Splash Screen

I really want to do this for KDE and Gnome, but first I am trying with KDE.
I took a splash screen and am trying to modify it.  The one with the pictures
of things like the keyboard, a blue folder, the tools (settings), etc, which flicker
or darken as things get installed (e.g. the tools icon gets darker and blinks as
advanced settings are coming up, etc).

I noticed there is a splash_active_bar.png and a splash_inactive_bar.png.
From what I can tell, at the beginning of system init, the entire splash_inactive_bar is
displayed, and then as a percentage of the system is up, part of the inactive bar is
replaced by part of the active bar, until the system is 100% up, and none of the
inactive_bar is displayed and all of the active is.

I tried replacing some of the icons with letters to spell a word, and made the backgrounds
different colors (inactive is light, and active is darker) and spread these letters out
the same way that the icons work.

Well, when the system comes up it seems to be working right, but part of the letters will be
darkened, and part not.  And the inactive bar never seems to be completely replaced by
the active bar.

So maybe I don't understand it quite right.  Has anyone had experience?