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Aero Glass for Win8.1+ 1.4


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Just to confirm, yes, with the only change being the Aero Glass tool version from 1.3 to 1.4 I saw it. I'm pretty careful to make only one system change at a time then test.

Glad you were able to reproduce it. It's not a big deal for me, specifically, as I don't log in very often (my workstation normally stays logged-in and running for as long as it takes between Windows Updates requiring a reboot).

FYI in about a day of operation with the release I've seen no problems on the desktop other than what I reported above, and I did some pretty heavy development work yesterday including remote collaboration and running some VMware guests.

By the way, with my own releases of software I usually have the beta testers try at least one Release build before going live. Debug builds are never quite the same...

-Noel

Edited by NoelC
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I found the problem.

It is the feature which I introduced in one of the beta - changed initialization order to ensure glass effect even when DWM is not compatible and symbols are not present.

Now it always starts in fallback-mode which is reset if the glass is initialized correctly (=some glass region is being rendered). However, login screen has no glass so it keeps that fallback mode (but debug build creates the debug console on startup which has glass frame that says "hey, glass works")

Now I need to find some suitable solution.

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Don't get me wrong, Aero Glass is really great, but as a graphics "freak" I wonder if the glass effect could be updated to be more like the real glass effect in Windows 7? Currently the glass effect is using a simple overlay with opacity, while Windows 7 is using a combination of a normal overlay and a blend mode called "Multiply" in Photoshop.

 

I set up this comparison of Windows 7 and Windows 10 with Aero Glass where this effect is good to see: the darker areas of the background should be darker with glass, which can be achieved by reducing the opacity (used in this screenshot: 60%). But at the same time on colored backgrounds the 60% opacity is already to low, where I would need to increase it to get a more Windows 7 like effect.

 

So I wonder: can Aero Glass be updated to use a combination of Multiply and Overlay as well?

 

GlassComparison.png

 

From the programming perspective, on this page the Multiply mode is described:

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-editing/layer-blend-modes/multiply/

"It's unique among all the blend modes in that it's the only one named after the actual math that Photoshop performs behind the scenes when you have the Multiply mode selected. Photoshop takes the colors from the layer that's set to the Multiply blend mode and multiplies them by the colors on the layer(s) below it, then divides them by 255 to give us the result."

 

 

From my testings Microsoft seems to be using a combination of 1/3 normal overlay and 2/3 multiply blending combined with the overall opacity the user can set to calculate its glass effect.

Edited by Tekener
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I guess this is not possible anymore. Win7/8RP blur effect was rendered using Direct3D pixel shader where value of each pixel was multiplied by BlurBalance and influenced with AfterGlow+AfterGlowBalance (I don't remember the exact formula now).

Win8.1+ uses Direct2D which provides Gaussian blur effect directly and it is not possible to influence it. Also, your pictures are not comparable because you use different theme for Win7 and Win10.

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hello. i seem to have a problem making aeroglass 1.4 to work on my gaming pc. works just fine on my laptop. the problem is i install it, and nothing happens. it doesn't go transparant. windows frame remain the same pale white. here is the log

 

[2015-08-27 22:11:48][0x2390:0x1C90] Installing DWM hook...
[2015-08-27 22:11:48][0x2390:0x1C90] User: SYSTEM
[2015-08-27 22:11:48][0x2390:0x1C90] Module: C:\AeroGlass\DWMGlass.dll
[2015-08-27 22:13:11][0x7EC:0x7F0] Installing DWM hook...
[2015-08-27 22:13:12][0x7EC:0x7F0] User: SYSTEM
[2015-08-27 22:13:12][0x7EC:0x7F0] Module: C:\AeroGlass\DWMGlass.dll
[2015-08-27 22:13:44][0x27AC:0x27B0] Installing DWM hook...
[2015-08-27 22:13:44][0x27AC:0x27B0] User: SYSTEM
[2015-08-27 22:13:44][0x27AC:0x27B0] Module: C:\AeroGlass\DWMGlass.dll
[2015-08-27 22:14:13][0x784:0x788] Installing DWM hook...
[2015-08-27 22:14:13][0x784:0x788] User: SYSTEM
[2015-08-27 22:14:13][0x784:0x788] Module: C:\AeroGlass\DWMGlass.dll
[2015-08-27 22:14:36][0x23CC:0x23D0] Installing DWM hook...
[2015-08-27 22:14:36][0x23CC:0x23D0] User: user
[2015-08-27 22:14:44][0x213C:0x2124] Installing DWM hook...
[2015-08-27 22:14:44][0x213C:0x2124] User: user
[2015-08-27 22:16:02][0x242C:0x2414] Installing DWM hook...
[2015-08-27 22:16:02][0x242C:0x2414] User: SYSTEM
[2015-08-27 22:16:02][0x242C:0x2414] Module: C:\AeroGlass\DWMGlass.dll
[2015-08-27 22:17:35][0x23F4:0x104C] Installing DWM hook...
[2015-08-27 22:17:35][0x23F4:0x104C] User: SYSTEM
[2015-08-27 22:17:35][0x23F4:0x104C] Module: C:\AeroGlass\DWMGlass.dll
[2015-08-27 22:25:36][0x2714:0x2718] Installing DWM hook...
[2015-08-27 22:25:36][0x2714:0x2718] User: SYSTEM
[2015-08-27 22:25:36][0x2714:0x2718] Module: C:\AeroGlass\DWMGlass.dll
[2015-08-27 22:33:09][0x700:0x704] Installing DWM hook...
[2015-08-27 22:33:12][0x700:0x704] User: SYSTEM
[2015-08-27 22:33:13][0x700:0x704] Module: C:\AeroGlass\DWMGlass.dll
[2015-08-27 22:33:50][0x1980:0x1734] Installing DWM hook...
[2015-08-27 22:33:51][0x1980:0x1734] User: SYSTEM
[2015-08-27 22:33:51][0x1980:0x1734] Module: C:\AeroGlass\DWMGlass.dll

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I tested some more and like I mentioned in the dev thread, it now applies custom reflection before the user login so the secondary screen looks very weird (black with the reflection image tiled), it disappears when the user logs in.

And it also applies reflection on the taskbar, but disappears after a short time too.

 

Dev versions had no such problems.

 

Unfortunately I can't capture a screenshot because it happes prelogin. I'll try to take a of the taskbar.

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Don't get me wrong, Aero Glass is really great, but as a graphics "freak" I wonder if the glass effect could be updated to be more like the real glass effect in Windows 7? Currently the glass effect is using a simple overlay with opacity, while Windows 7 is using a combination of a normal overlay and a blend mode called "Multiply" in Photoshop.

 

 

Maybe you can modify reflection a bit to make it look more similar, might be worth a try. I too think the reflection is a bit sharp in Windows 8 and 10.

Edited by shelter
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GlassComparison.png

 

From my testings Microsoft seems to be using a combination of 1/3 normal overlay and 2/3 multiply blending combined with the overall opacity the user can set to calculate its glass effect.

 

I've long wanted the ability to get more color in window borders.  That would be possible if the pixels were combined with combinational logic that includes Multiply mixing, and would better approximate what actually happens in physical glass. 

 

I've added color to my theme atlas resources just to get (barely) enough blue into the active window borders to visually differentiate them.

 

I understand the limitations with using Direct2D, but the ability to have a very deep blue, e.g. cobalt blue, glass color would be nice.

 

See also:  http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/173827-feature-requests/#entry1098999

 

-Noel

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I guess this is not possible anymore. Win7/8RP blur effect was rendered using Direct3D pixel shader where value of each pixel was multiplied by BlurBalance and influenced with AfterGlow+AfterGlowBalance (I don't remember the exact formula now).

Win8.1+ uses Direct2D which provides Gaussian blur effect directly and it is not possible to influence it. Also, your pictures are not comparable because you use different theme for Win7 and Win10.

 

Thanks for the answer. What a pitty to hear Microsoft made it impossible to keep using one of the best graphical interfaces I know :(

Thanks for all your efforts bringing it back as best as possible.

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Does anyone know why aero glass doesn't apply to Firefox? It applies to Modern Apps with no problem.

 

pEBfloR.png

Download Classic Theme restorer for FF, then under Toolbars (2) click Tab/menu/tabs toolbar: remove background color (Windows 10). I would also recommend Tab Mix plus to change the color of the tab titles since it can be hard to read with aero on. 868b61792d.jpg

Edited by Fuzsion
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