Zebra 3 Skin Colours

[Esgalachoir]

Hey everyone,
Wouldn't it be cool if we had a thread dedicated to user Z3 colour configurations? As of now, it's a bit tedious to do it, although already quite accessible. It'd be great to have a thread where we can share 'em. I don't have any yet, but if you do, here we are! Maybe we can even have ourselves a rod/cone cell frying contest.

[Garzita]

I have my own version that people here hated, but got some nice responses in the facebook group!

I am still tinkering with it, but I cant find where to change the white oscilloscope coloring

[Garzita]

also, dark themes are all I have been able to work with, trying to make a light/white version looks horrible, there seems to be some layers/transparencies that make the modules look weird when making them light colour

[Esgalachoir]

I really like what you have done so far. I took a good look on how to do this but have not had the time to tinker myself, yet.
So, based on what you're saying about potential interference from layers/transparencies, 'Q' Yellow or 'Microwave' Orange is probably not a good idea, yet.

[pdxindy]

I am still tinkering with it, but I cant find where to change the white oscilloscope coloring

Did you figure out how to change the oscilloscope coloring?

[MrJubbly]

Any tips for working with the internal theme creator to simplify the process?

I would like to create some alternate dark and light themes, but don't have enough time to dedicate learning the process by trial and error.

Any key starter tips on which settings to change to affect the main parts of the GUI?

It would be great if there were some basic guide to follow.

[pdxindy]

I am still tinkering with it, but I cant find where to change the white oscilloscope coloring

Okay, I had a chance to look at it. The color of the Scope waveform is defined by these 4. Same color but different transparency for each of the 4 Scope graphs.

COLOUR name='ModColour_Default' rgba='b5b5b5ff'
COLOUR name='ModColour_Def75' rgba='b5b5b5c4'
COLOUR name='ModColour_Def50' rgba='b5b5b580'
COLOUR name='ModColour_Def25' rgba='b5b5b540'

However, other stuff, like the color when you drag say Vel, Key, etc. Mod Sources to a target is also defined by those color definitions. If you want to change the Scope waveform color independently, then you would need to create new color name definitions. Something like

COLOUR name='Scope_Default' rgba='b5b5b5ff'

then set the rgba value to what you want.

Then I think this is where you would set the definition for the 4 scope lanes:

CONTROL type='DataGraph' name='DataGraph Scope' bounds='45.00 25.00 280.00 205.00' parent='grd-layer-scope' layerMask='2'
PROPERTY control='DataGraph Scope' name='colours' id='2' value='ModColour_Default'
PROPERTY control='DataGraph Scope' name='colours' id='3' value='ModColour_Def75'
PROPERTY control='DataGraph Scope' name='colours' id='6' value='ModColour_Def50'
PROPERTY control='DataGraph Scope' name='colours' id='7' value='ModColour_Def25'

I didn't try it yet. But I'm pretty sure that's right.

[Garzita]

awesome find @pdxindy
I have been too busy with the World Cup I have yet to test this! but I will give it a try tomorrow.

I wanted to recreate the Zebralette "White" skin but as I mentioned, I think there is an overlay making all light colours look awful, I think I have figured it out, I changed the value and the "Zebra" pattern in the background lost its transparency and it is displayed properly, unless someone from u-he corrects me!

[Garzita]

Any tips for working with the internal theme creator to simplify the process?

uh there is???
I am just editing the Zebra.txt directly and praying it looks good!

[Garzita]

"Urs wrote: Wed Feb 28, 2024 8:14 am
So, yes there is an editor, and it's built into the plug-in. To enable it, do the following:
in the folder section of the preset browser, right-click "Local" and "Open in Finder/Explorer"... this should open the top preset folder
in it, duplicate a preset or create a new file and name it "default.h2p". Make sure .h2p is the actual ending, not .txt or something
open that file erase all its content (if you duplicated a file), then write just "!EDITOR=YES" at the top (without quotation marks)
now unload/reload the plug-in - the editor should be enabled
However, the editor is widely undocumented. Bits and bobs about it were posted in this forum over the years.

Now, BEFORE YOU DO THIS ^^, the "correct approach" would be:
in the themes folder (on Mac: MacHD/Library/Application Support/u-he/Themes/on Win: Plugin.data/Support/Themes or so) create a new folder "My Theme", and in it a new folder "Scripts" and a new folder "Images"
duplicate Scripts/plugin_orig.txt and move it into My Theme/Scripts/, rename it to plug-in-name.txt (where plug-in name is, say Zebralette3 or Diva or so...)
open the plug-in editor
in the preferences under the cogwheel, select your new theme!
Now, when you enable the editor, right-clicking into the grey background has options to
"save changes" -> this saves your changes to your new script file (make sure it's that, and not the _orig file)
"check out" -> this gets you the normal plug-in editor, like use knobs and stuff
"back to edit" -> and that gets you back into edit mode
There, you'll also find the Colour Lab and the Shape Lab which let you change, well colours and (in most cases) colours assigned to .svg files (Zebralette only, so far).

If a png graphic needs to be modified, just save a modified version with same name into the same folder structure under My Theme/Images. If you're on Mac and you just want to change Exposure/Gamma/Offset/Hue/Saturation/Luminance, after clicking anywhere, press P for the picture editor, but that may only be available in few plug-ins.

There are a gazillion of other options, and starting a Theme from scratch needs way too much explanation."

[pdxindy]

awesome find @pdxindy
I have been too busy with the World Cup I have yet to test this! but I will give it a try tomorrow.

I wanted to recreate the Zebralette "White" skin but as I mentioned, I think there is an overlay making all light colours look awful, I think I have figured it out, I changed the value and the "Zebra" pattern in the background lost its transparency and it is displayed properly, unless someone from u-he corrects me!

Let me know if it works!

I haven't tried a light skin, just a bunch of changes to the default skin.

[pdxindy]

Any tips for working with the internal theme creator to simplify the process?

uh there is???
I am just editing the Zebra.txt directly and praying it looks good!

Yeah, you found the instructions I see... I mainly edit the script file directly, except for editing SVG files, then I enable the built-in editor for them.

[Esgalachoir]

Thanks for bringing that guide for the built-in editor to this thread!

hotkeys I've found so far:

c - colour picker

x - some sort of cloning/transform tool?

s - shape editor

d - undo/redo panel

g - grid

i - inspector

Right-clicking on an element also brings up a window with loads of tools and options as well.

If you right click the empty space outside the UI and select "check out" you can do a quick test run of your layout/skin as well.

[pdxindy]

Thanks for bringing that guide for the built-in editor to this thread!

hotkeys I've found so far:

"i" for Inspector

[Esgalachoir]

Thanks for bringing that guide for the built-in editor to this thread!

hotkeys I've found so far:

"i" for Inspector

Thanks, edited it into the list.

Also noticed that one can still use most of the tools while in "check out" mode. Useful if you want to flip through the various windows of Z3 and color on the fly.