[HOW-TO] Make Colour Themes

Firstly you'll need to get the source code from here -

http://skin-alaska-revisited.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/

The you have access to all the textures used in the skin and can edit them to your hearts content.



Texture Packer

Download here

Instructions for use

1. Place any modified textures inside the media folder using the same folder layout as in the original

ie

media/background.png
media/list/listfocus.png

2. Double click the TexturePacker.bat to run the TexturePacker

3. TexturePacker will automatically check for any dupes and link them

4. The completed textures.xbt must then be renamed the same as your colour XML

5. Place the final XBT file in the skins media folder and change the theme via the Appearance settings

I know there's another colour theme thread out there, but I made this one specifically for the "Alaska Revisited" package, lovingly crafted by Hitcher. With all respect to Amra's original "Blue Mosaic" theme, I tweaked up some of the new XML to come up with the colour theme extremely similar to his. (It's almost identical, save for the background image.) The updated "Durham Blues" and other themes are now located http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=688...stcount=50. Of course, if Amra comes out with an update to his "Blue Mosaic" theme, I'd respectfully request that it replace this one, since it was the inspiration for it. In the interim, hopefully this finds it's way into Hitcher's latest build. Hope you like it!

Map a button to the Shutdown menu (s key).

Nice, I'll definitely add it.

Don't forget if you want to change any colours of the textures (ie WatchedOverlay, ButtonFO.png) just download from source, edit what you want, make a new texture.xbt using only the changed textures and name it the same as the colour XML.

EDIT: And send them to me as this will hopefully be going on the official repo soon.

Hitcher Wrote:Nice, I'll definitely add it.

Thanks! I see we're stickied too - I can't wait to see others' themes up here.

Hitcher Wrote:Don't forget if you want to change any colours of the textures (ie WatchedOverlay, ButtonFO.png) just download from source, edit what you want, make a new texture.xbt using only the changed textures and name it the same as the colour XML.

Thanks! Do you happen to have more info on how to do this? A link, perhaps? I'm not certain on how to create an XBT file.

Hitcher Wrote:EDIT: And send them to me as this will hopefully be going on the official repo soon.

Do you need the XML and icons PM'd to you, or something else?

TexturePacker help

Basically you make a media folder with only the new textures in it and run the TexturePacker on it, then simply rename it to whatever you've named your colour XML. Then it just goes into the media folder next to the default texture.xbt.

And yes I'll need the XML and any new textures if you want this in the official repo version of Alaska Revisited as the back-end creates the XBT.

Hitcher Wrote:Basically you make a media folder with only the new textures in it and run the TexturePacker on it, then simply rename it to whatever you've named your colour XML. Then it just goes into the media folder next to the default texture.xbt.

Ok, I think I've got it. If I want to change up any of the media you're using (i.e the 'WatchedOverlay' graphic) I need to download it from your source, edit it or create my own, and put a file with the same name (i.e. WatchedOverlay.png) into the TexturePacker 'in' directory that I configure. I run the TexturePacker program (from a command line with some flags) and it will create a new XBT file that I will name "Durham Blue.XBT" and put into the 'media' subdirectory.

Two questions:

1) I searched and searched, but cannot find a link to your 'development' area - the 'source' for all of these graphics. (Edit: A-ha! Is this it? http://skin-alaska-revisited.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/)

2) If the above is correct, can it be used to edit ALL of the graphics you presently use? (...and if so, does it affect the 'homeicons' as well? I'd love to see the theme change that up as well, if so!) (Edit: I answered the first part of my question - I edited one of the files in the 'media/settings' subdirectory, and used the TexturePacker on it - it's now available as a Theme. Woot! Still hoping to figure out a way of changing the homeicons tho.)

Thanks!

Oh look, more questions!

3) In looking around the SVN, is there a way to download entire directories? I found the 'media' subdirectory, but going one-by-one for graphics is a bit tedious. (Edit: HA! I answered my own question. I'm using TortoiseSVN to DL everything I need to my desktop. Please ignore the previous message.)

4) Is there a dedicated 'background' graphic? I know the original "Blue Mosaic" had setup a nice background, and I don't know where it might reside. If it's within the 'media' XBT file, then I'm sure I can figure it out, if there's a way to DL more than one at a time. (Edit: This *might* be a feature request. I'm using the Icon View, and just tooling around in Horizontal View, I noticed you can change the background quite significantly. Would you be able to add that option for icon view as well? My personal preference would be to even have a single 'background' applicable, which could override each of the 'type specific' settings, such as movies, music, etc. etc. Possible?)

Thanks again!

All the filters and home icons are in the 'extras' folder and not the media folder so users who download from the repo can also change them if they wish; whereas if they were in the media folder they'd be packed into the texture.xbt and couldn't be changed.

I simply didn't think about Backgrounds for Icon view but I can change that for next time. If you want specific images then you use the 'Single Image' option for custom backgrounds.

Hitcher Wrote:All the filters and home icons are in the 'extras' folder and not the media folder so users who download from the repo can also change them if they wish; whereas if they were in the media folder they'd be packed into the texture.xbt and couldn't be changed.

Gotcha. So, the theme will only affect the XBT files, and nothing more. If I want custom home icons, I'll just keep them outside as a mod.

Hitcher Wrote:I simply didn't think about Backgrounds for Icon view but I can change that for next time. If you want specific images then you use the 'Single Image' option for custom backgrounds.

Sounds great to me! (What is the 'Single Image' option of which you speak? I can't find that myself. Is that only in the other views?)

EDITED: By Hitcher - 'Simple Image' typo > 'Single Image'

Maybe i have missed them.. Are there any themes already available for Alaska Revisited?

Believe my settings menu shows only Theme 1/1