Sorry your browser is not supported!

You are using an outdated browser that does not support modern web technologies, in order to use this site please update to a new browser.

Browsers supported include Chrome, FireFox, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer 10+ or Microsoft Edge.

Program Announcements / ** GUI Studio - Drag and Drop interface creator **

Author
Message
Ric
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Jul 2004
Location: object position x
Posted: 1st Feb 2007 22:08 Edited at: 27th Jan 2009 11:17
GUI Studio for DarkBASIC Professional

<March 2008> Please note that GUI Studio has now been discontinued and can no longer be purchased.

GUI Studio is a drag and drop editing studio for creating professional standard Graphical User Interfaces.

<-** UPDATES **->


October 2007: GUI Studio has been revamped - several times! We're now upto v1.08, which includes many new features like groups and radio buttons. A full update log can be found at the Andromedus Software forum

July 2007: Media1 for GUI Studio has now been released - and it's free for all GUI Studio users! Find out more here



____________________________________________________________

What is GUI Studio for?

HUD's, menus, scoreboards, dashboards, cockpits, toolbars, application interfaces - in fact, anything you can think of that needs an interactive graphical display.





How does it work?

Interfaces are made from basic components, called entities. Creating any of these things in GUI Studio is just a simple case of drag and drop:

buttons
switches
dials
knobs
text
headline text
digits
panels
steering wheels
windows
sliders
healthbars/progress bars

Choose styles from a fully expandable media library made up of over 400 images, then modify them with simple to use control panels.

Once you've created your interface, you're just one click away from integrating it into your DBPro project. GUI Studio will, if you want it to, create a dbpro project for you and write the source code to get your GUI up and running. If you want to integrate your GUI with an existing project, that's easy too.

GUI Studio comes with a full set of keyword-highlighted functions to enable simple control over all elements of your GUI from within DBPro - making it fully interactive.

For more information about GUI Studio, please visit the Andromedus Software website by clicking the link below.

Attachments

Login to view attachments
Master Xilo
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Sep 2006
Location: Bern, Switzerland
Posted: 1st Feb 2007 22:17 Edited at: 1st Feb 2007 23:03
...comment removed...
H4ck1d
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Dec 2005
Location: Yes
Posted: 1st Feb 2007 22:47
Wow, that looks awesome!!!!!! As soon as I get a little extra cash I think I've found where to spend it!

Quote: "but noone will buy such a programme for 19.99"


What?! I would!

Quote: "It doesn't seem much better than the most freeware tools around here. But good luck with the development of your first programme"


Er... are you even posting in the right thread?

Lost in Thought
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Feb 2004
Location: U.S.A. : Douglas, Georgia
Posted: 1st Feb 2007 23:00 Edited at: 2nd Feb 2007 03:00
Looks great. A couple questions though:

Is there a download only version (I saw the cd box on the site so assuming it ships) as I don't want to pay shipping all the way to the US.

Are you setup not to charge VAT to US customers as that is already like $39.42US

Ric
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Jul 2004
Location: object position x
Posted: 2nd Feb 2007 01:21 Edited at: 2nd Feb 2007 01:27
Hi - thanks for your interest!

The price listed on the website is the total price payable regardless of which country you are in I'm afraid - there isn't a vat reduction ... however, there are no shipping costs, as it is only available by electronic download at the moment. (The cd box image is for illustration only).

Of course, it's your hard earned money - and how you choose to spend it is entirely up to you!

Having said that, I do think it's fair for what you get, which in my opinion is quite a lot. You not only get a library of media which, if you bought separately, could quite possibly cost more than this whole package, but you also get the tools to use them in a way that will save you hours of work, and help you to produce results that will give your projects a professional touch.

By the way, you also get a 70 page electronic manual (not that GUI Studio is hard to use - I just like to be thorough!)

Lost in Thought
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Feb 2004
Location: U.S.A. : Douglas, Georgia
Posted: 2nd Feb 2007 02:59
@Ric Awesome. I will be buying this, sometime this week. I was just making sure it wasn't the $40 plus VAT lol. It is well worth $40

@H4ck1d I'll get you a copy as well if you still want it. Thanks for letting me use the gun model in the open source engine.

Ric
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Jul 2004
Location: object position x
Posted: 2nd Feb 2007 08:36
Great - good to hear!

Bongadoo
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th May 2006
Location:
Posted: 2nd Feb 2007 11:18
I think this looks like a great product, and I think that the price is spot on for the added media provided.

I would just like to ask about the text function; when a font is used from your system to create text, I assume this is incorporated into the media so other users don't need to have that font installed on their system? Also how does text sizing work, are you limited to fixed pixel sizes (ie.8px,16px) or can you scale text to any size you like? The shadow and glow effects look great by the way.

Also are their any restrictions/license on included media? It would be good to see a full command list aswell.

I'll definately be buying this.
Ric
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Jul 2004
Location: object position x
Posted: 2nd Feb 2007 14:06
Hi Bongadoo - thanks for your comments. The question about whether fonts need to be installed on the end users sytem is a good question. Because of this, there are two methods for creating text - standard text and headline text.

Headline text is for if you want the best appearance - you can choose from any font installed on your system (and of course, that is unlimited), and it will produce smooth antialiased text of any size you like (not fixed pixel sizes), with the option of adding colour, drop shadow or glow (which can be blurred or offset to the desired amount). Once your headline is created, it is stored as an image which will be loaded automatically when you export your project to DBP - which means there is no necessity for the end user to have the same font.

Standard text is more useful for small font sizes where a lot of text is needed, and it needs to be updated from within DBPro. You draw a text-box of the desired size and choose the text size (fixed pixel size), and it will be word-wrapped to fit within the desired box dimensions. If you resize the box, the wrapping will update, so you don't need to worry about text spilling out of the area you want it to be. You can also choose the colour and opacity of the text. Once exported, you can update the text content using a single command. Unlike the 'text' command in DBPro, you do not have to call it every loop - you only call it when the text needs to be updated, which means this type of text is more efficient. Standard text does require the end user to have the same font on their system, as it is produced internally - so it's safer to use a common font like Arial (which, to be honest, I think looks much better for small, legible text than anything too stylised anyway). There is an option to allow DBPro to do an automatic check for fonts when the interface is loaded, which will cause text to revert to Arial if it is not found (this is an option rather than the default, as checking the whole system for available fonts can slow down the loading of the interface).

The license agreement allows you to use the media for the intended purpose of GUI Studio - creating graphical displays for DBPro - and distribute your work royalty free. You can also use the media as a base to modify using a paint program, and use the modified media in the same way (so, for example, the steering wheel which has the Andromedus alien logo - you could change the logo to your own, and still use it for your project, commercial or otherwise.) What you are not allowed to do under the license, is to redistribute or resell the media as stand alone or collections of media, or as part of an application which has the same purpose as GUI Studio. Pretty standard arrangement for allowing you to be creative, but not devious!!

You can also see the list of available commands here: http://www.andromedus.com/guistudiohelp/

Hope that answers your questions.

Silvester
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Dec 2005
Location: Netherlands
Posted: 2nd Feb 2007 14:17
Intresting Application Ric.

You finaly finished it.

-Prince Of Darkness
Lost in Thought
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Feb 2004
Location: U.S.A. : Douglas, Georgia
Posted: 2nd Feb 2007 14:46
I'll be ordering this just as soon as I get ahold of H4ck1d to see if he still wants a copy. Question though, how would I go about buying 2 copies in the same transaction? I don't see an option to change the quantities. And how would I get his copy licensed to him?

Ric
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Jul 2004
Location: object position x
Posted: 2nd Feb 2007 16:18
Thanks Lost - very generous of you offering to buy a copy for H4ck1d too! I didn't envisage anyone wanting to buy two copies at once, so I'm afraid I didn't add the option when I set it up - sorry to be a pain, but you would have to do it in two transactions. Each purchase you make will generate a separate email including a serial number and a download link. You would just forward one of the emails to him, and he can download and register the software with his serial number.

(It's best to do it like that, rather than to enter his email address in order to have the serial number sent to him directly, as the email address you enter relates to your transaction, and would be used to contact you about it if anything goes wrong).

jasonhtml
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 20th Mar 2004
Location: OC, California, USA
Posted: 2nd Feb 2007 16:58
wow! this is by far the best HUD system ive ever seen for DBP games (and some commercial games for that matter). VERY nice job!

Lost in Thought
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Feb 2004
Location: U.S.A. : Douglas, Georgia
Posted: 2nd Feb 2007 17:00 Edited at: 2nd Feb 2007 17:40
Cool. I can go ahead and buy mine then. If he wants one I can order it then

[edit] Went ahead and ordered both. If he doesn't want it, someone will

Ric
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Jul 2004
Location: object position x
Posted: 2nd Feb 2007 17:11
Great - hope you will be happy with it, thanks for your support.

H4ck1d
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Dec 2005
Location: Yes
Posted: 2nd Feb 2007 18:19
Got it! Will download as soon as I get home. Thanks Ric for this great software, and thank you very much to Lost in Thought!

Ric
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Jul 2004
Location: object position x
Posted: 2nd Feb 2007 18:41
He's a generous chap the LIT! Hope you enjoy it.

Unfortunately I'm away for the weekend with the wife-to-be, so I won't be able to answer anymore questions until Monday morning now - I'm praying that it all holds together for those people that have bought it already - I'm a nervous wreck at the moment! Any problems, I promise I will get to as soon as I get back!

Enjoy your weekends,

Ric.

Roxas
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Nov 2005
Location: http://forum.thegamecreators.com
Posted: 2nd Feb 2007 19:18
You have more screens to show finished GUI in action?


Chris Franklin_
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 21st Dec 2006
Location: Home
Posted: 2nd Feb 2007 19:40
Wish i could get this looks amazing

Desert conflict progress: 1%
Media: 25% Coding: 2% Gameplay: 1%
LD52
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 31st Aug 2006
Location: Internet
Posted: 3rd Feb 2007 20:45
Looks Good
Blobby 101
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 17th Jun 2006
Location: England, UK
Posted: 3rd Feb 2007 20:59 Edited at: 4th Feb 2007 12:55
wow: i just bought it, it's great! u can make real commercial quality with this, I'd recommend this to anyone who wants huds in their games!
edit: i made this simple cockpit quite quickly


Projects: jungle extreme 10%
mental snowboarding 3%

Attachments

Login to view attachments
Ric
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Jul 2004
Location: object position x
Posted: 4th Feb 2007 23:30 Edited at: 4th Feb 2007 23:33
Hi - thanks for everyones positive comments, and a big thanks to all those who have bought the software already! I'm pleased that in most cases, people seem to be happy with their purchases.

I do want to point out, though, that we have found a few bugs that I'm working on fixing now. I just want to be upfront and honest about all potential issues - you can see the bugs reported so far in the bugs forum on my website (click below). We also seem to be having a problem getting it to work with Windows Vista, so I would advise anyone thinking of buying it with the intention of using it on Vista to hold fire for the moment until we can say for sure whether it is compatible or not.

Thanks,

Ric.

<edit> @Full Metal: I'm planning on releasing a demo of a working GUI produced using GUI Studio - should be done soon.

Lost in Thought
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Feb 2004
Location: U.S.A. : Douglas, Georgia
Posted: 5th Feb 2007 09:34
Hey man. I just installed mine and it registered ok, but then had a encountered a serious error and crashed. It gets this same error at each startup attempt.

Ric
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Jul 2004
Location: object position x
Posted: 5th Feb 2007 10:51 Edited at: 5th Feb 2007 11:00
Eek! I'll look into this straight away. I'm temporarily withdrawing the software until this issue is resolved and I've cleared up some other teething problems ... hopefully won't be too long!

LIT: I'll contact you via email if that's ok.

Lost in Thought
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Feb 2004
Location: U.S.A. : Douglas, Georgia
Posted: 5th Feb 2007 11:02
Sure thing. I'll be online for a couple of more hours if you have msn messenger.

Ric
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Jul 2004
Location: object position x
Posted: 5th Feb 2007 11:40
I don't have messenger, but I have sent you an email.

Lost in Thought
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Feb 2004
Location: U.S.A. : Douglas, Georgia
Posted: 5th Feb 2007 11:43
Seems you have located the problem. Reply sent.

Ric
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Jul 2004
Location: object position x
Posted: 5th Feb 2007 12:22
Thanks LIT.

We seem to have it running again, but for the time being I need to do some more work/testing before I re-release the software. Thanks to everyone for their patience.

Ric.

Silvester
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Dec 2005
Location: Netherlands
Posted: 5th Feb 2007 17:04
OK,if i had paypal or a debit card i'd buy this,too bad i dont have it

-Prince Of Darkness
H4ck1d
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Dec 2005
Location: Yes
Posted: 5th Feb 2007 17:33
I had trouble getting it to work on my computer (no surprise though, it's terribly out-dated). It seems to have to do with the d3dfunc.dll, and it would crash before it started up. It's not a problem though, as it runs fine on my dad's computer

Ric
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Jul 2004
Location: object position x
Posted: 5th Feb 2007 17:52
Exactly right - the d3d function does seem to have been the problem with some computers. I have removed all references to the function and am working on an alternative solution at the moment. Hope to have the situation under control asap!

David R
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 9th Sep 2003
Location: 3.14
Posted: 5th Feb 2007 18:33
Umm, just wondering, is there any remote chance of a demo? You know, as in it doesn't have the media and can't save/export code or something? I'm dying to test drive this app,but don't want to fork out any cash yet.

Any chance of a demo?


"History shall be kind to me, for I intend to write it" - Winston Churchill
x1b
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 19th Sep 2004
Location:
Posted: 5th Feb 2007 18:49 Edited at: 5th Feb 2007 18:52
Looks good, i'll order my copy when it's back up.

Lost in Thought
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Feb 2004
Location: U.S.A. : Douglas, Georgia
Posted: 5th Feb 2007 19:41
You mean Cloggy's d3dfunc dll? It used to work on my system perfectly. I'll do some testing with it as well when I get off work tonight. I have to get some sleep now. Only gonna get about 3 hours since my heater messed up and I've been up all day fixing it.

Ric
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Jul 2004
Location: object position x
Posted: 5th Feb 2007 23:03
Thanks x1b - I'll let you know when it's back up.

David R: Yes, I think I could make a demo like that - not sure how soon I can get to it, but I'll add it to the to do list.

LIT: yes, it was Cloggy's d3d function that caused your crash - it is a bit of a mystery at the moment, because I can't get it to crash my sytem, but I borrowed a laptop from a friend a while back to do some testing and it crashed out. Thought I had it solved, but obviously not! I have the same laptop again tonight, so I'm going to see if I can force it to crash again - once I understand exactly the cicumstances under which it crashes certain sytems, I may be able to reintegrate it.

x1b
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 19th Sep 2004
Location:
Posted: 6th Feb 2007 01:33
hey ric,it looks very tailored towards FPS and/or simulator games. anychance you may give it a bit of an RPG feel, such as medival fantasy rpg.

Ric
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Jul 2004
Location: object position x
Posted: 6th Feb 2007 09:00 Edited at: 6th Feb 2007 17:41
I think I should be able to do that. Thanks for the suggestion.

<edit> GUI Studio should be back up again tomorrow - with an updated version.

x1b
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 19th Sep 2004
Location:
Posted: 6th Feb 2007 20:34
Quote: "GUI Studio should be back up again tomorrow - with an updated version"


that includes elite uber hawt RPG features?

Silvester
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Dec 2005
Location: Netherlands
Posted: 6th Feb 2007 20:52
Will you get other payment options in too?

-Prince Of Darkness
Ric
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Jul 2004
Location: object position x
Posted: 7th Feb 2007 00:27 Edited at: 7th Feb 2007 00:28
@ x1b: The first update just fixes a few initial bugs - however, I will be working on further updates as time goes on. What kind of 'elite uber hawt RPG features' did you have in mind?

If you mean the overall style of the graphics, (like jewels, amulets, gadgets made from wooden, leather and stone materials, for example), then they can be included with the first media add-on pack. I intend to release the first media add-on pack for free to people who buy/have bought GUI Studio, and then charge a small fee for further add-on packs.

If you were thinking of particular 'features' which add to the way GUI Studio works, then that would probably require a lot more work, and might have to wait for 'version 2'! (There is a features request section, though in the forum at [href]www.andromedus.com/forum[/href] if you want to make suggestions for future versions.)

@Prince of Darkness: What payment options would be suitable for you? If you would like to pay by cheque in Euros, that would be ok. Once GUI Studio is back up, if you want to purchase a copy, just send me an email to accounts@andromedus.com and I will let you know the details you need for paying by cheque.

x1b
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 19th Sep 2004
Location:
Posted: 7th Feb 2007 03:18
Quote: "like jewels, amulets, gadgets made from wooden, leather and stone materials, for example"


exactly what I had in mind. all of my development always revolves around medival fantasy style.

LD52
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 31st Aug 2006
Location: Internet
Posted: 7th Feb 2007 04:20
GUI Studio looks awesome!
Kieran
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 6th Aug 2006
Location: Hamilton, New Zealand
Posted: 7th Feb 2007 05:25 Edited at: 7th Feb 2007 05:25
hehe looks awesome, was thinking if buying until i saw that 20 pounds = 60 nzd lol

~Kieran
Silvester
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Dec 2005
Location: Netherlands
Posted: 7th Feb 2007 06:55
I cant buy Cheques anymore,they dont use them here in the netherlands as i remember.they stoped using them about 3 years ago.

Ill contact you later on the day with some options i CAN use.

-Prince Of Darkness
Ric
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Jul 2004
Location: object position x
Posted: 7th Feb 2007 08:53
Quote: "exactly what I had in mind. all of my development always revolves around medival fantasy style"


Ok - I will work some of that type of thing into the first free add-on pack. There are already some graphics of this type, but I would agree there is room for more.

x1b
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 19th Sep 2004
Location:
Posted: 7th Feb 2007 17:22
or make it skinable/themeable. eitherway, you'll make the most by catering to both the FPS and RPG communitys.

Ric
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Jul 2004
Location: object position x
Posted: 7th Feb 2007 18:09
I'm pleased to announce that GUI Studio is back on sale again after the temporary withdrawal for further testing. Thanks for everyone's positive comments, and suggestions.

Despite a few early bugs, we now have GUI Studio running happily for all people who bought the software so far. Although mainly minor bugs, there was one more serious one, which caused the program to exit unexpectedly - related to a d3dfunc.dll malfunction. This was why I temporarily withdrew the software, but to the best of my knowledge so far, we seem to have that one under control, so I'm happy to re-release again. For more information about the bugs and updates, you can find it documented in the bug forum at http://www.andromedus.com/forum

I have learned a lot in the last few days about launching a piece of software! Firstly, I now know not to expect that things will always be 100% right to begin with! I guess all new software has its teething problems. I have also learned, that the DBPro community here are brilliant - they have been very supportive and patient, while I have worked to sort out these early problems.

Thanks,

Ric.

Chris Franklin_
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 21st Dec 2006
Location: Home
Posted: 7th Feb 2007 18:31
Nice to see it on sale ric i will probably buy it sometime soon

tschwarz
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 13th Feb 2005
Location: 127.0.0.1
Posted: 7th Feb 2007 21:23
GUI Studio is a fantastic utility and will be a valuable addition to my programming tools. Finally, I can visually see how the interface items will look within seconds and I can move things around until it's just the way I want.

Ric,
Great job and good luck with GUI Studio.
H4ck1d
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Dec 2005
Location: Yes
Posted: 7th Feb 2007 21:49
Great to hear it's back! Just a question, as I have the older version of the software - how am I supposed to get the updated version? Or will LIT forward details to me? Thanks!

-H4ck1d

Login to post a reply

Server time is: 2024-04-18 23:24:13
Your offset time is: 2024-04-18 23:24:13