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[AdrenalineSpeed]

Hey,

I have a moderate knowledge of xbox modding, but when it comes to skinning, i'm brand new.  I've looked around for a skinning tutorial, but havn't been able to find any programs to do it with (seems to me like they're illegal?)  I was wondering if someone could direct me to a tutorial that says (from scratch) how to make a background in Photoshop (or whatever) and turn it into at least a basic functional XBMC skin.  Thanks in advance!

~Jason

[CHI3f]

Look here

All you really need to make a skin is a text editor and photoshop or similar program.

[Nubbs]

QUOTE(AdrenalineSpeed @ Jan 11 2007, 09:11 PM)

Hey,

I have a moderate knowledge of xbox modding, but when it comes to skinning, i'm brand new.  I've looked around for a skinning tutorial, but havn't been able to find any programs to do it with (seems to me like they're illegal?)  I was wondering if someone could direct me to a tutorial that says (from scratch) how to make a background in Photoshop (or whatever) and turn it into at least a basic functional XBMC skin.  Thanks in advance!

~Jason

There is so much involved in skinning man it's alot more than most skinners will want to put into a tutorial. what i have done is read everything i can fine, and search .xml files, and study every skin available and i still am at a loss most of the time.

I think it is a great idea to get a team together and work as a team rather than an individual. That way one or 2 people can do one thing and so on and so on.

[AdrenalineSpeed]

QUOTE(CHI3f @ Jan 11 2007, 11:25 PM)

Look here

All you really need to make a skin is a text editor and photoshop or similar program.

Well I've been tinkering with MXM Skinner.....it doesn't seem too hard to use....just a bunch of .png files and it converts it to .xml.  But when I read your wiki link, it was talking about the .xpr files...is there no easy way of doing this?

[xboxbox451]

I don't want to deter you from skinning XBMC, though you wont find a definitive tutorial to explain how to accomplish a complete skin.

If you want to skin XBMC you need to start small. Learn how to modify the xml files, and mod a few things like adding some system stats to various XBMC pages. Then move on from there.

Most skinners basically start out modifying existing skins to gain knowledge and eventually move on to their own projects. Then there's the graphics. That you need to learn, and hopefully have some talent for creating attractive and unique designs. Of course, to create great textures, you'll need to build your skills with a photo application such as Photoshop. If you cant afford Photoshop, then you can use free apps such as The Gimp or Paint.net.

Also, you need to refer to the XBMC manual, which will help you understand how the xml coding functions. So, all I can really relay is to research, practice, trial/error, and hopefully you'll build the skills to create your own skin.

Here's some links to get stated:

XBMC Manual

Some Skinning Tuts from the manual

Notepad++ (excellent free editor to help edit xml files)

Filezilla (free FTP client)

[CHI3f]

You can use xbmctex.exe to compress images into a xpr but that should be one of the last things you worry about in the skin making process, you first need to code the xml's and make all the images(alot of them) then worry about xpr's. During the skin making process you can just put all the images in the media folder so they are easy to replace\remove.

If you wait a bit the XBMC skinner will be updated and I think it is gonna have drag and drop capabilties, but I do not know if it will edit xml's like that. Just read up, the xml's are not really that hard to understand. Everything is pretty much self explanitory, until the xbmc devs add new things to the skinning engine.

Just get a copy of a skin to just play around with and start editing it till you start to get the hang of it, then refer to the manual when you get stuck.

[AdrenalineSpeed]

I have Photoshop 6.0, FlashFXP for FTP'ing, and Dreamweaver to edit the XML files.  They state that XBMC comes with the Project Mayhem III skin.  So I assume the xbox boots to Home.XML, which I edited the background to <texture>KNIGHTRIDER_Main.png</texture> and added it to media....so I now need to go into the texture.xbr file right?

[CHI3f]

I am 99% certain the first files the skin loads is are the include files, then defaults.xml, then startup.xml, then on to your home page. The includes are all things that get loaded into memory at skin startup so if you edit any include you are gonna have to reload the skin for it to take effect. The includes are real good for code that is used alot in the skin so you only have to code it once. For example if you have a common background you can put something like this in the includes:

<include name="background">
<control type="image">
<posx>o</posx>
<posy>0</posy>
<width>720</width>
<height>576</height>
<texture>my-background.png</texture>
</control>
</include>

Now that you have put that in the includes, you can now code it in any window like so:

<include>background</include>

Thats it!


Oh and you can't edit a xpr, but just having it in the media folder will do.

[xboxbox451]

I'm assuming your trying to change the background image to the Home page of the Project Mayhem III skin.

If so, first are you displaying High-Def or Standard?

If High-Def you need to edit the home.xml in the PAL16x9 folder found in the Project Mayhem skin directory.

If your displaying standard resolution, then you need to edit the home.xml in the PAL folder.

Create your background image and transfer it to the "Media" folder found in the Project Mayhem III skin directory.

Then open the appropriate Home.xml file and look for this control:


<control type="image">
<description>background image</description>
<posx>0</posx>
<posy>0</posy>
<width>720</width>
<height>576</height>
<texture>16x9home2.png</texture>

Change the text highlighted in red to the name of your new background image file, and reboot. The text in red will differ in name depending on whether your in the PAL or PAL16x9 folder.

If you want to see all the PMIII textures in their uncompressed format, then you can download the entire skin from the XBMC SVN. From there you can explore the entire PMIII skin, just don't go ripping Chokemaniacs images without his authorization.

To get the skin from the XBMC SVN, first install this app: Tortoise SVN

How to use Tortoise after installation:

1) Rightclick the folder where you want XBMC source folders & files to be downloaded.
2) Choose: 'SVN Checkout'.
3) Enter 'https://svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/xbmc/trunk/XBMC/skin/Project Mayhem III' as "URL of repository".
4) Hit OK.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The URL listed for the XBMC SVN is for the PMIII Skin ONLY, and is about 45MB's. Theres no need to download the entire SVN if you just want to view the PMIII textures.

This post has been edited by xboxbox451: Jan 12 2007, 08:28 AM