NXSkinGen Tutorial

NXSkinGen Tutorial

NxSkinGen is a great program the lets you customize your Virtual Graffiti and Status bar area. So far I have some instructions on how to use NxSkinGen and should be adding some more soon. Click the links below to skip to the different sections.

• Making Virtual Graffiti Skins

• Using Skins

• Using NR Skins on your NX

Making Virtual Graffiti Skins

There are a number of people interested in making there own Virtual Graffiti skins, so here are the instructions on how to make VG skins using NxSkinGen. The main instructions are in black and are bold. The rest is information that is still important, but if you are finding yourself confused, just try to focus on the black parts. This program has a lot to it and I hope that I can try and help you sort through it all.

1. First, you will need a copy of NxSkinGen which you can download from here.

NOTE: Be aware that the window of this program is very large. There is a fix for NxSkinGen that can be found here. This makes it so you can use the app at a normal screen resolution. If you are running at greater than 1024x768 then I think you will be fine and won't need this fix. To use it, just copy the .exe file to the directory that the NxSkinGen app is running in and replace the normal .exe file. I can't remember who made this fix, I would like to give credit to whoever it is, so if it's you, please contact me.

The program is very simple to use as long as you follow the steps listed.

I have numbered different parts of the program to make the steps easier. Only numbers one through eight are used for VG skins. Nine and ten are for status bars.

2. Next we need a .BMP file that will hold the final skin when we are finished.

To create this select EN in the #3 section, make sure VG is selected in #4, click Export (#6) then hit Save (#2). (I suppose if you are making a Japanese skin, you will want to leave it at JP, but I will assume we will be making an English skin since the instructions are in English.) You will need to save this bitmap file. You only need to do this step the very first time you make a skin as the same .BMP file can be used over and over.

3. Now we will need to use a graphics editing program. I use Photoshop, so I will be using that for this example. You could also use Paint or Paint Shop Pro. Most any editing software should work. For those using Photoshop, here (link currently does not work) is a link to a Photoshop file from Jalbrant.com that is great for creating VG skins. It contains the standard VG area with all of the parts in their own layers.

4. What you want to do is create an image that is 320 x 130 in size. Also remember that the image will be only 8-bit color (256 colors). If your not sure how to do this, you might need to consult the instructions of your editing software. This image will be the skin that you want to appear. All buttons must line up with the existing buttons. So for the first time making a VG skin, it would be best to just try and modify the existing BMP we already created. (Or modify the Photoshop file previously mentioned.)

5. Once you have the skin how you like it, you will need to open up the .BMP file we saved earlier. Then you want to copy the skin you created and paste it into the BMP you saved. You must then move it into the upper-left corner. Here is an example:

6. Now that you have the main VG skin made, you must make the same skin, but with all buttons pushed in. Then paste that into the upper-right corner like so:

7. Now we will want to save this new file under its own name. But make sure it stays in the same format. It must be an 8-bit BMP file. Now we can go back into NxSkinGen.

8. Click Open (#1), then select the new bitmap file that was just made. Make sure the EN and VG options are still selected. Then hit Import (#5). Then hit Export (#6). Now we must give this file a name. This is the name the Palm will see when it in the internal memory. Enter the name in the #7 text box. Then hit Save (#8). Now you must give the file another name. This is the name of the .PRC file. After that the skin is made!

Using Skins

The easiest way to use the skins is to grab a program called PhotoSkin. With this program, you can easily select which skin you want to use and can even use skins made for the NR model Clies.

There is also a free way to do this for the geeks and power users out there. All you need to do to run the VG and Status Bar skins is to install them like any other application you would install. Then perform a soft reset. To do this, unscrew the back end of your stylus and poke that into the reset button on the back of your Clie. It gets tricky when you want to switch or remove skins.

To remove the skins, you will need to perform a warm reset. Hold the Up button, hit the reset like before, then release the Up button. This will very quickly reset the Clie bypassing loading anything up. One thing you will notice is the Virtual Graffiti area doesn't load. To get to the launcher, hit Ctrl+H on the keyboard. Go to Clie Files and delete the skin file. Then do a regular soft reset to restore the Clie back to normal.

Using NR skins on the NX

If you have PhotoSkin, you can very easily use skins make for NR Clies on your NX. But don't worry if you don't, there is still a way to do this with NxSkinGen! Just hit the Open button (#1), then make sure that #3 is set to EN and #4 is set to VG. You can't use NR status bars on the NX. Only Virtual Graffiti skins. Hit Import (#5) then Export (#6), give the skin a name (#7) then hit Save (#8). Now you have a skin that will work on your NX!

NOTE: There are skins that are know as 'TapPad skins' for the NR's. They are different because in place of the area where you write your numbers, there is a number pad, like a telephone number pad. These require a program called TapPad to function and currently TapPad doesn't work on the NX's. Once TapPad works, then there should be no problem converting the skins over, but until then, those skins will not work.

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