MuTools

liquidsound · Post by **liquidsound** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 1:08 am

Is there a way when someone design a Skin to gain some Real Estate by making the Mixer Strips more narrow?

No to be obsess with details but on a medium or large project Mixer Strips began to grow more than the average monitor.
Looking at them it seems that they could go from 30% to 40% slimmer (when collapsed of course) and keeping all the vital information and somehow look more Pro like.

I think FL went toooo narrow but here and there it could help to manage complex projects by having more in front for visual inspection.

Just a thought. Unfortunately even though I have some great ideas for a skin I have no knowledge

for making one and participate with others.
I would love to contribute....

anubis2010 · Post by **anubis2010** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 5:44 pm

Hi liquidsound,

I have just taken a look at the skin methodology and here is my take on it.

It looks like a certain area/size is reserved for each image and then the image of each item can be replaced by a different looking image of the same physical size (hope that makes sense).

So I would guess Jo would need to resize the mixer strips programmatically and then an experienced skinner could then make a skin fit the new size.

So to that end I think Jo would need to do some work at program level and then work with a skinner.

With M3 on the horizon I am wondering how different M3 will look against M2.

Anyway that's my 2 cents again.

anubis2010

(I am rubbish at art stuff myself)

liquidsound · Post by **liquidsound** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 5:53 pm

Well what I am thinking is that more and more this Gem will be exposed to Pros and when a serious project grows, especially in MuLab with the Targeting/Sends system, the mixer will need to be more visible at once.
Reaper has a neat solution by stacking the strips vertically. No pretty but in some cases very useful especially for laptops.

Again it is not a super priority but the future is near...

robenestobenz · Post by **robenestobenz** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 6:35 pm

I would very much like to be able to further collapse, or have the option of a thinner version of the mixer strip. I can only get 10 racks onscreen at once with my res (1280x1024), if I have a rack selected.

As someone who tends to use quite a few tracks, sends, and separate racks for drum elements I always quickly run out of mixer screen space.

Stackable racks, a thinner GUI mode or a zoom feature - any one of these features would make the program a lot more fun to use for me.

liquidsound · Post by **liquidsound** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 6:54 pm

On a laptop is REALLY an issue.
17" notebook? Insane. I rather go to the Gym at least I get both arms equal.

liquidsound · Post by **liquidsound** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 7:24 pm

I may have an alternative to the size of the Strips and just have them as they are: Create Collapsible Groups. Hum....

pljones · Post by **pljones** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 8:17 pm

You can hide a lot inside a MUX or work more freely inside the MPA...

liquidsound · Post by **liquidsound** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 8:32 pm

yes but that would be "Getting Around" not expanding the future.
But you are right, there are clever ways around it in isolated cases.

robenestobenz · Post by **robenestobenz** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 8:33 pm

pljones wrote:You can hide a lot inside a MUX or work more freely inside the MPA...

You can, and I do use both. But that's another level of depth away from the user and another series of clicks that I just don't want when it comes to straight-up track mixing.

robenestobenz · Post by **robenestobenz** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 10:09 pm

Sorry to bump, but have you got any thoughts on the suggestion of a narrower mode for the mixer strip, Jo?

MuTools · Post by **MuTools** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 11:35 pm

If you want a narrower mixer strip, then you can rework these graphics files:

Mulab/Graphics/LooxPhat/Common/Pictures/SmallRack.Png
Mulab/Graphics/LooxPhat/Common/Panels/SmallRack.Xml

First of all make a new graphic design i.e. rework SmallRack.Png
Then you'll have to update the respective field coordinates in SmallRack.Xml

Hope this helps, else let me know.

robenestobenz · Post by **robenestobenz** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 12:33 pm

mutools wrote:If you want a narrower mixer strip, then you can rework these graphics files:

Mulab/Graphics/LooxPhat/Common/Pictures/SmallRack.Png
Mulab/Graphics/LooxPhat/Common/Panels/SmallRack.Xml

First of all make a new graphic design i.e. rework SmallRack.Png
Then you'll have to update the respective field coordinates in SmallRack.Xml

Hope this helps, else let me know.

Thanks for that, didn't know the skinning allowed you to change sizes of screen elements. I'll do a skinny mixer variant of the standard skin (Looxphat?).

liquidsound · Post by **liquidsound** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 1:09 pm

That's great!

At least you are willing to try it. I have no skills yet on Skin design.

What graphic program do you need? I use mostly Rhino but it is a CAD application.

pljones · Post by **pljones** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 5:20 pm

MSPaint will edit PNG files. As will The GIMP. And Notepad can be used for editing the XML files. Or an editor with XML highlighting.

liquidsound · Post by **liquidsound** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 5:55 pm

Thank you.