Very Upset...

Report it to an Admin...

Thanks Fuzzy Logic...I will do that.

It's so obvious. I can't belive someone would publish a skin here with it modified only slightly. The second I had seen it I knew exactly what it was

Don't have any idea about witch skin you are talking, cant see any skin using your stuff....

Styl...once you know what graphic it is, you'll say to yourself...Holy S**t...that's blatantly obvious.

Is their a list of Admins and their email addresses anywhere? I can't seem to find them. I contacted Frogboy, I'm sure he's a busy guy but I feel that this is very urgent.

Click links on the names to send email (on the "about" page): https://www.wincustomize.com/index.asp?Cmd=about




[Message Edited]

Thanks sig101

I'm currently 'awake'....martinp@smart.net.au

Doh....got your email...

Zodiaq~....I openned your taskbar.bmp in the BluePearl WB skin and compared it with every image in the other skin and quite frankly cannot see any connection at all.

Sure, they are both a 'similar' blue with a 'similar' shiny finish, and yes, if you were so inclined you might manipulate one far enough to look like the other...just like if you apply a black fill to a white square you make the square black.....but that doesn't mean the blck and white squares are the same or even came from the same source..

It'd be easier to make the buttons yourself than to bother manipulating another's as much as these would need to be done.

If these works are from the same source, then probably 50% of the WB skins are from the same source....since so many of them have 'shiny' 'blue' buttons.

Your lowlight...20 59 149

His lowlight...51 4 128

Your hilight...160 188 250

His hilight...205 225 248

Sorry, but I'm betting there are other skins out there far closer to yours than this one...and very likely none are 'rips'.

The last issue I had to argue to convince someone of a ripped work on another site was to do with this site's Universe Metal theme....[a skin graphic I'd just been adapting myself so I knew it VERY well]...and the colour picks were IDENTICAL at every salient point which is purely impossible to fluke as there are 255x255x255 different colours....and the only difference was one image was a 256 colour gif and the other was a true colour jpg.

Unless I have got the wrong skins and images...[I referrred to the skins in the email]....this is not a case of ripping...

Jafo...Not the taskbar.bmp...It's the taskbutton.bmp.

Sorry...that was a typo....yes, I compared your taskbutton image with all images in the other skin...

None of the other's 120 images, be they bmp, psd or tga is the 'same' as your taskbutton.bmp...

Jafo...Not all other images. Compare to the sytemtray in question...All one has to do is cut my button and paste it over the left or right half of the systemtray button of the other file. The height size is exact. Stretch it a little. You can play with the opacity, softlight, overlay etc. and the color and pixel pattern is exact.

C'mon...seriously, is it not obvious?

What is the EXACT name of his image?

TrayNotifyHorizBack.bmp

I wouldn't push the issue if I wasn't absolutely 100% positive. I feel violated.

If you mean 'TrayNotifHorizBack.bmp' then as I said a common glassy button gradient...as common as mud....but in this case differnet highlights, intensity and shape...

OK...I'll upload both images for people to comment and I'll place a link here.
Honestly I think this is a non-issue...

I didn't want it to be this public. Can't you and the other Admins make a collective decision on this?

Not saying that you don't know your stuff, but other opinions from fellow Admins would be a better approach then a public forum War. Which is exactly what I don't want.

Just so long as nobody uses glassy green buttons. They're all mine.

Without seeing the images in question yet, I can't comment. It's true that when you have two 'glassy' buttons there are always going to be similarities between them if both artists use a similar technique. Since I released my 'glassy' skin all those months ago I've seen a lot of skins which use a similar technique to the one I did. I wouldn't consider any of them outright rips unless the colours and pixels were exact.

Are you sure this other skinner didn't just try to mimic your method of creating a 'glassy' button by studying your images? If so, that's not considered ripping.

https://www.wincustomize.com/skins.asp?library=13&SkinID=2079 

Sure, you can manipulate one to resemble the other...in either direction...but there is no indication that is what has happened here.

There are bevelling tools/software that can create buttons such as these....two people could quite easily use them and create identical images...but these aren't clones at all...

Just forget it. I know and he know's. I have a new skin I am releasing next week. I have many hours into it and would like to share it with everyone, graphic wise it is by far my best work.

I'll leave my library available for a few weeks after that then I must pull out. I am very sorry, I never wanted anything like this to happen, I love Wincustomize and I love the skinning but can't play a part in this. It's the principle of the matter.

Thank you all that have downloaded and made such kind comments in regards to my skins.

Please look for my final submission sometime next week. I think you will all like it

Adios

Okay, I've taken a look now, and I have to agree with Jafo. They are quite similar, but only in the shape of the very ends of the highlight. The so-called ripped image contains a lot more shading and detail. If you look at the ends of the new image, the top and bottom shading curves are about level, while the same shading in your buttons is slightly uneven, looking more tapered toward the top.

Hope this makes sense Zodiaq.

Jafo...I don't think those images are a fair assesment. Take my button, cut the top half, stretch, copy, flip vertical, overlay, or saturation, or softlight and change the opacity. It's not just a likeness.

I really think you're blowing this out of all proportion. As someone who takes an abnormal amount of time over getting every detail of a skin to my liking, and having been ripped countless times upon release of my skins, I can understand how you feel to some extent.

However, you're reacting like this person ripped your entire skin and the admins are just ignoring it. We're talking about one slightly similar button here.

That is most definitely a rip of Universe Metal, psst can I get a copy