A new attempt at a transparent explorer

[jhgenius01]

I found this picture on deviantART: http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs42/f/2009/146/2/f/Win8_Concept_0_1_Alpha_by_NorthDakota91.jpg
And i was immediately hooked. I soooooooo want a computer with a theme like that. However, it is only a photoshop image.
I so want to make this a reality. But I probably don't know half the stuff on how to do it.
I have never created a full theme by myself completely, suck at using photoshop (but good at Paint.NET), and I can use Windows Style Builder (great tutorial at virtualcustoms.net) but I have made progress.
Using full glass/black glass enhanced I have managed to make the explorer partially transparent (well mostly) while still looking like a white explorer.
AND the text is readable!

Anyway I may not get there in years. But my final, ultimate goal will be something like that picture by NorthDakota91.

Anyway I will need lots of help! and this topic will be for your help and support.

I will need lots of help on this. Wish me good luck!

 

[Bongo]

Try unchecking the TRANSPARENT:BOOL at
Explorer & Shell > Explorer > CommandModule > <1>
Explorer & Shell > Explorer > CommandModule > <11>
Explorer & Shell > Explorer > CommandModule > <12>
Explorer & Shell > Explorer > PreviewPane > <1> > <1>
& make the images 100 % transparent
Jerry

 

[jhgenius01]

thanks that helped quite a bit. u see those screenshots were in progress, i was in progress of making the rest of it transparent.

ONe problem though. Eg: when i open microsoft office and press open, that dialogue box doesn't get the glass effect. how do u do that?

any i'm using the complete guide to theme building (it is a lifesaver!) here: http://virtualcustoms.net/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=2139&start=48

 

[niceguy75]

If I am not mistaken I have seen a small application to make these things transparent. I would see and if I found I would post here only.


Edit: Try this and let us know the result:

http://rapidshare.com/files/452642293/Black_Glass_Enhanced_v0.5.rar

 

[Bongo]

ONe problem though. Eg: when i open microsoft office and press open, that dialogue box doesn't get the glass effect. how do u do that?

Sorry I do not know how
Jerry

 

[jhgenius01]

Umm, i am using Black Glass Enhanced already otherwise there wouldn't be that glassy effect.

Using full glass/black glass enhanced I have managed to make the explorer partially transparent (well mostly) while still looking like a white explorer.

And rapidshare is not reliable, downtimes and errors in files, not to mention corrupt files.

 

[Sunimar]

Umm, i am using Black Glass Enhanced already otherwise there wouldn't be that glassy effect.

Using full glass/black glass enhanced I have managed to make the explorer partially transparent (well mostly) while still looking like a white explorer.

And rapidshare is not reliable, downtimes and errors in files, not to mention corrupt files.

Just search a little in the "Customization" section of "sevenforum" there is a thread on Black Glass Enhanced v 0.5 as i also use the same but it has the same drawback like other except Full Glass which to some extent over come it & that problem is that Black Glass Enhanced can be use only with a Black background ie wallpaper or theme otherwise the output is not desirable & doesn't look great as it does with Full Glass.

 

[jhgenius01]

Wait, so black glass enhanced doesn't create the same effect as full glass. i thought they were the same but BGE had more features (choose certain processes

Now to restate my aim again. I know there are many themes out there that have explorer transparency. But they turn everything black, including microsoft office pages, which doesn't look good to me. I am trying to create a sort of hybrid, where the explorer is transparent but other things are unaffected (except for the text colour, i wish i could change it from a grey without making it unreadble.

 

[niceguy75]

You can also find full transparent theme on askvg.com.

 

[Sunimar]

Wait, so black glass enhanced doesn't create the same effect as full glass. i thought they were the same but BGE had more features (choose certain processes

Now to restate my aim again. I know there are many themes out there that have explorer transparency. But they turn everything black, including microsoft office pages, which doesn't look good to me. I am trying to create a sort of hybrid, where the explorer is transparent but other things are unaffected (except for the text colour, i wish i could change it from a grey without making it unreadble.

Hey buddy, i guess there is a little confusion out here. Black Glass Enhanced v0.5 works perfectly only on those themes which has a Black Wallpaper/Background etc. Black Glass Enhanced v0.5 doesn't turn your wallpaper or font or anything to Black but its just that it need Black Wallpaper/Theme to look great & give you the Glassy Effect...You can use Full Glass or Glass2k for the same effect but they fine on other background or theme even if its not Black....

 

[niceguy75]

Hey guys, I guess this would make the task bar transparent like glass:

http://rapidshare.com/files/453964302/Full_glass.rar

 

[jhgenius01]

Hey guys, I guess this would make the task bar transparent like glass:

http://rapidshare.com/files/453964302/Full_glass.rar

Umm... niceguy75, thanks for trying to help me with a rapidshare link but as i mentioned before i already have this program. and i don't like rapidshare (megaupload is better) due to the many amounts of corrupt files and viruses hidden on rapidshare. and as it can be seen from the 'topic title' : a new attempt at a transparent explorer, i am aiming to make windows explorer transparent, NOT the taskbar, Windows 7 already has the taskbar transparent anyway.
Just to clarify for you niceguy75, i am making a theme with a transparent explorer.

On that note, I have succeeded!!! Check out this screenshot!!!

Overall it still needs tidying up such as the scrollbar, and the addressbar and search bars at the top, but this is my first aim and i am happy to say that i have succeeded! Now for stage 2, which will be tidying up and adding more transparent stuff! Stay Tuned!



Oh also...

You can use Full Glass or Glass2k for the same effect but they fine on other background or theme even if its not Black....

Wait a minute... glass2k does something completely different to the windows, it makes the whole window transparent or FADED (like this: http://chime.tv/products/glass2k/glass2kss.jpg) , as i like to say, different to black glass enhanced. anyway i think full glass is the same as black glass enhanced, just that you don't get to choose the processes you want transparent.

 

[Greg S]

Hey guys, I guess this would make the task bar transparent like glass:

http://rapidshare.com/files/453964302/Full_glass.rar

Umm... niceguy75, thanks for trying to help me with a rapidshare link but as i mentioned before i already have this program. and i don't like rapidshare (megaupload is better) due to the many amounts of corrupt files and viruses hidden on rapidshare. and as it can be seen from the 'topic title' : a new attempt at a transparent explorer, i am aiming to make windows explorer transparent, NOT the taskbar, Windows 7 already has the taskbar transparent anyway.
Just to clarify for you niceguy75, i am making a theme with a transparent explorer.

On that note, I have succeeded!!! Check out this screenshot!!!

Overall it still needs tidying up such as the scrollbar, and the addressbar and search bars at the top, but this is my first aim and i am happy to say that i have succeeded! Now for stage 2, which will be tidying up and adding more transparent stuff! Stay Tuned!



Oh also...

You can use Full Glass or Glass2k for the same effect but they fine on other background or theme even if its not Black....

Wait a minute... glass2k does something completely different to the windows, it makes the whole window transparent or FADED (like this: http://chime.tv/products/glass2k/glass2kss.jpg) , as i like to say, different to black glass enhanced. anyway i think full glass is the same as black glass enhanced, just that you don't get to choose the processes you want transparent.

Looks pretty decent! Is this going to be a replacement of explorer.exe or some other method?

 

[Bongo]

Here is a style hack for WSB for glass scrollbars I don't remember where I got it but the credit go to Glass scroll bar resource by ~OctogunSalata on deviantART
Jerry

 

[jhgenius01]

OK those scrollbars work, i did some other tweaks to the scrollbars. HOwever if i remove the background behind the scrollbars, it looks great in windows explorer but terrible on google chrome as it can't make use of the transparent images properly

 

[Sunimar]

You can use Full Glass or Glass2k for the same effect but they fine on other background or theme even if its not Black....

Wait a minute... glass2k does something completely different to the windows, it makes the whole window transparent or FADED (like this:

http://chime.tv/products/glass2k/glass2kss.jpg) , as i like to say, different to black glass enhanced. anyway i think full glass is the same as black glass enhanced, just that you don't get to choose the processes you want transparent.

I would like to add 1 thing as in this thread itself you mentioned that you want the dialog box in MSWord to be transparent as well to get that effect you have to use Black Glass Enhanced as that worked for me when i tried & not only MSWord but i tried it on Notepad,Download Manager & almost all the programs that i can think of except few like Adobe Reader....just add the program in Black Glass Enhanced....

 

[jhgenius01]

Err... I am using BlackGlassEnhanced. Even after adding Winword.exe to it and restarting word the dialogue box is still as black as ever. Do I have to restart my computer or something?

Also there is something weird that BGE does. Open an explorer window and everything looks great. Minimise it once and restore it again, you can see that the main part of the explorer window is lighter. THis can be annoying as i cannot use an aero colour that's clear because after i minimise it i can hardly read the text.

 

[jhgenius01]

Coming back

Ye well, it's been 698 days since this. I stopped this, though I did attempt to make another theme (partially) that was focused on green stuff.
Still the few things that annoy me with BlackGlassEnhanced, and I wish I could code/program myself.