Sexy Analyzer v2.0 News

Argh! (08/14/99)

I can't believe how long it's been... anyway, needless to say I have stopped working on version 2 for a bit.  I got distracted with another project.  I do plan on getting version 2 to a releasable state as soon as I'm done working on the project I am now busy with.  Find out what it is I am currently working on.

I'll just take a moment to apologize to everyone waiting for version 2.  I just hope it will still be worth all this wait.

More Features (02/14/99)

Lately I've been adding more features.  The latest features are the Smoke effect from v1 and the Waves effect.  About the only suggestions not yet implemented are: The only feature that won't be implemented in the first public release is Full Screen mode.  I need to find a good book on DirectX (specifically DirectDraw).  There's a chance I won't add an oscilloscope, but in my mind it doesn't seem too hard to do so it may still be put in.

On the down side the drawing is not always proper depending on the height of the window.  I thought I successfully fixed this problem a while ago... apparently not 100%.

General Cleanup (01/28/99)

I've been spending a good amount of time fixing up loose ends.  In other words, trying to prevent the plugin from ever crashing, mostly be not letting you do things you shouldn't and making sure values can never go out of the intended range.  Basically a lot of grunt work which is turning out to be more work than I thought.  The Waves and Smoke effects (as seen in v1.61) still aren't implemented. I'd like to have those going for the initial release so that v2 really does include everything v1 has.

The plugin has almost become something that is not for the basic user when you start fiddling with all the options.  However, I expect people will spend the time to make some really cool profiles.

And let me point out once again, profiles are saved individually.  I hope to have a few bundled with the plugin as well as having some available for download, so anyone intimidated by all the options and effort it takes to make a profile can simply enjoy what others have done.

Skins support almost done (01/19/99)

Support for skins is almost done. Here's how it works:
A profile can be loaded based on what skin is currently loaded and/or you can select a skin to be automatically loaded with a profile.

The last skin support to add will be profiles bundled with skins. The idea is to let skins authors bundle one or more profiles with a skin which can automatically be loaded based on settings saved with the skin without interfering with settings users may have set (using the options described above). I expect this to be completed by tomorrow.

UI Done (01/14/99)

I got completely distracted over the holidays and got no work done. Anyway, the user interface is pretty much done, and profile loading and saving is done. The Colour Factory could use a little more work right however. If a change is made to the analyzer bar layout, then you'll have to redo the whole palette (all the colours). On the bright side there is a bitmap export and import feature.

The reflection effect currently isn't working 100%, so at the very least I want to fix that before any public release.

I also want to add support for skins. I plan to make it possible for skins authors to bundle profiles with their skins, and also let you choose a default profile for a skin.

UI Close to to 50% (11/13/98)

All I can say is that I'm still finding time here and there to work on the plugin.   The tedious part of the user interface is using and learning how to use all the windows controls.

However, the plugin is pretty cool so far even not being able to edit colours yet.   I've mentioned before about how you can stack any number of effects and it didn't take me long to discover even adding 2 sets of peak indicators is kinda cool.

UI Hell (11/02/98)

Still working on the user interface... it's taking me longer than I thought, partly because I'm new to using certain window controls, and partly because the UI design easily allows me to add new features.  So all my hard work now should pay off when it's done.

Another point of interest: I recently replaced my Gravis Ultrasound with a Sound Blaster Live and noticed an increase in performance for the more demanding Winamp plugins.   I'm getting such great performance with Sexy v2 on my system I'm almost scared to see it run on a P2 400 or 450MHz system.

Back to work (10/15/98)

Needless to say I took a bit of a break on my development work.  But anyway, the good news is that once again I'm working away at getting Sexy 2.0 to a releasable state.   What that means is I'm working on the user interface (all the config screens).   I'm still short on a few of the features I want to get put in, but I simply want get something out that people can start to use.

Anyway, I spent almost all day and got a good amount done, but when I think about it, I'm about a 5th of the way done the mandatory stuff before a public release.  So unfortunately there's lots more to do for the configuring, and then I'll add Load/Save.   I expect a full day to get Loading and Saving fully working, so the bulk of the work is the rest of the configuring dialogs... The Colour Factory will likely take a while.

It will be worth the wait!  I was impressed with how creative people got with the colours in Sexy v1.  When Sexy v2 is released, be prepared to clean out your mouse and load up your favorite paint program. ;-)

You Asked for it (08/28/98)

Believe it or not I'm still plugging away at the plugin.  About the number one requested feature to add was to make the analyzer keep updating when you stop/pause the music.  The other big feature people want is to flip the drawing, so the bars can draw bottom up or top down.  Lastly, a few people wanted the plugin to be stand alone (so you can minimize Winamp) and keep it on top.  Well, you asked for it, so you got it.  Also fully working is the peaks...

The biggest chore ahead is the dreaded user interface... But even before I get that done I think I'd like to get a couple people testing the plugin.  Oh yeah, and diving into DirectDraw... I think I promised a Full Screen mode (another big request item) but I'm at the point where I really want people to enjoy what I have done now.

Features are coming (08/01/98)

I've got a plain peak indicator working, and a couple styles of the fade shadow effect in place. Right now I'm trying to put priority into getting the peak indicators fully implemented, as in having all kinds of styles and effects for them. The problem is deciding the most efficient design to implement. Like in Sexy v1.61, the peaks can have different motion styles and colour styles. What will be new is having different effects, like embossed peaks... but I'll go beyond that even. The bottom line is that once I finalize on a design for the peaks, it will take no time to add them in... the fade shadow effect didn't take long at all to add and in fact I already put in an embossed variation of the fade shadow. I actually tend to spend more time making up reasonable looking default colours than adding features.

More design changes (07/26/98)

I mentioned below that the grid works... well not 100%. The colours are sometimes slightly off depending on the grid block size and window height. It's very noticeable with coloured mirrors and reflections (even though it's only ever out by 1 pixel). In short it just looks wrong sometimes. However, I'm going to put it off and start putting more features and effects in. While thinking about features I want to add I realized that the rendering engine needs modified slightly. Once I know everything is nailed down (feature wise) then I'll worry about fixing up the grid colours and making the window look nice. In that sense there's not too much work... but then I remember the user interface... ugh... even colour editing will be a bit of a challenge... in order to keep saving simple and reliable, settings will be saved to individual files.

Grid Works (07/24/98)

The grid now works. The solution turned out to be easy... I just stopped working for a bit to think it over and the solution just came to me. My original idea was to get the grid to resize in areas that should have it (like in reflections) but that turns out to be harder than I thought. Right now you can make up a grid of any size and it's the same for the whole screen (window). I'll stay with the current design unless an obvious solution pops in my head. As I've said, I want to start packing in more features and effects. Not to mention the user interface needs made... still lots of work, ugh.

Anyway, I put up another screenshot which demonstrates stacking a reflection, and 2 mirrors. It takes a few stacked effects like mirrors and reflections to bog down the drawing when using a window size of 512x384. Running in smaller windows is still very fast. For the record, my system is a Pentium Pro 233.

Good news and Bad news (07/23/98)

The bad news: It's taking me longer to get the grid working 100%... what's so hard about a grid you may wonder? The problem is getting the blocks to properly line up in the grid when you have multiple mirrors and/or reflections. Remember how I said you can stack effects... like you can mirror a mirror which has a reflection of the bars... you'll see when I get a screenshot up. Part of the problem also is that you can naturally have the window any height... my short term goal now is to get this working 100% by the end of the weekend.

The good news: Runnning the analyzer in window sizes of 512x384 or 640x480 (popular full screen resolutions) shows fantastic performance. Considering I'm using a windows GDI call to paint the frames to the screen, full screen DirectDraw should even improve the speed. I'm considering working on the full screen mod before I start adding more features... I have so much running through my head I just wish the above mentioned problem didn't exist.

Almost there, maybe? (07/21/98)

Over the weekend and last night I was able to make huge progress... really this shouldn't take me this long to code, it's just a matter of finding time to get it done... Anyway, what's done now is basically the core design was completely redone. The rendering engine is very fexible, but what's gained now (compared to what I had before) is the ability to easily add in features.

There's still some cleanup and tweaking to be done... after that I'll verify everything is working 100%, then all that's left is adding in all the goodies. As you know I hate setting an exact deadline, but I suspect by the end of the week I'll be adding whatever features I can think up... of course that means to expect screenshots.

Progress is Slow (07/13/98)

The vertical block size setting has basically thrown me off track in the sense that it doesn't always work when you start combining multiple mirror and/or reflection effects. This has forced me to do some rethinking and slight redesigning. In the end it will pay off big time. For example, I noticed that if you set the vertical block size to 4 and vertical spacing to 2 (see the embossed blocks screenshot) and apply the refection effect, currently the block size for the reflection will be 4, and the vertical spacing will be 2. In other words, the reflection looks kinda weird since the bars draw in half the space, but the spacing and block size don't get scaled down. In the end, under the new design, reflections will be able to scale the block size and spacing.

Once I get the core done, with mirrors and reflections working, expect more frequent announcements on features I'll be adding and more screenshots. The goal of Sexy v2 is going to be colour. I really want to show off what can be done with more than 256 colours.

Screenshot Update (07/02/98)

I added a screenshot to demonstrate what is described below. Note also that in Sexy 2 you will be able to set the grid colour. In Sexy 1.6, the grid is always black. In the screenshots you see the background is a solid gradient, but I do plan to have options on how to draw the grid. If nobody sends in any god suggestions for the name, the new analyzer will simply be called 'Sexy Analyzer v2' (so far I've received no email with name suggestions which makes me wonder if anyone is even reading this news page). As a reminder, I prefer a short name.

New Features (06/27/98)

A new feature that will be in the new analyzer will be a Vertical Block Size setting. The old plugin only lets you specify vertical spacing between each line (1 pixel high). So for example you can select a Vertical Spacing of 2 pixels, Vertical Block Size of 4 pixels, Bar Width of 4, and say Horizontal Spacing of 2. That would give you 4x4 pixel blocks. Now imagine an embossed effect applied to each block... watch out for a screen shot hopefully soon, and you'll see what I mean.

The list of drawing effects I'm focusing on are Mirror (this is working 100% right now), Reflection (working, but not quite 100%) and Fade Shadow. A priority is also to be able to stack at least 2 sets of bars in the window, so you could have bars for the left channel on top, and the right channel on the bottom for example. Maybe even break up the window into 3 sections so you can see a mono graph as well. :-)

Other features that should be included will be bars with different widths (say for example thin bars in the center that get wider the closer to the edge they are) and being able to display dotted bars (to mimic displays on stereos). Thanks to Ossian Ericson for these 2 suggestions. Lastly the option to draw the bars top down (instead of bottom up).

Unfortunately it's way too early to estimate a release date. The second last item to work on will be loading & saving and the user interface will be the last thing I work on. In other words, once all the core features work I'll have a better idea of when this thing will be out. Lastly, I'm trying to think up a new name. Sexy isn't the right word since this new analyzer will be so versatile and powerful. Any suggestions for the name are welcome. I prefer something simple like "Extreme Analyzer" or whatever.

News about the upcoming v2.0 release (06/22/98)

If you think v1.60 is Sexy... just wait till v2.0. Just to let you know I am working on a new version. It's completely rebuilt from scratch. So what's the big deal? For starters you'll be able to 'stack' (combine) drawing effects. Bars (wider than one pixel) will be able to have effects applied to them, like how bout embossed bars to give 'em a 3D look... You'll be able to lay out the bars to analyze the left channel in the top half of the window and right channel in the bottom (of course the older style will still be available). Full screen mode should eventually be added... but what about speed... well you'll just have to wait and see.

Check out a screenshot of Sexy Analyzer 2

Also I forgot to mention earlier that non-linear bars are supported. In other words, more bars can cover the lower end of the spectrum than the high end.