Author Topic: Album and Cover Art Vis Plugin (xmp-coverart rev.8, source code) (Read 282133 times)

saga · « **Reply #50 on:** 16 Sep '08 - 19:57 »

Quote from: Dotpitch on 16 Sep '08 - 08:40

Hey, wait... 1000th post .

Congratulations!

dypsis · « **Reply #51 on:** 18 Sep '08 - 08:47 »

I am playing an album that has only a front album art.
I have it set to cycle covers every 10 seconds.

But it cycles to AlbumArtSmall and Folder.

AlbumArtSmall displays a blurry image of the cover, as does Folder.
How do I stop this without disabling cover cycle? I want to keep cover cycle as I usually have more than one cover.
I have not noticed it scroll to AlbumArtSmall and Folder before. Maybe this was in the latest update. $:-\$

Barna · « **Reply #52 on:** 18 Sep '08 - 11:50 »

The 'Cycle covers' mode always switched between all covers that were found and were shown under the 'Select Cover' submenu.
The only thing that changed in the last two updates was support for images included in MP4 images. So if you're not playing MP4 files, the new version should not be a reason for different behavior.

dypsis · « **Reply #53 on:** 18 Sep '08 - 19:50 »

Hmmm.
So why is it now showing AlbumArtSmall and Folder in the cycle? I don't wish it to happen.

I don't even understand AlbumArtSmall. Both AlbumArtSmall and Folder are a distorted image.

raina · « **Reply #54 on:** 18 Sep '08 - 20:04 »

Why not delete them then? Windows can use at least folder.jpg/gif to display the album cover in Thumbnails explorer view in folder icons. And the reason they are small (=distorted?) is that it'll take less time to scan a ton of subfolders for the cover art. AlbumArtSmall (and all the variations) sound like Windows Media Player's doing, don't really know what the point in that is.

dypsis · « **Reply #55 on:** 18 Sep '08 - 20:23 »

I do have some covers in a sub folder, but they are not small (they are large), and never caused a problem previously.

Regarding AlbumArtSmall. I cannot find that anywhere.

Barna · « **Reply #56 on:** 19 Sep '08 - 00:13 »

It's probably embedded in the file itself.
Use a tagging tool like http://mp3tag.de to edit or remove them.

dypsis · « **Reply #57 on:** 19 Sep '08 - 04:52 »

Quote from: Barna on 19 Sep '08 - 00:13

It's probably embedded in the file itself.
Use a tagging tool like http://mp3tag.de to edit or remove them.

I completely removed the tag using mp3tag, then retagged.

And it is still there.

jwbodnar · « **Reply #58 on:** 19 Sep '08 - 06:09 »

Was thrilled to find this plug-in today when coming to the forum to search for help on something else.

One request for a future update, if possible, would be to have the plug-in properly handle PNG art work with transparency. Like in the attached cover file.

I tag a MP3 with a 320x320 image, which is the native size of cover art on the iPod Classic.

CDs with eco-pack covers (card board with attached plastic holder) have rectangular cover art, though. Rather than let iTunes mess with these, I keep the images sized to 320x320 and save them as PNG files with a transparent bar at the top and bottom.

The plug-in seems to render transparent pixels as white, so images with them look a little funny against the black background of the Neutron skin.

Hardly much to complain about considering how nice it otherwise is to have XMPlay show covert art

Dotpitch · « **Reply #59 on:** 19 Sep '08 - 07:25 »

Quote from: dypsis on 18 Sep '08 - 20:23

Regarding AlbumArtSmall. I cannot find that anywhere.

Have you switched on 'Show hidden files' in Explorer?

dypsis · « **Reply #60 on:** 19 Sep '08 - 10:38 »

Quote from: Dotpitch on 19 Sep '08 - 07:25

Quote from: dypsis on 18 Sep '08 - 20:23
Regarding AlbumArtSmall. I cannot find that anywhere.
Have you switched on 'Show hidden files' in Explorer?

Yes. I always have that on.

Sam_Zen · « **Reply #61 on:** 20 Sep '08 - 04:15 »

Just tested with a transparent PNG. No white color was shown, there seems to be just no transparency.

Barna · « **Reply #62 on:** 20 Sep '08 - 05:01 »

Quote from: jwbodnar on 19 Sep '08 - 06:09

One request for a future update, if possible, would be to have the plug-in properly handle PNG art work with transparency. Like in the attached cover file.

Thanks for using the plugin.
The PNG loader actually just ignored the alpha channel at all and just displayed the color as it was saved. In your case the transparent pixels were actually white but with 0% opacity. Now it calculates the alpha pixels regarding the background color it usually uses (which is read from the active skin during plugin start if possible).

Download: http://www.nukular.ch/xmp-coverart_0.9.3.zip

Quote from: dypsis on 18 Sep '08 - 20:23

Regarding AlbumArtSmall. I cannot find that anywhere.

Sub folders should not matter. If it doesn't say (ID3), (FLAC) or (MP4) in the middle mouse button cover selection menu, it must be a file. Also if you don't have enabled a default cover directory set in the Cover Downloader options, the cover files must reside in the same directory as the song being played.
Anyway, short Google gave me this link.
It says you need to uncheck 'Hide protected operating system files (recommended)' besides enabling 'Show Hidden files and folders' to see these oh so mysterious cover image files generated and managed by Windows Media Player.

jwbodnar · « **Reply #63 on:** 20 Sep '08 - 10:56 »

Barna, you are awesome. Transparency works beautifully

FragMan! · « **Reply #64 on:** 20 Sep '08 - 21:12 »

I don't know if anyone else got this problem and if it has been answered, but when I try to toggle this plugin on it shows a message telling the XMPlay version is too old.
I'm using the latest version (3.4). Can someone tell me what's wrong?

EDIT: Sorry, it HAS been answered before and I solved this bitch. Thanks anyway. XMPlay rules.

Y@nek® · « **Reply #65 on:** 22 Sep '08 - 20:03 »

It works great, TY.

calimero · « **Reply #66 on:** 15 Nov '08 - 18:31 »

Hello,

I might have made a mistake, but I just don't see how to use this plugin. I've downladed le file xmp-coverart 0.9.3 that is done in this topic, and I follow the instruction of the txt file. I coupy the .svp into my XMPlay directory, but I don't see the plugin in the plugin list after I restart XMPlay. Did I miss something ?

Thanks for your help

Auren · « **Reply #67 on:** 15 Nov '08 - 21:17 »

calimero
It should be listed in your visuals list.

calimero · « **Reply #68 on:** 15 Nov '08 - 23:17 »

I know but it is not. Here is 2 screenshot of my xmplay and of the directory of xmplay.

What I miss ??

It should be there, but it is not do I miss something, I just downloaded the file in this post (no other one) put it in the xmplay directory, stop and restar xmplay, anything else ?

Calimero

Auren · « **Reply #69 on:** 16 Nov '08 - 00:02 »

calimero, I'm talking about this menu:

calimero · « **Reply #70 on:** 16 Nov '08 - 00:20 »

Yessssss I knew I miss something. I just have to dowload the latest version of xmplay by using the link provided in this post and it works great

Thank you very much for your quik response and for your patience

Have a nice day

Calimero

Rich Nagel · « **Reply #71 on:** 2 Feb '09 - 15:28 »

I can't seem to get this thing working

OK. I've downloaded the plugin (version 0.9.3) and it installed it (copied the file "XMP-CoverArt.svp" to a new directory "C:\XMPlay\Plugins\CoverArt" directory). I then copied a random smallish JPG pic to a directory on my hard drive ("C:\Music\Test.jpg"), as well as a few MP3s.

I start XMPlay, press "F4", and then select the XMPlay Cover Art plugin, but all that it displays is "No Album Cover Found" (?). I tried copying several JPG pics to the "C:\Music" directory, but still had no luck.

I then thought that maybe the MP3s required the "Album" portion to be filled-out within the ID3 tag. So, I copied an MP3 file that indeed had an album listed within the ID3 tag, renamed one of the JPGs to this album name, and even went as far as to rename the "C:\Music" directory to the album's name. I tried a fresh install of XMPlay (I had previously downloaded the newest "Stuff" version), as well as older versions of the plugin. Still no luck at all, except for the displayed "No Album Cover Found"

Any ideas? What exactly is this thing looking for (directory structure/filenames/directory names/ID3 tags/etc...)?

P.S. Running Windows 98SE

Dotpitch · « **Reply #72 on:** 2 Feb '09 - 15:50 »

Quote from: Rich Nagel on 2 Feb '09 - 15:28

I tried a fresh install of XMPlay (I had previously downloaded the newest "Stuff" version), as well as older versions of the plugin. Still no luck at all, except for the displayed "No Album Cover Found"

You need the stuff version, I don't know whether Ian implemented the extra functions in the major release.

Quote from: Rich Nagel on 2 Feb '09 - 15:28

I then copied a random smallish JPG pic to a directory on my hard drive ("C:\Music\Test.jpg"), as well as a few MP3s. ... What exactly is this thing looking for (directory structure/filenames/directory names/ID3 tags/etc...)?

Quote from: Barna on 29 Feb '08 - 15:13

The complete lookup order for the covers is the following:
- The first image inside the ID3v2 tag of the current file (almost only in MP3 files).
- A file named Cover.jpg/png/jpeg in the same directory of the current song.
- Try same above with name Folder, then Front, then Album.
- A .jpg/.png/.jpeg file in the same directory containing the string Cover.
- Try same above with name Folder, then Front, then Album.
- A .jpg/.png/.jpeg file with the same file base name as the current playing song.
- Any jpg/png/jpeg in the same directory as the song

Try cover.jpg. If that doesn't work, then the plugin probably has problems with Win98.

Barna · « **Reply #73 on:** 2 Feb '09 - 19:27 »

Ahh I recently fixed xmp-wavis for Windows 98 but didn't even check this one. There were some issues and I hope I found them all and fixed/worked around them. Hope it works for you. I couldn't test the auto downloader, so if you care, you could do that for me :-)

Download: http://www.nukular.ch/xmp-coverart_rev.4.zip

Rich Nagel · « **Reply #74 on:** 3 Feb '09 - 01:53 »

Quote from: Barna on 2 Feb '09 - 19:27

Ahh I recently fixed xmp-wavis for Windows 98 but didn't even check this one. There were some issues and I hope I found them all and fixed/worked around them. Hope it works for you. I couldn't test the auto downloader, so if you care, you could do that for me :-)

Download: http://www.nukular.ch/xmp-coverart_rev.4.zip

Many thanks! It works GREAT, including the auto-downloader!

Really neat looking too, seeing album pics pop up for all of my oldish MP3 collection, including John Denver tunes

Funny thing, when loading in any of my own extremely large collection of MP3s; my OWN music compositions; there were NO downloaded album covers... damn you, Amazon <ROTFL>! Where is the cover art for "The Cornbread Mama Blues" (from "Late Night at the roost"), or "Death by the Sword" (from "Eternal DOOM III") <LOL>?!

Anyhow, all seems to be working OK except for the saving of downloaded covers. I checked the option to auto-save the downloaded covers (as well as manually saving the cover within the plugin menu), but it didn't appear to save the cover (e.g. when reloading the song, it downloaded the cover again). I also couldn't find the downloaded covers anywhere on my hard drive (I'm assuming that when auto-saving is enabled, or you manually save the cover, it would be saved to the same directory as the MP3).