[SamiWiecieKto]

v 0.4 codename: glass bender

read license!

Download on dA

Preview: settings and one of the effects...

Description:
Small program that adds various window effects that can be adjusted by user. Currently, those are:
-transparency effects, with fading
-window fading in on creation
-transparency change of active window
-transparency change of non-active window
-taskbar and start menu transparency(no fading)
-contrast screen(adjustable transparency)
-transparency on window move and resize
-jelly effects
-window kinetics while moving
-window bouncing
-window resilience - acting like made from jelly during resize
-window gravity - window fall to bottom of the screen when deactivated

Known issues:
[*]after exciting program - not all programs turn back opaque if transparency effects were enabled - but that's mentioned in options
[*]sometimes some windows might stop responding to opacity change command [usually after rapid change from non-supported ones]
[*]sometimes ram usage rises rapidly(fast changing windows etc.) - after some time garbage collector takes care of it ^-^ [actually it keeps around 3-7~10 mb on my PC]
[*]Some windows make black flash after restoring - actually it seems to be Windows own behaviour for layered windows.

Tested under: Vista Home Basic
Possibly would also work on: XP, 2000

By downloading and using this program You agree to license below:
License:
IMPORTANT NOTICE - READ CAREFULLY: This license for users of this software is the agreement which governs use of the this software. By downloading, installing, copying, or otherwise using the SOFTWARE - You agree to be bound by the terms of this LICENSE. If You do not agree to the terms of this LICENSE don't download, install, copy, or otherwise use the SOFTWARE.

Definitions:
1.Official site. Official site means SOFTWARE official site.
2. My. My means SOFTWARE DEVELOPER.
3. Me. Me means SOFTWARE DEVELOPER.

License:
0. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED by ME "AS IS" WITH ALL FAULTS. YOU USE THIS PROGRAM ON YOUR OWN RISK - BE AWARE THAT IT COULD BURN YOUR PC, DESTROY YOUR SYSTEM AND DATA(+WORK) AND DO ANYTHING ELSE. BY USING IT YOU AGREE TO TAKE ALL POSSIBLE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL DAMAGES AND ANYTHING THAT COULD HAPPEN - AND DON'T MAKE ANY CLAIMS TOWARD ME, MY FAMILY, WORLD.
1. SOFTWARE executable can be only available on OFFICIAL
SITE.
1.1. Setups downloading program from OFFICIAL SITE are
exclusion, but require MY approval.
2. This SOFTWARE is freeware for non-commercial use.
3. Reverse engineering is forbidden.

Oh and Toph rox

--
Somebody feel free to write review, post screenshot or anything like that. _O_

This post has been edited by SamiWiecieKto: 26 September 2008 - 08:34 AM

[RickSOLET]

Quote

Tested under: Vista Home Basic
Possibly would also work on: XP, 2000

I tested it in Windows XP. All the effects work except for the "Window bounce".

[SamiWiecieKto]

RickSOLET, on Aug 29 2008, 12:01 AM, said:

Quote

Tested under: Vista Home Basic
Possibly would also work on: XP, 2000

I tested it in Windows XP. All the effects work except for the "Window bounce".

hmm possibly I know what causes it... [edit: updated to 0.3 nightlyfix - should work by now, if not I will try to figure it out when I find some free time]

[Villain]

Works great for me! Good going!

[adrynalyne]

It messed up my third party theme, making me restart explorer.

[Lord Devrexster]

Almost perfect !!

only thing is its not good at undoing whatever changes it makes.

U r on the right track tho Even works with WindowBlinds

[SamiWiecieKto]

Solo, on Aug 29 2008, 01:12 AM, said:

Works great for me! Good going!

^-^

adrynalyne, on Aug 29 2008, 05:08 PM, said:

It messed up my third party theme, making me restart explorer.

Lucky it isn't necessary to use it Oh and did I mention license?

I suggest next time report more details of possible bug - there is chance solution could be found. ^-^

Lord Devrexster, on Aug 29 2008, 05:57 PM, said:

Almost perfect !!

only thing is its not good at undoing whatever changes it makes.

U r on the right track tho Even works with WindowBlinds

As written some changes might require restart, reboot - for performance purposes this app isn't purely designed to be undo all changes before system close...

Oh and overall thanks - not to mention that's good to know it works with it.


--
Anyway updated to 0.3 a2 codename mineral bender...should work like charm now (at last tested worked so)

[adrynalyne]

Fair enough.

A picture will tell the tale.

Open Tophaz options, set transparency on taskbar to somewhere in the 50% range.

Then click the start orb, and you get this nasty start text in the middle of your orb.

Happens on all my third party themes, so I will assume it happens on default aero too.

Killing explorer and restarting it gets rid of the text.



I should mention that through this whole process, the transparency options for the taskbar doesn't really work for me.

Attached File(s)

•  Capture.JPG (90.82K)
  Number of downloads: 191

[SamiWiecieKto]

adrynalyne, on Aug 30 2008, 03:40 AM, said:

Fair enough.

A picture will tell the tale.

Open Tophaz options, set transparency on taskbar to somewhere in the 50% range.

Then click the start orb, and you get this nasty start text in the middle of your orb.

Happens on all my third party themes, so I will assume it happens on default aero too.

Killing explorer and restarting it gets rid of the text.



I should mention that through this whole process, the transparency options for the taskbar doesn't really work for me.

If this cheer You up - blame Windows behavior, Tophaz don't even touch start button

So far You are the only person to report such "bug"(?) - I suggest trying with other theme. I for example rolled back to classic one(like win98) on Vista :]

[Another_User]

Great app!

Quote

Open Tophaz options, set transparency on taskbar to somewhere in the 50% range.
Then click the start orb, and you get this nasty start text in the middle of your orb.
Happens on all my third party themes, so I will assume it happens on default aero too.
Killing explorer and restarting it gets rid of the text.

Same here with Aero from windows 7.... that's the only problem i'm having....

[adrynalyne]

There is the second person

Tophaz is definitely messing with the button itself.

It happened with three other themes I tried. I will try it with default Aero.

Even worse with default Aero.





I should note that killing explorer.exe with tophaz active, will not fix the issue. Only killing tophaz, then explorer does. To me, that would point the finger at Tophaz. This is pretty much the only issue I am having with it as well.

Attached File(s)

•  Capture.JPG (80.22K)
  Number of downloads: 140

[coldemone]

i dont think topaz are green, well, anyway.

can this help Xp become more like vista? and ubuntu?

the feature i really love is the inactive transparency. so cool!
the other features for me sometimes make windows crazy. oh, except for contrast screen.

This post has been edited by Corn Muffin: 30 August 2008 - 01:07 PM

[Myst Exodus]

Wow, this surprised me as it actually worked!

This is a very good starting point. I would love to see it eventually have some minimizing effects and maybe wobbly windows like compiz in the future.

Pretty cool, keep up the good work.

[SamiWiecieKto]

Another_User, on Aug 30 2008, 11:24 AM, said:

Great app!

Quote

Open Tophaz options, set transparency on taskbar to somewhere in the 50% range.
Then click the start orb, and you get this nasty start text in the middle of your orb.
Happens on all my third party themes, so I will assume it happens on default aero too.
Killing explorer and restarting it gets rid of the text.

Same here with Aero from windows 7.... that's the only problem i'm having....

My answer: "Aero from Windows 7"

adrynalyne, on Aug 30 2008, 01:28 PM, said:

There is the second person

Tophaz is definitely messing with the button itself.

Shell_traywnd & DV2ControlHost - only influenced elements, while button is "button" or "start menu" AFAIR :]

adrynalyne, on Aug 30 2008, 01:28 PM, said:

It happened with three other themes I tried. I will try it with default Aero.

Even worse with default Aero.

Tried and no problem at all.

adrynalyne, on Aug 30 2008, 01:28 PM, said:

I should note that killing explorer.exe with tophaz active, will not fix the issue.
Only killing tophaz, then explorer does. To me, that would point the finger at Tophaz. This is pretty much the only issue I am having with it as well.

Let me explain in more simple way: Tophaz => Windows API => Windows itself goes crazy with layered settings => Tophaz can't do nothing about it.

You can still turn off that effect, and use other software. You know there is one pretty small app focusing only on making taskbar(just) transparent. Quite popular in customization community.

Corn Muffin, on Aug 30 2008, 02:24 PM, said:

i dont think topaz are green, well, anyway.

Hmm found one - it's more like aquatic, cerulean & green mint mixture.

Corn Muffin, on Aug 30 2008, 02:24 PM, said:

can this help Xp become more like vista? and ubuntu?

the feature i really love is the inactive transparency. so cool!
the other features for me sometimes make windows crazy. oh, except for contrast screen.

Yeah...

Myst Exodus, on Aug 30 2008, 03:32 PM, said:

Wow, this surprised me as it actually worked!

This is a very good starting point. I would love to see it eventually have some minimizing effects and maybe wobbly windows like compiz in the future.

Minimize effects will possibly appear, those are easy to add(especially when I have idea how it should look like), but for now and future - there won't be any advanced window shape changing cause API limitations.

Myst Exodus, on Aug 30 2008, 03:32 PM, said:

Pretty cool, keep up the good work.

Yup

[adrynalyne]

Hey, to each their own. Its pretty simple, if you want to deny your application is in some way causing the problem, thats fine with me. The solution seems pretty simple, I just won't use it. Explaining in coding terms why its not at fault isn't going to convince someone who isn't a coder. All I know is, I launch the program, I click the orb, and there it happens. I close the program, and restart explorer.exe, and the changes revert. If I leave the program running, restarting explorer.exe does not revert the changes. Neither does changing the theme.



I will say that I tried it on a machine that does not have a hacked uxtheme.dll file and it worked fine. So maybe thats the missing link?

Edit: I noticed that you updated it to .3 a2. This version works fine on even the machine reporting the problem before, so whatever you changed, fixed the issue. Thats the only change on my system is downloading the update. So thank you for fixing this issue.




However,

Quote

Lucky it isn't necessary to use it Oh and did I mention license?

I suggest next time report more details of possible bug - there is chance solution could be found. ^-^

Quote

You know there is one pretty small app focusing only on making taskbar(just) transparent. Quite popular in customization community.

I am not interested in supporting a developer that has this attitude towards his/her users. Use something else if your app has a bug? If I wanted to use another app, why would I comment on yours? I explained there was a problem for me, and explained how it happened, and tried to give as much info as possible. THe above comments are not something I expected in return. I thought I was trying to help...


Note the license?
I was never asking for support. You asked for the extra information, and I gave it, to help YOU.


Nice app and great job, but I won't be using it on sheer principle.

This post has been edited by adrynalyne: 30 August 2008 - 04:44 PM