[Kde-games-devel] KMines SVG

[Mark A. Taff]

On Tuesday 13 February 2007 00:52:06 Johann Ollivier Lapeyre wrote:
> I didn't made it, and i know it is something hard to follow a palette
> color, but this is a must to keep the harmony between apps. And even with a
> palette, we must try to keep the original color saturation, hue, ...

Changing any of the properties of a color, including alpha channel*, 
regardless of the format (HSL, RGB, CMYK) is nessesarily producing a 
different color.  Oxygen only allows for ~126 colors, out of millions, which 
in itself is fine (other than my opinion the designers short-changed beige). 
But...

> no we musn't  create others colors by mixing ones, we must use the
> originals one.

You're kidding, right? That would mean that we can't use any transparency or 
gradients in anything related to oxygen: icons, windecs, wallpapers, games, 
etc.  Not even the artists who are making the oxygen icons agree with that 
position as evidenced by the icons they produce.  Look at the icons.  They 
all have gradients.  The shadow itself violates the oxygen color palette, if 
you take the palette that strictly!

> I know theses rules are limiting the artistic's freedom 
> (yours like mine), but kmine is not a single app, it's only a part of a
> bigger project, KDE,  and if every apps is using its own colors,  KDE will
> be a mess for the eyes. This is the same things for lights and shaddows
> position (something to fix too, i think i will do after). On Oxygen, light
> is comming from the top-right.

IMO, prohibiting use of any color not in the oxygen palette in all cases, 
without regards to the merits of the color deviation in a particular case, is 
a case of biting off your nose to spite your face.

I whole-heartedly agree with you about the value of tying KDE together through 
the use of a color palette, I just don't take it to the same extreme that you 
seem to.

> Also, I like my blue better than the closest oxygen
>
> > equivelent.
>
> maybe, but that not the point i fear ;)

More than that, I think the output of my blue w/the gradients is closer to an 
oxygen blue than if I use an oxygen blue as the base color.  What is more 
important: a pure oxygen color of an underlying object that nobody sees, or 
the final color that combines all the colors, gradients, and alpha that 
comprise a pixel?

I realize we may have to use an official oxygen blue in a theme called oxygen, 
if that is the consensus in the end.  That, however, won't stop me and 
hundreds (??) of others from posting our own oxygen game themes on kde-look.  
One of the thrilling benefits of this conversion to SVG graphics is it allows 
for high-quality graphics that end-users and themers can easily modify.  I 
forsee a booming market of KDE game themes. ;-)

> I mean green cubes.

Ak. OK. A green border like katomic's arrow icons may work.  I'll keep that in 
mind as a potential change after the code catches up to the art.

> I mean for computer. I'm not in the god's minds, but I think LCD type
> letters will be removed everywhere on KDE (clock, ...). You could work for
> nothing, even if i'd like to see what you have in mind.

I don't think they will be removed from everywhere within KDE.  They have a 
place in the "classic" KMines theme, imo.  Plus, I think people will find 
other uses for them.  Anytime I write a patch for KDE, or file a bug report, 
or triage bug reports, or do this artwork, it could be for nothing.  I am 
willing to take that risk with my time to help improve KDE.

Regards,

Mark

*in practice, alpha transparancy results in a different color unless the are 
no other colors in the same pixel.