@ES - GraFX 'Gray Moon' small status update

[@ruantec]

Hello my dear friends!!!

Today i decided to post a small status update and with it explain few things about the progress of a project that isn't dead, was never dead and probably never will die(at least not that easy). the reason for this thread is to clarify few things and show some small progress that will show that the project is still alive but progressing slowly due to my very busy life.

first of all i want to apologize once again for all the drama, confusion and dissapointment about the progress of my project. i just want to make clear that this is a one man project which means am actually the only one writing the thousands lines of code to make it happen while having some awesome guys testing it.

second i would like to thank Strike for testing the current version as well as schumi even if he hasn't got his hands on the current version since i wanted to re-add some important features that he likes and also to all those true followers of my project. eitherway you guys rock!!!

Now lets go back to @ES - GraFX.... as mentioned the progress have been painfuly slow due to the fact that i do not have enough time to spend on it and also due to the layout re-design which i wanted to do since long time. all core features and previous features are available but since am re-designing the UI things need to get linked back again to the different layers. Thanks God i managed to get some free hours of my busy life and managed to fix lots of bugs, add some core features back as well as even add new ones that many of you may like such as PS3 bluetooth remote control support.

@ES - GraFX holds a new codename as i skipped a version which should've been called "AmpheX". that version was basically the same as the old "MorphX" but after testing i just realized that landscape mode is just better and fits well. because of that i started a re-design in the UI(not a re-write so don't misunderstand that) and made what is now called "GraFX". the new codename also has a theme name which is "Gray Moon" a name that fits well for the new UI theme.

Feature-wise few things has changed such as the grabbing mechanism which now use the advanced mode that wasn't used in the past just to keep XP compatibility. another feature is Android-like stack icons as well as animated background support for those that still love Dreamscenes which were introduced with Windows Vista. @ES - GraFX allows you to set any type of video as your background or almost any type of picture. however you're responsible for the resouce usage depending on the size and quality of the video added.

last but not least another big change is the settings file which was somehow terribly bad structured and people had some bad time editing it. tbh that's the reason why i didn't choosed XML right away for that task since i knew lot of people will manually edit the settings file

the new structure goes like this:
[SettingItemName]
Description=
Value=
Icon=

As many of you know i quit my job recently and will start a new one in january. my new job will require me to travel so i will have less time to code. however i am free till 2nd january and i will do my best to try to have a new public build ready for all those that had to wait that long.

If for any reason am unable to work in the project anymore in the future i've prepared the code to be made open source. by doing that am hopping that the project will progress faster and new stuff could be added or fixed easily in case people request stuff.

anyways enough talking... here is my new video that shows some of the changes i've made so far:


Note:
Animations and transitions are very smooth but sadly due to the overhead of the screen capture code some lags are present in the video. in reality the whole experience is as smooth as butter Stay tune since i will have enough time till january to add all the stuff back so that we can have the most advanced version of @ES i've ever released.


Over and out
@ruantec

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Last edited by @ruantec; December 15th, 2011 at 20:40..

[Strike105X]

Nice update @ruantec looks like something worth looking for ^^.

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[Player594]

Looking Awesome man. The new layout looks very smooth and easy to adapt to. Really glad to see you still working on this and adding new features. Keep up the great work.

BTW: Love the song even if I can't understand a word;p

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[@ruantec]

Originally Posted by Strike105X

Nice update @ruantec looks like something worth looking for ^^.

Thanks! still have to finish the video layer and activate the emulator renderer layer for the emu-grabbing. apart from that just some small adjustments here and there and it should be very usable

Also forgot to mention a feature and that's notifications

Originally Posted by Player594

Looking Awesome man. The new layout looks very smooth and easy to adapt to. Really glad to see you still working on this and adding new features. Keep up the great work.

Thanks!! i personally think the new layout is great for the layers as well as it offers more width to place more content. the UI is based in tablets this time and in landscape since i belive it fits better. coverflow is back as well and is going to be optional/switchable but am not sure if i will get it ready for the upcomming release since its not priority for now.


Atm am very happy with the image quality as well as overlays, effects and overal design after working lots of hours in the past tunning @ES core to get better image quality as well as working with photoshop to see how i can create a tablet-like look for my new theme which i called "Gray Moon". my main goal is to give @ES a professional look and feeling as well as making it look and behave like a real device and not just like another window app... also this time am using more GPU power for that hence why the UI is very responsive and smooth since part of the work is done in the GPU.

Originally Posted by Player594

BTW: Love the song even if I can't understand a word;p

Is one of my favorite korean songs from G-Dragon. my wife is a korean fan this days and somehow i got infected with the culture and music as well

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Last edited by @ruantec; December 15th, 2011 at 22:50..

[ShizZy]

@ruantec,
Thanks for sharing this! It's always really nice to see/hear that great projects around here are still alive and well after periods of inactivity The video you posted looks really nice, your new UI work looks quite smooth & sleek. I gave you a plug at my emulation site http://sixbit.net.

Regards,

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[SCHUMI_4EVER]

Oi @ruantec, where's my build???!

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Get it right fools! The glass is HALF-EMPTY, not half-full!!!

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[@ruantec]

Originally Posted by ShizZy

@ruantec,
Thanks for sharing this! It's always really nice to see/hear that great projects around here are still alive and well after periods of inactivity The video you posted looks really nice, your new UI work looks quite smooth & sleek. I gave you a plug at my emulation site http://sixbit.net.

Regards,

Cool!!! glad you like it

Originally Posted by SCHUMI_4EVER

Oi @ruantec, where's my build???!

Just started to work actively on it again so probably sooner than you expect

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[ShendoXT]

Damn, what a tease. I need it, nao

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[Purkinje]

Originally Posted by @ruantec

If for any reason am unable to work in the project anymore in the future i've prepared the code to be made open source. by doing that am hopping that the project will progress faster and new stuff could be added or fixed easily in case people request stuff.

Over and out
@ruantec

@ruantec, I have question that I hope hasn't been asked a million times, because I can see that this may be a touchy topic, but I'll ask it anyway, since I'm a bit new to the emulation scene. Anyway, is there a specific reason for the project not being open source, and simply a "one man project"? Is it a matter of creative ownership, or are there other reasons?

Thanks for your great work, and I can't wait to try this new version of @ES out when it's ready!

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Last edited by Purkinje; December 20th, 2011 at 04:08..

[@ruantec]

Originally Posted by Purkinje

@ruantec, I have question that I hope hasn't been asked a million times, because I can see that this may be a touchy topic, but I'll ask it anyway, since I'm a bit new to the emulation scene. Anyway, is there a specific reason for the project not being open source, and simply a "one man project"? Is it a matter of creative ownership, or are there other reasons?

Thanks for your great work, and I can't wait to try this new version of @ES out when it's ready!

Thank you for your question and interest in the project and i will try to answer your questions as good as i can

@ES was created as a private/hobby project focusing in new technologies and graphical UI. because of that it was kinda hard to find someone that shares my views and also my knowledges when it comes to UI design. Sure there are tons of awesome coders out there but lets be honest... how many of them actually have a taste for UI design or even better knowledge in that area???? i think that question answered by itself

Another reason why it never got open source is because am very picky with my projects and way of coding... that means i personally hate when others start touching my code when am writing a private/hobby application. at work is different tho. since at least the company make sure that all the coders follow several rules and code design. am aware that you can do that nowdays using SVN etc. but since this is a private/hobby project i never bothered to use those technologies.

If you give a close look to the actual version of @ES you will notice that i focus a lot in details as well as effects and such stuff. In order to bring it further i will need a coder that is able to code in C#, XAML, ASM and Javascript(youtube layer) as well as work with Photoshop as the actual version of @ES is being written/created using those languages/tools. As you probably notice @ES may not be the most advanced app out there but is quite advanced and complex at its own way and the video above showed that

hope i could answer all your questions

@ruantec

Originally Posted by ShendoXT

Damn, what a tease. I need it, nao

You will get it soon!!! Thanks for your contribution to @ES which will be revealed soon too and of course you will be credited for that

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Last edited by @ruantec; December 20th, 2011 at 12:33..

[SCHUMI_4EVER]

Basically it's creative ownership. @ruantec does a lot of stuff with AES I didn't even know was possible and that I haven't seen other apps do. I'm sure there's people out there just dying to rip off his work.

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The Champ has retired but may his Legacy live on FOREVER !!!!

No$GBA DS FAQ 2.0

Get it right fools! The glass is HALF-EMPTY, not half-full!!!

!!! WARNING: Emulation requires a brain !!! WARNING: Emulation =/= Piracy !!!

[Purkinje]

Originally Posted by SCHUMI_4EVER

I'm sure there's people out there just dying to rip off his work.

I'm not trying to rip it off, but I'm hoping more emulators get graphical interfaces like @ES, even if they don't borrow a single line of code from @ES. Most emulators these days still use boring menus that have no aesthetic appeal. I wish more emulators had a more modern interface that was pleasing to the eye but was still functionally efficient to use to configure settings and browse save states and such.

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[SCHUMI_4EVER]

I never meant to imply that. But let's face it, just look at commercial games for instance...there are a lot of lazy devs out there.

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Intel Core2Quad Q9550 (2.83Ghz stock) | ASUS P5Q | 2x2GB Transcend JetRam DDR2-800 | ASUS ENGTX260\HDTP\896M | Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit SP1

The Champ has retired but may his Legacy live on FOREVER !!!!

No$GBA DS FAQ 2.0

Get it right fools! The glass is HALF-EMPTY, not half-full!!!

!!! WARNING: Emulation requires a brain !!! WARNING: Emulation =/= Piracy !!!

[@ruantec]

Originally Posted by Purkinje

I'm not trying to rip it off, but I'm hoping more emulators get graphical interfaces like @ES, even if they don't borrow a single line of code from @ES. Most emulators these days still use boring menus that have no aesthetic appeal. I wish more emulators had a more modern interface that was pleasing to the eye but was still functionally efficient to use to configure settings and browse save states and such.

I can understand your view about Emulators having boring menus and windows as i hate standard windows myself. The problem rely in what i explained in my previous post where i said that there are tons of awesome and very skilled coders out there. However there are coders and there are graphics designers that is how it usually is. In other words they are just not interested in UI while in my case see me as a multi-pack since i possess knowledge in both areas

Actually that was one of my goals with @ES in order to change that and provide a better look to those great emulators out there. because of that i created a unique feature which is probably what Schumi was talking about and that's no other than the grabbing feature which allow users to play games using the emulator in @ES screen and even switch between different games of different consoles/emulators which is one of @ES features that hasn't appear in other similar apps. in fact the goal of my app is not just to look good or offer some nice effects but to provide a nice experience to all emulator lovers out there and allow them to do crazy things like listen there favorite music while playing X game.

in case you don't know what am talking about here is a video of a old test i made almost 2 years ago:


The design of the upcomming version is actually based in a concept i developed about 2 years ago for the "MorphX" one which can be seen here:

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Last edited by @ruantec; December 20th, 2011 at 20:28..

[Purkinje]

@urantec, you're an inspiration! I'm a web developer, and seeing and using your software in action has inspired me to strive to make my web pages look better.

Today, I showed your GraFX demo vid to some friends at work, and we noticed that you have a launcher icon of Photoshop, among other programs on that screen. Can you run photoshop within @ES, or is it just a shortcut that will launch Photoshop in its own window? Are there some programs (aside from emulators) that will run within @ES, and others that won't?

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Last edited by Purkinje; December 20th, 2011 at 22:20.. Reason: Fixed some grammar and added details to the question

[@ruantec]

Originally Posted by Purkinje

@urantec, you're an inspiration! I'm a web developer, and seeing and using your software in action has inspired me to strive to make my web pages look better.

Today, I showed your GraFX demo vid to some friends at work, and we noticed that you have a launcher icon of Photoshop, among other programs on that screen. Can you run photoshop within @ES, or is it just a shortcut that will launch Photoshop in its own window? Are there some programs (aside from emulators) that will run within @ES, and others that won't?

wow that's a compliment!!!

now to your question... @ES's grabbing feature can grab anything(even windows explorer lol) so i can easily run any app inside @ES if i wanted to. however that feature was specially made for Emulators and was never meant for app grabbing. during my tests i even grabbed PC games for example but i dropped that idea since PC games are better played in fullscreen even if @ES grabbing method do not reduce performance at all.

in other words i could run photoshop inside @ES if i wanted to or any other app but as explained i didn't originally created that feature for such a use. btw photoshop is one of my most used tools and even when i re-install windows i install VS 2010 and Photoshop way before i even think of installing drivers

hope i could answer your questions

@ruantec

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Last edited by @ruantec; December 21st, 2011 at 20:36..

[Strike105X]

Personally i install drivers first but Photoshop comes right after that :P. Can't wait for the test build XD.

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[@ruantec]

Originally Posted by Strike105X

Personally i install drivers first but Photoshop comes right after that :P. Can't wait for the test build XD.

Its been like that since years now... i forget to install stuff after a re-install but never fail to install those two first XD as for the test build am adding something shendo shared with me which is a new feature that requires a new layer. even if am the one who will design that layer the credit of that part of @ES only goes to Shendo as is his work also am completing some small things then i will send the test builds

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[Strike105X]

Cool always is nice to hear more XD.

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[@ruantec]

Originally Posted by Strike105X

Cool always is nice to hear more XD.

Indeed! here a small status update again XD

As you probably know my main PC just died and because of that i've lost some time. however i still have my HTPC(i3) and i've made more changes to the design and code that will provide a even better experience to those people like me that have there computer connected to there TV's as a secondary monitor or just wish to have better control.

My latest addition allows to configure the Audio renderer for video and audio separately. that means you can play them using different outputs simultaneously and even use different soundcards in case you have more than 1 like i do. for instance i set the video layer to output sound through my GPU HDMI to my TV while playing my favorite song through my PC speakers using my on board soundcard the main idea is to allow the user to set the output of choice doesn't matter if is audio, video or a emulated game. by doing that the user can choose the targets, display/render the same audio, video or game in different displays or just display the same output in all displays available if wished(for example display a emulated game or video in your monitor and TV simultaneously).

Am finishing the video layer then i will send the private beta for testing... here is a pic on how is looking right now when playing a 1080p mkv:


Also i would like to mention that videos are decoded using Directshow but @ES renders the video by itself frame by frame using the core render engine that use GPU power when possible. Because of that you will notice smooth transitions, overlays and 3D enviroment effects when switching between layers or returning to the video renderer layer like shown here:

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Last edited by @ruantec; December 24th, 2011 at 01:23..