On 3/25/23 3:33 PM, E. Liddell via tde-users wrote:

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I would like to transform the blue_glass.png and default.png panel background images to blackish.

Here's some quickies, no wizardry more complex than manipulating GIMP's Curves dialog required. These are pure greyscale and might look better with a slight bluish tint, but I wasn't going to spend a lot of time if these are Good Enough.

Thank you for trying!

On my computer the two images both appear as solid black.

I was hoping to retain the gradient shading of the original images and just change the colors. From blue and gray to blackish.

The blue_glass.png gradients provide a contoured 3-D curve effect to the panel. I want a blackish version. Similarly with the default.png gray image.

I think the word I want is gradient. I am no artist and don't know.

On 3/25/23 7:10 PM, E. Liddell via tde-users wrote:

The originals are gradients intended to suggest a contour, yes. The ones I sent you show up as gradients for me, just very dark ones. It's possible that a differently-adjusted monitor would hide the variation.

Try the attached—is it still dead black for you, or is the gradient visible now? The lightest colour is still quite a dark grey (#404040), but much lighter than the ones in the first set.

My eyesight no longer is sharp anymore. One of the effects of aging that I have not accepted gracefully. Once upon a time people called me eagle eyes. :(

When viewed in an image viewer the default_black2.png looks flat. Oddly, when tested in the panel as a background image I then see a downward gradient similar to the original default.png. A keeper. :)

Noting the difference caused by the image viewers and my vision, I looked again at your first two images. The black_glass.png still looks flat to me in the panel, but if I look real close I see the top and bottom are a smidgen lighter than the middle. I think the color black causes a loss of the curvature effect unless the top and bottom were a lighter gradient.

I can barely see downward gradients with the first default_black.png. The newer default_black2.png looks more like the original default.png.

Doug Y. created a nice grey_glass.png (refer to a previous list reply). Another keeper. :)

Seems we have the following new images:

default_black2.png (you) grey_glass.png (Doug) black_flat.png (me)

To provide consistent naming, for submittal I will rename your default_black2.png to black_shade.png, similar to the name black_flat.png.

On 3/25/23 9:58 PM, E. Liddell via tde-users wrote:

Just insufficient contrast, then. Here's a couple of black_glass variations with higher contrast for you to play with.

Methinks black_glass3.png.

I noticed the file sizes of black_glass3.png and default_black2.png are "huge" compared to the original blue_glass.png and default.png. The originals are bytes and the other two are KBytes.

Can the new files be reduced to similar files sizes or does that diminish the gradient effects?

On 3/26/23 7:10 AM, E. Liddell via tde-users wrote:

This better? GIMP defaults to including a lot of unnecessary extras (like EXIF data) in the PNG files it saves, and I hadn't bothered to run around unchecking checkboxes.

Those look nice. Thank you.

Kind of hectic around here right now, but I'll try to submit the new images sooner than later.

Seems like simple additions. Only one CMakeLists.txt file to update. Perhaps they can get merged into 14.1.0.

On 3/25/23 6:59 PM, Dan Youngquist via tde-users wrote:

Here's the first with the color removed.

default.png is already grayscale, so not really sure what you want done to it.

I just tested and grey_glass.png creates a nice background png for the panel. I like the curvature effect. :)

I still am hoping for the same with black. I am not an artist but I suspect at some point the curvature effect might get hazy or lost because of the nature of the color black. Perhaps to retain the curvature effect there is a limit to how black the image can be.

The difference between my flat black image and blue|grey_glass.png is the illusion of being curved. My solid black looks sharp but is flat and does not have that curvature effect.

I will try to submit these images into the tdebase sources.

With GIMP, you can easily adjust images however you want.

"Easily adjust" is relative. I have no art background. Finding the correct terms to use paint and image editing tools is Sisyphean for me. Launching tools like GIMP transforms me into the classic deer staring into the headlight beams.