Nope, not Universal ShapeShifter yet!
But ShapeShifter depends on a bunch of underlying code that's shared with other theme-based projects, and they're up-and-running in spiffy universal form, so they get public betas. Since they use shared code, testing them helps get ShapeShifter out the door.
Important Note:: These betas both generate guiKit files that are not useable with the release version of ShapeShifter, version 2.3.1. You'll just get an error if you try, nothing cataclysmic will happen. These guiKits won't begin working until the Universal beta of ShapeShifter is seeded.
Even More Important Note:: These are betas. They might crash. They might push your grandmother down a flight of stairs. They might single-handedly remove all posibilities of peace and love for all humankind. I personally think they're completely solid, but the whole point of betas is that they're untested, except by you, brave reader!
guiTweak
guiTweak usually lives inside of the ShapeShifter preference pane and is used to tweak an existing theme, either by applying CoreImage effects, or by modifying colors. You can also use it to move variants around inside of guiKit files.
It's in stand-alone application form for this beta. If you decide you like it that way, you can always put an alias to it later - it normally lives in <your home directory>/Library/PreferencePanes/ShapeShifter.prefPane/Contents/Resources/guiTweak.app.
- guiTweak Version 1.2b1
- guiTweak is now a Universal Binary.
- guiTweak no longer freaks out when creating a tweak that will result in partially-transparent images. So you can now use it to create translucent variants of your favorite themes.
- Resolved an issue that caused crashes and even kernel panics when generating a variant using guiTweak.
- Large-scale speed improvement when generating a new guiTweaked theme.
- guiTweak sliders now update as you drag them.
- Resolved an issue that prevented quitting quiTweak if an error had occurred while generating a tweaked theme.
As a side note, I can't believe that guiTweak was causing kernel panics! guiTweak consists of purely user-level code, which should never, ever, ever be able to cause a kernel panic! This is a bad bug on Apple's part. CoreImage is frickin' flakey…
ThemePark
Moving on to ThemePark. ThemePark is not an Unsanity product, but it's used to create the themes used by ShapeShifter and shares a lot of code guts with ShapeShifter, so I felt it'd be okay to include it here. And I've decided to make it freeware, removing a large barrier between prospective theme creators and their beautiful creation-in-potentialities. So it's most definitely relevant to ShapeShifter.
- ThemePark Version 3.1b3
- ThemePark is now freeware! No more chasing the "Use For Free" button! Donations are, of course, still welcome.
- ThemePark is now a universal binary.
- ThemePark can now generate universal guiKit files.
- ThemePark can now read/write resource files in the little-endian "Extras2.rsrc" Intel format.
- Added "Extras2" Open Special menu item.
- Pasting multiple images simultaneously into ThemePark works properly again.
- Patterns that use more than 128 colors now render properly.
- Speed improvements and bug fixes to the ppat editor. Images that contain more than 256 colors are now treated much more nicely. The ppat editor now handles images with transparency without choking.
Download Links
What would life be without a couple of download links?
- guiTweak 1.2b1: TweaksAway!
- ThemePark 3.1b3: Theme Creation Nation
Where's My Damned ShapeShifter!?
Coming quickly. The two betas above hit most of the cases where the difference between PPC chips and Intel chips matters. And they're plain-jane applications rather than Haxies. And they're both architecturally building blocks for ShapeShifter. So what I'm trying to say in my long-winded way is that by getting those out as betas, most of the heavy lifting is done.
We'll be doing a public beta of ShapeShifter this time around as well, due to the long time that's elapsed since the Intel Macs were released, so keep your eyes peeled to this blog.
And last but not least, if you test, please report bugs. This thread is a great place to report them. If you don't report 'em, we don't know about 'em!
Please do not post these to any download sites or anything like that. The download links will only be valid as long as these are in beta, and betas move fast, so, yeah, just don't do it!
Enjoy the betas!
Posted by jason at 02:56 PM
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Good news everyone!
Is it also important for PPC users to test these?
Posted by: Ryan Govostes on July 3, 2006 3:43 PMYes, Ryan, it's very important for PPC users to test these, as it's quite possible that I screwed something up on that side during the porting process.
Posted by: Jason Harris on July 3, 2006 4:11 PM...it must be done...
So, where the frick is link for the universal version of Shapeshifter?!?
...my most sincere apologies...
Posted by: testMonkey on July 3, 2006 9:29 PMYAYAY!
I bought shapeshifter in like january or feb then I got myself a intel mini in march and gave my old one to my girlfriend. No more shapeshifter for me :-(
Very happy to hear the universal one is coming!
I've been checking this blog every couple of days for months..heh.
Same here Dillon, I bought it, used it for about 2 weeks on my PPC mini, loved it, then returned the PPC one and get a Mactel and have been very lonely since :P
Can't wait!
Posted by: xxdesmus on July 6, 2006 6:12 PMI haven't found a way to play with these. Where can I get some themes I can open in themepark ?
Jason, can you give me/us some example of what you would need me/us to do with these in order to properly test them?
Keep up the good work, can't wait for Shapeshifter :-)
Posted by: Jean-Francois on July 6, 2006 6:55 PMBut Captain! The dylithiumcrystals cannat take anymorrre! We need that Shape Shifter NOW!
Posted by: actorBryan on July 6, 2006 8:15 PMJean-Francois, ThemePark is used to create themes, so unless your favorite theme creator has given you his tpark file, you need to start from scratch.
That said, you can import an existing theme into ThemePark, but you need to do it using the current release version of ShapeShifter (2.3.1) on a PPC machine. You can then play with the resulting tpark file in ThemePark on Intel.
See the ThemePark Help section titled "Modifying an Existing Theme" for more info.
ShapeShifter status update: Working on Intel machines, but buggy. Hope to have a public beta within a week. Seeing my bright orange Somatic flash up on the Intel iMac was a beautiful experience!
Posted by: Jason Harris on July 6, 2006 10:36 PMYeah, I got the error message that my .guikit file was "too new" to use with this newest version of Shapeshifter. That's a really frustrating thing when you're trying to complete your first theme. I've got so many ideas and can't get them out! AHH!
I guess I'll just have to wait.
Posted by: endosage on July 8, 2006 9:35 PMBeta-Version ... *cry*
I haven't any Bugs with the guiTweak. I Visit this Blog 15000000 times on the day. T_T I want to change my OS X style
I don't get it. How can we test these without a working ShapeShifter?
Posted by: siMac on July 16, 2006 6:29 AMsiMac, you can make sure that they're usable, don't crash, etc. The only thing you can't test is whether they produce usable output. Which is a bummer, yes, but they're most definitely still testable.
Posted by: Jason Harris on July 16, 2006 10:45 AMMan how much longer...
"ShapeShifter status update: Working on Intel machines, but buggy. Hope to have a public beta within a week"
Well its July 16 now, 10 days since you posted the above!
Posted by: Gian on July 16, 2006 3:45 PMGian, there's a bug in Apple's drawing routines on Intel machines. It's not visible using Aqua, but certain ShapeShifter themes expose it. I've filed a bug report with Apple, but I need to work around it now in order to ship a working ShapeShifter. Intel APE had an issue that prevented me from being able to work around it, so APE needed an update. This has now occurred, and I'm in the process of working around it.
(Side note: I can't believe how wonderful PPC assembly language is compared to x86. x86 is messy!)
While I was waiting, I rewrote the metadata parser of the ShapeShifter prefpane to use CoreData in order to get rid of the longish pause that occurs when loading or unloading the SS prefpane, and to drop resource usage during operation of the prefpane. This is up and running for the most part, but still requires a bit of loose-end-tying. So that's a bonus of sorts...
My Intel iMac has been running Pepto-Bismol Pink Somatic for the past week with zero problems, via guiTweak. (Somatic isn't a theme that exposes the aforementioned bug).
Posted by: Jason Harris on July 16, 2006 6:17 PM...I think we'd all love a partially broken SS more than no SS :P
Posted by: xxdesmus on July 18, 2006 2:39 PMAll I want shapeshifter for is the somatic theme. So I can't wait for the beta release. I can only wonder... how much longer?
Posted by: Matt on July 19, 2006 11:15 AMJason-
Apple better fix that bug soon or you'll probably be looking at a bunch of zealot fanboys camping out in your front yard with pitch forks and torches!
I hope to have a beta available by Wednesday, July 26. I'm sort of wishing now that I hadn't done the CoreData thing I mentioned in my last post, because that's all that's still "in progress".
Posted by: Jason Harris on July 20, 2006 7:58 PMYour email said there was a beta for Intel Core Duo for Mac for the Window shade to be downloaded from this blog !!!
Don't see it.
(TYIA) Thank You In Advance !!!
Zn>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Saul M. Ziman
mailto:sandblastsam@comcast.net
Macintosh Computer Tutor
78 Vandevere Lane, Columbus NJ 08022
Cell ONLY : 561 302-2169
Your email said there was a beta for Intel Core Duo for Mac for the Window shade to be downloaded from this blog !!!
Don't see it.
(TYIA) Thank You In Advance !!!
Zn>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Saul M. Ziman
mailto:sandblastsam@comcast.net
Macintosh Computer Tutor
78 Vandevere Lane, Columbus NJ 08022
Cell ONLY : 561 302-2169
Jason -
I also got the somewhat cryptic "Too new" message, but I got it after doing a very simple tweak in ShapeShifter to an existing theme, NEOS 1.3.1. Not only that, but after hitting the mandatory "Okay" button on said message the NEOS guikit was completely obliterated from the guikit folder and the System prefs panel totally froze (probably just froze ShapeShifter). The exact same thing happened when I repated these steps with the Blueprint guikit. I'm not even trying this with another guikit. Me sad now... :[
Bertok, please read the very first important note on this entry. Here's a hint: it has red text.
Posted by: Rosyna on July 21, 2006 3:34 PMAll of us Intel Mac users are holding you to that July 26th date now. This is the most anticipated Intel app bar none.
Posted by: Awestyn Powerz on July 22, 2006 2:09 PMRosyna-
Thanks for your response. I honestly missed that. Happens sometimes. Too bad there seems to be no version of guiTweak that will work with SS version 2.3.1. Please let me know if I'm wrong about this.
bertok, no there is not as of this date.
I honestly do wonder how people are missing the red text. You're not the first one to not read it and I wonder why they are missing it.
I agree with Awestyn Powerz. I await July 26 with MUCH anticipation...
Posted by: Gian on July 23, 2006 3:56 PM*cough* Compiling final build as we speak and stopped to peek at the blog during the compile. :)
Then, final testing on Intel & PPC, upload, and I'll post a new thread with a download link.
Posted by: Jason Harris on July 26, 2006 12:47 PMis there a reason why the front page of the blog is blank?
Posted by: xxdesmus on July 26, 2006 12:57 PMJason, allow me to ask a question.
Will it (Shapeshifter) be backware compatible with guiKits that have been created on PPC hardware?
Posted by: on July 26, 2006 1:39 PMJason, allow me to ask a question.
Will it (Shapeshifter) be backware compatible with guiKits that have been created on PPC hardware?
Posted by: Jean-Francois on July 26, 2006 1:40 PMThe front page is blank because we haven't blogged anything new for awhile.
Jean-Francois, yes, it's backwards compatible all the way back to the beginning, themes created for OS X 10.1.
Posted by: Jason Harris on July 26, 2006 1:49 PMOut of curiosity, how much time does it take to compile a project such a ShapeShifter? (No, really, I'm curious!)
Posted by: Jean-Francois on July 26, 2006 3:29 PMOn my 800MHz PowerBook, it takes about 10 minutes. On the Intel iMac, it takes around 3.
I found some issues during final testing, which I've now fixed, and I'm now packaging up the release.
Posted by: Jason Harris on July 26, 2006 3:42 PMIf you've been watching this thread, please move back to the main page, yo!
Posted by: Jason Harris on July 26, 2006 4:56 PMKeep comments on topic. If a comment is unrelated to this post, it may be removed or moderated.