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The New Dock is Easy to Theme!

53kyle

53kyle

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 27, 2012
1,282
111
Sebastopol, CA
So I was digging around in the system files on my installation of Yosemite, and inside of the Dock application I found something interesting. Way back in Snow Leopard and Lion, you could edit files called "scurve.png" or something like that, and when you restarted the dock, it would match what you edited and that is how people themed the dock. In Yosemite, there are 4 files in the dock application called:

dockbackground.png - The background of the dock on non-retina macs.
dockbackground@2x.png - The background of the dock on retina macs.
dockbackgrounddark.png - The background of the dark mode dock on non-retina macs.
dockbackgrounddark@2x.png - The background of the dark mode dock on retina macs.

^^^ Macrumors is automatically making some of those file names email address links because of the "@" ^^^

I found that these worked basically the same as in older versions of OS X. The way OS X renders it is by stretching these images horizontally and stretching the middle pixel of the image vertically when the dock is resized. Oh, but in Yosemite, anywhere in the image where the pixel is filled in, the dock isn't transparent or blurred.
 
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I noticed those digging around while creating white menubar icons for the dark theme. Nice catch. I have saved 3D scurve files, I wonder if it render 3D backgrounds.
 
bedifferent said:
I noticed those digging around while creating white menubar icons for the dark theme. Nice catch. I have saved 3D scurve files, I wonder if it render 3D backgrounds.
Click to expand...

I don't think it will, because the entire dock is rendered from one file at a time, and it will just stretch the background through out the dock. Really all you can do is solid and gradient colors.
 
53kyle said:
I don't think it will, because the entire dock is rendered from one file at a time, and it will just stretch the background through out the dock. Really all you can do is solid and gradient colors.
Click to expand...

Good point. Shame. Wonder if no dock background can be done, creating floating icons. Thanks! :)
 
For those who want the files listed above, Retina-style. Obviously, the blur is achieved programatically.

Sigh... I wish I could find a way to go back to my 3D Dock. It's impossible this way :(
 

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I also updated cDock to work with Yosemite if you want a transparent dock or just more control over the 2D dock.
 
w0lf said:
I also updated cDock to work with Yosemite if you want a transparent dock or just more control over the 2D dock.
Click to expand...

Nice! I've been following your work on dock modding, very impressive. Trying your new version now on 10.10. Thanks!

I backed up the current dock png's and used Photoshop to mode the dark theme png (currently using) with an old "Burberry" checked dock I used to use. It sort of worked.

Wonder if manipulating the rounded square png to a 3D template using free-transform, then adding a background, might create a 3D rendered dock. Also wonder how it determines how much of the png to use as background, using the patterned dock was intentional to see how OS X adjusted. Seems it chose a specific part of the png to use.
 

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Septillion said:
Is there any way to bring my favorite 3D glossy dock back?
Click to expand...

Nope. I have tried it and there are a few problems. First problem is that I can't use the glassy texture from the old dock because Yosemite will just stretch it out. Oh, and you can't see behind the "glass" because there is no way to control the opacity, so it is either a solid color or it is blurred like the normal dock. Next problem was that I couldn't get the icons above the dock at all because I can't just shave off the top bit of the dock, it will just make the missing pixels into blur. Finally, the slants which make the dock look 3D are impossible. Either it stretches the image vertically, or it makes it way too tiny (It uses the middle line of pixels to fill in the dock vertically rather than scaling the bottom of the image up).
 

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w0lf said:
I also updated cDock to work with Yosemite if you want a transparent dock or just more control over the 2D dock.
Click to expand...

That's you? Found cDock the other week to use on Mavericks (to see if I could get to like a 2D dock) and I think it's a handy little app. Thanks :)
 
bedifferent said:
Wonder if manipulating the rounded square png to a 3D template using free-transform, then adding a background, might create a 3D rendered dock. Also wonder how it determines how much of the png to use as background, using the patterned dock was intentional to see how OS X adjusted. Seems it chose a specific part of the png to use.
Click to expand...

I would imagine I could make a 3D-ish dock with the 10.8 dock images and a few tweaks to the cDock bundle.

Basically like this but with the edges extended out and angled back:
PbNNUPE.png
 
w0lf said:
I would imagine I could make a 3D-ish dock with the 10.8 dock images and a few tweaks to the cDock bundle.

Basically like this but with the edges extended out and angled back:
Image
Click to expand...

That'd be REALLY great !
 
w0lf said:
I would imagine I could make a 3D-ish dock with the 10.8 dock images and a few tweaks to the cDock bundle.

Basically like this but with the edges extended out and angled back:
Image
Click to expand...

10.8 dock images? I'm pretty sure only 10.8 dp1 had actual images, after that they were rendered in real time.

Here's my question. What if you just use a full size image of the original dock, would it still stretch it? This could be doable, I remember that in 10.8 you could use a full size image for the mission control background even though the default was was tiled. Same thing with the mavericks login apple logo, you can use any size image you want and it will fill the entire background.

Sorry if I misread, it looked like you hadn't tried that.
 
Manic Harmonic said:
10.8 dock images? I'm pretty sure only 10.8 dp1 had actual images, after that they were rendered in real time.

Here's my question. What if you just use a full size image of the original dock, would it still stretch it? This could be doable, I remember that in 10.8 you could use a full size image for the mission control background even though the default was was tiled. Same thing with the mavericks login apple logo, you can use any size image you want and it will fill the entire background.

Sorry if I misread, it looked like you hadn't tried that.
Click to expand...

Technically I would assume I can do any image manipulation I want with cDock. It's just a matter of getting a nice looking 3D esque image and writing the code to properly resize and display it which probably wouldn't be too hard but I don't really feel like doing.
 
w0lf said:
Image
Click to expand...

Wow, if you can do this, I'll be all over it.

Now, maybe if you could make it so that the black dots below the apps appear centered on the edge (or side) of the shelf formed by the dock, it might look even nicer. Which means you can just make the edge a little bit thicker.
 
w0lf said:
I would imagine I could make a 3D-ish dock with the 10.8 dock images and a few tweaks to the cDock bundle.

Basically like this but with the edges extended out and angled back:
Image
Click to expand...

Very nice! I planned on playing around with the images in PS CC, using free transform and comparing it to pre 10.10 docks. I'm sure there's a way :)

btw I have many images from pre 10.8.2 days, jet black, glass, glossy black, grass, wood. You can still grab them online as well.
 
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Perhaps someone could get in touch with the developer of "Classic Dock" for iOS 7 and find out what was done for that, maybe the method for a 3D dock in Yosemite could be similar.
 
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