blazoner
October 27th, 2007, 02:15 AM
Sorry about the cross-post, but apparently I posted in the wrong forum initially. (My OP got ignored and buried without even minimal comment.)
My idea:
Use an ARGB solid, radial, or other fill to connect the tops/bottoms of the viewports, then overlay another image/viewport/widget-layer, scaled to fit within the filled area, but maintaining it's proportions.
When the end-cap gains focus, auto-rotate the image to right-side-up, and full-size.
A few variations I might suggest:
Radial type fill from the pixels at the screen edge to the viewports.
Turn the end-cap fill area into a user-defined dome, and either suspend the end-cap viewport above it (Like an open window above a normal viewport.), or suspend it within the dome.
Have the end-cap viewport auto-rotate dynamically as the cube is rotated, so that it is always oriented right-side-up.
As I said, SIMPLE. (Note that I didn't say easy.... ;))
Additionally, you could have the functional end-cap invisible until the graphic on the top/bottom gains focus, then use a transitional effect to make the functional end-cap appear. (Imagine it lifting up out of liquid, the graphic burning off from it, bubbles coming up and bursting leaving it exposed as they pop, etc.... )
Edit/Delete Message
My idea:
Use an ARGB solid, radial, or other fill to connect the tops/bottoms of the viewports, then overlay another image/viewport/widget-layer, scaled to fit within the filled area, but maintaining it's proportions.
When the end-cap gains focus, auto-rotate the image to right-side-up, and full-size.
A few variations I might suggest:
Radial type fill from the pixels at the screen edge to the viewports.
Turn the end-cap fill area into a user-defined dome, and either suspend the end-cap viewport above it (Like an open window above a normal viewport.), or suspend it within the dome.
Have the end-cap viewport auto-rotate dynamically as the cube is rotated, so that it is always oriented right-side-up.
As I said, SIMPLE. (Note that I didn't say easy.... ;))
Additionally, you could have the functional end-cap invisible until the graphic on the top/bottom gains focus, then use a transitional effect to make the functional end-cap appear. (Imagine it lifting up out of liquid, the graphic burning off from it, bubbles coming up and bursting leaving it exposed as they pop, etc.... )
Edit/Delete Message