ui Feature Request-Support for Animated .png images

[Matthew White]

I'm not wishing to sound like an excited 10 year old but Please, Please, Pretty Please with A Cherry on Top, add support for animated .png images, you don't even have to update the two themes included with Cakewalk, just add support for users to add them to Themes via the editor and for them to work in Cakewalk.

I'm not sure if any other DAW even uses animated png images in it's UI and it would be handy and cool to make certain buttons like Mute, Solo and Record flash or fade.

Check out the Track View/Console View 'Record' button I made..... https://imgur.com/tlLyQmq

Now, would that not be so cool and maybe useful for a few particular and important buttons??

 

Edited August 12, 2020 by Matthew White

[Canopus]

I have actually been thinking about this myself. In my case it was mostly regarding Mute which I think looks pretty cool in Logic, where an active mute for a track is indicated by a flashing Mute button. So thumbs up.

[Josh Wolfer]

My main concern would be around performance. I'd assume it wouldn't take much more.... but... I wonder if in general the UI could be GPU accelerated. If in general it could run super smoothly, that'd be pretty awesome. My Daw is running a 780 GTX that pretty much idles all day

Edited August 10, 2020 by Josh Wolfer

[Matthew White]

On 8/10/2020 at 5:55 PM, Josh Wolfer said:

My main concern would be around performance. I'd assume it wouldn't take much more.

I guess in general no as it would only be desired really for Mute, Solo and Record but then there are cases where many of these will be lit at once which may cause issues but any Themes made with animated buttons could have a static button version available for those who don't want any performance hit be it through choice or system limitations.

[Jim Fogle]

The more I think about this idea the better I like the idea of animated buttons.

I can see a track's record button flash when it's armed and change to solid when the transport record button is pressed.  Flashing play button when paused and solid when running.  Many opportunities become available to make the interface more user friendly.

[Canopus]

Almost two years have passed, so I think it’s about time to bump this feature request. I know that the animated png format is not officially approved by the PNG development group, but it has been supported by Chrome, Firefox and Edge for years so who cares? It's a de facto standard.

Just have a look at this example. Wouldn’t it be cool to make it possible to have a theme with e.g. an animated Mute button, like they have in Logic? And no, I don’t think that it necessarily should be part of the default themes Mercury and Tungsten as some users might object to the animation. But add code to CbB so that user themes containing animated png files can be properly rendered. What you see below is just that - an animated png.

If you agree, please show your support in the OP.

[Bristol_Jonesey]

I think it's an excellent idea

[Scott R. Garrigus]

I like it, although I would want an option to disable it too.

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://www.garrigus.com
* Cakewalk SONAR Video Tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/user/ScottGarrigus?sub_confirmation=1
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[InstrEd]

I like the idea too but as Scott said make it possible to disable please.

[Starship Krupa]

3 hours ago, InstrEd said:

I like the idea too but as Scott said make it possible to disable please.

Since it would only be used in custom themes, disable=switch to standard Mercury or Tungsten.

As a Lord of the .STH I would love to be able to use pulsing Record and Mute buttons. Also Ripple Edit indicator.

[InstrEd]

17 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

Also Ripple Edit indicator.

This one +1,000

[InstrEd]

@Starship Krupa   You could put an animated ocean wave to say Ripple is active.  Or an animated pic of  a Lava Lamp Glowing 

[Starship Krupa]

I was thinking more in terms of the most obnoxious 500mS strobe I could come up with. If I turn Ripple Edit on, it's pretty much 100% that I'll forget that it's enabled until things start to look weird, Indicator or no. I'm not surprised that this was a clamored-for feature.

[user905133]

Not everyone who creates their own custom themes (or who uses custom themes) would want animated buttons.  

1 hour ago, Starship Krupa said:

Since it would only be used in custom themes, disable=switch to standard Mercury or Tungsten.

 

[Canopus]

9 hours ago, User 905133 said:

Not everyone who creates their own custom themes (or who uses custom themes) would want animated buttons. 

Of course, so the best (and pretty simple) solution would be to have an option added to Preferences that would be turned off by default. But if you turn it on, and the currently selected theme supports animations – hey, presto!

[user905133]

3 hours ago, Canopus said:

Of course, so the best (and pretty simple) solution would be to have an option added to Preferences that would be turned off by default. But if you turn it on, and the currently selected theme supports animations – hey, presto!

Personally, I would prefer to see (1) per button enable/disable switches and more importantly (2) the ability to store and restore those preferences with Workspaces.  I can see some personal workflows where I would like some buttons animated and would like to have different Workspaces for the different workflows.  Having to switch animations (all or some) on and off by navigating the Preference settings (including switching between theme variations with different animations enabled/disabled) would be more intrusive than just switching Workspaces.

Edited June 24, 2022 by User 905133
(2) to add the comment about switching different themes just to get variations; (1) fixed typo

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

Not for me thanks, I see no benefit. 

[InstrEd]

19 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

I was thinking more in terms of the most obnoxious 500mS strobe I could come up with.

No don't do that as then I won't won't to use it as Strobes light give be a headache.  You want me to use the DAW don't you?

[Matthew White]

2 hours ago, Mark MoreThan-Shaw said:

Not for me thanks, I see no benefit. 

That's fair enough, as with everything, it won't be wanted by everyone but it doesn't mean the idea shouldn't be implemented, just that there should either be a way to disable it or for theme creators/cakewalk to provide alternative static theme versions.

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

4 hours ago, Matthew White said:

That's fair enough, as with everything, it won't be wanted by everyone but it doesn't mean the idea shouldn't be implemented, just that there should either be a way to disable it or for theme creators/cakewalk to provide alternative static theme versions.

What is the perceived benefit ?