Button thread

[Teodosio]

I updated the guide. I hope it's a bit more readable now.

The guide is much clearer now
Do you like this Childrens' Creche button?

 

[Maniac]

Looks great, thanks!

 

[Teodosio]

Here they are the buttons for the Biology Lab, the Research Hospital and the Infirmary (Genetics - my own concept - comment please and don't forget the XML file!! ).

Maniac, I need to ask you a couple of things to facilitate my work on the other icons:
1- Which color theme did you use for the "pressure dome" and "recycling tanks" buttons? Is it 659888?
2- Which color themes can I use for "recreation commons", "command center", "maintenance bay" and "genejack factory"?
I would suggest "physics/conquer" for the "command center" and "industry/build" for the "genejack factory", the "maintenance bay" and all the other factories too. Don't know about "recreation commons".

Could you please color gray or highlight in some other way in the first post the buttons that have already been made?

After a good number of buttons have been made about Build, Explore, Peacekeeper and Enclosed I will start to do some of those with the Discover and Believer themes in order to compare them with the others, and then perform some experiments. I would like to make more experiments on the Conquer theme too.

 

[Maniac]

Here they are the buttons for the Biology Lab, the Research Hospital and the Infirmary (Genetics - my own concept - comment please and don't forget the XML file!! ).

Thanks! You read my mind on the Infirmary button.

1- Which color theme did you use for the "pressure dome" and "recycling tanks" buttons? Is it 659888?

2- Which color themes can I use for "recreation commons", "command center", "maintenance bay" and "genejack factory"?
I would suggest "physics/conquer" for the "command center" and "industry/build" for the "genejack factory", the "maintenance bay" and all the other factories too. Don't know about "recreation commons".

I agree with everything, including not knowing yet what to do with the Recreation Commons. That button can always wait of course. If no inspiration is found, I'd go with Build as well in SMAC tradition.

What did you have in mind for the Maintenance Bay by the way. One idea I had was to use an adjustable spanner. I have an icon of that derived from System Shock 2.

Another I had was to follow the theme of the Command Center, Naval Yard, Aerospace Complex... That is, that garage on the bottom, and on top of that an icon representing what the building boosts. For the Maintenance Bay that's treaded units. Unfortunately we don't have an icon for the treaded unitcombattype yet. I have attached an option I had in mind.

Could you please color gray or highlight in some other way in the first post the buttons that have already been made?

'kay.

 

[self biased]

i'd be game to try doing the upgrades and weapon options. i'm also preparing a treatise on unit types. i just need to do some work on the white-board, and figure out how i want to present everything.

 

[Teodosio]

Thanks! You read my mind on the Infirmary button.

Please remember the XML file
Some new buttons are in attachment.

One idea I had was to use an adjustable spanner. I have an icon of that derived from System Shock 2.

That was my idea as well, but now that you say it I think it's more correct to go with the command center theme: the Maintenance Bay provides too great a benefit to treaded units to be ignored, it is more a training facility than a factory. I will probably use the image you attached.

About the Conquer/Physics theme in general: with your permission I think I will make some more experiments. The idea of adding two shadows doesn't sound good to me, it seems more correct to add a single shadow effect using the right settings.

A little question: which color theme did you use for the "Ultraponics" tech?

Last thing: I tried to make the "network node" and the "hologram theatre" buttons with Discover White using the standard guide and they don't look bad compared to the others... what do you think? Shall we use the standard settings for Discover white too?

 

[Maniac]

i'd be game to try doing the upgrades and weapon options.

You mean change the blue, as you mentioned on Apolyton? A consistent style is important. So if you were to do that, you'd also somehow have to recreate many of the existing promotion buttons. And that's rather complicated as this thread shows. Even more work than the current fac/tech button project. So I'm wondering whether this is worth it, especially considering I don't understand what's wrong with the current blue colour (of course that may change if I know what you have in mind as an alternative). I'd say working on Datalinks information is more important, in case you're still planning that.

Some new buttons are in attachment.

Thanks!

About the Conquer/Physics theme in general: with your permission I think I will make some more experiments. The idea of adding two shadows doesn't sound good to me, it seems more correct to add a single shadow effect using the right settings.

It's impossible to merge those two into one shadow. They do different things!! One shadow adds black darkness to the button. The other one, with saturation 30%, makes the surface it's on lighter!

A little question: which color theme did you use for the "Ultraponics" tech?

That's the Pirate colour. It was an experiment, with a result I didn't like. The colour is too flashy compared to the others used in the interface. And for some reason with that colour too bevel and lighting doesn't seem to have any effect.
I've attached the source file for that button, for the record. That tech obviously belongs to the Enclosed Biosphere theme.

Last thing: I tried to make the "network node" and the "hologram theatre" buttons with Discover White using the standard guide and they don't look bad compared to the others... what do you think?

Judging from my own experiment with the Virtual World button, the lighting effects make the button too uniformly white. I'd like to experiment with the lighting effects some time.

 

[Teodosio]

The "recreation commons" button is attached.

Judging from my own experiment with the Virtual World button, the lighting effects make the button too uniformly white. I'd like to experiment with the lighting effects some time.

I have made another experiment with the Discover theme. Since the lighting effect makes the buttons too white, the straightforward solution is to reduce the Intensity. I have re-made the "Network Node" button using intensity 0.70 instead of the default 0.90, getting a darker icon. The result is in attachment. I have NOT remade the "Hologram Theatre" button that is still with 0.90 intensity.
What do you think? Compare the preview with the previous one; I can decrease further the intensity of light if you like (at 0.00 intensity you get a black icon).

 

[Maniac]

I'll have a deeper look at the Discover theme. For now thanks for the rec commons button.

You say 0.90 intensity btw. Is that a type? The guide says 0.80.

 

[Teodosio]

I'll have a deeper look at the Discover theme. For now thanks for the rec commons button.
You say 0.90 intensity btw. Is that a type? The guide says 0.80.

No no that was correct, "light intensity" is set at 0.90 in the guide. Perhaps you are confusing it with "material brightness" that is indeed set at 0.80. From the guide:

Filters/Light and Shadow/Lighting Effects/Light: Point type light; X-Pos: 0,50; Y-Pos: -0,20; Z-Pos: 1,00; Intensity: 0,90
Filters/Light and Shadow/Lighting Effects/Material: Bright: 0,80; rest 0,00

"Light intensity" is the most direct approach to get a lighter or darker button. If the intensity is set to a very high value the icon becomes essentially white; if it is set to 0.00 the icon becomes black.
If the Discover buttons are "too white" using the standard guide, the simplest solution would be to decrease light intensity as necessary. Tough decreasing it too much could make it difficult to distinguish the color from the "genetics" or "enclosed" themes. We could always try to bring back the Angel color for computers...

I think that "light intensity" could be manipulated at good effect for the darker colors too, for exemple for the "Conquer" theme. Using a more-than-standard light intensity would make the icon lighter without doing any other modification to the standard guide. It would be simpler, easier and more consistent.

Looking back at the old private messages I have found that you were already thinking something of the sort:

This is also a problem with the red Conquer colour btw. The effects don't seem to have that much of an effect. Perhaps there is a solution for this (increase the lighting effects or so?), but being a graphics noob, I wouldn't know what it would be.

I think your idea was correct and that "light intensity" is the key.

 

[Maniac]

Yes you're correct on the intensity-brightness confusion.

In fact I think light Intensity might be the culprit why I thought the Virtual World button was too white. I think I must have forgotten to put it at 0.90 instead of the default 1.00. As a consequence it looked much whiter. I just tried creating a new Virtual World button with the correct default guide settings, and now it looks ok to me.

So I'd say it's no longer necessary to find a different set of values for the Discover theme.
I'd love to have a closer look at your Hologram Theatre button btw.

 

[Teodosio]

So I'd say it's no longer necessary to find a different set of values for the Discover theme.
I'd love to have a closer look at your Hologram Theatre button btw.

Ok. I have attached the "Hologram Theatre" and "Network Node" buttons, made using the standard settings (light intensity 0.90). You can see a preview in the screenshot attached in this post.

After that, I have made an experiment about the Terraforming/Believer theme. I have made the "Tree Park" button using the standard settings and a second, lighter version using light intensity 1.10 (instead of 0.90). The results are in attachment. You will find a screenshot preview for both (standard/dark at left, light at right) and a rar file with the actual buttons.
I prefer the darker icon, the one made using the standard settings (intensity 0.90). The lighter one (intensity 1.10) is too similar to the "Build" theme. What do you think?

 

[GeoModder]

On the button thing: is it normal that in patch 8b the Ruins use the deer button?

 

[Maniac]

.

I'll give feedback later, but for now, thanks for the buttons!

On the button thing: is it normal that in patch 8b the Ruins use the deer button?

Yes, none is available yet.
For the button I could always take a screenshot of the improvement in-game (won't be as detailed then of course than if others took the screenshot )
No idea what could be the gamefont icon

 

[Maniac]

Thanks for the buttons! They all look good to me on the default 0.90 intensity setting.

Btw, a note on naming conventions: Most stuff that is named x_x.dds is not done by me. I'm using the naming convention. XX.dds. For instance network_node becomes NetworkNode. It also gives a quick method to see what art has been 'modernized', and which hasn't been yet.
Could you please use that modernized naming convention too, when you have to give a new file a name anyway?

 

[Teodosio]

New buttons attached.

Could you please use that modernized naming convention too, when you have to give a new file a name anyway?

No problem. Keep in mind in any case that filenames are case-insensitive in Windows, so for example if you reference them completely in small-case in the XML it will still work.

I have seen you have re-done the "Virtual World". I have attached another version, where the round border is thicker, as it is in other buttons ("Temple of Planet" for example). In this way the button is more consistent with the others.

I have noticed too that you have added the border to the "Park" button I previously submitted. I should say that that work was a bit raw, as it was my first full-square button, and indeed it didn't fit exactly in its border in the city screen (screenshot in this message). Now I have re-made that button making it fill exactly the proper border, whitout having to add a border myself. It looks good on the city screen and much better in the datalinks. Check that in the attached screenshot, where it is displayed my own concept for the "Hydro Plant" too.

I will now make some experiments with the Conquer/Physics theme. Which graphical settings did you use for the "Dimensional Gate"?

 

[Maniac]

Buttons downloaded - thanks! Will reply to your post later.

 

[Maniac]

New buttons attached.

Thanks for the Energy Bank & Assembly Hall buttons!
I have some remarks or questions about the others.

I have seen you have re-done the "Virtual World". I have attached another version, where the round border is thicker, as it is in other buttons ("Temple of Planet" for example). In this way the button is more consistent with the others.

The thick circle is the symbol for Planetmind, or a little broader the planet Chiron, or even broader: Ecology. The Virtual World is a virtual world, so that way I guess you could argue there is a connection to Chiron, but for the rest the facility doesn't have any connection whatsoever to Planet or Ecology. So one can argue that making the Virtual World circle identical/consistent to the Planet circle is in fact NOT desired.
I don't feel that strongly about it either way, but I figured I'd share the view. What do you think after having read this?

I have noticed too that you have added the border to the "Park" button I previously submitted. I should say that that work was a bit raw, as it was my first full-square button, and indeed it didn't fit exactly in its border in the city screen (screenshot in this message). Now I have re-made that button making it fill exactly the proper border, whitout having to add a border myself. It looks good on the city screen and much better in the datalinks.

I agree the button not having a frame makes it look more consistent in the datalinks. I wonder though, what changes did you make? I haven't yet put it in the game, but at first sight it seems that the size of the icon is the same and no pixels have been turned transparent.

Check that in the attached screenshot, where it is displayed my own concept for the "Hydro Plant" too.

Looks great!
I think the Hydro Plant belongs to the Enclosed tech theme though. Did you save an xcf file before starting to applying the foreground colour?
Where did you get that Watermill icon from btw? I'd love to have an xcf of that. Might come useful for other stuff too.

Btw, I noticed there are two transparent pixels to the upper right of the plus and minus. Do you see those? Is that intentional by you? Seems kinda strange.

I will now make some experiments with the Conquer/Physics theme. Which graphical settings did you use for the "Dimensional Gate"?

I followed the guide on the Conquer theme.

 

[Teodosio]

The thick circle is the symbol for Planetmind, or a little broader the planet Chiron, or even broader: Ecology. The Virtual World is a virtual world, so that way I guess you could argue there is a connection to Chiron, but for the rest the facility doesn't have any connection whatsoever to Planet or Ecology.

You have a point. I will explain why I tought of adding a thick circle: I have noticed that many buildings buttons in SMAC have frames and there are mainly three types of them: house-shaped frames (with either round or triangular top), beaker-shaped frames and circle-shaped frames (they are indeed for Chiron-related building). What hits me is that all these differently shaped frames have the same thickness. So it seemed strange to me to have a button with a thinner frame, it seemed at odd with the others. Anyway I don't feel very strong about it so you can chose the one you prefer

I agree the button not having a frame makes it look more consistent in the datalinks. I wonder though, what changes did you make? I haven't yet put it in the game, but at first sight it seems that the size of the icon is the same and no pixels have been turned transparent.

I will explain the problem. This is a general issue with full-square buttons such that you might want to modify the related part in the guide after you read this.
I am sure you noticed the problem with the first version I submitted, the icon didn't fit exactly the border in city screen, and a black line was clearly visible on the right side of the button, between the icon and the border. The problem was that the original icon in SMAC was not a perfect square; after I copied the icon (that is, the colored part) and pasted it in a new image, I saw that the size was 210x213. Following the guide, I expanded the canvas (213*64/56 rounded up) leaving the icon at its center. So the actual icon was larger in height than in width. After I resized all to 64x64 I had an icon that was still smaller at its width (not the canvas itself, only the orange part) so it didn't fit perfectly.
To solve the problem I had to modify the original SMAC button making it a perfect square before applying all the other processing steps. The new version now fits perfectly because height and width of the icon (the orange part) are the same.
Tell me if it sounds clear

Looks great!
I think the Hydro Plant belongs to the Enclosed tech theme though. Did you save an xcf file before starting to applying the foreground colour?
Where did you get that Watermill icon from btw? I'd love to have an xcf of that. Might come useful for other stuff too.
Btw, I noticed there are two transparent pixels to the upper right of the plus and minus. Do you see those? Is that intentional by you? Seems kinda strange.

I am saving all the xcf's for the original buttons and the other material I have used for all the buttons I have made. I have attached the entire pack related to the "Hydro Plant".
The small dots at the top of the plus and the minus come from another SMAC button, xfac038.pcx. It is included in the pack too.

I have painted the "Hydro Plant" with the Terraform color because putting dams on a river is indeed a terraforming work. Our "Hydro Plant" has the added function of providing fresh water in those bases where there isn't another source, but that function has always striked me as weird, not really right. I think the real, proper function of a hydro plant is to increase production on river tiles trough dams, hence it sounds like terraforming.
What do you think?

I followed the guide on the Conquer theme.

I will soon present a small experiment about that

 

[Maniac]

Anyway I don't feel very strong about it so you can chose the one you prefer

I'll go with the thick circle to make you happy.

To solve the problem I had to modify the original SMAC button making it a perfect square before applying all the other processing steps. The new version now fits perfectly because height and width of the icon (the orange part) are the same.
Tell me if it sounds clear

Thanks, I get it now.
I looked at the Park & Hydro Plant buttons in-game, and I did notice one small thing bugging me. The icons are perfectly square, and as a consequence look a little out of place between all the rounded corner frames and buttons. So I think they too should get their corners rounded. Probably manually before bevel is added.
No idea how much exactly they should be rounded though. Do you have any ideas? Or shall I go experimenting?

I am saving all the xcf's for the original buttons and the other material I have used for all the buttons I have made.

I'd love to have those xcf's too! You never know when it comes useful.

The small dots at the top of the plus and the minus come from another SMAC button, xfac038.pcx. It is included in the pack too.

I see. I don't really know what those double circles are supposed to stand for. A 'degree' symbol to indicate the Thermocline?? Whatever their meaning, when the button is resized to 64*64, they just become a single pixel. So I'd just leave them out.
Using your HydroPlant.xcf I've already made a button without them myself, but it'll probably need to be redone again for the rounded corners. :-s

I have painted the "Hydro Plant" with the Terraform color because putting dams on a river is indeed a terraforming work. Our "Hydro Plant" has the added function of providing fresh water in those bases where there isn't another source, but that function has always striked me as weird, not really right.

When the base doesn't have access to fresh water, you're supposed to think of the Hydro Plant as a water recycling center. That function does belong in the Enclosed Biosphere theme.
But anyway, I think I'll keep it in the Terraformed colour as you suggest. The Centauri Hydrology button should be in the Enclosed colour, and having all contents of a tech always use the same colour as the tech button, might look a little monotomous on the F6 screen.