any module you need prioritized @Strum ?

[Strum]

@envelopegen, how many people actually use these filters?

what colour would you suggest?, I actually like the blue myself.

start with whichever module you like, my only design criteria were to keep them small and have a consistent look across the modules.

[envelopegen]

anything light will work, i think the light grey from the standard minijack inputs will look enough like a lcd display (color hex is #dadada )... if you pointed me to the svg that is the background of the lcd i could mock up some greener/grainer backgrounds

i've been using flu.x for years, it does save eye strain but i really just use the computer for a few more hours, a lot less goofy then gamer glasses but same idea... High Sierra, as well as iOS, now has a feature called "night shift" built in.

[Strum]

@envelopegen , the background colour of the display and the colour of the text are set in the code not in the background graphics,

[envelopegen]

ah... is hex what you want or like a css color... rgb(218,218,218)

when testing graphics do I need to build each time or if I get the file size correct i'll be able to just replace the svg file?

[Strum]

@envelopegen, the background colour and text are in the svg all the controls are positioned in the code

[Strum]

@envelopegen, to change the background and text you only need to edit the .svg but to move controls you have to edit the code and rebuild.

[envelopegen]

would love to get the strum logo that @jonheal made... not set on the mental logo here (id like to make it look carved in) but added some labels to the masterclock... once i'm set on a design should i email you the .svg?

p.s. would love a reset output on this... :)

[jonheal]

I just typed it out in a font which I can't remember but can look up when I get home this afternoon.

…

-- Jon Heal http://www.theheals.org/ Have a nice day!

---------------------------------------- From: "envelopegen" <notifications@github.com> Sent: Friday, November 17, 2017 10:32 AM To: "Strum/Strums_Mental_VCV_Modules" <Strums_Mental_VCV_Modules@noreply.github.com> Subject: Re: [Strum/Strums_Mental_VCV_Modules] Help Wanted: Anyone who likes gui design like to help with making these modules look better? (#5) would love to get the strum logo that @jonheal made... not set on the mental logo here but added some labels to the masterclock... once i'm set on a design should i email you the .svg? - You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

[envelopegen]

thanks, if you want to send me any svg's you've already worked on that would be awesome envgen72@gmail.com

[jonheal]

I only got as far as a few Photoshop mockups. No SVGs. Yer startin' from scratch, I'm afraid. :-)

…

-- Jon Heal http://www.theheals.org/ Have a nice day!

---------------------------------------- From: "envelopegen" <notifications@github.com> Sent: Friday, November 17, 2017 10:49 AM To: "Strum/Strums_Mental_VCV_Modules" <Strums_Mental_VCV_Modules@noreply.github.com> Subject: Re: [Strum/Strums_Mental_VCV_Modules] Help Wanted: Anyone who likes gui design like to help with making these modules look better? (#5) thanks, if you want to send me any svg's you've already worked on that would be awesome envgen72@gmail.com - You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

[Strum]

@envelopegen, the bottom 2 displays of the clock read as a musical time signature.

the top number is the number of beats per bar and the bottom is the length of the beats

[Strum]

@envelopegen, external run/stop and reset for the clock would be handy, i'll add that to the list of bugs/features to fix/add.

[envelopegen]

did some work on the A/B switch... still not set on the mental logo will revisit across the whole pack, would like it to say 'mental by strum' so if you do create different folders or a future packs the 'by strum' logo can be the same. will work on recreating jons strum logo tomorrow.

note 'type' is unclear... shouldn't it be 'note value'? I can put 'length of beats', but i think the bottom note is what kind of note = 1 beat... so if its 2; 1 beat = a half note, if its 4; 1 beat = quarternote. I might try to make some graphical representation of a time signature...

i'm very happy to continue designing around the current placement of nobs and jacks, if i were to make a svg for jons design for 'chord' what would you need from me as far as moving the placement of the jacks. Also how would we handle new features. thanks!

[Strum]

@envelopegen, Any musician who can read music understands what a time signature is I don't think any text other than "time signature" is needed there,

the division lines are good.

adding a coloured circle or rectangle behind the jacks sockets was also part of my original design concept

have a look at what @phdsg is doing, he's made custom jacks and knobs which is much easier than changing each one individually in the background.

https://github.com/phdsg/struMMental

[envelopegen]

gate...

will do... i've thought some about custom nobs, i also saw screws in the components library... might mess around with some of these... are there any irl nobs or images of nobs you like i could base my design off? maybe do different jacks for in and out, and maybe different colors for cv or audio

[envelopegen]

ignore the template, but jack idea

should i start a repository to upload my working svg's?

also looked into editing the "widget code" i could make this work by changing the
< PJ301MPort >
to what ever the new jack file name is and then add that to the res files? (maybe have to run 'make' too) p.s. sorry if i'm learning out loud too much in this thread.

  addInput(createInput<PJ301MPort>(Vec(3, group_spacing * i +  60), module, MentalGates::INPUT + i));
    addInput(createInput<PJ301MPort>(Vec(3, group_spacing * i +  28), module, MentalGates::GATE_INPUT + i));
    addOutput(createOutput<PJ301MPort>(Vec(32, group_spacing * i +  60), module, MentalGates::OUTPUT + i));

[Strum]

@envelopegen, by all means make a repo if you want,

I'd suggest using strong colours to distinguish between inputs outputs and cvs rather than just slightly different graphics though.

[envelopegen]

k... i'll mess around with some different jacks... should there be in and out cv... in and out audio... so 4 kinds... is there a type i'm missing?

messed with the master clock some more... i did download lilyUPC but find the labeling is hard for the smaller stuff but will keep this the font for the module names. this will get easier once i learn editing the widget code.

would you prefer i "fork" the project or just start a repo with a res folder for you to access?

[Strum]

@envelopegen probably better to make a fork, you'll eventually need to change more than just the .svgs

i can merge changes later.

I'm hoping to set up a system where people can choose from a number of skins.

[envelopegen]

started a fork... should i have used pull requests on my own fork instead of editing the master?
https://github.com/envelopegen/Strums_Mental_VCV_Modules

this is where its currently at... i'll try to center those counter nobs as my first code edit

[Strum]

@envelopegen, might be better to work on your own fork and we'll look at merging later on.

If the process of trying to reskin these modules gets you into coding then that's a good outcome regardless of the final result.

Music and coding go together I think.

[Atavic]

Not everyone uses night shift or flu.x, so if your blue isn't strong enough you can enhance it with the GPU drivers. Intel/Nvidia/AMD havre separate settings for Red, Green and Blue.

[Strum]

@envelopegen

Sorry I've not been focused on rack for a the last couple of months, getting back into it now.

I really like the look you've got going on there, have you made much more progress with it?

[Strum]

@Atavic That's a bit beyond my coding skills at the moment I'm afraid.

[Anthony-Lockwood]

Was just playing with an idea.
All the best and thanks.

[Strum]

@Anthony-Lockwood , thanks Anthony, I'd prefer the look top be consistent across the whole set and I also think the background detail obscures the text a bit. Perhaps if you reduced the opacity on the detail use a background/text colour combination with high contrast it might work.
Sorry it's taken a while to get to you, I've been busy with other things.