Gui elements/suggestions

[ArkyBeagle]

( am I logged in here? Where's the login button ? )

Sorry if this is a bad question - I time-limited searching to 30 minutes.

I've been searching here for a while now and don't find any recommendations on how to make a better GUI. I work with the Steinberg kit .

I have two VST3s in progress that need better UI. I'd like to actually sell them. I've been creating plugins for my own use since the early 2000s, with the VST2 setup up to the present.

I've used the algorithms for a while now as console apps. They've both found use here for years.

I see where there's an "inline UI editor" and the XML is well-documented. What else is out there? I'd like to improve on the basic '90s look I generally get. Like - how do you get a VU meter with a needle? Better looking controls?

I'm a DSP guy. I have a graphics person as family member if that helps. Any resources for realizing better UI most gratefully accepted.

[gambero]

Since you have a graphics person in the family and you're looking to make a skeuomorphic GUI (i suppose, given the needle vu meter), the best approach for that is using filmstrip images for knobs, buttons and meters. Where I work we usually make a 3d model of the plugin GUI and then render the background first without any controls, and filmstrip images cut around the controls and meters. Hope this helps