TomTom Accent Icons
 

I just created both rear view and perspective view icons of my 2008 Accent for my new TomTom One GPS. They wouldn't be hard to adjust to others colors. Both have been tested (I prefer the perspective one). Any other Accent owners with TomToms can get it via their content share service (or just grab it here). Copy it to the art/cars folder and it'll show up as an option under preferences/change car symbol.

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...fc75374ebe.jpg

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...cdb825affd.jpg

I opted for a realistic look rather than a posterized one because the visual image of my actual car trapped in a purely symbolic landscape amused me. Its hulking size on the display ruined this a bit, so I created a smaller one. Couldn't be truly at the right scale as it'd be a speck, besides it travels down the center of the road!

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...c2da68051b.jpg

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...0c22c14f18.jpg

You can make it travel in the right lane, just make the picture wider with blank space to the left (unless the TomTom does something special with the picture).

me thinks you have too much idle time on your hands.


LOOKS SWEET!

Anyone figure out if new maps can be traded between units?

Nope, that would work fine. Starting to get a little small, though. I guess I could bias it a little bit... Sure wish GIMP wasn't so bloody awful on osx (I'm assuming it's better on Windows). I'll do it the next time I'm already running Windows using Photoshop (version 5.0 still works well enough for my needs).

Trading maps? No idea. Only owned it for a couple days so far, so I'll look around. As far as too much free time...I've been trying to come up with ideas for a replacement voice that wouldn't just be irritating after a while. :)

Why use GIMP on OSX? I thought Macs would ship with Apple software that's better than a basic GIMP setup...

https://www.gimpshop.com might give you a more effective interface.

iPhoto can do some ultra basic stuff, but nothing more powerful came with mine. Unless something new's been added since.

GraphicConverter's there too I guess (old version, new one costs $), bit it's pretty clunky and also limited. I really ought to suck it up and get a decent low end mac program. Or a windows virtualization environment.

I found a couple free ones which I'll check out:

Seashore

GIMPshop (supposedly PS interface on top of GIMP).

Got as far as seeing that GIMPShop requires X11 and is also oldish. Basically a given that it'll stink. Seashore is very basic, but at least it seems somewhat responsive and tailored to os x. Better than what I had before!

Tried out the right shifted icon, and it does kind of work. Unfortunately, the roads can vary in width a bit, so this represents a compromise between driving too close to the center and off the edge a little. The smaller I make the icon the greater the relative apparent size of position errors, so it makes the driver look drunk as a skunk, especially in tight turns. Clearly the TomTom programmers didn't worry about smoothing the path out. Wouldn't be very hard: assume the car's icon is following the path nice and smoothly, unless you get accurate data indicating otherwise. I did that sort of stuff all the time at the game company I worked at. Not that it matters very much in a TomTom.

https://www.fuelly.com/attachments/fo...9be65a92ca.jpg

I have Ozzy Osbourne swearing as one of my voices... At the end of the effin' road, turn right..."

Doesn't that get old after a while? I contacted a voice actor about doing a HAL 9000 voice (on his own, not with me) and I suggested he not put in Dave references or anything since I'd expect super specific gags to wear poorly. It's too bad the TomTom can't have multiple entries for each command and then randomly select between them to add variety. I guess it's not probably something they planned for originally.

Still looking for a sexy female voice with a Scottish accent. :p

Wait, you just gave me an idea...I was thinking "Well, you could at least use different voices for different directions", which would give you variety though "left" would always be spoken by the same voice. Then I realized that that would actually be useful. You would eventually learn what each voice means and you'd get the direction faster than having to wait for it to finish talking!

An interesting thought, with all sorts of odd possibilities. Different characters from a movie or play or whatever so there's still a common theme. Be tough to get right. I'm sure you're right about response time, although I have to wonder what sort of driving you're doing that requires such quick actions...

Here's the TomTom command list, just as a point of interest. Obviously some of them could be altered. I'm tempted to write haikus for some. Be too long, but the idea is amusing.

2ndLeft.ogg - 'Take the second left'
2ndRight.ogg - 'Take the second right'
3rdLeft.ogg - 'Take the third left'
3rdRight.ogg - 'Take the third right'
50.ogg - '50'
80.ogg - '80'
100.ogg - '100'
200.ogg - '200'
300.ogg - '300'
400.ogg - '400'
500.ogg - '500'
600.ogg - '600'
700.ogg - '700'
800.ogg - '800'
After.ogg - 'After'
AhExit.ogg - 'Exit ahead'
AhExitLeft.ogg - 'ahead, Exit left'
AhExitRight.ogg - 'ahead, Exit right'
AhFerry.ogg - 'Ferry ahead'
AhKeepLeft.ogg - 'Ahead, keep left'
AhKeepRight.ogg - 'Ahead, keep right'
AhLeftTurn.ogg - 'Left turn ahead'
AhRightTurn.ogg - 'Right turn ahead'
AhUTurn.ogg - 'U-turn ahead'
Arrive.ogg - 'You have reached your destination'
BearLeft.ogg - 'Bear left'
BearRight.ogg - 'Bear right'
Charge.ogg - 'Congestion charge'
Depart.ogg - 'Depart' (only heard when you tap Test when selecting a voice)
KeepLeft.ogg - 'Keep left'
KeepRight.ogg - 'Keep right'
LnLeft.ogg - 'Stay in the left lane'
LnRight.ogg - 'Stay in the right lane'
Meters.ogg - 'Metres'
MwEnter.ogg - 'Take the motorway'
MwExit.ogg - 'Leave the motorway'
MwExitLeft.ogg - 'Leave the motorway at the exit on the left'
MwExitRight.ogg - 'Leave the motorway at the exit on the right'
RbBack.ogg - 'Go around the roundabout'
RbCross.ogg - 'Cross the roundabout'
RbExit1.ogg - 'First exit'
RbExit2.ogg - 'Second exit'
RbExit3.ogg - 'Third exit'
RbExit4.ogg - 'Fourth exit'
RbExit5.ogg - 'Fifth exit'
RbExit6.ogg - 'Sixth exit'
RbLeft.ogg - 'Go left on the roundabout'
RbRight.ogg - 'Go right on the roundabout'
RoadEnd.ogg - 'At the end of the road'
SharpLeft.ogg - 'Sharp left'
SharpRight.ogg - 'Sharp right'
Straight.ogg - 'Go straight on'
TakeFerry.ogg - 'Take the ferry'
Then.ogg - 'Then'
TryUTurn.ogg - 'Turn around when possible'
TurnLeft.ogg - 'Turn left'
TurnRight.ogg - 'Turn Right'
UTurn.ogg - 'Make a U-turn'
Yards.ogg - 'Yards'

I'l use the specialty voices once in a while, but I usually am using the female English UK voice. I have a couple of friends the live "alternative lifestyles" and they like the male English Australian voice, so I usually select that one when they're in the car. Most of the specialty voices suck. I have Darth Vader, KITT fron Knight Rider, Homer Simpson, and George Bush, but none of those voices sound anywhere near right.

If KITT sounded right I'd probably use that one all the time.

-Jay

I'm ashamed to admit I watched 2001 and 2010 over the weekend and typed in all HAL's dialogue with rough timestamps (most of the longer scenes I found online already typed out, fortunately). He says 545 unique words (not counting distorted ones as he's slowing down or homonyms). Serious missing vocabulary and it'd be too much work to combine them, but it was worth looking at.

The English female voice is what I'm using too.

It's not the necessary response time that would be useful, so much as not having to listen while the thing endlessly drones on. I hate waiting for the instruction to finish so I can know what I'm doing next.

Do you ever see electronic signs that you have to stare at for way too long, taking your eyes off the road and waiting for the message to scroll to finish? I hate that, and the same sort of thing applies to the voice. I want to hear it and get back to concentrating on other things. If it talks too fast I might miss it, but with different voices for each instruction...

I have the same issue with my Sirius radio display. It scrolls incredibly slow. I might want to know what song is on, and I have to glance at it repeatedly for 30 seconds or more. If the song is ending I may never know what it was. It's not a problem anymore because I no longer subscribe (had to cut that luxury) but that used to be a big peeve.

Verbosity = low.

Looking at those phrases, they could be cut down. My mp3 radio scrolls the titles so slow it's basically worthless as well.