You can define your own decors for the Analog VU meter visualization plugin, and make it look almost any way you like.
The look of the Analog VU plugin is defined by textfiles in the (AnalogVU) folder that is inside the plugins-folder, with each textfile containing the definition of one decor. Here is an example of such a definition:
# Pretty name for this decoder name Moldava's VU meter # Define a bitmap that we can refer to by name # bitmap bitmapalias path-to-bitmapfile [transparentcolor RGBhex] bitmap back moldava/moldavaVU_back.jpg bitmap front moldava/moldavaVU_front.tga transparentcolor ffffff # This bitmap is used for left and right background region leftbackground back 0 0 149 99 region rightbackground back 150 0 299 99 region leftoverlay front 0 0 149 99 region rightoverlay front 150 0 299 99 # Define the position and movement of the needle # needle axisX axisY length zerodegree stroke RGBhex leftneedle 75 130 110 122 65 000000 rightneedle 75 130 110 122 65 000000The above definition can be used with the background and foreground pictures of the "Moldava" decor (courtesy of Mario Buchichio).
Definitions
Each non-comment line consists of a keyword followed by one or more
arguments (which themselves could be keywords).
Currently defined keywords are name, bitmap, region, leftbackground, leftoverlay, rightbackground, rightoverlay, leftneedle and rightneedle.
name
The name keyword is followed by the "pretty name" of the decor. This name will
be displayed in the decor selection popup. Everything after the name keyword is taken literally, including spaces.
bitmap
The bitmap keywords binds a name to a bitmapfile.
The first argument is the name that will be used to refer to the bitmap in the
rest of the decor-definition.
The second argument is the location of the bitmapfile. The bitmapfile may be in
any format for which you have a translator installed.
The third and fourth argument are optional. When present, the third argument
must be "transparentcolor", and the fourth argument must be the hexadecimal
RGB code of the color that is used as the transparent color in this bitmap.
Note that if the image contains an alpha channel, this alpha channel will be
used to determine transparency, in addition to the specified transparent color.
Also note that it only makes sense to define transparency for the overlay images (see below).
region
The region keyword defines regions within the already defined bitmaps.
From this it follows that you must always define bitmaps before you define
regions that use them.
The first argument is the name of the region
The second argument is the name of the bitmap that contains the region.
The third and fourth argument specify the top-left coordinate of the
region within the bitmap.
The fifth and sixth argument specify the bottom-right coordinate of the
region within the bitmap.
Note that multiple regions may refer to the same bitmap, even to the same
space within that bitmap.
The following region-names are defined:
leftneedle/rightneedle
leftneedle and rightneedle define the position and color of the VU meter's needles.
The first two arguments are x and y coordinate of the point around which the needle rotates.
It is allowed for this point to be outside of the bitmap. The top-left corner has coordinates (0,0).
The third argument is the length of the needle, in pixels.
The fourth argument is the angle (in degrees) of the zero-position of the needle (using the standard
convention that 0 degrees means pointing right, 90 degrees is up, 180 is left).
The fifth argument is the "stroke" of the needle, in degrees. Note that this value
can be both positive and negative; a positive value causes a counterclockwise rotation, a negative value
causes a clockwise rotation.
The sixth argument is the hexadecimal RGB code of the needle's color.
Size of the VU meter
The total size of the VU meter is derived from the "leftbackground" region. The VU meter will be as high as this region, and twice as wide. The left and right channel meters are always displayed horizontally next to each other. From this it follows that the left and right regions should always be the same size.