Object Bar Shadowing Probs! Help!

from WinCustomize Forums
Hello again. On the Aquabar theme for Object bar, the lucida grande font should look "lifted"(from shadow effects) on the Apple bar. However, it just looks like normal. When I go into the settings and change the shadow effect to on, it looks better, but when I save it and exit, it goes back to its prior state. Is it me??
3,053 views 11 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
i havent tried this, but i have never had a problem with OB not saving settings normally.

are you saving settings explicitly while your machine is still running? the only time i have seen OB not save settings is when the theme has been modified, but not saved, and i then shutdown the machine. at this point i get the "theme changed, save?" dialog box, but selecting save doesnt work.

if you are avoiding this pitfall, i will try and think of some more things to check
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thanks. I am definitely saving before I exit, and immediately the theme goes back to its original state. I am really getting frustrated. As long as I have Skin Studio open, the shadowing is fine (the shadowing is the only setting it doesn't seem to save) all other like font and size save fine?!
Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
am i understanding you correctly in that saving the OB theme from OB causes this shadowing to go away? that is strange if so.

i take it this is a setting you are getting to via skinstudio then? if so, which version of skinstudio are you using?

in the mean time, i will see if i can find this setting here.
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
i think we may need to do this a different way.
i have just caused skinstudio to lock up twice in a row by trying to load the skin file:
ObjectBar/Agua/Skins/Agua/agua.obskin

i can load the
ObjectBar/Windows Clasic/Skins/Windows/windows.obskin

skin file fine, but on the taskbar - font section, i can set the font and its size, but the other options are greyed out.

this is with skin studio 1.50a
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ah-ha. Skin Studio is locking up on you too?? It seems very unstable. The bar I am working on is www.urbanslurp.com/downloads.htm. It is the "Aqua" and not the "Agua". I have the latest version of Skin Studio..I think 1.5.0 build 398 or something. All other settings hold though except the shadowing. That is the only setting that doesn't hold. It is driving me nutzo.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
well, that is interesting
when i open the AquaBar.obbar file, skinstudio says that "Use Shadow Effect" is enabled.
however, there is no sign of a shadoweffect attribute in the skin file.
i will have a play around, and see if i get anywhere.
have you ever seen this effect on any other OB skins? if so, it shouldnt be to hard to workout how it was done, and to then copy the idea across directy in a text editor.
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
let there be celibrations, for i have solved this

after a bit of thought, i realised that the effect you are after shows up on the top of the start menu with the olive green XP theme, on the user name.

so, after a little fiddling around with a text editor (sidestepping skin studio completely for simplicity), i found that adding:

ShadowEffect =1
ShadowBlur = 4
ShadowOffset.x = 2
ShadowOffset.y = 2
ShadowIntensity = 0

to your "AquaBar.obskin" file, in the [General] section produces the desired effect.

these items all seem to be quite self explanatory.

i dont know if the problem was becuase skin studio is doing the wrong thing, or becuase we dont know how to use it correctly *shrug*
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I actually have found a way to fix it too... Check out my Aqua Bar mod at this site just posted a few days ago. Deggy posted it for me (Rick S). However, if you download it and it is back to normal(or abnormal) there is a way through Skin Studio to fix it. I don't know why sometimes it doesn't hold it when uploading???
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
you can download the public demo. just go to the object bar section and follow the link
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Rick-o - However, if you download it and it is back to normal(or abnormal) there is a way through Skin Studio to fix it. I don't know why sometimes it doesn't hold it when uploading???

the file shouldnt change when it is uploaded, so long as it has uploaded sucessfully.

as for skinstudio, i dont actually know. i am guessing that you need to set more of the settings for the shadow effect to be displayed. so, if these can be set via skinstudio then you are ok, otherwise i am not sure how it could be done, other than by editing the skin file directly.