Request: Please add a high resolution skin for Dune 3

[goober]

Dune 3 is such wonderful sounding synth with a stellar feature set, but using it on a 4K iMac is less than ideal because the interface is a bit blurry. The large skin option helps some, but the text is still pixelized for the most part and overall it just doesn't look very good.

It's not the size of the skin that is the problem though, it's the crispness of the images.

Higher resolution screen are now the norm for Apple displays, as even the MacBook Air has gotten a spec boost in that area.

I know there was just a release for Dune, but I still hope to see a skin for high resolution Mac displays soon. It would be a shame to not have Dune 3 fully modernized in appearance, to match the brilliant sound it can deliver.

Thanks for listening.

[goober]

I posted this in another thread and thought I'd post it here to show the difference.

Dune 3 HiRes.png

This is a screen shot with Dune 3 Default skin on top, and the bottom is the image taken from the Huge skin folder. As you can see it's a significant difference.

To get a crisper interface for high resolution displays the images from the Huge skin need to be fit into the same screen space as the Default skin. If you can make images even bigger than the Huge ones and fit them into the Default skin screen space that would be even better.

Even just taking the Huge skin and fitting it into the Default skin window would probably be good enough, rather than having to make a whole new set of images. The key point here though is to take those larger images and fit them into a smaller space, as simply making the plugin window bigger doesn't help all that much.

[goober]

I'm pretty sure u-he uses a raster based interface for their plugins, and they have looked sharp on high resolution screens for a while now. I think Sugar Bytes also uses raster graphics, and they started to have their plugins optimized for high resolution screens as well, though some of their older ones haven't been updated yet and still suffer.

Then DAWs like Ableton Live and Logic Pro have made the upgrade in the past few years as well.

It really does make a difference!

I hope to see it soon.

[Teksonik]

I'm pretty sure u-he uses a raster based interface....I hope to see it soon.

You want Synapse to completely re-write the graphics part of Dune 3 ?

As a counter opinion I would rather they not waste time fixing a problem reported by a few Mac users and would like them to instead spend that time on expanding the sonic capabilities of D3 since it already looks awesome here.

And yet another time....Why did Rich and/or Marcin not notice this when they were programming the Mac version of Dune 3 ?

[HYPNAGOGIA]

I'm pretty sure u-he uses a raster based interface....I hope to see it soon.

You want Synapse to completely re-write the graphics part of Dune 3 ?

D3 already uses raster (bitmaps) graphics

[Teksonik]

I'm pretty sure u-he uses a raster based interface....I hope to see it soon.

You want Synapse to completely re-write the graphics part of Dune 3 ?

D3 already uses raster (bitmaps) graphics

Ok I was thinking of Vector graphics like Image-Line uses. But if it's not working for some people now won't that require a re-write of some kind ? Or do they just need to create a new skin somewhere between Huge and whatever is missing ?

Does The Legend have the same issue with its GUI ?

[HYPNAGOGIA]

Ok I was thinking of Vector graphics like Image-Line uses. But if it's not working for some people now won't that require a re-write of some kind ? Or do they just need to create a new skin somewhere between Huge and whatever is missing ?

I don't think it would require any rewrite in the code, unless there's something specific that's maxing out the allowed resolution. I do believe they just need to make a skin that is two times bigger than the Huge skin so the MacOS can scale it down for its needs (effectively bringing it from 72ppi to 288ppi) and we'll stop hearing about this whole "retina support" thing

Does The Legend have the same issue with its GUI ?

No idea. I'm still using 1080p screen on my PC and it looks fine to me

[Teksonik]

Hmmmm I guess I'm just surprised that this issue would exist. Seems like Rich and Marcin would have noticed. Why would they not make the Mac version Retina compatible from the start ? Doesn't seem like something that Synapse would miss and again why aren't all Mac users complaining ?

Then there is this....

The bottom line is this - if you use any screen scaling on your high ppi display, you need to use a smaller skin size, not a larger one.

Oh well I'm blissfully using my PC and it is issues like these that make me confident in saying I will never buy a Mac.....

[HYPNAGOGIA]

Yup. Although, that's not the only reason I'd never buy a Mac.

[goober]

Hmmmm I guess I'm just surprised that this issue would exist. Seems like Rich and Marcin would have noticed. Why would they not make the Mac version Retina compatible from the start ? Doesn't seem like something that Synapse would miss and again why aren't all Mac users complaining ?

Then there is this....

The bottom line is this - if you use any screen scaling on your high ppi display, you need to use a smaller skin size, not a larger one.

Oh well I'm blissfully using my PC and it is issues like these that make me confident in saying I will never buy a Mac.....

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. I've explained it as best as I can, with pics and everything. Creating a new high resolution skin would probably take about a day, less if they merely used the Huge images and fit them into the Default window size.

[HYPNAGOGIA]

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. I've explained it as best as I can, with pics and everything. Creating a new high resolution skin would probably take about a day, less if they merely used the Huge images and fit them into the Default window size.

And how do you suggest to do that? How do you suggest they should fit 2,488,320 pixels in the area that fits only 972,000? Every graphic software out there will let you resize an image, but will discard the extra pixels in the process. In this case, that would be a reduction of more than 2.5 times.

[goober]

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. I've explained it as best as I can, with pics and everything. Creating a new high resolution skin would probably take about a day, less if they merely used the Huge images and fit them into the Default window size.

And how do you suggest to do that? How do you suggest they should fit 2,488,320 pixels in the area that fits only 972,000? Every graphic software out there will let you resize an image, but will discard the extra pixels in the process. In this case, that would be a reduction of more than 2.5 times.

I don't know what program they are using, but I use a vector based design program called "Graphic" and put together this:

D3v.png

The top image part is a screenshot of the Default skin imported into Graphic, while the bottom part is the image from the Huge folder imported into Graphic and placed on top and then resized to match the Default size. I then exported it as a png file and as you can see the bottom is a lot more clear.

This is the advantage of vector based programs: The ability to resize without pixelization occurring. In this instance I even had to scale up the Huge image, which normally would have resulted in pixelization in a raster based program, but in a vector based program it retains whatever level of clarity of raster imaging you put into it.

[Teksonik]

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about.

No, I have no idea what I'm talking about when it comes to Macs because I have never owned one and never will.

But when I see the developer say "The Dune 3 GUI was developed at a 5K resolution" and:

it is HD and resizable, usable from Notebooks to 4K/5K screens....Richard

Then someone else says "but using it on a 4K iMac is less than ideal because the interface is a bit blurry" it is confusing to the casual observer.

But Synapse is working on it so be happy. The rest of us will just have to accept the fact that real development on Dune 3 will slow while they try to placate two Mac users.