Hey, guys!
Let me introduce myself. I'm a founder of Hamster Beat team, which is focused on personalization apps development for Android. Most of our apps are live wallpapers, but unlike other live wallpapers, we are trying to implement only the most original ideas and not cloning existing apps like many others.
We're looking for promotions partners in US, Europe and all the world. Cross-promotion is also very interesting for us
So, if you have any idea we can work together in any way, you're welcome to contact me here on xda.
And here is some info about our work.
We started to work together with my friend on May 2012. Our first work was Metaballs Liquid HD. The idea come from PC machine graphics, and it was really hard to get it work on smartphones because of a complex computations. But we did it, spent a couple of month for coding and optimization research. The fate was not on our side, and application got banned on Play Store after a while due to sexual content violation, although there were completely no such a content inside the app. The discussion with Google Support team did not help, so we had to republish it with a higher maturity rating.
Here is how this app looks right now:
Then, we thought we can create an app that would be useful for those people who do not actually use live wallpapers. We started to work on a completely free app called Panoramic Screen which turns any regular 2D image into 3D panorama (not 360, of course, it's impossible).
This app is already featured on XDA main page. It was chosen to be included in top10 hottest apps on appbrain twice and few days ago we received information from Google Editors that they suggest Panoramic Screen to get featured on Google Play.
Panoramic Screen is free and you're welcome to try it. Here is how it looks:
Next time we focused on even more complicated idea. We wanted to create an application that can modify any other wallpaper and can animate something over any image picked from the gallery. Several months of coding leads us to Coloring Screen and Coloring Weather Screen applications. Coloring Screen was featured on xda and appbrain too. App allows to apply well-known photo filters and colors effects to change the entire look of any image. The full version is trying to animate current weather conditions, seasons and time of the day over ANY custom background. Although that was an extremely great idea, i can't tell we implemented it quite well. We had risen too high in India and received a very low percentage of active application installs compared to our other apps. So, i'm not actually sure if we can help it right now, but anyway we will merge Panoramic Screen with Coloring Screen into one app in the nearest future.
Our other apps you can always find on Google Play.
You're welcome to ask any questions if you want to know more about our experience.
Have a good weekend!
i once saw the review of PanoramicScreen on a blog and i tried it...very good app! Since then I have looked for information on how to create live wallpaper but with no luck
Anyway keep up the good work! ;D
ciao99 said:
Since then I have looked for information on how to create live wallpaper but with no luck
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What's going wrong? It seems quite simple to create basic lwp. Actually, lwp creation process is more about design, art and promotion instead of coding.
just want to drop in and say good luck in your endeavours! I absolutely loved panoramic screen as it was so simple yet customisable
Metaballs
Hi -- just thought I'd say how much I like Metaballs.
SammiSaysHello said:
just want to drop in and say good luck in your endeavours! I absolutely loved panoramic screen as it was so simple yet customisable
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Thanks, since last update, Coloring Screen includes the same panoramic effect in addition to color and photo filters.
Is this thread alive?
Sent from my HTC One X+ using XDA Free mobile app
Hi All,
First off, I LOVE themer! I've been using Apex Launcher for some time on my HTC OneX (rooted, ARHD 31.3 ROM) and I've often gazed with longing at the home screens that some people have designed using UCCW, knowing that I'll necer have the time (or the artistic flair) to design my own. Now I can!
But there seems to be SO many customization options on Themer, and I'm a little overwhelmed. For instance, I'm using a theme with an RSS feed as a central tile, but I'd love to be able to change that to a 'favourite apps' tile. I'm sure the option is there, but I can't work it out. So, has anyone developed/is working on/knows of a Themer user guide?
I work on a cruise ship and internet access is slow and expensive (£10 for 167 minutes!) so I really don't have time to surf around looking for answers to design questions.
SO, does such a guide exist? If so, please point me in the right direction. If not, is anyone up to the challenge?:fingers-crossed::fingers-crossed:
The video is kind of like a user guide: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2474039
miles_muso said:
Hi All,
First off, I LOVE themer! I've been using Apex Launcher for some time on my HTC OneX (rooted, ARHD 31.3 ROM) and I've often gazed with longing at the home screens that some people have designed using UCCW, knowing that I'll necer have the time (or the artistic flair) to design my own. Now I can!
But there seems to be SO many customization options on Themer, and I'm a little overwhelmed. For instance, I'm using a theme with an RSS feed as a central tile, but I'd love to be able to change that to a 'favourite apps' tile. I'm sure the option is there, but I can't work it out. So, has anyone developed/is working on/knows of a Themer user guide?
I work on a cruise ship and internet access is slow and expensive (£10 for 167 minutes!) so I really don't have time to surf around looking for answers to design questions.
SO, does such a guide exist? If so, please point me in the right direction. If not, is anyone up to the challenge?:fingers-crossed::fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks miles_muso for your kind words! Yes the video vhngu930 provided is a good one, but for your problem I can help here. See the thing is that you'd first have to delete that RSS icon and then hold down on the homescreen > Themer Actions > Favorite Apps. Now you'll have a massive heart (we're working on adding icon packs soon), which you'll be able to edit. If you hold down on the icon > edit > tap the icon, you'll be able to replace it with an icon image. You can maybe try here for icon images which may help, they by Jeppe Foldager and the small whites and darks should help for now: https://www.copy.com/s/DxsaXLatvBGf/Share/Icons
Hope this helps!
How does a person create a theme and then use it? I'd like to have very specific things on my theme but other than adding to an existing theme, i can't seem to take away from an existing theme, how do I create a new one from scratch?
I know they say watch the vid but if you are like me you need to see it in writing,it makes more sense to me that way.Anyway the easiest way is to grab a theme and change it around/edit,get a feel for the program then create your own by changing wallpapers,icons,weather etc.A lot of themes now won't let you edit them I have found,however download any of mine and edit away they are all editable,as are a few more posted here but names don't spring to mind,none in my opinion are any better or worse than each other they just have their own little attributes that makes them unique in their own way.So go on and play around m8,it will be fun.
alldroid said:
I know they say watch the vid but if you are like me you need to see it in writing,it makes more sense to me that way.Anyway the easiest way is to grab a theme and change it around/edit,get a feel for the program then create your own by changing wallpapers,icons,weather etc.A lot of themes now won't let you edit them I have found,however download any of mine and edit away they are all editable,as are a few more posted here but names don't spring to mind,none in my opinion are any better or worse than each other they just have their own little attributes that makes them unique in their own way.So go on and play around m8,it will be fun.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I cannot stand those youtube videos that "show" you how to do things. I find them tedious and unusable. I'd rather just get some instructions, an application and let me do it. Yet, so many seem to post "youtube instructions" i write this stuff for a living and have never found a video more useful than written instructions. However, that's my bias.
I'll go check out some of yours.
I agree with your assessment that NONE of the themes I've downloaded have been editable. I don't want to ADD more widgets and icons to a theme. I just want to start with a blank canvas and let me do it.
Yet, if all these themes exist, HOW were they created? I'm really not going to watch a youtube video. There has to be a building application somewhere. Not re-engineer something already there.
One question, when you say "download mine" where do I find yours. None of the ones I've seen through the application say who created them.
mine and others are in the screenshots and themes forum beneath the general discussion.I agree fully with the video and much prefer to read it as I find it more followable,but again I suppose that is my bias too.You can start almost fresh,grab a theme as posted earlier,then delete everything,if the theme uses everything widget this is simple to do,just press screen and choose remove,then change the wallpaper by selecting your own then simply add you own widgets etc via the inbuilt everything widget (although this isn't as stable as it could be) or download widgets from playstore etc then add them,hope this helps apologies if I seem to waffle on.
alldroid said:
mine and others are in the screenshots and themes forum beneath the general discussion.I agree fully with the video and much prefer to read it as I find it more followable,but again I suppose that is my bias too.You can start almost fresh,grab a theme as posted earlier,then delete everything,if the theme uses everything widget this is simple to do,just press screen and choose remove,then change the wallpaper by selecting your own then simply add you own widgets etc via the inbuilt everything widget (although this isn't as stable as it could be) or download widgets from playstore etc then add them,hope this helps apologies if I seem to waffle on.
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Got it, will go over there and check them out.
sanjsrik said:
Got it, will go over there and check them out.
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Hi sanjsrik,
I'm the one who made the YouTube tutorial videos, so I apologize if they weren't that informative. Those were created in the beginning just to give people a basic understanding of what Themer was about.
Alldroid is correct in saying that starting with a fresh blank theme is the best, then just seeing what works and what doesn't. My advice would be learn more about Zooper Widget, as a lot of the newer themes use it, and it's brilliant. That's all Themer is essentially, a wallpaper, some widgets, and maybe some icons if you're feeling brave. We do recommend making the grid size quite large, in order to make the widget resizing easier. you might also notice that the new themes include incredibly detailed icons, these are in fact Zooper fonts, so as mentioned play around with the Zooper widgets found in the new themes.
If you need help/ideas feel free to ask, I'm always here to help!
- Marco
It isn't that the video isn't informative,it probably is but some people including myself prefer to read it via a text file or maybe a pdf file
alldroid said:
It isn't that the video isn't informative,it probably is but some people including myself prefer to read it via a text file or maybe a pdf file
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you like us to create in-depth text tutorials on our site?
ThemerSupport said:
Would you like us to create in-depth text tutorials on our site?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Marco,
I would definitely go for it... though I am more of a "hands on" student and for learning I need to hear the stuff (that's how I learned all the stuff during college - my wife reading the material and me laying down and just listening - damn, she was so furious when I got the same grades as she did... ;o]]]), the text might help you gain more audience among those "give-me-a-manual-and-shut-up" types.
You have created a superb product for the tinkerers so a step further in the direction of a superb customer/user support would be a definitive nod in the right direction.
I personally would like more short video tutorials on specific features, how they work, what is their purpose and the mechanics (Yeah, you guessed it, I am not that familiar with design and graphics;o]) and maybe a tut on the 'codes' for custom formats of zooper widget.
well and maybe few more videos with theme designers like the one you guys did with GeriArts would also be inspiring... ;o]]]
another definate yes here too thanks,would make it a more better product in my opinion.
ThemerSupport said:
Hi sanjsrik,
I'm the one who made the YouTube tutorial videos, so I apologize if they weren't that informative. Those were created in the beginning just to give people a basic understanding of what Themer was about.
Alldroid is correct in saying that starting with a fresh blank theme is the best, then just seeing what works and what doesn't. My advice would be learn more about Zooper Widget, as a lot of the newer themes use it, and it's brilliant. That's all Themer is essentially, a wallpaper, some widgets, and maybe some icons if you're feeling brave. We do recommend making the grid size quite large, in order to make the widget resizing easier. you might also notice that the new themes include incredibly detailed icons, these are in fact Zooper fonts, so as mentioned play around with the Zooper widgets found in the new themes.
If you need help/ideas feel free to ask, I'm always here to help!
- Marco
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I promise I am NOT complaining. I promise I am NOT criticizing. I am just asking the question, WHAT is Themer?
from everything I understand, it's not a true "application", it's a wallpaper that then people can add widgets that "do" things.
if this is the case, HOW are these widgets "locked" where they can't be changed in a lot of the wallpapers I've downloaded.
THAT is my only question.
Oh, and how come there's not a "builder" application for Themer?
sanjsrik said:
I promise I am NOT complaining. I promise I am NOT criticizing. I am just asking the question, WHAT is Themer?
from everything I understand, it's not a true "application", it's a wallpaper that then people can add widgets that "do" things.
if this is the case, HOW are these widgets "locked" where they can't be changed in a lot of the wallpapers I've downloaded.
THAT is my only question.
Oh, and how come there's not a "builder" application for Themer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries we weren't offended by your comments, we're just trying to make everyone's theming experience as easy possible.
Themer is a launcher. Just like TouchWiz, Nova, Apex, ssLauncher, etc. It's a link between the hardware and software, you could think of it as the body/shell of a car. The car can have a different shell, and with Themer, it's shell can be customized in seconds.
Calling it a wallpaper with widgets doesn't really do it justice, as a launcher incorporates your app drawer as well, and maybe some more features arriving soon.
One thing to remember is that Themer, once stripped to its core, it a launcher, just like the rest. By that we mean you're able to edit/add/remove widgets, change wallpapers, change the icons (icon pack support arriving soon), etc. To unlock widgets, hold down on the homescreen - Advanced - Unlock Widgets. Repeat the process to lock them, or alternatively you can go into the main Themer settings - Advanced - Desktop - enable Lock Desktop Widgets.
Whenever the widgets/icons are unlocked, this can be called the "builder" mode, as you can add/remove/edit widgets and icons.
Hope this helps!
sanjsrik said:
I promise I am NOT complaining. I promise I am NOT criticizing. I am just asking the question, WHAT is Themer?
from everything I understand, it's not a true "application", it's a wallpaper that then people can add widgets that "do" things.
if this is the case, HOW are these widgets "locked" where they can't be changed in a lot of the wallpapers I've downloaded.
THAT is my only question.
Oh, and how come there's not a "builder" application for Themer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am always critizising m8 it's what makes it a better program,constructive critisizm always helps,your post didn't seem offensive to me m8
ThemerSupport said:
No worries we weren't offended by your comments, we're just trying to make everyone's theming experience as easy possible.
Themer is a launcher. Just like TouchWiz, Nova, Apex, ssLauncher, etc. It's a link between the hardware and software, you could think of it as the body/shell of a car. The car can have a different shell, and with Themer, it's shell can be customized in seconds.
Calling it a wallpaper with widgets doesn't really do it justice, as a launcher incorporates your app drawer as well, and maybe some more features arriving soon.
One thing to remember is that Themer, once stripped to its core, it a launcher, just like the rest. By that we mean you're able to edit/add/remove widgets, change wallpapers, change the icons (icon pack support arriving soon), etc. To unlock widgets, hold down on the homescreen - Advanced - Unlock Widgets. Repeat the process to lock them, or alternatively you can go into the main Themer settings - Advanced - Desktop - enable Lock Desktop Widgets.
Whenever the widgets/icons are unlocked, this can be called the "builder" mode, as you can add/remove/edit widgets and icons.
Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the constructive email.
I think the biggest confusion anyone has with your "application" is that it doesn't seem like an application. It really does sound like a wallpaper with widgets. For example:
* Is there the ability to add groups for grouping together like kinds of applications?
* Can I add my own icons for applications?
Think GoLauncher or some other such "launcher" application that exists.
sanjsrik said:
Thank you for the constructive email.
I think the biggest confusion anyone has with your "application" is that it doesn't seem like an application. It really does sound like a wallpaper with widgets. For example:
* Is there the ability to add groups for grouping together like kinds of applications?
* Can I add my own icons for applications?
Think GoLauncher or some other such "launcher" application that exists.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. With Themer, you can add in Smart Category folders. For example the Games Category, when you install a new game, it will show up in this category and then whichever theme has a games folder, this new game will automatically appear. This saves a lot of time, but you can also manually add in your own categories or manually add in your own apps to a category.
2. Icon pack support is still limited. If you have icons on the homescreen, these can be edited manually. Some icon packs are supported, but you can also set them to other images in your gallery.
ThemerSupport said:
Would you like us to create in-depth text tutorials on our site?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YES! I watched many of the videos and I'm still very much confused. I have specific ideas for what I want, and although I can figure some things out on my own by trial and error, reinventing the wheel is both time-intensive and tiresome.
Also, I am glad to hear that icon pack support is on the list. Although my plans include heavy use off the app drawer, I'd like to have the icons in there be pleasing to my eye as well as the ones on my home screen.
It's a great product, one that I've already suggested to several friends. I just am more demanding than the "average bear".
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
j3nn said:
YES! I watched many of the videos and I'm still very much confused. I have specific ideas for what I want, and although I can figure some things out on my own by trial and error, reinventing the wheel is both time-intensive and tiresome.
Also, I am glad to hear that icon pack support is on the list. Although my plans include heavy use off the app drawer, I'd like to have the icons in there be pleasing to my eye as well as the ones on my home screen.
It's a great product, one that I've already suggested to several friends. I just am more demanding than the "average bear".
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great to hear! Stay tuned for text-tutorials!
Hi.
I would like to have as well an written tutorial. Seems very interesting. I start now to play around with the themer myself from downloading a theme then deleting all a add my stuff.
Can i use all icon packs ? what format they have to be ?
störte said:
Hi.
I would like to have as well an written tutorial. Seems very interesting. I start now to play around with the themer myself from downloading a theme then deleting all a add my stuff.
Can i use all icon packs ? what format they have to be ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
most icon packs by default don't work with themer,but there is a way round this although you will need to manually change the icons you want to use.
Download apk extractor from Playstore
download the icon packs you want to your device
using apk extractor extract the apk of the icon pack you downloaded,this file will be stored on your device main storage in the apk extrat folder.
Attach your device to your laptop etc,then drag the extracted apk icon pack to it
rename the icon.apk and change the apk extension to zip
open with your favourite zip program
then simply extract the icon file images
this thread helped a lot