[Bf-funboard] Themes/Skins/etc

[Daniel Fairhead]

Ton wrote (on Bf-commiters):

> -- General make-over of interface
> I won't support real 'skinning', but the general looks of the interface  
> can be easily upgraded to a more contemporary looks. It's a real  
> designer's thing to do! If multiple great make-overs are proposed, we  
> can implement a user-preset for them.

I have done some work along these lines:

http://www.madprof.net/working/gradient-1.png
http://www.madprof.net/working/gradient-2.png
http://www.madprof.net/working/gradient-3.png
http://www.madprof.net/working/gradient-4.png
http://www.madprof.net/working/gradient-5.png

1, 2 and 3 show my first "hacks" at it, going for subtle
gradients. I found using a big gradient, from (say)
DARK to HILITE made it look very "windows3.1"ish.
And ugly, besides. 4, again, is a hack. I was thinking
about the whole "aquaifcation" debate, and tried
adding an "aqua" background. If the OSX people
wanted an interface which looked more like the rest
of aqua, this should not be a problem, providing 
apple have no qualms or anything (only allowing 
aqua style implimented in "their" way or something
like that -- but I don't know.) 5 shows, approximately,
how I'm using my blender at the moment. At the top
is a new interface/theme area, which can have more
complex stuff as well, if wanted. I'm thinking of adding
a "preview" box there as well (simple).

One of the strange things, for me, is that although I
like the new gradient views and such, I almost prefer
the old system at times. It has a certain... charm :-)

Here are some current shots:

http://www.madprof.net/working/preview-1.png <- Complex Gradients
http://www.madprof.net/working/preview-2.png <- My currently used theme
http://www.madprof.net/working/preview-3.png <- Normal Style

http://www.madprof.net/working/preview-4.png <- For Aqua fans
http://www.madprof.net/working/preview-5.png <- For "dark-theme" people.

All settings are saved to .B.blend ... However, this could be
confusing for newbies, who are the most likely to want this
type of thing. I would prefer if there were some place 

$HOME/.blender/Themes/

or something like that to which they could be saved on pressing
a "save" button or something, but as it is currently is the normal
"blender" way of doing things (I think).

I have not yet figured out how to do "default" settings... on load
of this way modified blender with no correct .B.blend, all buttons 
are black (scary!). But as this is a non-technical forum, I wont ask
how. yet. :)

Anyway. 

Ton: is this the sort of thing you mean? And would it be likely to be
committed?

Others: do you like it? Its not finished yet, I know. There are many
little places to go about and "fix" still.

I would vote against pixmap themes, partly for speed reasons,
and partly all of this is kept very small, and are few and little
modifications. Full pixmap themeing would be (I think) slightly
ugly in code.

Dan