[Guide/Tutorial][17/06/12]How to make "basic" theming mods + .9.png tutorial

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If you find this guide useful then please rate the thread, i dont really care about thanks, thanks.

Give a man a theme and he can flash for a day.
Teach him how to theme and he can flash for a lifetime.

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"What's in the guide??"

*Basic image editing
*Using UOT kitchen to change the battery icons
*Popular image names and locations (GB)
*How to decompile using apk manager4.9
*Editing .9.png's
*How to use the universal theme.zip
*Create a batch Hue action in Photoshop

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I'm constantly seeing people asking for minor changes to ROMS, Themes, Mods etc, so i thought i would post this to let the talented people get on with what they do best, and the rest of us can stop harassing them for simple tasks that we are all capable of ourselves.

"Could you add these images from this ROM to your theme?"
"Can you change the colour of the battery in you ROM?"
"Is it possible to have different status bar colour?"

Well people it's time to learn some basic theming/modding/skinning, whatever you want to call it.

Lets say you want to change the colour of the battery....

What you will need:

*7zip (free)
*Greenfish icon editor pro (free/ windows) or *Gimp (free/ all platforms)



Getting going:

[1]
Firstly open up your ROM/Theme/Mod with 7zip and navigate to:

"system/framework/"

*If framework-res is a folder drog and drop to a suitable location on you pc.

*If it is an .apk then extract it and unpack.
TIP: drag it out then right click>7zip>extract to "***".

TIP2: Create a copy of this folder in case you make a mistake!!

[2]
Now navigate into "framework-res/res/drawable-hdpi/", in here are your battery images named "stat_sys_battery.png"

[3]
Open up Greenfish/Gimp, and drag across the images you want to adjust.

[Greenfish] Select Filter>Hue/Saturation
In the window that opens adjust the properties until you get your desired effect.
Save and close.

[Gimp] Select tools>color tools>hue-saturation
In the window that opens adjust the properties until you get your desired effect.
Save and close.

[4]
When your happy with the results open up(NOT EXTRACT!!) the Universal Theme template provided using 7zip and navigate to-
"system/framework/framework-res.apk/res/drawable-hdpi/"
Drag the newly adjusted images across.
Close and place on your sdcard to be flashed from recovery.

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Now lets say you want to use different signal images....

[1]
Get the ROM/Theme/Mod containing the images you want to use
Open up with 7zip and navigate to "system/app/systemUI.apk/res/drawable-hdpi/"
in here are your signal images named "stat_sys_signal.png"

[2]
Open up(NOT EXTRACT!!) the Universal Theme template provided using 7zip and navigate to-
"system/app/systemUI.apk/res/drawable-hdpi/"
Drag the desired images across.
Close and place on your sdcard to be flashed from recovery.


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That was easy was'nt it!
There are free software programs out there like gimp that let you batch process images but im not aware of the methods used, if anyone is then please post.


Please feel free to post helpful info and ask questions about locations of images or anything else related. Hopefully myself or anyone else in the know will help.


If you want to go deeper into theme-ing here is an amazing guide:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=916814


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>>> Universal Theme empty template <<<

Thanks to JR soft and also Intronauta for universal theme http://www.htcmania.com/showthread.php?t=258333 .Based on the "VillainTheme system" tool by VillainTeam. More info etc, head to www.villainrom.co.uk.

Originally Posted by dully79

I'm constantly seeing people asking for minor changes to ROMS, Themes, Mods etc, so i thought i would post this to let the talented people get on with what they do best, and the rest of us can stop harassing them for simple tasks that we are all capable of ourselves.

"Could you add these images from this ROM to your theme?"
"Can you change the colour of the battery in you ROM?"
"Is it possible to have different status bar colour?"

Well people it's time to learn some basic theming/modding/skinning, whatever you want to call it. Ill add more info to this as necessary.




Please feel free to post helpful info and ask question about locations of images or anything else related. Hopefully myself or anyone else in the know will help.


Like i said is is a very basic guide, if you want to go deeper into it, here is an amazing guide:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=916814

>>> Universal Theme empty template <<<

Thanks to JR soft and also Intronauta for universal theme.(based on the "VillainTheme system" tool by VillainTeam. More info etc, head to www.villainrom.co.uk).


Hopefully this helps some people.

Thanks dully .Very usefull guide indeed.I use paint.net for changing colour but i found really usefull this empty template

And a little help.The only thing i do is to make the necessary changes png's or xml's into system/app or framework is that right?
Do i need anything else eg extras?
Thanks again!!!

This will come in useful. thanks

Your very welcome.

I use "actions" in photoshop for batch processing, but i also have another program which is really good called "AbleBatchConverter", unfortunately thats paid software.

Greenfish is ideal for minor adjustments- its a small file size, easy on resources, quick and has some good features, but best of all........it's free.

Originally Posted by siberian tiger

Thanks dully .Very usefull guide indeed.I use paint.net for changing colour but i found really usefull this empty template

And a little help.The only thing i do is to make the necessary changes png's or xml's into system/app or framework is that right?
Do i need anything else eg extras?
Thanks again!!!

If you put any xml's into the framework folders there is a good chance it will break it from being "Universal"

The "XTRAS" depends on what your doing.
The "XTRAS" folder is where you put apk's to be installed instead of just images in the system folder.

Example how to use "XTRAS" folder:

Open "Vending.apk"
Goto "res/drawable-hdpi/"
Drag and drop in images with matching names
Close apk

Open UT empty template
Goto "XTRAS/app/
Drag and drop Vending.apk inside
Close and place on sdcard for flashing

When flashed this will install "Vending.apk" into "system/app/"


Hope this helps.

Always here to help and share my friend...!!!

===THANK YOU=== mate !

Universal-Flasher-tool_v3.0

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Hello everyone!

This version of the template that you use (2.X) is somewhat outdated. Version 3.0 has many new features, and is much faster and safer.

http://www.multiupload.com/HOP6RWMNOB

Basically, has a new advanced configuration file (MOD.config) where you can enable / disable functions (more information inside the file).

Have also been replaced binaries zip and busybox with a new binary 7z, much faster. The process is much faster now than before.

It also supports theming non-system applications (though not recommended).

Enjoy it!!!

Originally Posted by jrsoft

Hello everyone!

This version of the template that you use (2.X) is somewhat outdated. Version 3.0 has many new features, and is much faster and safer.

http://www.multiupload.com/HOP6RWMNOB

Basically, has a new advanced configuration file (MOD.config) where you can enable / disable functions (more information inside the file).

Have also been replaced binaries zip and busybox with a new binary 7z, much faster. The process is much faster now than before.

It also supports theming non-system applications (though not recommended).

Enjoy it!!!

Does it support "sdcard"?
The last script supported "emmc", that's why I still use v.2*

Originally Posted by dully79

Does it support "sdcard"?
The last script supported "emmc", that's why I still use v.2*

Yes, the script autodetects the path of the sdcard. You can also manually set the path very easily to the new file MOD.config. Check this out:

                             [SDCARD PATH]
##########################################
default_internal_sdcard=/emmc
##########################################

##########################################
default_external_sdcard=/sdcard
##########################################

*It's not necessary to modify this 
parameters unless you really need another
custom folder path for your sdcards in the
recovery. You should try before change
this!! and remember don't modify the 
generic "sdcard" folder name in XTRAS.
The system will adapt the paths depending
of this values.

Cheers mate, your a legend. I could never get vrtheme to play nice but yours runs perfect.