
Nicer xorg 6.8 shadow
Source (link to git-repo or to original if based on someone elses unmodified work): Add the source-code for this project on opencode.net
First of all credits go to a user in gentoo forum. His nick is hoarycripple.
He made a patch to improve the xorg drop shadow.
I found that his patch also didn't fit my needs so i tweaked it a little bit.
Screenshot 1 - Shows the default shadow of xcompmgr.
Screenshot 2 - More Osx like than before.
I (and hoarycripple on gentoo) found it unnatural and ugly that a window drops a shadow that surrounds every edge of it.So in my patch only 3 edges are surrounded like in OSX.
How to use:
1.Backup your original xcompmgr file
2.Download xcompmgr-0.1_pre20040821.tar.bz2 (it works stable for me)
3.Unpack and put my diff in this directory
4.In this directory type
patch -p0 < patch_xcompmgr.diff
./autogen.sh
./configure && make
and test it !
Move it to a direction other than your original xcompmgr and test it with full path !
If some good coder reads it:
My idea to improve the shadows:
Makes it more realistic. We needs at least two layers of shadows.The topmost window and every window under it.The topmost must have the greatest shadowradius and the other only the half or less ! So we get real 3D depth like in OSX.Perhaps one could hack a function for xcompmgr that changes the shadow values dynamicly ? thomas17111 perhaps :)
manor
16 years ago
Now the visual effect of having a 3D Desktop
is very much improved.
First i didn't realized a big difference.That must have to do that i didn't restart X after playing around with some xcompmgr values
on my own.That playing must have screwed something in memory so that i really noticed it now.
Very cool !
Thanks.
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thomas12777
16 years ago
different look, shadows do not turn to "top" when closing a window
included diaglogs, tool and util windows
superkaramba does not pulse at my side, but that may depend on the version and the theme
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thomas12777
16 years ago
but you may mail me a shadow screenshot (or upload it)
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yOyOeK1
16 years ago
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manor
16 years ago
Deciare was the best looking
http://kdelook.org/content/show.php?content=5638
Sure shadows in hardware is the future.I hope that it will soon improve in terms of speed, stability and visual quality.
It would be good if the speed of xcomposite on various graphics adapters can be the same of the nvidia ones.
I put my Matrox away and now a Nvidia is in my pc.As soon as speed of the Matrox (xcomposite) is on par with the Nvidia i will swap them again.
What i notice all the time:
Nvidia drivers sucks! Although this is xorgs first stable release i didn't have one crash with the Matrox but countless crashes with the Nvidia :(
I don't think this has to do with xorg because i had a lot of hard lockups with Nvidia cards in the past with Xfree.
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yOyOeK1
16 years ago
in software > google.com :P I find a some grate options.
after put putting (+ is a line to add)
Section "Device"
Identifier "video"
Driver "nvidia"
+ Option "RenderAccel" "on"
#VideoRam 131072
# Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
EndSection
the xcompmgr start to almost flay. shadows and speed of drawing screen was satisfying. problem is with resizing window.
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manor
16 years ago
RenderAccel brings a lot but resizing
is a pain.
But we have to see the future:
All great new features in kde, the kernel or anything else under linux got big improvements after a year or so. I mean after that time most things are nearly perfect then.
With Xorgs speed i think we can expect drop shadows become much better in a few months (half a year).
At this time we can be glad what we have: Nicer and bigger shadows as Windows :)
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manor
16 years ago
I can't await to try it out :)
I knew you would improve the shadows sooner or later ...
Btw:
Thanks a lot for Baghira !
We all know that Mosfet is a talented coder and that he laid the
foundation-stone (in some way) for Baghira.But what you did with his Liquid is overwhelming !
Baghira has nothing to do with Liquid anymore.When Mosfet is a genius, then what are you Thomas ? You are a c++ wizard of the highest levels.There is no border that you can't break.
Thanks a lot to Thomas - a real mastermind of c++ coding !
Yes also a lot of kudos go to all the other Linux, KDE coders but i wanted to thank especially Thomas today.
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thomas12777
16 years ago
http://baghira.sourceforge.net/xcompmgr2.tar.bz2
(didn't view your version yet, so only common shadows)
the changes only appear on restacks (i.e. you change the focus) and should exclude anything but normal windows (docks etc.)
due to the wider shadow, resizing windows tends to create more artefacts...
happy testing ;)
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nightwriter
16 years ago
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Matti
16 years ago
Matt
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thomas12777
16 years ago
docks should be excluded anyway
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thomas12777
16 years ago
when i'm no more tired, i'll try to update the gaussian map
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manor
16 years ago
There it seems that the light source would be from top so that there is no shadow on the window decoration.
The biggest improvement would be the different layers so the direction is an aspect of personal preferrence.
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nightwriter
16 years ago
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lucher
16 years ago
just a thought
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yf12s
16 years ago
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