Transparent background, kinda

[GioRgSaVv]

Hello guys, I just wanna know if something like this https://i.imgur.com/AyPZnv4.png (it's photoshoped) is possible.

So to make it clear, everything in this image is a rainmeter skin except the CPU monitoring, that's an image, it's basically photoshoped.
I would like to have some monitoring skins that run above other skins (easy), then these skins will have a background color (easy) but the background color must be transparent, and the skin behind (visualizer or whatever) must not be shown (hard). Just like the image, I'm not sure if you got the idea but you never failed to amaze me with your crazy ideas

[GioRgSaVv]

There is the stupid way of doing this, by cutting a part of the desktop's wallpaper and use it as a background for each skin, but then I would have to do that every time I move the skins, so they should be on a permanent position.
I just can't think of anything else, and I don't know much of coding to make it work, once more I will need your help

[jsmorley]

I don't this is is possible.

There is no way that one skin can be made to "cut through" the content of another skin, that just isn't happening... As to your other idea, I don't think it is practical. As you say, you would have to have to have some way to use ImageCrop on your desktop background as a background to the meters, but there is a rub with that. When Windows sets an image as the background, it scales and positions it to properly fit your screen resolution. So you can't just use the actual image as a source.

[GioRgSaVv]

Thanks for your response! Do you plan on adding this feature in the future?

[jsmorley]

I really don't think what you are suggesting is possible... You never know though.

[rxtd]

I think it may be possible with the new Container thing.
You would make a container for all meters in a visualizer skin, like this (pseudocode):

Code: Select all

meter=shape
shape=rectangle 0,0,visualizerWidth,visualizerHeight
shape2=rectangle (cpuX-visualizerX),(cpuY-visualizerY),cpuWidth,cpuHeight
shape3=combine shape | exclude shape2

Then there will be transparent space where your CPU skin is.
This is just an idea, I haven't actually even tested containers yet.
I also do not know if it is easy to maintain positions and sizes of different meters. You probably can make some kind of a listener in the cpu meter that checks its position and changes variables/options in the visualizer.

This would be hard-coupled to a set of skins though. You would need to edit every skin that should have transparency.

[GioRgSaVv]

Thanks for your time rxtd! I'm kinda newbie here even tho I'm using rainmeter for many years. It's a little hard for me to do that, I struggle just by editing one and basic meter, and now I have to edit every single meter of the monstercat visualizer? that's just too much!! xD
But I really appreciate your effort, thanks.

[Mor3bane]

the transparency idea is not so ridiculous, I did the opposite e.g. I made a skin that was round and was a transparent circle. I used the grow shrink model to create a mask, which actually was managed with a gif animation.

What I did was to make the mask grow and shrink to hide another skin of slightly lesser size. When 'big', it hid the skin, when small (zero w & h) the skin was visible.

So in theory a moveable skin could be used to reveal what is behind the RM desktop. But then again, I might be waaay off

Dyna Mask_1.0.rmskin