@Prophet, I am in complete agrement with you, and the concept that a good TG template can make great and uniform folders and sheets, that anyone can use. I love it and it has been an amazing help to me along the process.
A wonderful thing. But… I have to say that using Dev’s theme pushed me to learn to use both TG and photoshop because I wanted my own things to work within the theme. Three weeks ago I was making flat folder icons that really didn’t work well with Black Mamba. No good, I had to do better. So, I am stil just a rookie with these tools, and nothing I make compares to what I have seen and used here that others have produced, but I quickly learned how to manage layers, opacity, gradience etc, and do simple mods to the themes from the help of everyone here. The differance has been tremendous, and has one huge upside, I am not reliant on hoping someone will create a template that meets my needs, or makes a genre folder icon for the movie genres I use.
I am 100% for bundles and templates, but seeing what you all are able to make drives me to want to learn how to do it as well. I don’t expect that from everyone, but for me it has been a great learning experience. So from flat an boring pics to the below genre folders in a few weeks has been well worth tthe effort. Waitng for someone to make me an icon for “Stand Up” or “foreign” might have never happened, and now at least I dont have blank folders for those genres, or have to put the movies in other folks pre-determined genres that work for them andnot me. From reading this thread, I learned how to make link sheets for folders that hold collections. Infact, seeing yours above drove me to make my first one today for the Godfather series. BMfinal has a snakeskin theme, Hmm how did she do that so i can use that on my genre folders? A few quick searches, a help file and 20 minutes of tests, and voila, I have semi-snakeskin around my genre folders. Amazing, extremely cool and gets me the what I need without PMing Dev or others to ask “can you please make me Film Noir folder?” I am sure the theme designers on this board get those all day.
I appreciate all that everyone has made on this board and offered to us for free. What a communnity, truly amazing. And the fact that it drives me to learn it is even better.
It’s funny, In an matter of a few weeks, I went from frustrated, waiting for new theme releases, and wishing someone would make the tempates I needed, to reading a bit and playing with TG and Photoshop, to moding my own linksheets, making genre folders and and turning my HUB into something that really suits my personal needs. A much different path than I had expected to be taking.
I can truly say to anyone on this board, that a with a little effort, the knowledge you gain can make your HUB your own. peronalized for your needs. I still use BMFinal with just a few mods as I am no way near ready to write a theme, but everytime I use the HUB (which is essentialy all day), I can see my own work mixed in with Dev’s and it enhances my experience. I hope that someday i will have the time and the knowhow to give something back to this community that has driven me to learn so much about the product. Maybe a template, or who knows, perhaps even a whole them (doubtful, but anythign is possible)
Don;t get me wrong, after all that rambling, yes, I am all for the TG templates and how a well designed one can really rev up theme. I hope that soon I will be able to create something good enough to offer back to all the rest of you.
@Dev, thanks for the the theme that has pushed me into trying to learn more about the design aspect of the unit. before this rev I just went along with whatever was pre-made. WIth your linksheet release and your generosity in giving us the PSD files, I realized that i could make my HUB my own.
-P
