Unit Frame help...

Cerranos · 12-21-10, 10:58 PM

I was going thru some old UI templates that had been downloaded awhile back... and found this one from Everlu:

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/w...Template13.png

I would really like to be able to recreate this UI since it fits my playstyle. I'm not looking for Everlu's compilation or anything like that (although it may help); I want to be able to at least mimic it with the addons I use. My only concern is, how did s/he 'curve' the borders like they did - for both the player and target frames on each side? As well, the Focus and Target/Target borders are also 'curved.' I've tried to do this on Stuf Unit Frames, but there aren't any options to do so (or maybe I'm missing something). I didn't know if the curviness of the borders were achieved thru actual textures or if the designer tweaked something. And since the minimap is circular, I would want the unit frames to curve with it so that the health/power bar depletes correctly against the minimap's circular border (I hope that makes sense).

If anyone could help I'd really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

**Seerah** · 12-21-10, 11:26 PM

Yeah, that would just be a custom texture used as the status bar.

Cerranos · 12-22-10, 09:04 AM

Yeah... I did a bit of research and found that Everlu achieved the 'curves' via custom textures. Someone pointed me to Ferous Media pack, and it does seem that the texture Everlu used is available in that one. But, in reading Everlu's comment from his/her UI download section - s/he states:

"The PB frames aren't REALLY rounded. They're rectangular, but I made my own custom textures for the health/power bars that utilize the alpha channel so that they appear rounded."

Now, I've worked with a lot of different unit frame mods... but I'm unsure as to how I would utilize the alpha channel to make borders/health/power bars appear rounded. I thought alpha settings made it either translucent or solid?

Can anyone help with this? Thank you in advance.

Cerranos · 12-22-10, 09:31 AM

I recently found an old pic of Everlu's UI...

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/w...Template13.png

From what I've been able to find out, the 'curves' from Everlu's UI were achieved by him/her making custom textures for the health/power bars that utilized the alpha channel to make them appear rounded. And the only custom textures I've found that comes close to what Everlu used, are from the Ferous Media pack. Don't know if I can recreate the 'curves' using the appropriate texture.

I currently use Stuf UF... and I always thought 'alpha channels' made the bars either translucent or solid? If anyone can provide some insight about the alpha channels, and how I can use it with custom textures to make them appear rounded (like Everlu did), I'd really appreciate it.

Thank you in advance.

Dawn · 12-22-10, 10:34 AM

The alpha channel creates transparency from 0 to 100%, depending on the greyscale of it. White parts in the alpha channel are 100% solid, black are 100% transparent/see through. Everything in between (shades of grey) is more or less transparent depending on brightness.

You can get around of using an alpha channel if you simply use BLPs, based on a PNG, with a "transparent layer".

Cerranos · 12-22-10, 10:39 AM

Originally Posted by Dawn

The alpha channel creates transparency from 0 to 100%, depending on the greyscale of it. White parts in the alpha channel are 100% solid, black are 100% transparent/see through. Everything in between (shades of grey) is more or less transparent depending on brightness.

You can get around of using an alpha channel if you simply use BLPs, based on a PNG, with a "transparent layer".

Uhhh... huh?

I'm sorry, I'm not well-versed with all that. Is there like, a tutorial somewhere? (hehe)

**Seerah** · 12-22-10, 10:40 AM

Note: they mean the alpha layer in photoshop or image editing software. Not the usual alpha setting in addon options.

ravagernl · 12-22-10, 10:42 AM

The easiest way to use the alpha channel is to export as png (transparent background obviously) and then to convert the texture to BLP with BLP2PNG.

But you can also export to TGA with photoshop.

**Seerah** · 12-22-10, 10:45 AM

I merged your second thread into this one. One thread on your topic keeps everything centralized for both you and others looking for the same help. (It also keeps the boards clean.

)

Cerranos · 12-22-10, 10:47 AM

Sorry about that... still trying to make my way around wowinterface forums.

Thank you!

EDIT: Regarding this issue though, I think I'll just try to work with what I have. I'm afraid I am nowhere near advanced enough to export files and use photo-editing software. Maybe if there's a tutorial with specific step-by-step instructions I could do it. But, until I've had time to research it all, I'll apply a work-around. My previous efforts yielded this UI: http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/5...1109002034.jpg

I'll just try to recreate this one I suppose. Thanks for all of the responses/help!!

Cerranos · 12-22-10, 01:26 PM

Another person suggested this route, and I was initially thinking about it... where I can download Everlu's old package and use her custom textures. But in doing so - would there be anything else that I would have to use in conjuction with the texture, since she modified it herself (such as certain files or folders, etc)?

Landrell · 12-22-10, 01:54 PM

http://www.wowinterface.com/download...0-everlUI.html

That's the beauty of this site, you never know what you're going to find!

Cerranos · 12-22-10, 02:05 PM

Thanks, Landrell!

I actually was able to find it... but I'm more concerned with Everlu's custom textures, and whether or not I need to download anything else from the package. I guess I'll find out later tonight.

If anyone has any advice, especially making sure I copy the texture file/pack correctly, please feel free to add!

SDPhantom · 12-22-10, 04:48 PM

Originally Posted by mrruben5

The easiest way to use the alpha channel is to export as png (transparent background obviously) and then to convert the texture to BLP with BLP2PNG.

But you can also export to TGA with photoshop.

If you're on a low budget like the most of us developers, GIMP works well for converting images to a 32-bit TGA with alpha channel. I use Macromedia Fireworks 2004 MX for creating images, export as PNG, then use GIMP to convert to 32-bit TGA (IfranView doesn't convert to 32-bit and Fireworks doesn't export TGA). GIMP can create and edit images by itself, but I find Fireworks easier to use.

Cerranos · 12-22-10, 06:14 PM

I tried copying Everlu's textures from her statusbar folder under SharedMedia (from her old UI compilation download)... but that's not correct as I can't seem to find the one she customized.

Was that incorrect? As well, she designed the customized textures against Pitbull 4 and I'm using Stuf UF. I have a hunch I need to use Pitbull 4, but it may not be the same version as she used.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Cerranos · 12-23-10, 07:09 AM

I've tried copying Everlu's textures, but it's still not working... here are the steps I took:

1. Downloaded the designer's old UI compilation/package
2. I found the specific custom textures they had made and copied the .tga files
--> I did this specifically from their Interface, AddOns, SharedMedia, statusbar folder
3. I then pasted those files into the "MyMedia" folder, under my WoW directory, that I had created via SharedMedia (I did this to get more fonts and textures, etc)
4. Logged into WoW but the custom textures didn't appear as a selection

I know she designed the textures for use with Pitbull4, and I'm using Stuf... but that shouldn't make a difference, should it? Were there any other files I should have copied, such as SharedMedia .lua files, etc?

If anyone could help I'd really appreciate it. Thank you!

**Seerah** · 12-23-10, 10:01 AM

Read "Instructions for MyMedia.txt"

Cerranos · 12-23-10, 10:27 AM

Originally Posted by Seerah

Read "Instructions for MyMedia.txt"

It worked!!!

Thanks, Seerah... I should've known better.