Another new screen - Mach Aqua

[ger21]

Now that I've learned how to use Photoshop for designing screens (thanks Andy), I'm redoing the screen I did a few months ago. But this one will look a lot better. I'm also going to build in some wizards, so they'll match, and be quickly accessible. This will be the first screen. Need to add a status bar and some jog controls.

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[audioandy1762]

Now that I've learned how to use Photoshop for designing screens (thanks Andy), I'm redoing the screen I did a few months ago. But this one will look a lot better. I'm also going to build in some wizards, so they'll match, and be quickly accessible. This will be the first screen. Need to add a status bar and some jog controls.

Looking good Gerry keep us posted on your progress.

Andy

[lovebugjunkie]

Gerry

Very nice screen. Clean layout and not “busy”.

[ger21]

Squeezed in the MDI and status bar.

[ger21]

1 Down, 8 to go.

[dertsap]

i was wondering how long it would take you to start playing with your new buttons
looks great

[ger21]

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[David Morrow]

Would you tell us a little more about where you learned to use Photoshop for designing screens ?

[ger21]

Andy was kind enough to create this tutorial that showed me how to make buttons that could be copied and edited, so that one button could be quickly duplicated to fill the screen.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showpo...9&postcount=15

What I do is creat the entire screen in Photoshop, and then save it as a .png, and place transparent "buttons" over the background image, and add the DRO's and LED's as well. If you make the DRO backgrounds in Photoshop the same color as the DRO backgrounds in Screen4, they seemlessly overlay the background. You just need to turn off the DRO frames in Mach3's general config screen.

If you have any questions, let me know.

[ger21]

Here's a usable version for testing.

Unzip all the .png's to Mach3\bitmaps\R2\

Place Spindle OR LED.brn in Mach3\Brains\

Put R2.set in Mach3 folder.

Spindle Override
The brain is needed so the spindle override can match the FRO, because Mach didn't have a native spindle override LED. In order for it to work correctly, if you have no spindle, you may need to set a spindle speed in the initialization string, and set the pulley 1 max and min speeds.

I haven't gotten to the built in wizards yet, and they'll be a while. Also, the settings screen isn't done yet. Actually haven't started them yet. I think I have between 40-60 hours in this so far.

The goal is to provide most of Mach's features (that people use) in a clean and simplified interface. Feedback greatly appreciated.

[Switcher]

Ger21,


GREAT! job on the new Mach3 screen, very clean looking!

************

Is Photoshop really $700 ?

Or are you working with an older free version/demo?


.

[ger21]

A long time ago, I bought a $500 scanner that came with a copy of Photoshop for basically free. I think Photoshop was around $400 back then. Then got a couple upgrades.

Amazon has a few new copies of Photoshop CS2 for $170. That's what I'm using. http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...2215364&sr=8-2

[Switcher]

Thanks, ger21

You know, Inkscape will "Save As..." .png images, & it's free.

Youtube has a bunch of tutorials, for Inkscape.

I don't want to hijack this thread talking about Inkscape, just thought I would mention it.

***********************

Just an idea here.

Will Mach3 let you add a single button, that will let you loop thru the wizards? What I was thinking was, something like the button "MPG Mode" & the way it loops thru the 4 LED to the right of the button (on your new screen). Might save you some real estate on your screen for other things you might want to add in the future?


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[ger21]

Just an idea here.

Will Mach3 let you add a single button, that will let you loop thru the wizards? What I was thinking was, something like the button "MPG Mode" & the way it loops thru the 4 LED to the right of the button (on your new screen). Might save you some real estate on your screen for other things you might want to add in the future?


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I think you might be able to do it with some VB. Off the top of my head I don't know how file handling is done with regards to calling the wizards, but I'd guess that you could. But how would you start one? 2 buttons? One to select the correct one, and one to actually start it?

The wizards in my screen will actually be built into the screen to increase speed, and get a consistent interface. They won't be external like the existing wizards. With the existing wizards, I believe the Mach screens are closed and the wizard screens loaded when you call a wizard, and the opposite when you return to Mach. The delay can be irritating if you use the wizards a lot. By building them into the screens, they'll load when Mach starts. So Mach might take a few seconds longer to load, but the built in wizards will operate much more seamlessly. The tricky thing is that I'll need to design some wizard screens, and do a bunch of math and VB stuff.

[Switcher]

The wizards in my screen will actually be built into the screen to increase speed, and get a consistent interface. They won't be external like the existing wizards. With the existing wizards, I believe the Mach screens are closed and the wizard screens loaded when you call a wizard, and the opposite when you return to Mach. The delay can be irritating if you use the wizards a lot. By building them into the screens, they'll load when Mach starts. So Mach might take a few seconds longer to load, but the built in wizards will operate much more seamlessly. The tricky thing is that I'll need to design some wizard screens, and do a bunch of math and VB stuff.

That's what I was thinking Keep the wizards inside of the screen you already have. So just press the single "Wizards" button, & for every press of the button it would advace to the next wizard, so say you have 5 wizards after pressing the button 6 times it would return to Wizard number 1.

I work with Siemens 840D, & they have a softkey that does this (loop thru screens).

The screenshot below is a basic idea of what I had in mind.

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[Switcher]

ger21,

Who made all of the wizards that are included inside of Mach3?

Are they copyrighted?

If they are open, you might be able to speed up your programming time by looking at the source code of the wizards? Then just change the images/layout to what you need for your new screen.

I'm looking thru some of the source code right now, for the "Circular Pocket" wizard, that is included with Mach3.


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[ger21]

Some were written by Brian and Art, the rest were freely donated by the Mach community. I'll probably look at the code to see if I can use any, but I'd liketo start from a clean slate and do them exactly how I want.

[Switcher]

Thats cool, still you might find ways of doing things with Mach3, by looking at other code.

C:\Mach3\Addons

Then open each sub folder, then open the .set file with windows Notepad.


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[ger21]

That's what I was thinking Keep the wizards inside of the screen you already have. So just press the single "Wizards" button, & for every press of the button it would advace to the next wizard, so say you have 5 wizards after pressing the button 6 times it would return to Wizard number 1.

I work with Siemens 840D, & they have a softkey that does this (loop thru screens).

The screenshot below is a basic idea of what I had in mind.

.

I missed this post. Can't do that with the standard screen designer. No way to have a screen inside of a screen, and can't turn screen elements on/off.

It could be done with a Flash screen, though. Problem is, there are no docs for designing screens with Flash. They are being written, and may be available soon though. Oh, there is that little issue that Flash is $700 too.

[Switcher]

I think that you should be able to do that, the same way you already have the "Load Program" button working.

Can you post a sample of the code for the "Load Program" & "Load Wizard" buttons, that you have in your screen?

I noticed when working with Mach3, that when you open a wizard with the default Mach3 screen, it's still working inside of the same window, as the Main Control, the wizard is most likely being forced to the top & resized to fill the Form, If that's the case then all that would be needed is to not resize the wizard, & change its location on the Form.

What are you using to create your screens/code, is it Screen4 (I think that's what it is called )?


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