skinning question - taskbar transparency

[garbanzo]

does anyone understand how windows reads transparency for the taskbar elements?

i'm trying to get rid of the dark gradients behind the start button and clock area. i found the resources, and replaced them with blank pngs, but on launching the style, those areas became pure white.

i'm confused!

 

[Generator]

I havn't got there yet on my new style but could it be some Alpha channels are involved?

 

[garbanzo]

no, the PNGs that i replaced had native transparency, as do other taskbar graphics.

i'll keep experimenting when i get home. perhaps a PNG with 1% transparency will be better than 0%.

or maybe all black, since the BMP resources in explorer.exe for the start orb have black backgrounds. perhaps pure black is read as 100% transparent...

 

[Generator]

Found this info on another site that I cant link to in a post because of forum rules but it says the following:

If your Paintshop program does not make Alpha aero compatible images then this is when you need to use the Alpha Image convertor.
If your image is not Alpha compatible then you will notice a horrible white background when applied to your theme

..and here's the app it mentions, I've scanned it with AVG but you might wanna throw your scanner at it too, just to double check. It's posted on a reputable skinning site.
View attachment Alpha_Image_Convertor.zip

 

[garbanzo]

hmm ok i'll try this later. thanks

 

[Generator]

No prob! let me know if it works or not.

 

[garbanzo]

well, i tried 1% transparency and it 'worked', but the effect is not what i'm after. now the areas i wanted to change are more transparent than the rest of the taskbar! it seems there's more to these shadows than a single resource. i'm going to stop here, this is more work than it's worth

 

[Generator]

ok mate, should be fun when I get there then lol!
at least I have a warning in advance I suppose.. (gulp!) :shock:

Once I've played around with it I'll post my findings here.

 

[Generator]

I've managed to figure the fades out on the middle section of the taskbar, it's just taking forever to find the bits (the actual resource's) underneath the clock and Start-Orb now..

 

[garbanzo]

i got those, it's the middle bit i couldn't get! what number are those?

the ends are absolutely tiny, like 1x6 pixels or something. around 840 if i remember right...

 

[Generator]

to do what I did above, you want 1028,1029,1030 & 1031.

ONLY one line of pixels (the lightest line) covers the main taskbar, the other two lines are the edging!
(the lightest lines look almost fully transparent but they arn't.. they are the fades)

the ends are absolutely tiny, like 1x6 pixels or something. around 840 if i remember right...

..I'll go have another look for the ends shortly, cheers much!

 

[Generator]

Right, I've figured out the 'whitening'!



If it goes white then you've applied too much transparency. Using Photoshop I had to seperate the most transparent single pixel (They are 3x1 btw) and place it on a new layer, then I dropped the opacity for that layer down to 1%.

The res numbers are 845, 846, 847 and 848 for everyones information.

 

[garbanzo]

good news, generator!

so let me get this straight. there are 8 images corresponding to 2 different parts of the 4 possible taskbar positions. each image is 1x3, and the 2 darker pixels make the outer edge of the taskbar. and to get rid of the shading at the ends, we just drop the transparency of the lightest pixel down to 1%.

i'll try it later, and update my AeroPlain VS. many thanks for sharing your revelation

 

[Generator]

That's correct.. at least with using Photoshop. If it goes white at 1% though with you using a different app, then you may need to tweak the 1% back up slightly.
Say for example try 5% and if it is gonna work with that app it should be just barely visible, so then knock it back down bit by bit till you find it's lowest acceptable value.

If you can't do it with your graphics editor, just let me know if you want the parts from mine and I'll happily upload them.

 

[garbanzo]

i got it working and i updated my VS. 1% worked fine. thanks for the help!

AeroPlain for Windows 7 by ~garbanzox on deviantART