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SirSmiley

Join Date 06/2005

+38

Idea Community Christmas Tree Widget

Any volunteers

Got this idea from another post and this deviation http://glasskiwi.deviantart.com/art/Pimp-Your-Christmas-Tree-26539141.

I'm willing to script something. So, looking for your ideas, graphics, etc. I'm sure we can put something together quickly.

Some of my ideas:

Graphics (animated and/or non-animated):

ornaments
presents (both for under & on tree)
Trees, fake, real, "Charlie Brown"
lights
tinsle
garlands
popcorn strings
bows
candles

Some thoughts on functions:

obviously drap'n'drop decorating
countdown on hover tree?
controlling lights/candle speed
real vs fake - daily watering, if missed your tree could burst into flames! Just a thought
timer for turning your tree on automatically

Any and all ideas are welcome. Let's hammer out something and see what we can do?

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HAPTORK

Join Date 09/2006

+35

Interesting thought. How about animations and music on every christmas.

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ZubaZ

Join Date 11/2001

+917

Christmas is alomst here!!!

Great ideas!

OK . .to make this a community project we need to get a few things done quickly.

Can the tree be resized? How about five sizes? Give each size a name so it can be scripted. Set the sizes now.
Set sizes of ornaments and decorations. So if a user uses the "Extar_Large" tree they get the "Extra_Large" Decorations.
Set the overall size of the decorations . . so that other artists can upload ornaments that won't be too big or small.

Start there I think and it can be expanded upon.
Try to keep the tree code framework as open as possible for the future.

I'd say keep it simple for the first pass. Tree, lights, ornaments, garland, star (angel). Animate the lights. Add a countdown to Christmas underneath or when you click on top.

Now GO GO GO!!!

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As it's most likely the only thing I will ever upload may I point out that my "Star" in desktopX objects can be sized to any tree size.

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SirSmiley

Join Date 06/2005

+38

Good suggestions Zu.

Had planned on making it sizeable. Now that could be dynamic but, I'm thinking that might be too confusing for many people

Try to keep the tree code framework as open as possible for the future

Define open? How about the ability to just put your image in a folder?

Here's a very basic layout of things. Note the funky Zuba-esque Xmas tree!

The left panel beside the Xmas Tree holds the basic decorations, this could be set up to generate from the contents of a folder including animated png's?

The bottom panel is for configuring your decorations. Eg. Size, colour, transparency, animation, etc.

Need to add a tree selection/config panel.

Also, will add the ability to save your created Trees to config files.

Obviously these panels will all be hidden when not in use.

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ZubaZ

Join Date 11/2001

+917

Sweet!!

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Koasati

Join Date 07/2001

+21

Excellant.

I'll see if I can come up with a tree.

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SirSmiley

Join Date 06/2005

+38

Excellant. I'll see if I can come up with a tree.

Sounds Great.

Here's where it is atm. Loads decorations from a decorations folder and the trees from a trees folder. Clicking on a decoration adds it to the tree. I'm going to do away with a separate decoration config panel.

FYI those decorations are not mine & won't be included. Happy to provide links though.

To Do:
* Tree Stand Panel
* Animated Ornaments Panel
* Tree/Decoration Sizing
* Loading/Saving Tree Configs
* ????

Wanted/Looking for:
* Graphics, Graphics and more graphics

* Some base decorations
* Trees
* Tree Stands
* GUI: Panels, Buttons, Scrollbars

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PoSmedley

Join Date 04/2005

+788

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sViz

Join Date 04/2006

+508

Looks good, SirS.

What's the standard image size for the ornaments?

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SirSmiley

Join Date 06/2005

+38

Thanks Po!

sViz, I don't think it matters since I plan to make them sizable.
Whatever anyone can provide is fine with me.

Guess people could post what they're working on in order to eliminate duplication?

Quick Status Update:

I should be able to have this coded by later tonight thanks to the crappy weather.

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ZubaZ

Join Date 11/2001

+917

SirSmiley, what is the ornament placement like? Not Drag and drop? Specific (relative) coordinates on the treetype?
What about lights? Garland?

Po' I really like your tree. Is Winky and Ornament or part of a tree-type?
If there is a treetype, how will it be sized and how will ornaments be sized on it?

I really like the way you are loading the ornaments from PNG's in a folder. I am assuming the same for the treetype? Good execution!

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Koasati

Join Date 07/2001

+21

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SirSmiley

Join Date 06/2005

+38

Okay, I'll break down the planned structure.

1) The Basic External Folder Structure will be like this:
* Community Xmas Tree - this is main Folder and will hold the config files at it's root
* Four subfolders will hold the different items decorations,animated_decorations,stands,
trees. The config panels are generated from these folders.

2) On first load you will see a blank/plain Christmas tree and the main toolbar.
* Main Toolbar consists of three buttons: Open, Edit, New, Save
- Open will load saved trees in normal mode
- Edit Switches into edit mode (obviously)
- toolbar expands to include panel toggle buttons: Decorations, Animated
decorations, Trees, Stands
- New will ask for Name of your Tree and automatically switch to edit mode.

3) The Tree
* The tree is a child object of a transparent base object.
* It will be sized relative to the dimensions of the base object. Some padding is needed for tree top, decorations, & stand.

4) The Decorations
* Selecting a decoration in the decoration panel places it in the upper left corner of the tree as a child object.
* decorations will be saved to the config file based on x,y positions from the internal border of the tree base object
* when sizing the tree you will have the option (right click menu?) to size decorations relative to the tree size or not to size decorations
* [Planned] In edit mode Selecting a decoration will show a resize control in the bottom right corner for that decoration. Eg. You can size each decoration to different sizes.

Not all of this is implemented but, definitely in the works.

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ZubaZ

Join Date 11/2001

+917

Thanks SirSmiley!

Posting code somewhere so folks can see it, comment on it, improve on it (perhaps?)? Or is this your baby? (Was that too obvious a hint?)

(You know I love community projects, right?)

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PoSmedley

Join Date 04/2005

+788

Po' I really like your tree. Is Winky and Ornament or part of a tree-type?

Thanks. he's part of it, but can easily be removed.

Koasati's tree is nice. probably better suited for this than mine.

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ZubaZ

Join Date 11/2001

+917

Koasati's tree is nice. probably better suited for this than mine.

I din't see his. You are right . . yours really sucks in comparison.

Now . . if it were a troll hiding behind the tree . . totally different story.

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Koasati

Join Date 07/2001

+21

I think the idea is to have more than one tree......

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SirSmiley

Join Date 06/2005

+38

Posting code somewhere so folks can see it, comment on it, improve on it (perhaps?)?

My original intention was to keep this completely open but, I just had to steal some code that I put in over 30 hours on for another project. For the time being I'm going to think about it because it looks like I'll being doing the GUI also?

Since I needed to change things my bragging about tonight may have been premature.

Current Screenie:

As before notes below it.

Switched over to just one multi-button config panel with toolbar. Buttons go trees, stands, decorations, animated decorations.

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PoSmedley

Join Date 04/2005

+788

yours really sucks in comparison.

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PoSmedley

Join Date 04/2005

+788

Smiley, if you really want to use my tree, cool. I messed with it and tried it as a DXObjext. It looks cool. Especially if you use the entire landscape. Here is a shot of it over my current wall. I think it would work over anything. Let me know (Not trying to pushy) and I'll send you the png's.

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SirSmiley

Join Date 06/2005

+38

Po, of course I'd like to use them.

Current Update:
Working on some of the GUI stuff & tightening up code

Still to Do:
* More GUI stuff
* Animated Decorations Panel
* Tree Saving/Loading

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theAVMAN

Join Date 10/2006

+434

I will try and knock some presents and a couple extra ornaments

give me a rough size I am just starting with DX

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ZubaZ

Join Date 11/2001

+917

OH! Very cool!
(I wonder if we can use a new widget engine for this.

)

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Philly0381

Join Date 11/2004

+844

And you really think these folks are paying attention to other posts in the forum?

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Looks good! Will it be available to those who don't use a registered DesktopX?

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