Create a Custom Joomla Gallery Module

I am trying to transfer my photo portfolio from Squarespace to Joomla and need the gallery layout and functionality to be identical to my current site. I have found a few gallery extensions for Joomla that come very close with enough tweaking, but still aren't 100% there. Since messing with the code of existing extensions can get glitchy and unpredictable, someone suggested that I look at options for an original custom extension instead. The gallery design that needs to be replicated is here: [login to view URL] The new test website is here (currently using a different gallery extension, which isn't quite right): [login to view URL] The specs for the extension are as follows (please view the "gallery to be replicated" to see exactly what I mean): 1. As on the current Squarespace site, images must display in fit-to-screen format. So no matter the dimensions of the uploaded file, every image should be centered within the black content area, at maximum height or width to fit the container, with no stretching, squishing, bleeding or cropping. And it should remain like that (perfectly fit to screen) at any view, enlarging or shrinking as necessary based on the size of the monitor, browser window, resolution, etc. 3. Smooth fading transitions. 4. Container-wide mouseover controls. So when you hover over the left side of the module (not just the picture but the entire gallery container), the mouse turns into the "previous" arrow. When you hover over the right side, the mouse turns into the "next" arrow. When you hover over the middle, on the current site it shows a thumbnails icon. For the extension, it would be nice to have a thumbnails option but it isn't critical if it's going to make the gallery much more difficult to put together, since an alternative thumbnail view would need to be coded. In that case, the middle mouseover control could simply be a Play / Pause button to make an automatic slideshow possible. I am currently building up my freelance career so my budget is extremely limited. I'm really hoping that this can be done for $100, since there are a lot of similar extensions out there that could possibly be adapted (or could we even incorporate some of the Squarespace coding, since it's exactly what's needed?). That said, Joomla is severely lacking in good professional gallery extensions, and I imagine there are a lot of other artists who would prefer to use Joomla for their portfolios if options like this were actually available. I think you could make a good profit by offering it as a premium extension on Joomla template and extension sites, since there's nothing like it available yet!