How much do you care about the visual design of Rack Modules?

It’s a good rule, but difficult to follow. I think most modules now are denser than the fundamentals? Clearly we all have a feeling for what is “too dense”, but I think it might be denser than those. fwiw in the past i modeled my look on the fundamentals, and kept the density low like that, but now people want so many cv inputs and features (as do I) that I find it difficult to keep the design that “open”.

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Fundamental aims for real-world density, where you have big grabby fingers that can’t handle 23 jacks spaced 5mm apart, but on the computer it feels like too much wasted space, no wonder originals prefer being denser.

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rack 2.0 is going to have different number of pixels per mm

could you give more info/source on this?

I use pixels everywhere as I have no svgs or real world versions of my panels. I’d have to change many things if for example the height of one row would change.

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Not actually sure if it’s true or not. But we have been warned that our SVG panels that use pixel units are not correct, and that panels should use millimeters instead. You might ask @Vortico directly about using bitmaps for panel backgrounds. Unlike me, he will actually know true things.

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I don’t want to use bitmaps, I was referring to using pixel coordinates directly when placing widgets with code (instead of feeding everything through the mm2px function). If you meant only the importing of svgs then I have nothing to worry about. But this is going off-topic, I guess.

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I’ve been wondering the same thing. I asked in a new thread: In what ways will Rack v2 require the use of "mm" units for drawing?

Maybe the problem is the font size´s too small in a black background and in some cases they are hidden.

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I like the last option as I see myself as a bit of a curmudgeon. But actually I like things to look good too. There is something very pleasing about looking at a patch in action

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thanks! yeah, for sure we are supposed to place object in mm by going through the function. but it will be interesting to hear what’s actually going to change.

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And led displays also :wink:

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Just been through the same process too. All buttons and LED displays are now proper lights.

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You would know Pyer!

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I don’t mind dense and I don’t think that’s a big problem, that’s more of an issue in physical modules. The problem arises when dense means smaller and smaller fonts, or missing labels, or scrambled layout.

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Not really, and the Strum modules are a perfect example of why this isn’t the case. In graphic design and typography, it is known that small type requires certain characteristics to be legible. The LilyUPC font used here has a good x-height, but is quite thick and thin, and when the used at a smaller size the thin strokes become indistinct, making the font hard to read.

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Maybe I should have been clearer, sticking to the size referred specifically to the fontsize of the VCV/Fundamental modules.

I don’t know if you’re the author, and I don’t mean any offense to anyone, but to me the Mental modules are a textbook example of bad design. I honestly can’t use them, no matter how good they might be.

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The good thing about VCV is that you have a choice. You can make your rack look stylish and neutral or like unicorn barf if that’s your thing.

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And now my scopes light up :slight_smile:

scope.cpp line 177 change TransparentWidget to LightWidget, that’s all there is to it for scope.

image

Could a mod create a darkmode compliant module thread and move darkmode related posts there?

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Good idea. Here is the thread: Modules that work with Modular Fungi LightsOff

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True in so many ways. There are so many different developers making VCV modules that there is an incredible diversity available. Some devs are good graphic designers, some have super creative ideas for modules, some are expert programmers, etc… Really makes for a cool ecosystem, even if it can make it difficult to “home in” on the modules you like.

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Not a great visual design but a useful visual understanding of a module with color coded ins & outs which helps a lot newbies like me! A very clever and simple idea for knowing how a modules collection works and how could be wired…

The Legend module is a good example from: https://github.com/The-XOR/RackPlugins

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