Start screen icons.

[Starship Krupa]

1 hour ago, sjoens said:

I think there's a display limit for each... 

BTW, not sure how winkpain got credit for my quote (2 notes up). Just makin' sure royalties go to rightful parties. 

Do you mean for each new hack we come up with? Like they each have a counter that goes to 12 template image changes before it stops working? Wouldn't that be a wacky prank to pull on those of us with AD issues?

I annotated my post to give you credit, will you be able to rest now? ?I know that those of us attracted to theming and issues like this one tend not to like things that nag at us visually.....

[sjoens]

I tend not to like anything that nags... 

[Kurre]

3 hours ago, sjoens said:

I tend not to like anything that nags... 

But she is nice to have as a company...you're not alone.

[MichelCA]

On 11/4/2021 at 8:32 PM, Starship Krupa said:

Okay, new information. After trying all of the suggestions in this thread, I still couldn't get it to work reliably. Believe me, I've tried, multiple times. I'm picky about visuals, as a look at the 6 custom Cakewalk themes I've authored will attest.

Thanks to the video I'll be linking to at the bottom, I found yet another method, and this one seems to work every time, at least so far. Here are the steps:

1. Choose a PNG image you wish to use for your template's icon
2. Rename it <template name>.cwt.png (for instance "Basic Audio.cwt.png")
3. Place a copy of it in the folder where Cakewalk stores your templates.
4. Save your project template (if it already exists, open it and save it again, it seems to be during the saving process that Cakewalk looks around for the image file).

Voila, next time you hit the Start Screen, your icon should show up. I'll use careful language and say that so far, this doesn't seem to require any keywords or typing over existing filenames or any of the old voodoo. This is new voodoo, and it lets you name your templates whatever you wish.

Please try it and let me know what you find. Who would have thought that it would take so long to crack this nut. I'm going to ask Neel (the guy in the video) how on Earth he figured this out. His videos are good in general, too, and feature interesting genres of music not often heard on YouTube tutorial vids.

 

So by doing that my picture or icon will look with that nice light and shade effects like cakewalk default template icons? 

[Starship Krupa]

10 hours ago, MichelCA said:

So by doing that my picture or icon will look with that nice light and shade effects like cakewalk default template icons?

If you use those images, yes.

[winkpain]

On 11/4/2021 at 7:32 PM, Starship Krupa said:

Okay, new information. After trying all of the suggestions in this thread, I still couldn't get it to work reliably. Believe me, I've tried, multiple times. I'm picky about visuals, as a look at the 6 custom Cakewalk themes I've authored will attest.

Thanks to the video I'll be linking to at the bottom, I found yet another method, and this one seems to work every time, at least so far. Here are the steps:

1. Choose a PNG image you wish to use for your template's icon
2. Rename it <template name>.cwt.png (for instance "Basic Audio.cwt.png")
3. Place a copy of it in the folder where Cakewalk stores your templates.
4. Save your project template (if it already exists, open it and save it again, it seems to be during the saving process that Cakewalk looks around for the image file).

Voila, next time you hit the Start Screen, your icon should show up. I'll use careful language and say that so far, this doesn't seem to require any keywords or typing over existing filenames or any of the old voodoo. This is new voodoo, and it lets you name your templates whatever you wish.

Please try it and let me know what you find. Who would have thought that it would take so long to crack this nut. I'm going to ask Neel (the guy in the video) how on Earth he figured this out. His videos are good in general, too, and feature interesting genres of music not often heard on YouTube tutorial vids.

 

I can't believe I'm looking at this again, but I couldn't resist; it's so WEIRD!

I cannot get this method of saving a PNG file with the <template name>.cwt.png fomat in the templates folder to work at all, saving, re-saving, whatever. None of that works for me it does not connect my image file with the .cwt file. It actually makes no image at all show up for the named template in question. In fact, re-saving a template with the same name does not work at all, even if I've added a new image in the Notes browser. When I do a "Save as" with the same name, nothing happens. I can verify this in Win Explorer where the Modified time/date stamp does not update for the template file.  I must either Save as with a new name, or delete the original file in order to re-use the same name and have the file update. The .cwt.png file, however, still doesn't get attached even doing this.

What continues to work for me is what I have outlined before and above in the thread, so no matter. But whatever is going on behind the scenes with these template images is beyond comprehension on this front end of it! How we can all have different methods that work individually and yet not share in the experience of those methods truly defies computer logic.  There is still something we just aren't quite getting! It must have been coded by the original CW bakers long, long ago and is now buried in the mists of confusion and time, or someone who actually knows and is reading this thread is just rubbing their hands together with a devilish laugh at our woes ?

[Glenn Stanton]

what i do is add the image to a project file (which is my template also) then save it as a project file. next - rename the file to <templatename>.cwt. the image is now part of the template and as subsequent project saves from that template. move (or copy) that file into your project templates folder.

Edited November 30, 2021 by Glenn Stanton

[Starship Krupa]

11 hours ago, winkpain said:

I cannot get this method of saving a PNG file with the <template name>.cwt.png fomat in the templates folder to work at all, saving, re-saving, whatever. None of that works for me it does not connect my image file with the .cwt file.

True for every "sure fire" method that's been posted so far, unfortunately: it seems to work for the person who posted it, and any number of others, but there will always be at least one person who can't get it to work at all.

Who knows, it may stop working for me as well. Until someone can tell us for sure how Cakewalk decides what file to either associate or embed, we won't be completely confident.

[winkpain]

2 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

True for every "sure fire" method that's been posted so far, unfortunately: it seems to work for the person who posted it, and any number of others, but there will always be at least one person who can't get it to work at all.

Who knows, it may stop working for me as well. Until someone can tell us for sure how Cakewalk decides what file to either associate or embed, we won't be completely confident.

Maybe we should all start a therapy group to work out all our issues on this - actually get together to bitch and moan about how the other people just don't understand us. Say, once a year? In Tahiti or somewhere?.....

[mao.studio]

Hi, what is the magic word for the Empty Project ? This is crazy hehe 

[sjoens]

see page 2 post 4

[TheSteven]

There is a super easy way to add an icon to your existing Project templates.

1. copy/rename your image file to the same name as your project template but with the appropriate last extension and put it in your template folder along side your Project template.
   For example if your template is name Basic+HeadphoneBuss.cwt
   the image must be named (if png) to Basic+HeadphoneBuss.cwt.png
2. Load project template
3. Save template
   Do a Save As, Save as type: Template, Go to Folder: Template Files
   and overwrite existing template.  No other actions required.

and as they say in London Bob's your uncle, i.e. done.
Your Project template will now show up in the Start Screen with your chosen image as it's icon.

Notes:
I was playing around with image size - I've found that 170x170 images fill the space, larger images get truncated.  This info may not be 100% correct but seem to apply with the limited time I invested testing things.

If you're creating a new template (or renaming one) just have the image file already there before you save the template.

It can be problematic to change the template's icon if one is already associated.
Doing a save as/rename works if all else fails - rename image as appropriate and save as the template to appropriate new name.

Glenn's method mentions earlier in the thread also works.

 

Edited September 8, 2023 by TheSteven

[sjoens]

Edited

For some reason the 1st Save As action doesn't ask to overwrite and won't show the pic.
I have to Save As a 2nd time for it to work.

However, if I create the image before saving the template, it works the 1st time.

This method also overrides the default "trigger word" image on default and new templates.  Cool!

FYI, image must be a BMP or PNG.  JPGs don't work.

Edited September 12, 2023 by sjoens

[sjoens]

Somehow having an image with the same name as a template embeds the image into the template when opening the Start Screen.

Once this happens you can delete the image from the folder and rename the template as desired.

Opening the template files in Note Pad reveals the image data.

Edited September 12, 2023 by sjoens

[Bryan Wilson]

On 7/4/2021 at 2:27 PM, Glenn Stanton said:

you have to change the icon in the file, save it as a "normal" project file, then rename the extension to .cwt instead of .cwp. otherwise the image embedded will not change. if you open a .cwt file and a .cwp file you can see how the header of the file in the cwp contains a large MIME encoded image in the first part of the file, whereas the cwt files have the image embedded further into the file which is then used when you save the template-generated project as a cwp.

here's the sequence:

new (or existing project or project from a template you want to modify:

add your image

save as a "normal" project file

rename .CWP as .CWT

copy or move the file into the project templates folder

when you open the start screen and select new project, you should see the template with the image

if you want to change an existing image - use the RED X to remove then add a new image, remember to resave as CWP and RENAME to CWT

 

YES. THIS WORKED. YES.