OSD Request

[Ron]

BSchuler,

JeffK already sent me the OSDwnd class he wrote, now all i have to do is either find time or someone that wants to help!

-Ron

[Ron]

Very SLICK!

[HappyPixie]

I like this idea.

[SteveV]

heyster,

Nice job on the OSD font graphics! I have a question though; will your font include alpha, numeric, and punctuation characters in addition to the graphics? I counted approx 110 graphics in your image and there are approx 180 usable alpha/numeric font characters (if you include accented characters, parenthesis, brackets, puctuation characters, etc). Given that the ASCII character set allows only 255 chars...

It's pretty unlikely that any OSD plugin will have the option of selecting 2 different fonts. So without alpha/numeric support users would be forced to choose one or the other which would be a shame :sad:

Regards -- Steve

[JeffK]

By the way, I developed a class for OSD Text display when writing my Caller ID App (http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/Forum12/HTML/010224.html), and I plan to turn the OSD portion into a Girder plug-in at some point. So those looking for a true OSD, ie text that 'floats' over the desktop rather than in its own window, hopefully I'll have something in the next few weeks (have to finish the client/server caller-id first).

Jeff

[jediperry]

Hey, if we're dreaming here... why not use IE's html rendering capabilities and Macromedia's Flash to put on an OSD HTML Flash light show! Just a dream...


Imagine how long it would take to display on slower computers! Sounds more like a nightmare to me. :grin:

Mike

[Carmero]

I like too!!!

[BSchuler]

Rainman,
You can use a multi-command and have the OSD be part of that. My current setup displays an OSD saying "WINAMP ACTIVE", or whatever, whenever I switch. It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but it works :D

[BSchuler]

Jeff,
Good to see you on this board, I first ran into you on the AV/HPC forum. Everybody who uses CallerID should check out his Caller ID app, it is awesome!!! I have been using it for a few weeks without a single problem. I should of probably mentioned it here earlier, but of course, I wanted the best setup (atleast for a few weeks), hahaha....

[BSchuler]

Heyster,
If JeffK comes through with a plug in, I'm definitley interested in the fonts. With those two things...my OSD wishes are done..(I'm easy to please)

[BSchuler]

Wow!
I hadn't exactly expected some of those! I actually expected just the usual, play, rr, ffw, etc. Can't wait!

[BSchuler]

What about a Camera On/Off Icon...and a VCR Icon(As used in VCR in).... and a stop sign.

[RainMan]

A configurable OSD might be nice.... Like an option for a Left/Right bar as apposed to volume, and also changing the text displayed.
Just a thought.

[Edited by RainMan on 05-09-2001 at 07:26 PM GMT]

[RainMan]

might also be nice to have the OSD display some text when you turn groups on/off.

[RainMan]

BSchuler wrote:
Rainman,
You can use a multi-command and have the OSD be part of that. My current setup displays an OSD saying "WINAMP ACTIVE", or whatever, whenever I switch. It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but it works :D




Thanks for the tip!

[Edited by RainMan on 05-10-2001 at 12:33 PM GMT]

[heyster]

A configurable text field (possibly rtf - Rich Text Format) would be wonderful. It would give the possibility of using custom TrueType fonts for use in the display...

Imagine being able to display:

PLAY |> or STOP [] or PAUSE ||

with real graphics in a font rather than the clunky characters that I just used above.

If there is sufficient interest in this, I would be willing to make a nicely polished dingbat font that included many of the commonly used symbols.

For those interested, post follow-ups here and email me at heyster@nc.rr.com since I do not frequent the forums as often as others.

[heyster]

Thanks for the comments. I hope that this can become useful for many, but in order to do so, I need to know what other symbols people are looking for.

I've updated the sample again, so take another look. I removed the outline style since it's trivial to produce and added some news ones.

Currently, I'm working on pics for inputs and outputs (Antenna, Cable TV, DSS...) so if you have suggestions, now is the time.

Thanks again for the positive comments.

http://home.nc.rr.com/eyster/images/vcr.gif

[heyster]

OK, here's a link to the preliminary work and some symbols that I've put together for an OSD font. Comments and suggestions are welcome, but again, please post here and also email to heyster@nc.rr.com. Thanks.

http://home.nc.rr.com/eyster/images/vcr.gif

[heyster]

I have to plead ignorance to the "VCR in" symbol. I could do something like a VHS tape, but I'm not sure if that's what you want. Give me an idea of what it should look like.

And for the camera on/off icon, what type of camera? Web cam? Digital camera? Video camcorder? Also, how might I convey the idea of on and off. I really hesitate to use the (/) circle-slash too much...

Always looking for ideas.

http://home.nc.rr.com/eyster/images/vcr.gif

[heyster]

SteveV,

Thanks for the praise and no, I hadn't wanted to get into alpha/nums since so many already exist that are better than I could do. My hopes were that the OSD plugin would be based on a Rich Text Format textbox so that multiple fonts, styles, and colors would be supported.

I know that it is possible and I sure hope that it's easy to do. But that side of it I must leave to someone else. I do still want the font to be very usable for many people.

Here are some links to more fonts of similar function and theme...

http://www.dingbatpages.com/arts/tvcable.html
http://www.dingbatpages.com/business/business.html

[heyster]

SteveV,

As a follow-up thought on the multiple font dilema... I could split my symbols set across several fonts and then assuming that the OSD's display on a per call basis, a single font could be used at a time.

For example... a single event, say a Volume Up event happens and with it an OSD event is called into play configured to show some volume increase icon using a particular font. As long as the OSD is configurable on a per event/per call basis I think we could do what you want and still have loads of symbols available.

I really think that the more elegant solution is to have multiple font support per call to the OSD routine.

Hey, if we're dreaming here... why not use IE's html rendering capabilities and Macromedia's Flash to put on an OSD HTML Flash light show! Just a dream...