TEKNIDERMY - ISSUE 7: November/December 2001

An interview with DaWebMassa

Rich Flathmann aka: DaWebmassa is a very active Skinner and extraordinaire in creating Desktop X themes & Desktop X Zoomers...

Tek: First off Rich I'd like to say thanks for taking the time for this interview for Teknidermy as well as providing people with this excellent Zoomer Tutorial!

Rich: Uhhhh, thanks? I'm not good at this stuff.

Tek: Okay so now I know you're not only a great skinner but a humble guy as well ;)

Tek: Can we start out with Who is Rich Flathmann/DaWebmassa?

Rich: Hmmm... that's a tough one. Well, believe it or not, I started my adult life as an Airborne Ranger,  then a landscaper and finally a bulldozer owner operator! Of course this kind of background logically leads to a career in the graphics industry. :) Leisure things that I enjoy include defying death by riding a motorcycle in NY, verbally abusing bad drivers and making sure my friend Hippy is aware of his many faults. :)

Tek: Can you remember when you first became driven to do graphical art?

Rich: I got into computers a long time ago (first computer was a Radio Shack Color Computer) and it kind of grew on me. A friend turned me on to dBase and I spent the next three years as a programmer. one day a client asked me about desktop publishing and from there, it snowballed. Next thing I knew I was focusing on graphically oriented material. The first time I played with any graphics they were vector images, I realized while there were great benefits, there was also a lot of detail that was impossible to capture. Sooooo...

Tek: How did you start out doing graphics?

Rich: Pretty badly as a matter of fact. I can't draw to save my life so the computer allowed me to re-do, re-re-do and re-re-re-do my horrible work. Once I started dabbling in bitmaps, I managed to become a beta tester for Zsoft and their PC Paintbrush software (am I showing my age?) While I was still horrible at creating anything from scratch, I was good at modifying existing images.

Tek: Can you remember what was the first program that you skinned?

Rich: NextStart was the first program that drove me to "skinning." My first attempt was HORRIBLE! YECH! My second attempt, which was my first real skin, was purple. I really like purple and didn't see many of that shade so I decided to come up with something that looked somewhat good in purple. I had an existing image of a great white shark which had some purple in it and I took it from there. Once I created something for NS, I gulped lots of air and decided to tackle Windowblinds and a few others. Thus, my SharkAttack theme was created.

Tek: Do you remember your "First Skin" (Do you still have it possibly laying around on your Hard Drive somewhere?)

Rich: Yes I do still have it. However, even if you yanked every one of my body hairs out one by one, the only people I'll let see it are those with severe cataracts.

(Click on image to view upclose)

Tek: Thanks Rich for sharing that... hehe

Tek: What Skinnable programs have you tried and currently use to do you graphics? such as photoshop, gimp, PSP7 etc.

Rich: Hmmmm... NextStart, Windowblinds, Desktop-X, Beatnik. EZ-Pop, Sysmeter, ColorPad and I've played with Talisman a little. For my images, I started out with Micrografx Picture Publisher. When Micrografx essentially dropped from the field I moved to Photoshop and Imageready. I also use GIF Animator, Bitstrip (when necessary) and I've tried the Gimp but never settled in to really learn it. I've seen tell of someone using Flash to do some of their animations so at one point, I might look into that.

Tek: Why has Desktop X mainly caught your attention as your favorite app to skin? (what are your favorite elements of it)

Rich: DX is a very active environment and unlike the static windows environment, I can customize almost any aspect of it that I want. I'll reiterate what I said in my tutorial: In the beginning, I learned a lot about Zoomers thanks to Paul (mormegil) Boyer. See the tutorial for more detail. :) Once I got Zoomers down, I moved on to creating more animated objects and integrating sound into them. It's really fun creating objects that are out of the ordinary.

As for my favorite elements of it... One of the best things I can think of is that objects can "talk" to another. From something as simple as a pop-up to timed interaction. I'm currently working (albeit slowly) on a new theme that will take more advantage of this. I also appreciate plugins. Although I am no longer a programmer, I see a great niche for these and am starting to see some very useful ones.

Tek: What other skinnable applications catch your eye these days?

Rich: Desktop X, Windowblinds and Nextstart... still my faves but I still like what Hoverdesk and Talisman look like.

Tek: Why did you decide to do this Zoomer tutorial? Was it due to the demand of people asking you repitiousily questions regarding how to create them or just that you're such a Big Hearted Guy? hehe

Rich: I've gotten a few requests for help with Zoomers (must be really desperate people out there) but what really got me was when a very talented artist that I respect immensely asked me for help with them. It prompted me to sit down and actually do something more detailed. The fact that I like to share with the community influenced me as well. I figured if I have one area in which I can share some info, it's better than having none at all.

Tek: Who are some of the people in the skinning community who's work you enjoy and you look up to talent wise?

Rich: Hippy - Besides being one of my best friends in the community, he helped me get started with Windowblinds. Always answering questions, fixing boo-boos for me and giving me incentive. Shark Attack and Gears and Graphite wouldn't be what they are without him. Several times we talked about doing something together but still haven't managed it. Above and beyond that, this guy is a skinning machine. I'm in awe of the amount and quality of work he puts out. I hope one day he gets what's coming to him. No Mark, that wasn't a threat! :)

Boxxi - Several of his wallpapers are sitting in my "Damn these are too sweet to not have a theme so let me create one when I have time" folder. I've often referred to his images for inspiration on color choice.

Nuvem - Need I say more? An all around incredibly talented artist and a nice guy too! (and he better do something with a tutorial!!) He is largely responsible for my involvement in DX. I recreated one of his DX themes in another resolution and it got me hooked on DX.

Treetog - Anyone who knows skinning knows that this name is synonymous with awesome work. The ONLY person I can honestly say I'm jealous of :)

PJPowell - My DesktopX hero :) (Don't let this swell your head!)

Dangeruss - Talent. Pure and simple

I know there are others but these are the people that stand out in my mind. Honestly, creating a skin takes me way too long. I'm too damn fussy and never seem to be totally satisfied with what I do. I end up changing things so many times a skin/theme never looks like it did when I started. I get bored in between them and many sit in a half finished state for a long time. Solace in Blue was started and not released until almost seven months later. I saw it as decent but nothing super-duper. I was totally SHOCKED to see it stay in the number one spot for two weeks straight. I thought maybe people were screwing up and downloading my stuff thinking that Treetog or someone else did it. Anyway, it was good for my ego but caused a slight problem at the same time. I went into work and demanded a raise but the CEO just sort of chuckled and asked for two sugars instead of his usual one.

I have no real ultimate preference in colors but I do favor Grays, Purples and Blues, I'm currently working on a skin for a wallpaper which I cannot find the author of. I just hope once I release it, the lawyers don't start calling. :)

Rich and I had to leave off on the interview at this point due to the situation in New York City. He resides in New York and has contacted us, informing us he is doing fine. However, he was affected deeply by the tragic events of 9/11, and this interview is concluded here.

Perhaps we can have a follow up interview with Rich when time permits. Tek would like to say "Thank you" to Rich again for his time and also for providing this Tutorial on making Desktop X Zoomers to help other skinners try their hand at making them.

If you are new to Desktop X and want to find out more about Desktop X and Desktop X Zoomers please click Here, or continue on by clicking Here for Rich's Desktop X Zoomer Tutorial.