My Theme - Prometheus

[BeppoMonkeyBoy 98]

Ok, Here's what I've been working on on and off for a while now, way back when i was a huge fan of the look and feel of throg's themes, and while they are no longer supported I loved the simple EHS, and a few other bits, so I've tried to recreate the bits i like best into one theme, whilst adding in a few extra's (the new JIL is really useful), and i'm hoping to add a few others, chapter support is a big one, while this is only for my use at home at the moment I'm wondering if there is any wider interest in what I've done?

 

 

I've added a facebook page to show these for people who aren't logged in to see. https://www.facebook.com/PrometheusMBC

 

Edit:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/aev0zep5m3zs45t/AAD4WtPBd52o6MPpP2v7tgPfa?dl=0

 

Added a link to the test .dll ziped on my dropboxdrive.

Edited March 24, 2015 by BeppoMonkeyBoy

[BeppoMonkeyBoy 98]

Also want to add some of the filtering stuff thats in chocolate as well as profile switching.

[aspdend 177]

There should always be interest in a nice looking theme - I quite like the direction you are heading in there I must say, although I am always wary of white text on a pale background (the You , Me and Dupree image) being hard to read from a distance.

[BeppoMonkeyBoy 98]

There should always be interest in a nice looking theme - I quite like the direction you are heading in there I must say, although I am always wary of white text on a pale background (the You , Me and Dupree image) being hard to read from a distance.

 

Yeah I'm aware of that, looks worse on some of my other test media, I'm looking to put a border box around it but still keep the subtle bleed in place,

[BeppoMonkeyBoy 98]

Also going to tweak with the favorites icon (the grey heart in some of the screens), so it looks better, maybe a variant on the missing/upcoming icon's used in chocolate,

[BATTLE DONKEY 98]

Looks pretty good, I'm sure lots of people would give it a shot, the more themes available the better

[CashMoney 94]

I think it looks great! The white text on light backgrounds, what about shadowing the font? The shadow likely wouldn't show up on dark backgrounds but would define the white text on light backgrounds.

[ebr 15576]

Definitely has that "Throg" feel well done.

 

You will have to put an underlay on that summary text I'm afraid.  On a light, busy background even a shadow probably wouldn't work (but doing a shadow is pretty easy - if you don't know how ask).

 

EDIT - Oops, that's wrapped text.  Shadow technique won't work.

[BeppoMonkeyBoy 98]

Definitely has that "Throg" feel well done.

 

You will have to put an underlay on that summary text I'm afraid.  On a light, busy background even a shadow probably wouldn't work (but doing a shadow is pretty easy - if you don't know how ask).

 

EDIT - Oops, that's wrapped text.  Shadow technique won't work.

 

Underlay was the way I was going to go, its taken me a long time to get as far as I have, mcml is a pig to use, but I use xaml all the time, so some things are easy.

[One2Go 107]

Let me chime in because I am a diehard Throg's themes fan. Using his poster view, the simple EHS view (with none of the metro style look which I hate), This is the first theme for me that moves me closer to an MB3 update, together with a stable release of a plugin on the UnRaid platform.

 

One thing that I really loved on Throg's themes was the detailed movie page showed some technical details, Audio & video format. In addition what I also liked was the implementation of Logo.png & ClearArt.png which gave the poster view a very professional look From your screenshots it looks like you implemented the Logo graphic being displayed. The views that I use most for TV & seasons is the Thumbview that has the season posters stacked with a slight offset.

 

Thanks for getting a look and feel of Throg's themes to the MB3 platform. This definitely has a future in this community.

Edited February 12, 2015 by One2Go

[BeppoMonkeyBoy 98]

I have implemented a few other views that I've not screen grabbed as I only really use the List, Poster & Coverflow, views myself, my theme is basically ready to use, but the menus which I've made to look like throgs are not always working, and I've not tested on other back grounds (mines a black media center look and feel), I haven't tested it with games or music or anything else really, I looks different from the above screens as I've tweaked it since them for showing missing and upcoming epsiodes, i've someone can suggest a good screen recorder app I'd gladly do a video, I'd use my phone camera but nine times out of ten my 3 year old is bound to start screaming in the background

[yardameus 220]

Always glad to see someone new adding to the available themes.  

[BeppoMonkeyBoy 98]

I'm thinking about posting a link to my test theme dll if anyone is interested, be nice for some constructive feedback, still working on chapters support, and a few other bits, but its totally useable otherwise.

[CashMoney 94]

I'd be interested in seeing your theme!

[yardameus 220]

Definitely pop a link here.  There are lot's of people here that can really help with great ideas or great advise.  Or just feed your ego if it's perfect.  

[BeppoMonkeyBoy 98]

Added a link to the test .dll on my google drive on the first post. just dump it into your

 

"C:\ProgramData\MediaBrowser-Classic\Plugins" directory,

 

Things that don't work.... Chapters button, it will enable and disable according to if you have them on the item, but that's it, clicking does nothing, also the dimming options and poster/banner options don't always work, as I've been tinkering with my config menu to make it look like throgs original, and then, started mess with it as i want the menu like chocolates, as i like the easy filtering of favorites, and unwatched, but not got any where with it, as I've been busy with other stuff. also you will probably hate the colour coding on the list view, on my system its dimmed and messed with (before I broke the config menu), so its ok, I'm going to make this a configurable option, as I kinda like it, basically it colors things based on if its an ended, continuing or favorite show, (in series view), as well as missing or future in season view. I like the list view the best as i use it the most, and if you have the images by name for studio's it shows all the TV channel logos, (looks really nice), at the moment i can't get it to show the rating of the shows at series level, as I think  the rating value I'm asking for is the wrong one, (most of what I'm doing is based on looking at the chocolate source), or on old documentation. also in detail view there are a few odd bugs when you use the actor scroller as the first time it doesn't show an image for the first actor, but then it does if you go back and forth using the scroller, but it works ok if you click to filter.

 

oh it also does, disk images on movies if you have them, but I'm not 100% happy with it, as its basically lifted off chocolate and I'm not sure i like the animation.

 

There is ton's of things I don't like and that i want to fix, but I don't get a lot of time to tinker, but if i was going to properly release this to the masses i know I'll have to make all the bits configurable, as well as possibly skin-able, as well as not have buttons that do nothing.

Edited February 19, 2015 by BeppoMonkeyBoy

[Yogi 367]

Hey Beppo,

 

I have downloaded the plugin and it is up and running,definitely a strong Theog influence there which I have always liked.

 

A problem which I will post screenshots later is that in both TV and Movie poster view,none of the covers are showing just blank images.The tv series and movie covers show in list view and cover flow only,not in poster or thumb.

 

Restarted MBC and tinkered with it a bit but cannot get them to show.

[BeppoMonkeyBoy 98]

Hey Beppo,

 

I have downloaded the plugin and it is up and running,definitely a strong Theog influence there which I have always liked.

 

A problem which I will post screenshots later is that in both TV and Movie poster view,none of the covers are showing just blank images.The tv series and movie covers show in list view and cover flow only,not in poster or thumb.

 

Restarted MBC and tinkered with it a bit but cannot get them to show.

 

Thats really odd, on my home machine and my test VM its all working fine, I'm using coverart plug in as well, but that shouldn't make much difference, i'm using poster for my movies, and list for series, and coverflow for seasons, I'll try a few tests to see if i can replicate.

[BeppoMonkeyBoy 98]

ah turning off coverart, makes my little indicators look naff and misplaced

[Cheesegeezer 3096]

Hey Beppo,

 

I have downloaded the plugin and it is up and running,definitely a strong Theog influence there which I have always liked.

 

A problem which I will post screenshots later is that in both TV and Movie poster view,none of the covers are showing just blank images.The tv series and movie covers show in list view and cover flow only,not in poster or thumb.

 

Restarted MBC and tinkered with it a bit but cannot get them to show.

@@BeppoMonkeyBoy

 

Great work on the theme and it's certainly getting there.

 

On the EHS, i tried clicking on the RECENTLY: Next Up however nothing happens and it wasn't showing next up, just showing Recently Added.

 

I experienced the same as Yogo and also with Thumbstrip and coverflow, the only view the poster images showed in was Details.

 

Did you forget to Bind the Item.PrimaryImage to the Poster content.

[BeppoMonkeyBoy 98]

Ha didn't realize the "Next Up" was still in that build, it was something i was playing with, but didn't get very far with. I'm looking in the poster thing when i get chance, not sure why its not working as its fine on my test VM, even when I add new test media (I use the test media zip from metabrowser for movies, and a simliar set up for TV)

[BeppoMonkeyBoy 98]

Updated the first post to my dropbox link with the latest .dll Cheesegeezer's comments made me reaslise that i'd posted the debug dll and not my release one, the debug had some rubbish in it that didn't work, i also replicated the poster issue, it was to do with me breaking the display options, in the views, (should be fixed now), the only one that worked correctly was coverflow, but poster should work correctly, list always used the main image regardless of the options (mainly due to my custom overlays), if you have issues try switching the view to coverflow setting the poster option and then switch back to poster or thumb, details dosn't have the option so that remains unaffected.

 

if there are still issues let me know.

[CashMoney 94]

I've only tried the updated .dll so can't comment on previous issues other than to say I've seen (possibly) only one*. I like the theme, really good job, nice and easy to navigate. Great use of coverflow in that I can choose which images to display from the metadata, and the lists look good as well; they are my preferred views in MBC. A personal preference for me would be to have the menu on the EHS below rather than above just to show off the backdrops*, but that is subjective. I really like this theme.

 

* I've only tried it on the one machine so far, which I'm messing about with the non legacy views which could be the source of my one issue. Or maybe it's not implemented. If I'm on a menu item in the EHS, no backdrops. If I move to an item. say a TV Show or Movie in the RAL then I get a backdrop from that item. Is there supposed to be a default backdrop image for each menu item I'm not seeing/i've not used or added in my setup perhaps to the IBN, or is it supposed to randomly rotate a relevant backdrop? I had a similar issue with chocolate when I switched from Legacy views so thought I'd mention it.

[BeppoMonkeyBoy 98]

The EHS backdrops really use your defaults, I'll demo this once I get round to doing a video of the whole thing to demo, it's not really ment to have a default background probably because I use my own video wall style backdrops that I got off these very forums, I do need to add in support for some of the other add ins, and to properly tie in some of the settings, poster sizing dimming etc..

[CashMoney 94]

Ahhh, yeah, I probably don't have any defaults setup.