seejayjames

I like the look of transparent and semi-transparent control panels, like some apps have, so I tried changing the bgcolor attribute of subpatches and abstractions. On XP anyways, their backgrounds don't show as transparent, so I'm wondering what this means exactly. I can understand wanting the bgcolor attribute to have rgba for consistency across objects, but if the "a" isn't really what you'd think in this case, it's a little confusing, perhaps I'm missing something. Probably in the docs, my apologies...

However, bpatchers can have transparency levels, so my next question was how to easily give them the ability to be dragged around like windows can. So I created this little example using mousestate to show it. It's very simple once you get the right commands out of a ubutton---the mousestate just needs to be in the right mode for it to work (the loadbang does this). So any patch could be used as a bpatch, with its transparent levels settable, but also easily be dragged around like other windows can, using a "hotspot" ubutton to drag. You could also have the ubutton sit underneath the whole patch, thus allowing dragging by clicking on any empty portion.

Hopefully this is useful to some. It also shows how one could make any object draggable using mousestate and a ubutton, should one wish. I used bpatcher because that gives the most possibilities. Also the included scrollbar in the bpatch allows lots more controls to be accessible without taking up screen space.

floating-movable-transparent-control-panels

Have a look to the help file of thispatcher. AFAIR there is an example 

in it. You basically need to have a notitle window in order to do that.

On 13 nov. 08, at 04:19, Seejay James wrote:

> I like the look of transparent and semi-transparent control panels, 

> like some apps have, so I tried changing the bgcolor attribute of 

> subpatches and abstractions. On XP anyways, their backgrounds don't 

> show as transparent, so I'm wondering what this means exactly. I can 

> understand wanting the bgcolor attribute to have rgba for 

> consistency across objects, but if the "a" isn't really what you'd 

> think in this case, it's a little confusing, perhaps I'm missing 

> something. Probably in the docs, my apologies...

> However, bpatchers can have transparency levels, so my next question 

> was how to easily give them the ability to be dragged around like 

> windows can. So I created this little example using mousestate to 

> show it. It's very simple once you get the right commands out of a 

> ubutton---the mousestate just needs to be in the right mode for it 

> to work (the loadbang does this). So any patch could be used as a 

> bpatch, with its transparent levels settable, but also easily be 

> dragged around like other windows can, using a "hotspot" ubutton to 

> drag. You could also have the ubutton sit underneath the whole 

> patch, thus allowing dragging by clicking on any empty portion.

> Hopefully this is useful to some. It also shows how one could make 

> any object draggable using mousestate and a ubutton, should one 

> wish. I used bpatcher because that gives the most possibilities. 

> Also the included scrollbar in the bpatch allows lots more controls 

> to be accessible without taking up screen space.

> Unzip and run floating_controls.maxpat.

> Interactive Media :: Concepts | Creation | Learning

Have a look to the help file of thispatcher. AFAIR there is an example  
in it. You basically need to have a notitle window in order to do that.

On 13 nov. 08, at 04:19, Seejay James  wrote:

> I like the look of transparent and semi-transparent control panels,  
> like some apps have, so I tried changing the bgcolor attribute of  
> subpatches and abstractions. On XP anyways, their backgrounds don't  
> show as transparent, so I'm wondering what this means exactly. I can  
> understand wanting the bgcolor attribute to have rgba for  
> consistency across objects, but if the "a" isn't really what you'd  
> think in this case, it's a little confusing, perhaps I'm missing  
> something. Probably in the docs, my apologies...
>
> However, bpatchers can have transparency levels, so my next question  
> was how to easily give them the ability to be dragged around like  
> windows can. So I created this little example using mousestate to  
> show it. It's very simple once you get the right commands out of a  
> ubutton---the mousestate just needs to be in the right mode for it  
> to work (the loadbang does this). So any patch could be used as a  
> bpatch, with its transparent levels settable, but also easily be  
> dragged around like other windows can, using a "hotspot" ubutton to  
> drag. You could also have the ubutton sit underneath the whole  
> patch, thus allowing dragging by clicking on any empty portion.
>
> Hopefully this is useful to some. It also shows how one could make  
> any object draggable using mousestate and a ubutton, should one  
> wish. I used bpatcher because that gives the most possibilities.  
> Also the included scrollbar in the bpatch allows lots more controls  
> to be accessible without taking up screen space.
>
> Unzip and run floating_controls.maxpat.
>
> Enjoy!
>
> --CJ
>
>
> --
> Interactive Media :: Concepts | Creation | Learning
> http://www.third-space-mind.com/
>
>


Floating, movable transparent control panels