Dam jukebox Author!

[Barry Barcrest]

Can i release this skin i made using your image?

Thought i would ask before releasing, i can't remeber who's image it was.

[Chris]

That one's DAM's, not mine.

--Chris

[Barry Barcrest]

Cheers i ammended the title, if he says no can i use yours?

[Chris]

Sure... is Freebox moving into singles territory now?

--Chris

[Barry Barcrest]

Well that is still an album display, but i just wanted a more retro look. I was going to offer a singles mode but that is way off... It is something that will be needed for commercial jukeboxes here in the uk as you have to pay a fee for all the music you have availble which is why all our digital juke here are singles based.

With regards the skin, To be honest i am not graphics artist but i just wanted to get some skins out there to try and encourage users to create some. This is why i have tried to create a diverse mix of skins.

Thanks for offering up the image, i might have to take it if the DAM author doesn't get back to me.

[Steve]

Hey guys,

I'm good friends with the author and I've sent him a e-mail asking to reply asap.

Cheers

Steve

[damsoft]

Hi Barcrest,

I truly appreciate you taking the time to ask first, so here is my response.

When I created that skin, I used 100% original graphics. Yes I did base it on Chris' Doscab/Wincab skin, but that was only for placement, all the graphics and colours were 100% done by me. Making DAM JukeBox look very different from Doscab/Wincab, although still similar.

See this thread (you probably have): http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=55886.msg548337

I feel that the skin is too close to mine to the point where people would mistake it for DAM JukeBox.

Could you use your own colour scheme and graphics - as I did?

I don't want to sound like a hypocrite by not giving you permission to use the skin (and you are entitled to do whatever you want to do anyway), but by using that skin, you are taking away from what makes DAM JukeBox unique in appearance... I have no problem with the concept of the skin.

Again, I do appreciate you asking - but I would feel more comfortable with a different colour scheme at least.

How does this sit with you? I don't mean to offend anybody. 

Cheers,
DAM Soft

[Chris]

Changing the color scheme isn't a bad idea... what do you think of it in blues?

[Space Fractal]

It should been changed a bit for it can use on a album basec touch screen software, since these skin was created for singles for use, not albums. Because of this, it feel wrong, if you ask me.

I do like the change, Chris have made, but it need to been improved, so it can use on a album based software, so it dosen

[Barry Barcrest]

Cheers Chris looks like i will go with yours, I will post up some shots once i have tweaked it all. I will uses the other skin i have got and probably offer compatability with DAM skins using that skin somehow without including the graphics.


I don't see anyway i will be able to release the following skins..

[SalmonKing]

That 'sk.jpg' looks much more like VMJ than my program.....   

[Barry Barcrest]

That 'sk.jpg' looks much more like VMJ than my program.....   

Yeah which is why i can't really release that one either  I suppose posting up the pictures is good enough to show the skinning capabilities of the current release of freebox. Although i have now added support to have sliders for navigation too. It's turning into more of a jukebox construction kit (Rememeber Shoot Em Up Construction Kit, that was great that was).

All being well i should have a new and original skin to release tonight if the author gets it finished anyway 

EDIT: Actually that SK skin could be released if i just make my own back graphic in that style. I think i will have a go at that one today.

[Space Fractal]

Don

[Barry Barcrest]

Well if i was honest i would love to able to load up other peoples skins on the fly with no modification. But on the whole most skins are just a static image that stuff is pasted onto, their are no elements as such. This is the case with DAM and VMJ, so to impliment their skins i need a wrapper os sorts. A Basic skin shell that you can dump in an image from another jukebox and emulate that look.

As for copyrights this is all a bit cloudy and not something i want to get into as i am not using that image anymore but say if i decided to then who would own the copyright to it. True it was created by an individual but using images he sourced from somewhere else, did they give permission or were they just pulled off the web?

My real goal was to see if i could make Freebox look like any of the other jukes out there through the skin tool and it seems i can, i wanted to show the images off to try and get others to create skins and show them the possibilities of the skin tool.

[Chris]

I had the same idea at one time.... DOSCab/WinCab can be made to look like just about anything already, and once the new displays are in it will be possible to duplicate just about any jukebox very closely  I had already put an Arcade Jukebox 8 skin in and was working on a VMJ skin when I realized what I was doing.  The AJ8 skin doesn't use Mark's art, but you can plug any of his skin backdrops into it and it will work.  How much of that is theft?  I don't know, but with VMJ being a commercial product I just buried the skin for it.

Barcrest: That skin is of course comprised of lots of components.  If you want a Photoshop or Corel Photo-Paint with all the original objects intact for either color scheme and can take a 15 meg or so file let me know...

--Chris

[Space Fractal]

I even have the same idea, if I want to create the next version of Arcade Music Box (and this time is would run on Linux as well, so I could avoid a Windows License)). It only on planning, so it not release soon.

At least a credits to the authour and thier homepage is a minemum...

Yes, it maybe not a good idea to buried a skin from a commercial product (but if a users did that, you can of course not stop that).

[Barry Barcrest]

Ok i have thought about this a little more and i was being a bit of a tit. Sorry, to Dam Jukebox i shouldn't have tried to replicate your juke. To be honest once i release V2 of my juke (Need to get CD Burning in and finish the skin tool) i am going to totally re-write the whole thing.

I would love to support other skin types on the fly. Point it to a VMJ, PCJukebox (Touchtrax), Arcade jukebox or any other skin for that matter and i will hope fully be able to load it and display it as inteneded with all the functionality there. To be honest i don't think this is really needed now. Even if you can replicate another juke 100% people will still stick with what they know and like and so i think this is now shelved.

[Space Fractal]

Do you need a rewrite? It a pretty good product you have  .

It correct people would stick with the original software with used that skin and interface, because it that way it fell 100% correct.

You was not alone to duplicate other software yet, but it can been a dangours to due that (even it easy to due that), but you should still of course use Chris images, since you got the so very fine of a permission  , even it was made with singles in mind (but it can been enhanced for using in a album software).

NB. I'm personally planning doing the same about a rewrite, even it a third time. But it still far in the future, and only if i'm doing that (and still supporting the current version). My current cargame project has the highest priority now.

[Barry Barcrest]

A RE-Write is required to clean the whole thing up, there is a lot of redundant code and some things are not as fast as they could be. This will be the second major re-write.