499 replies to this topic

[se.bastian]

UPDATE:

A new version for Plex 9.5+ (aka Laïka) has been released on March 10th 2011, please go to the new thread to download and discuss the new Retroplex: http://forums.plexap...8635-retroplex/

For eternity, if for any reason you wish to download the latest pre-9.5 version, you can find it here: http://dl.dropbox.co...st-prelaika.zip

Please note that Preen only has the newest version which will NOT work on Plex pre-9.5 versions.

The rest of the thread is left for archiving purposes.

Go Laïka, go Preen and go Retroplex!

-------------------------

I present you Retroplex.

Another idea that i wanted to get done as a skin, some vintage love.
You know, the pin-up's, the amazing design, fabulous clothes, the time gone past, the grainy faded and time-tortured photographs. The nostalgia...
This one will grow and evolve as it has been done with visual options in mind; there will be more backgrounds and overlays available and rotating around the retro/vintage/badly-treated-photographs theme as it gets some age.

Yet more grainy goodness (or badness if it's not your cup of tea).

It will gain more views as well as i have a few in the works that didn't make it to the first release. I wished once again to release from the beginning and profit from all of your opinions/suggestions/requests/love/hate to push it further, and get things straight right from the start.

Not everything is in it's final form, but things will get ironed out, more in-line with the theme and all such things, with time. It's a living thing and as such will hopefully live a happy and exciting life with you.

A huge thanks to radar and Martin for some testing and bug-squashing and precious advice during the development.
Another huge thanks to gedoode for preparing and donating a specific white set of his excellent media flags for the skin.

And of course a huge thanks to Vicarious who, even with some very convoluted and badly organized planning from my part, has made it possible that Retroplex is available in Preen starting from right now.

That's right, go Preen!

Or if you want/need, here is the gitHub link for it :

So let's go for the presentation. I kind of wanted to give a full preview this time, so for once the presentation expands on two messages.

Homescreen :



Left-side home/views menu : a new slide-style menu, no supplementary levels :



List view :



Slide view : a huge mega-poster view :



Big thumbnails view :



Small thumbnails view :



TV Show Banners view :



TV Show Multi Banners view :



TV Show Episodes Wide List view :



The rest below.

[se.bastian]

Second part of presentations.

The Retroplex Slideshow; a custom vintage slideshow of everything retro movie/stars/starlets related :



Player controls :



Home Menu Help :



Now Playing Playlist view :



iTunes :



Now Playing Visualizer :



Weather :



The Settings :



The Search :



So there.

As always, please comment, suggest, report strange behavior, and leave love/hate notes.
Be honest and be correct.

Thanks everybody.

Sebastian.

[se.bastian]

Release/Update notes

29/04/2011 :

- fixed the second title showing under the icon in YouTube plug-in.
- the "flipping" pause animation in "now playing" visuals has been deactivated to simplify the look.
- French translation available courtesy of radar

10/04/2011 :

- fixed the plug-ins description being cut in the middle of a line (visual glitch)
- Dutch translation available courtesy of Driekes
- German translation available courtesy of holzi

02/04/2011 :

- fixed the misaligned presentation in Plug-Ins and Plex Online
- added an option to show the classic Fanart slideshow in "Now Playing" visualizer screen.

31/03/2011 :

- fixed the overflowing plot in "full info" screen
- fixed the strange behavior of the iTunes "Now Playing" visualizer slideshows options.
- added an option to set a personalized slideshow for the "Now Playing" visualizer screen. Now it's possible to either; have a fixed background with no slideshow / a personal slideshow set in the Settings / Retroplex slideshow.
- the left-side menu font size has been increased for better readability everywhere
- fixed the overlapping focused item icon on plot-box in Video Plug-Ins view, it's still not visually perfect, but better now.
- added 21 more splash screen slides

28/03/2011 :

- "Retroplex Help" main menu entry is introduced, visible in the Home main menu by default, to help those new to the skin. Can be turned off in the Settings.
- Search and Plex Online are now visible in the Home main menu by default, can be toggled to the left-side menu in the Settings. This is to address the occasional problem of no menu item being selected at first start.

27/03/2011 :

- courtesy of gedoode, the HD flag is redone (and more hd now)
- the dialog windows and their buttons and icons have been redone (finally)
- fixed the badly formatted title in the "full info" window
- fixed the overlapping when the title was too long in TV Shows Banners view
- fixed the "Now Playing Visualizer" showing a fanart slideshow when Retroplew slideshow was not selected
- added a "ListItem.Year" label to plug-ins content
- modified the Plug-Ins view to fit the rest of the views
- added a "Shutdown System" menu entry in the left-side menu
- the "System" left-side menu entries are now skin-wide and show everywhere ("Settings", "Shutdown", "Sleep", "Quit Plex")
- the "Slide" view media flags have been regrouped under one single show/hide setting, there just isn't enough place
- the option to deactivate the startup sound should now be fixed and functional

26/03/2011 :

- fixed the OSD button image problems
- fixed the last character slightly cutting off of the focused item in various menus and titles
- the startup sound is now optional. The setting to deactivate it can be found in the skin Settings.
- the green retro font color has been harmonized across skin (and doesn't appear transparent anymore)
- implemented another method for "First Letter Offset" indicator, with a soft-lag of 0.5 seconds before it launches
- fixed the "+" sign showing after the title in "info" window when playing media
- fixed the missing "lapsed time" in the "info" window when playing tv show episodes
- fixed the left-side menu not closing when "Favourites" window is opened
- fixed the Weather screen left-side menu visual glitches + animation oddities
- fixed the rating stars not showing when rating content
- added a new pin-up to the Weather left-side menu
- added a new pin-up to the Plug-Ins and Programs left-side menu
- added an option to show the "First Letter Offset" (the first letter of the current position) while fast scrolling the library. It can be activated in the skin Settings.
- added an option to show the Ratings in text. It can be activated in the skin Settings.
- a huge images optimization/compression has been done, which might make navigation a little more speedy and responsive
- the transition animations between windows have been modified to be a little snappier, which makes navigation a little more speedy and responsive

24/03/2011 :

- courtesy of scottu, a little more subdued version of the startup sound has been updated. It's exactly the same, but with a slight difference in loudness (tested to scare a little less the dog, but to keep the girlfriend just as giddy).
- "Now Playing" visualizer screen has been redone
- an option has been added in the skin Settings to turn on the Retroplex slideshow for the "Now Playing" visualizer screen.
- the home screen "Now Playing" minimalistic version widget (when the Retroplex slideshow is activated) adopts the same look than that in the new "Now Playing" visualizer
- fixed the radio buttons not being visible enough in the Settings due to the light color
- added a network library name in the Home Menu selected item, if it has one
- new photos to Retroplex slideshow have been added, bringing the total library to 250 photos
- the album cover version of the "Now Playing" home screen widget is deactivated for the moment, while in investigation of a bug which caused Plex to crash when launching a stream from the "Favourites" list. In the meanwhile, the minimalistic version is used.

22/03/2011 :

- another big flags update, courtesy of gedoode: localized content ratings are now all adjusted to the same size, and new star ratings in flat white
- a new logo for Retroplex is adopted
- the Settings are entirely redone (yes, again)
- home screen is redone
- all left-side menus are redone
- all the views are redone
- the titles and description font sizes are bigger in most places for better readability
- a few font changes
- colors redefined
- "unwatched/HD" flags are redone + their positions are adjusted
- added the "Search" menu item to the left-side menu skin-wide; it's now accessible directly from every view. Also, in case you missed the information, from Home screen you can access the Search directly by pressing "right".
- added a "List" view in Seasons level
- fixed the localized Content Rating flag not showing up in "full info" window
- adjusted a little the full screen visual "contour" problem on the player OSD
- fixed (hacked) the onscreen keyboard visual glitch where knowing which button was selected was pretty desperate
- all the home menu items can now be toggled between the side-menu (default) and the main menu (optional). The options are in the main Skin Settings.
- modified the home menu automatic fade to 100% transparency after 30 seconds of inactivity
- a new function, the "Retroplex Slideshow" is introduced; a home screen slideshow full of retro goodness, starlets and pin-ups. All personally hand-picked and maintained/updated. The option to turn it on is in the home screen left-side menu.
- loads of little fixes

16/03/2011 :

- introducing the "Search" view

15/03/2011 :

- readjusted the Settings overlay/font opacity for better readability
- fixed the missing "video resolution" flag in episode "full info" window
- added a minimalistic "time now / finished time" indicator in the video seek control
- integrated a "now/next playing" info window in music visualizer view
- redone of the home screen widgets

14/03/2011 :

- complete redone of the Settings
- modified iPhoto thumbnails view for cleaner visuals
- fixed the missing RSS feed background
- added "Quit Plex" menu item to the left-side menu across skin; it is now accessible from every window
- moved "Favourites" left-side menu entry at the top everywhere
- fixed the too long item label running out of screen in Plugins List view
- modified the episode level selected "unwatched" flag position
- fixed the video playlist not working
- additional little fixes

12/03/2011 :

- a massive, huge media flags update courtesy of gedoode (almost every single flag has been redone, thanks so much gedoode) !

- added a bunch more splash screen images
- fixed a visual glitch in the "Multi Banner" view
- fine-tuned the startup animation
- fixed the badly placed HD flag showing up in tv episodes "List" view
- added scroll bar functionality
- added optional rating stars to "Slide" view
- added "unwatched" indicators to unfocused items in episodes "List" view
- finished and prettified the "full Weather" window
- added an optional Weather widget for the Home screen

11/03/2011 :

- adjusted a little the tv show banner view animation to soften the transition
- adjusted the audio player OSD that had little visual defaults
- introduction of a new view type for TV Shows; "Multi Banners"
- added current time (clock) to the seek/pause OSD
- cleaned/slimmed the media folder resulting in total skin size reduction

10/03/2011 :

- added a startup sound courtesy of scottu
- initial release

[nerpissad]

can't wait to try it out!

[OLD_upsideduck]

This is definitely my all time favorite skin! Really great. Have you used reFocus as a template, it kind of got the same feel to it?

A small bug-report .
One thing that was a little odd was that when I started it the first time and went in to tv-episodes view, it was in slide view. however this is not accessible through the menu...

Also I would love to see the options to show flags in the current episode views.

Looking forward to following this, and I will install it as it is already on my main Mac mini!

[se.bastian]

Thanks, that's very kind of you.

I deactivated the slide view in episodes for the future downloads, thanks for reporting.

Yep, Grainy was the starting point. I honestly find the reFocus the best basis there is (personal taste), it has it all just right structure-wise.
I hope that Retroplex will gain a life of it's own and will not feel like a spin-off of Grainy in the long run.

Which flags would you like to see ? You can already activate the unwatched flag in the main options.

Thanks.

[Maaniac]

se.bastian,

I prefer the new list view you implemented in this skin over the one in grainy. Would it be possible to update grainy to include this style list view for both TV shows and for Seasons? The one in grainy is too over populated with information and being a minimalist I would prefer this view.

Apart from that i'm liking the new skin and can't wait to get home to try it out.

[OLD_upsideduck]

Which flags would you like to see ? You can already activate the unwatched flag in the main options.

Thanks.

Grainy is my favorite skin as well, at leas up till know. I really look forward seeing this evolving to something of its own.

I like seeing the media flags but I know it can clutter the interface a little bit. However they give a lot of information rather quickly for the user.

[se.bastian]

I prefer the new list view you implemented in this skin over the one in grainy. Would it be possible to update grainy to include this style list view for both TV shows and for Seasons? The one in grainy is too over populated with information and being a minimalist I would prefer this view.

While it's obvious that all good things in one of the skins will profit to others, as i'm not the one to reinvent the wheel, they will have no reason, nor do i have the intention for them, to become identical.
But we'll see what happens.

[unisonruss]

Nice job! It looks nice

[killercup]

I think you already know that I love Grainy and I just played with Retroplex a bit and really like the feeling of it, especially the 'view option' menu on the home screen is pretty cool (I would however add 'quit' to the right side).

And although I never lived in the time this 'retro' is referring to I love how this makes my library full of non-retro stuff look so wrong! I just viewed an episode of Star Trek TOS because Quantum Leap was to much future for this skin! Oh well…

Keep up the good work, Sebastian!

[se.bastian]

Nice job! It looks nice

Thanks Russ.

I think you already know that I love Grainy and I just played with Retroplex a bit and really like the feeling of it, especially the 'view option' menu on the home screen is pretty cool (I would however add 'quit' to the right side).

And although I never lived in the time this 'retro' is referring to I love how this makes my library full of non-retro stuff look so wrong! I just viewed an episode of Star Trek TOS because Quantum Leap was to much future for this skin! Oh well…

Keep up the good work, Sebastian!

Thanks for the compliments.
What do you mean by "adding Quit to the right side" ?

Yep it's not my period either (i wonder if it would seem so cool if it was) nor do i think it has ever existed, but yeah, destroying one modern blockbuster at a time and moving backwards from there.

[se.bastian]

An update has been pushed, and i'd urge everybody to download it.

Only one thing has changed, but it's a pretty amazing thing at that ; scottu, from the forums here, has created just the perfect startup sound for the skin which will take you even further and deeper in the retro experience.

I honestly couldn't have imagined anything better suited nor better executed startup sound for this skin, and am truly grateful to scottu for this. It's just the perfect topping.
So update and enjoy.

[Atrus]

Wow, what an amazing potential this skin has. To be honest I think I only miss one thing so far (after 10 minutes of testing). When I go into TV Shows or in Movies I cannot see which episode I have watched and which I havent watched. As I follow between 10 and 20 shows at any given time it is hard to keep track of which episodes I have watched. I think that with that feature this skin will be the first one that I can switch to full time. Other skins came close, but I always found myself going back to MediaStream for some reason.

Keep up the good work, I will keep an eye on this thread.

[scottu]

An update has been pushed, and i'd urge everybody to download it.

Only one thing has changed, but it's a pretty amazing thing at that ; scottu, from the forums here, has created just the perfect startup sound for the skin which will take you even further and deeper in the retro experience.

I honestly couldn't have imagined anything better suited nor better executed startup sound for this skin, and am truly grateful to scottu for this. It's just the perfect topping.
So update and enjoy.

Glad to help out and great work on this skin.

[unisonruss]

For some reason Preen keeps crashing on me when trying to download this skin, anyone else having that problem?

[se.bastian]

When I go into TV Shows or in Movies I cannot see which episode I have watched and which I havent watched.

Thanks for the kind words.
Do you mean the "unwatched" flags ? If yes, you can turn them on in the main skin settings.

Glad to help out and great work on this skin.

Cheers again, i love it.

For some reason Preen keeps crashing on me when trying to download this skin, anyone else having that problem?

Sorry to hear that, i've edited the beginning of the first post and added the direct gitHub download link there.
Hope you get it sorted.

[sandman4sure]

This skin looks REALY great!
Thanks for making it. Now it's hard to choose between Retroplex and Grainy….

I think I will try Retroplex out for a while.


Thanks again for making it.

[buschwusch]

looove it. too bad that i'm soon gonna migrate from osx to ubuntu. i'm gonna miss your awesome themes for sure ;(

[se.bastian]

Thanks for making it. Now it's hard to choose between Retroplex and Grainy….

Thank you for using it, and for your support. There's no competition between them, and as the time goes so will the differences grow.
Same family, different personalities, like in life.

looove it. too bad that i'm soon gonna migrate from osx to ubuntu. i'm gonna miss your awesome themes for sure ;(

I have the perfect solution; don't do it.
Thanks for the love.