Raestloz's THE iDOLM@STER MOBILE 2 [Chihaya Kisaragi] - Complete

[Raestloz]

version 2.2

Hello, this is Raestloz posting.

Previously, I made a THE iDOLM@STER MOBILE theme for BlackBerry OS 5, using up most of my ideas (and time) in the process. I'm literally happy with my work, but I know of its shortcomings, and wish to improve it, if not for a new background (you need a very specific image to use it as wallpaper)

Thus, I decided to make a new one - THE iDOLM@STER MOBILE 2 - with a few goals and dreams in mind.

As per usual, this is a personal fanwork. This theme is tailored to suit my tastes and style, especially the dock icons positioning and selection, although I do try to make it available for others

Download link is available at the very bottom of this post. Please make sure to read the release notes

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Features:

• Xross Apps Bar - A replication of SONY's Xross Media Bar interface, featuring 28 apps right there at your homescreen
• Glow in the dark icons - Watch in awe as you see your favorite icons glow in the dark
• Compressed images - All PNGs are compressed to make sure every last bit of space is not wasted
• Original design - Original design by Raestloz Creatives. Even if you try, you won't find a similar design out there!

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Screenshots (version 2.0.9)

Home screen



Apps Menu



Active Call



Incoming Call



Lockscreen



Available Profiles



Glow in the dark



Available dock apps

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Current Version:
2.2

Download Link:
BlackBerry Theme Lab Over The Air Hosting Service. Version 2.2 (1.84 MB)
http://www.bbthemelab.com/s/3T555A

Navigate to the link above with your native Browser app(not Opera Mini or BOLT), download and install the theme

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Changelog:

• 2.2

Changed the color of menu and dialog background
Changed the color of title bars
Changed the font used for Menu (BB Alpha Sans Condensed, previously Segoe UI)
Fixed the icon for Yahoo! Messenger at the dock

• 2.1

Rebuilt the theme completely from 0 (previously I used THE iDOLM@STER MOBILE a basis)
Fixed the problem with Bluetooth Set Up icon still using Precision icon
Fixed the problem with Internet layer piling up with Communications layer
Fixed the problem with native Browser search engine icon being cut
New home screen banner design
New dialog and menu background design
New fonts

• 2.0.9

Initial Release

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Release Notes:

Design Notes:

• I removed "carrier" element from banners, since you should've known what carrier you're using
• I removed Phone icons from Active Call screen. You should've known how you're conducting a conversation better than anyone
• Do not use dark pictures for wallpaper, and make sure the wallpaper's focus is at the right side of the screen. Doing otherwise will destroy homescreen's readability
• LDAP certificates and Reminder icons are not customized, as I can't find their respective app (and an invisible app doesn't need any custom icon)
• There is no slot for Device Application Order, the applications in the dock are fixed

Known Issues:

• The Internet category moved too far to the left when in focus (piling up at Communications category icon), this doesn't happen to other layers

Fixed in 2.1. This is navigation path fault

• The Set Up Bluetooth icon still uses default icon (white icon from Precision) instead of theme icon

Fixed in 2.1

• After I activate the theme, my device lags a bit

The theme takes time to settle in, this is normal

• I can't activate some icons at the homescreen / some icons at the homescreen doesn't work

This means you don't have necessary application for use with that icon. Install the necessary application for the icon to work


Minimum Device Requirements:
480x360 screen
OS 5.0
2 MB free application memory space


Recommended Device Requirements:
480x360 screen
OS 5.0.0.979
62MB free application memory space (THE iDOLM@STER MOBILE 2 by itself takes only 1.85 MB of memory, but with less than 60MB of free memory, your device might lag)
Has all native application installed
Has device password set
Has Opera Mini installed
Has Yahoo! Messenger installed
Has facebook installed
Has Documents To Go installed

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Disclaimer:
THE iDOLM@STER, THE iDOLM@STER logo, THE iDOLM@STER MOBILE, THE iDOLM@STER MOBILE logo are trademarks of Namco Bandai Games Inc. THE iDOLM@STER official artworks are copyright Toshiyuki Kubooka and Namco Bandai Games Inc.

Xross Media Bar is a trademark of SONY Inc.

Opera Mini is copyright Opera Software ASA, Documents To Go is copyright Dataviz, Yahoo! Messenger is copyright Yahoo! Inc. Facebook is copyright Facebook Inc. all other trademarks are owned by their respective owner

I (Raestloz) am in no way affiliated with Namco Bandai Games Inc. The data I provided here are presented as is without any implied warranty

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Support:
If you have problems or encounter any bugs or errors, send me an email to raestloz@gmail.com or PM me (it will send a notice to my email, so it's email either way)

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Credits:
THE iDOLM@STER MOBILE 2 uses Segoe Print and Segoe UI font by Microsoft

THE iDOLM@STER MOBILE 2 uses Sound Photoshop Brushes by Ebony Music

THE iDOLM@STER MOBILE 2 uses Estrya's Handwriting by Jellyka (for call screens)

THE iDOLM@STER MOBILE 2 icons were designed using Andantonius' (Highly Realistic) Pencil Brush

[Scotty]

.....but why Blackberry...

[Raestloz]

Because that's the only device I have scotty I'd make themes for Android and iPhone and whatnot if I have them, but... well...

Anyway, just like before, this thread will act like a blog. I will post advances in the creation process here. Partly because I don't have a blog, mostly because I do what I want

For now, I'm looking into creating a clean SVG. Blackberry Theme Composer-generated SVGs come with thousands of unused codes (a fellow theme builder showed a difference in fucking 11,000 characters for one single icon). Hopefully, he's willing to share his knowledge to me this will be crucial in reducing lags as much as possible (a bunch of unused codes tends to be a loser and drags performance along with it)

For now, main background is done:



Not the best image out there, but call me a loser and bear with it since it's the best thing I can come up with.

The info bar should be on the bottom left, with the XMB-like interface on the top left. If anyone can post screenshots of in-game interface for L4U! or SP, I'd be grateful. I need some inspirations for box backgrounds and whatnot

EDIT:
just got another burst of idea and managed to scram together this:

Depending on circumstances, might just go with the latter. if that additional picture proves to make it difficult to see things, I'll go with the former

[Raestloz]

I can't believe how hard it is to realize a concept when you've got a designer but not an illustrator. I'm no designer, but you get the idea.

Because NBGI failed me by asking a producer instead of a proper illustrator to draw Chihaya this year, I have to find another source for image. Luckily, I have a scan of BRILLIANT IDOLS (no, the official title is indeed in all caps), which, while devoid of Chihaya has one image that fits my style and I've never used before: Winter Collection designs

My savior

This, of course, requires a winter scene as the background. I've already had the idea: Chihaya is walking on a sidewalk, behind her countless stores vanishing into perspective, each celebrating Christmas Japan-style

Now visualizing is easier than saying, and is even easier than doing. It's surprisingly hard to find an image that fits that description above. Many images come and go in Google Image Search. I tried a few keywords like "osaka winter", "tokyo winter city", and such. It doesn't end well. My solution comes from Bulgaria, a place called "Batanovtsi" was photographed, and resembles what I want the most out of everything before:

Ah... BVLGARI

So, after a few tinkerings, I need something to put there (for Owner Information). I know what I want: something like a card. iM@S official pics usually contain one of those to display text infos. Chihaya's card from 2009? No. 2010? Nope too.

Somehow, this year's image showed at least some use: the card there is perfect: it doesn't contain fancy colors, looks pretty good, and easily reconstructed. After a bit of Photoshopping, here's the result:

That's one heck of an image, if I say so myself

Also, i won't be using lock icon. I can't think of anything there

[Scotty]

Loving the organization for the icons. Everything makes sense.

.....but why Blackberry!!!  :'(

You should seriously move on from that platform man.

[Raestloz]

Loving the organization for the icons. Everything makes sense.

.....but why Blackberry!!!  :'(

You should seriously move on from that platform man.

Because that's the only device I own Scotty

Tell you what, if I can get my hands on Android or iPhone simulator and their respective Theme Studio software, I might try making a simple theme for them (I can't make a full set out of something I can't physically test)

Well, a change:

While I'm very happy with the lockscreen setup I get up there, a quick check with Theme Studio reveals that I can't use it: the logos are in the info bar's way

As such, a slight modification is needed. This is the final version:

Now I need something to use for the active call screen. The one from info.idolmaster.jp is a no brainer, but I intend to use it for only one of the two call screens, because there are two screens: Active Call (you call someone) and Incoming Call (someone calls you)

Since I've already used up Winter Collection for lockscreen,  need to use something else. If I can't get it, I have to use the Active Call screen for Incoming Call screen

[Raestloz]

You know what? Working by yourself is a real jerk.

For example, a project is supposed to have solid steps: what should be done before going for the next one. Well, this particular project is screwed in that aspect. Last minute I might be doing something, next minute I might be doing something else completely different than the last one.

Like this thing here. I was supposed to code the SVG when I realized I need to cleanup the homescreen banner to make sure what goes where and how it'd look like. In the process I began making images and had forgotten about the coding aspect altogether.

At any rate, after a few hours of complaining and cursing, I managed to clean the homescreen banner up. Now everything is clearly visible, clear as day

What is the difference? The battery and signal meter. These two take so much space I can't take it anymore. Also, they're not visible in front of the background (thanks to the white color) so I have to remake them. The original plan is to just make them glow, but even just doing that requires utmost precision, at pixel level, thanks to the fact they're multistate images and the device splits them up based on the dimension. I swear, I never thought a simple glow could make such a ruckus

At any rate, I gave up on the custom font thing. I can't figure out how to make a glowy font (font, as in .ttf file, not text), that glowy font up there uses RIM's stock font

As for Wi-Fi signal meter, I don't bother with Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi in Indonesia sucks ass, but at least it's still visible

Also, good news from the SVG front, I've figured out how to call Opera Mini and Documents To Go modules. I'll add them to the dock right away

Lastly, I did say I'll make the icons glow, but I didn't know it'd make them not look the same. Either way, they're gonna glow, one way or another

[Cael K.]

Loving the organization for the icons. Everything makes sense.

.....but why Blackberry!!!  :'(

You should seriously move on from that platform man.

Donate him a phone, and he might be willing. ^^;

[Dread Emperor]

If you want to make a theme for Android but don't have the right phone, you can emulate the OS in it's SDK.

[Raestloz]

Donate him a phone, and he might be willing. ^^;

LoL so damn true

If you want to make a theme for Android but don't have the right phone, you can emulate the OS in it's SDK.

Does it have a dedicated Theme Studio? I don't want to tinker with an SDK only to make a simple change in wallpaper and icons


Well, on topic:

Shucks. Things are getting out of control. For one, I'm going to change the app menu background: green (app menu) and blue (application banner) just doesn't mix. I was thinking of using the anime pic (where everyone is lying down) and use the BG from MASTER ARTIST 2 PROLOGUE as the background (plain white kinda kill the immersion), but then I realized what should I do if I want to make Miki Edition. Green foreground and green background doesn't mix. No sire

It's just that it's odd to have a big greeny screen when everything else is blue. Bad planning is paying its due

The status text in for the dock is no longer Segoe Script, but native Application Status (yes, that's the font title), which - God knows how - glows with black shade. I don't know how the holy f*ck did they manage to make such a font, raster font I believe (one, unchangeable size) but shit, I can't figure out how to make one

Also, Homescreen banner position is going to change again. There's a problem with the lockscreen image, but I'll fix them one way or another

[Raestloz]

Well, yeah, I said I'll change a few things, so I did:

First things first: Graphics Division.

App menu background. I said green is not Chihaya, so I dumped the previous one and created another:



That's Chihaya, right there, with blue foreground. Thank Amaterasu they did the 2010 version well (unlike 2011 one, fuck). I cropped her, added Master Live 02 background into it (swf decompiler rules!) and tint everything blue

And since homescreen banner is a mess, especially against the lockscreen, I scrambled a black shade and reposition everything:



In accordance to it, I created a new lockscreen image to go with the homescreen. The problem with the previous one is the fact that the two doesn't match: each is good on its own, but a complete mess when working together, the new one solves the problem. This time I made sure every element from homescreen is in the same position, using the anime rendition that was app menu's:





Now, Audio Division (founded yesterday)

I honestly didn't know you can put audio clips into the SVG, but now I do! I plan to incorporating PSP's trademark "tick" sound, the sound you hear when you move the cursor around. Since this IS a project to emulate Xross Media Bar, might as well go loud or go die

The journey to find the goddamned 4KB .wav file is a very long one, involving a few registrations and some bogus downloads, AND lots of time wasting, but I think it's worth it.



Lastly, SVG Division:

Things are going well, I found out how to refer to the whole layer instead of an icon at a time, works wonders. this will involve a whole lot of code, but it's not a difficult task, only tedious, which means it's not impossible for me to do



The version is now 0.5. An alpha build, but every incorporated module works

[Raestloz]

yes, after 2 days I've only managed to up the version by 0.0.1 points

0.5.1 incorporates a new shade, thanks to RIM's idiotic move at allowing PNG-24 import but converts it to PNG-16 on export, destroying every single smooth gradient out there

And also a new application banner. After much thinking I decided Chihaya's iM@s2 illustration is bad after all, and went with simplistic THE iDOLM@STER MOBILE 2 logo for the banner

Right now I'm still working with the SVG. For some reason previously working code won't work when re-compiled. I'm stumped as to why, and is now coding different part of the SVG. Hopefully things will go well and by Sunday most of the SVG department is complete

[Raestloz]

Good news and bad news come from SVG Division

The good news is the core functions work. Everything is lined up properly now, the only thing I need to adjust are purely cosmetics

The bad news is the SVG really took a toll to performance. It still works, sure, but kinda laggy. It's like that cursor you're moving in a game with only 20 fps instead of 60

I'll try to optimize the code, hopefully it will help. If not, I might have to ditch animation altogether and go with static images (that replace each other)

[SalemJeanette]

This is great! I got a BB Curve 8520 this year and never cared to read the manual or anything about it until i saw this =)
Good luck.

[Raestloz]

This is great! I got a BB Curve 8520 this year and never cared to read the manual or anything about it until i saw this =)
Good luck.

Haha, thanks

Well, news from SVG Division:

• While the optimization itself is going well, it's not as quick as I thought. My laziness hindered the project, I only managed to optimize Common, Layer, and Internet layers. Still need to optimize Productivity and Setup.
• The good news is, either this is my illusion or this is placebo effect, the dock DOES seem to be lighter than before. Not much, but definitely improvement. Due to the way it works, the icons doesn't quite catch up with the focus, but I might be able to do something about that
• Another good news is that I managed to nail a crucial code. The problem is the fact that it requires specific condition to work. Well, not the code itself actually, but for some reason the code triggers the Theme Builder to act strange, crashing when certain conditions are not met. I managed to get it to work sometimes, but even then I'm still not sure what does the Theme Builder want and why
• After this, I still have to add some more codes for the SVG to go gold. I believe this WILL impact performance again. if things don't go well, I'll ditch animation altogether
• There is also a bug. I can't really reproduce this and don't know what causes it, as subsequent effort shows the dock working as it should. Since it's not very experience breaking, might try to forget about it

The graphics division doesn't have much to report. Due to my laziness, I'm still focused on SVG coding, something that I should've been finished with at least a few days ago. I still have to create proper icons for a few applications, although for the most part icons are finished (I simply update THE iDOLM@STER MOBILE's icons)

I also have to make call screen backgrounds, but that's pretty much it