You Will Need:

• XML editor (Example: Notepad ++)
• JPG graphics editing program (Example: Adobe Photoshop or GIMP)

Overview

Creating your own custom skins for the EVA9100/9150 can be anything from very easy (changing the background images) to very difficult (modifying the menus, font colors, etc.) Since editing XML files requires a lot of background knowledge, and is definitely beyond the scope of a beginner's guide, we’ll focus on the steps that are needed to create a new skin with your own custom images.

Getting Started

The first thing you’ll need to know is the EVA9100/9150 only uses 4 background skins for all of its screens. This makes it much easier than having to create dozens of individual backgrounds, and means you can have a new skin set up and running fairly quickly.

Creating The Backgrounds

There are many ways of getting backgrounds to use for the EVA. You can convert photos you have taken, download graphics, or even create your own by scratch. The only thing you need to keep in mind is the size of the image and the file type. When creating/converting an image for the EVA, use the following specifications.

• File Size: 1280x720
• File Type: JPG

The first step is to create/acquire the images you want to use as backgrounds. As mentioned in the Getting Started section, you will need 4 images for a complete skin set. Below are the 4 images that make up the Reflections skin set. (Main, Pip, Flip, and Full, from left to right.)

First, you start with your basic image; you can see an example above. Open the image in your favorite image editor.

After opening the image in your editor, you will need to add the highlighted areas where the text or graphics will show.  How you want to highlight these areas is up to you (and the capabilities of your photo editor) so you can be as creative and artistic as you like. The example above was done in Adobe Photoshop, using layers and additional filter effects, but the look and feel of these is up to you.

You may ask: “Do I have to create these highlighted areas?” and the answer is no. However, if you don’t put them in, the text and graphics that appear in the EVA screens aren’t going to look very good, or they may blend into the background image.

The next thing to note is that the number and location of each of these highlighted areas is different for the 4 images in your new skin set. If you look at the set of vacation images above, you can see that each background has anywhere from 1 to 3 highlighted areas.  You will want to create the correct highlighted areas, depending on which image you want for each specific named background (flip; full; main; pip.)

The approximate locations for each of these windows are listed below:

• Main: Highlight #1 = (0,145; 665,145; 0,620; 665,620) Highlight #2 = (715,95; 1280,95; 715,510; 1280,510)
• Pip: Highlight #1 = (0,145; 665,145; 0,620; 665,620) Highlight #2 = (718,0; 718,390; 1280,0; 1280,390) Highlight #3 = (718,450; 1280,450; 718,720; 1280,720))
• Flip: Highlight #1 = (0,145; 665,145; 0,620; 665,620) Highlight #2 = (718,0; 1280,0; 718,245; 1280,245) Highlight #3 = (718,300; 1280,300; 718,720; 1280,720)
• Full: Highlight #1 = (0,140; 1190,140; 0,640; 1190,640)

Additional Tips and Tricks

• Don’t try to use a very small image and enlarge it to 1280x720, it’s just not going to look very good. Then, once you put this up on a big screen TV it only gets worse - so just say no!
• If your image is square and you want to make it the proper rectangular shape, it is better to crop the image then to try to stretch it to the right size. If you stretch it, the proportions can end up looking odd, so it is better to crop the shape to fit the dimensions you need.
• Don’t choose images that are incredibly busy with lots of colors. This is not only very hard on the eyeballs, but the menu text can easily get lost in the complexity.
• Don’t choose images that are too dark or too light. If they are too light, then the text that gets overlaid onto the image will blend in to the background and therefore become difficult to read. Choosing a background that is too dark can make some images blend in to the background too much.
• Try to stay away from backgrounds that have all black in the upper left hand corner where the menu title is located. The menu title uses black as the edge blending color, and if it is sitting on an all black background, the title font can become grainy and ugly.
• When creating your highlighted areas, if the backgrounds are light, you can slightly shade the area so the text stands out.
• When creating the highlighted areas, try beveling the edges, or using some other technique that makes them stand out from the background.   A nice optional touch is since the main.jpg and the pip.jpg are used for the same menus, you can use the same base background image (Example figures 5 above) and just create new highlighted areas. This helps with consistency when viewing the same menus.

Once you have created your 4 images, you will want to save them as their respective background names. i.e. main.jpg, full.jpg, flip.jpg, pip.jpg (Make sure the filenames are all in lower case.)

After naming your new background images, it’s time to create a new skin folder for them. Follow the steps below for creating a new skin folder and adding the new images.

Head on to the next page to learn how to add your new background images to the skin.

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