Looking for some guidance on my first effort.

[Rain_newb]

Hi guys,

I like the whole teach a man to fish philosophy here so I hope I can pick up on what you guys offer when I ask for guidance.


I just bought a new laptop and am trying to create similarities between my Andriod and my laptop home screens.

First here is a lousy effort at getting a SS of my phone as a frame of reference.



As you can see I have a similar wall and grey'd out icons and a circular meter.

This is what I am using as my Google background as an aside...



So far so good right? Now here is my first effort at creating a desktop using a few different elements of Rainmeter.



Now as you can see there are a few items I want to tweak a bit as indicated by my lil arrows. On the far left is a vert calendar Sinister v 2.0 I was able to figure out how to change the color to that maroon-ish I am using but I want the last 2 numbers to not pass the young lady's arm. Where do I look to re-size it? Then how do I change the subtext on the other items? All enigma I believe. I want to change the color of the subtexts to Maroon as well. I looked and looked at the speakers txt file and was baffled. I suspect the other items are the same ... all Enigma I believe.

Lastly any comments / suggestions?

[Mordasius]

Nice looking desktop

but I want the last 2 numbers to not pass the young lady's arm. Where do I look to re-size it?

For the calender you can try going into the 'Vertical Calender.ini' file and looking in the [Variables] section
to find the lines:

Code: Select all

FontHeight=10
FontHeight2=10
AntiAlias=1
pxS=16

If you change these to:

Code: Select all

FontHeight=9
FontHeight2=9
AntiAlias=1
pxS=14

They might just clear the Lady's arm. Of course, you could always use photoshop to cut and rotate the Lady's arm anticlockwise so that there is enough room for 31-day months with the original settings (which IMHO look to be a pretty good size for that screen).

Then how do I change the subtext on the other items? All enigma I believe. I want to change the color of the subtexts to Maroon as well.

I don't know diddly-squat about enigma but I think you need to find the file Rainmeter\Skins\Enigma\Resources\Styles\Enigma Dark\Variables.inc and then play around with colors in the [Variables] section eg. Color1=255,255,255 -> Color1=51,51,0 etc. etc. to change the text color.

To change the icon colors you would need to go to Rainmeter\Skins\Enigma\Resources\Images and then edit the various .png files (e.g. Volume.0.W.png, notes.W.png, etc.) with photoshop to get the colors you wanted.

[Rain_newb]

For the calender you can try going into the 'Vertical Calender.ini' file and looking in the [Variables] section
to find the lines:
Code:
FontHeight=10
FontHeight2=10
AntiAlias=1
pxS=16

If you change these to:
Code:
FontHeight=9
FontHeight2=9
AntiAlias=1
pxS=14

They might just clear the Lady's arm. Of course, you could always use photoshop to cut and rotate the Lady's arm anticlockwise so that there is enough room for 31-day months with the original settings (which IMHO look to be a pretty good size for that screen).

Nice! not only fast feedback, but positive themed! I like it here already. I tried the skin editing you suggested since of the 2 solutions it seemed the simpler. Altho I may need to try the arm trick it seems. (Any clue how to do so in Gimp?) New machine, as I mentioned, and I am a lil old to be going out and getting "free" versions of Photoshop these days. Not to mention I am a newb in that arena as well. If you can explain it I will try tho.

Here is the trouble I ran into when I edited the file - the lil rectangular indicator for what day it is, was not properly aligned. (see below)



I actually don't mind the new size because it seems I will have some room to lower the calendar a hair from the top of the screen then. Any guidance on how to fix my indicator issue now?

P.S. Do you want me to post the original wall or the one I tinted for your own purposes?

** Edit ** - changed the pic due to changed additional need. Now I need to figure out how to change the mail feed so it reads white like it used to. I suspect that may be suited to the Enigma forum tho.

[Mordasius]

I actually don't mind the new size because it seems I will have some room to lower the calendar a hair from the top of the screen then. Any guidance on how to fix my indicator issue now?

Sorry, missed that one. Unfourtunately, you have a bit more work to do. Having told the meter how big you want the font and vertical (Y) spacing to be, you also need to tell the meter where you want it to put the little 'block' that highlights the current day.

To do this you will need to go through the 'Vertical Calender.ini' file and find all 31 cases of [PocitejDen_??] and replace the bit which says where the 'Oznacovac' meter (block) has to be moved to. To do this you need to replace the line IfEqualAction=!RainmeterMoveMeter 1 OldNumber Oznacovac with IfEqualAction=!RainmeterMoveMeter 1 NewNumber Oznacovac where NewNumber is calculated using the formula NewNumber = (IfEqualValue - 1) x 14. So for example you get

Code: Select all

[PocitejDen_5]
Measure=Calc
Formula=mDnesniC
IfEqualValue=5
IfEqualAction=!RainmeterMoveMeter 1 56 Oznacovac   
;-> (5-1)*14 = 56

and

[PocitejDen_6]
Measure=Calc
Formula=mDnesniC
IfEqualValue=6
IfEqualAction=!RainmeterMoveMeter 1 70 Oznacovac
;-> (6-1)*14 = 70

Sure it is a bit of a bore making all those changes, but you can now see how easy it is to change the way meters display on your desktop.

[Rain_newb]

Thank you!

Is that second bit the actual values I need? because that equation baffles me. I am just following guidance at this point. I understood your first set of instructions fine it made sense to me I mean. This time I am not sure what the values given represent. I am just following instructions. I am sure it's not your explanation it's my ability to understand what you just said. Would you mind explaining / rephrasing why that works because I just don't get what you told me.

I mean I can just go and do what I was told but I would like to understand why...

**Edit**

OH ! the light bulb just went on! - I get it now... thanks again

for instance...

Code: Select all

[PocitejDen_25]
Measure=Calc
Formula=mDnesniC
IfEqualValue=25
IfEqualAction=!RainmeterMoveMeter 1 384 Oznacovac
; --> (25-1)*14 = 336

right?

[Mordasius]

Is that second bit the actual values I need? because that equation baffles me... Would you mind explaining / rephrasing why that works because I just don't get what you told me.

I'm not very good at explaining stuff, but basically what is happening is that each of the [PocitejDen_DayNumber] measures looks to see the result of the [mDenVMesici] calculation which calculates what day it is today. If the value that comes back equals DayNumber (IfEqualValue=DayNumber), the IfEqualAction bit tells the meter to move the little block showing what day it is today to a position that is X=1 and Y=(DayNumber-1)* 14. The number is 14 because that corresponds with the spacing you set when you made pxS=14).

Don't know if that is of any help, but you can read a bit about IfEqualValue here

** Edit ** Yeah .. you got it. Spot on.. Happy modding.

[Rain_newb]

You aren't done yet sir ....

Unfortunately the lil grey indicator box is too big now! No need for a pic to explain / demonstrate is there?

Where am I looking to learn about that or can you give me a quick primer on that one?

I'll look back for your response (hopefully) when I am done doing the math homework you gave me...

[Mordasius]

Unfortunately the lil grey indicator box is too big now!

Oops forgot about that. You have told the skin where to put the little block that highlights today's date but you also need to tell it how big to make the 'block'. To do this, you need to change the W and H values (which tell the meter the width and the height of the block in pixels) to 14 in the meter that highlights today's date.

Code: Select all

[Oznacovac]
Meter=IMAGE
X=0
Y=0
W=14
H=14
SolidColor=#border.color#
Hidden=0

P.S. I find the best thing to do when I don't really understand what is going on is to go to http://rainmeter.net/cms/ManualBeta and then put the command or whatever ( say 'Measure=Calc' or 'Meter=IMAGE' or 'IfBelowAction=') in the search box. Something usually pops up to explain what is going on.

[Rain_newb]

Pretty sweet!

Thanks for your help!!

Now all I gotta do is figure out how to change the mail feed so it displays white like it did before I flipped colors in the enigma config.

I think I will send the creator of Enigma (name escapes me at the moment) a PM directing them to this thread rather than clutter up more forums tho.

Anyhow here it is almost 100% finished



As an aside I do have a hidden Rocketdock... Any other suggestions / ideas / comments?

[Mordasius]

Any other suggestions / ideas / comments?

Maybe a small trickle of blood running down from the left-hand side of her mouth?