Endless Paradigm

@Mr. Shizzy
i think i get the concept
will it take more resources by doing so?
i have very few available lol,,, tried to change the pic but then all other animations turned white and XMB icons are gone

well, I'll take a look later, now i need some rest lol
barely get some sleep to learn about this from zero in last few days @_@

eznoir Wrote: [ -> ]will it take more resources by doing so?
i have very few available lol,,, tried to change the pic but then all other animations turned white and XMB icons are gone

No, it will take up no extra resources.
The only thing that takes up resources is adding stuff to the ImageTree.  ;)

And actually, vegetano1 figured out that adding dummy resources to your ImageTree in system_plugin_fg.rco will actually allow you extra memory for resources in some cases.

By the way - if you are running out of memory and animations are turning white ect; try to reduce the amount of colors in your custom images.   One easy way to do this is open the image in photoshop, then:  FILE>Save for web & devices

I save it as .png8 and then select the "optimize to file size" option.
You can then set what size you want your final image to be.  It even gives you a preview after you alter it, so you can decide if you are happy with the quality before you save it.  

One last trick for saving resources:  you can always reduce the dimensions of your pics, and then set your XML code to stretch them to a larger size.    ;)

Good luck.  Hollar if you need anything man  

Mr. Shizzy Wrote: [ -> ]And actually, vegetano1 figured out that adding dummy resources to your ImageTree in system_plugin_fg.rco will actually allow you extra memory for resources in some cases.

By the way - if you are running out of memory and animations are turning white ect; try to reduce the amount of colors in your custom images.   One easy way to do this is open the image in photoshop, then:  FILE>Save for web & devices

I save it as .png8 and then select the "optimize to file size" option.
You can then set what size you want your final image to be.  It even gives you a preview after you alter it, so you can decide if you are happy with the quality before you save it.  

One last trick for saving resources:  you can always reduce the dimensions of your pics, and then set your XML code to stretch them to a larger size.    ;)

Good luck.  Hollar if you need anything man  

i don't really understand about this dummy
by adding dummy image to system_plugin_fg.rco, can it be called by other rco as well?

only transparent png which gives me headache
i tried to convert it to PNG 8 and reduce its color to 8-16, but then sometimes RCOmage couldn't convert it to GIM
that's why i still use PNG 24 in most times when working with transparent one

by the way, i took a little break in animating and made a gameboot instead
when i started my gameboot, the animation from system_plugin_bg.rco still appeared on it
is it related to system_plugin_bg.rco's XML or my PMF conversion method?

thanks once again

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edit: can i change a picture color via XML? at least to black or white
if it can be done, will it affect transparent pixels?

eznoir Wrote: [ -> ]i tried to convert it to PNG 8 and reduce its color to 8-16, but then sometimes RCOmage couldn't convert it to GIM
that's why i still use PNG 24 in most times when working with transparent one

Would you mind posting a sample 8-bit PNG?

ZiNgA BuRgA Wrote: [ -> ]Would you mind posting a sample 8-bit PNG?

oops, my bad,, I'm using RCO editor (not mage)
here are 2 pics that can't be converted, it says "Error converting to GIM!"
some others were already deleted
and as you can see, I'm making infinite stratos theme

Both images appear to be 32-bit PNGs, and convert through GimConv fine.
RCO Editor seems to have an issue, but I don't know much about that...
You're better off editing with Rcomage.

If you want to make 8-bit PNGs, ensure you export it as such.

ZiNgA BuRgA Wrote: [ -> ]Both images appear to be 32-bit PNGs, and convert through GimConv fine.
RCO Editor seems to have an issue, but I don't know much about that...
You're better off editing with Rcomage.

If you want to make 8-bit PNGs, ensure you export it as such.

i dunno how it can be 32 bit O.O
i really use save for web feature form photoshop cs, and choose PNG 8, i think it's either 128 or 256 color
even PNG 24 would be over 80 KB

by the way I'm done converting via ctf tool v5 and recompressing to RCO via RCOmage
and yeah it worked, unlike on RCO editor, sorry for bothering

I'm not at home so can't totally verify, but mediainfo says it's 32-bit.
GimConv seems to refuse to code it to 8-bit, so my presumption was that it's 32-bit.

Did you set the colour mode to Indexed in Photoshop?
(By the way, for smaller images, 32-bit may have a smaller filesize than 8-bit because the palette of the latter can somewhat cause it to be larger than the former)

ZiNgA BuRgA Wrote: [ -> ]I'm not at home so can't totally verify, but mediainfo says it's 32-bit.
GimConv seems to refuse to code it to 8-bit, so my presumption was that it's 32-bit.

Did you set the colour mode to Indexed in Photoshop?
(By the way, for smaller images, 32-bit may have a smaller filesize than 8-bit because the palette of the latter can somewhat cause it to be larger than the former)

yeah,, ofc i see that color mode

also 2 days ago i  converted one of my icon to 2 colors PNG 8, but RCO editor couldn't convert it to GIM
successfully converted to GIM again using CTFGUI and RCOeditor can recognized it, but in RCOeditor it's shown as a false image (only ~40 of the actual image is taken, resized to actual pixel)
so i think the only way to solve this for me is by dumping the RCO using RCOmage, replacing the GIM in image folder, and then repacking it again. it worked perfectly this way

by the way "save for web" in my photoshop doesn't have PNG 32, so if it's really converted to 32, it's just that my photoshop is crazy o.o

eznoir Wrote: [ -> ]i don't really understand about this dummy
by adding dummy image to system_plugin_fg.rco, can it be called by other rco as well?

only transparent png which gives me headache
i tried to convert it to PNG 8 and reduce its color to 8-16, but then sometimes RCOmage couldn't convert it to GIM
that's why i still use PNG 24 in most times when working with transparent one

by the way, i took a little break in animating and made a gameboot instead
when i started my gameboot, the animation from system_plugin_bg.rco still appeared on it
is it related to system_plugin_bg.rco's XML or my PMF conversion method?

thanks once again

------------------------

edit: can i change a picture color via XML? at least to black or white
if it can be done, will it affect transparent pixels?

To add dummy files to system_plugin_fg.rco, just some 1x1 png transparent .png images, and load them into your ImageTree in your XML.   You don't need to do anything else with them in your code.   And no, they can not be shared between .rco files (that I am aware of..)

As for your gameboot issue, where did you get the system_plugin_bg.rco and opening_plugin.rco files from ?
Are they used from another theme, or are they "fresh" (previously unaltered) files ?

As for turning a pic to black & white in your xml code, just use a Recolour object command in your animation tree, and change the red, blue, and green values to 0.  (leave alpha at 1 if you want the image to stay opaque)

By the way - can't wait to see your theme when it's finished !  Please post it here at endlessparadigm when it's done.   (if you plan on releasing it to the public that is)