[HTC Desire X] Will_Xda:
Hi welcome to my guide on the Basics of making and editing Skins for sense 4

Skins are incredibly easy to make and can be really good fun, they are also a good way for you to give back to the xda community without really breaking a sweat

What are Skins and how can i make them ?

Skins are HTC's equivalent to themes for The HTC sense U.I (Up to sense 5) and can change many things that you see in your phone, there are two main ways to create and edit the skins. The first and easiest way is using a popular program named VTS by the virtuous team which pretty much does all the tricky and confusing stuff for you, Which is good:good: or you can make it yourself and do all the work yourself, which is what my mini guide is all about :laugh: If you want to save yourself some time then download the VTS program and use this Guide http://www.virtuous-ten-studio.com/index.php/other-stuff/94-how-to-create-your-own-sense-skin

Requirements:

A phone or Device that actually runs Sense 4 *Duh

A computer or laptop that's newer then Windows 95

7zip or WinRar (google them if you dont have them already)

A programe called Notepad++

A brain & a bit of patience

Your HTC framework (com.htc.resources.apk)

And a base skin

1. Download the skin you want to use as a base for creating or editing (this will save a lot of time.) examples of base skins are ones we already have such as Matte/serene/aluminum which can be found here http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2038155

Your'e also going to want to get the htc framework .apk which is now known as "com.htc.resources.apk" from your phone found in the root of your device under system/framework/ ..... Make sure both of these apk files are in a folder on your computer where your going to remember

2. Now your going to want download this http://www.4shared.com/zip/Z8rB_hIS/file.html and extract it then put the FOLDER "APKTOOL" into a new folder called android and move it to the root of your'e C directory (or equivalent) Your'e also going to want to move both "Base skin.apk" and "com.htc.resources.apk" Inside the Apktool folder (just so its easier for you later)

After you've done this you're gonna want to install the framework and decompile the "base skin.apk" Use this guide to help you Decompile http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1989533

3. Okay so once you've successfully completed the above steps you can now finally edit the images of the theme as you please (the extracted should be in a folder in "C:\android\apktool"

In the folder named Assets you'll find 4 images in this folder you can: change the preview image that you would see in personalize before you select the theme, and the wallpaper that will be automatically set when you choose your skin in personalize

In the folder named res you'll see a load of different folders, but the only folders we care about for now is the folder called "drawable-hdpi" where you can edit .pngs as you like with a program like: Photoshop or Gimp. (Don't edit .9.png's though until your'e experienced)

As an example we can change the lock ring (see the screenshot below) (if you want inspiration for lockrings then check this thread http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=22011398

In the res folder there is another folder called Values Edit Strings.xml with a program called notepad++. You'll see a line of text in the xml that says

<string name="skin_name">Matte (or what ever the base skin was called)</string>

you can edit "Matte" text to whatever you want the name of your theme to be e.g. " <string name="skin_name">Beats Skin by Joe</string>" then make sure you save.

4. So now you need to recompile the folder into an .apk refer back to this guide (the bit says finishing/recompiling finished project) http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1989533

5 Now to finish it off you need to sign the .apk and align it, so use this https://code.google.com/p/apk-signer/

6. Now copy the Signed and aligned .apk to your device, and install it. :fingers-crossed:

*I don't take credit for any of the tools used in this guide, all i did was brought it all into one in this thread for you :)

However if you want to hit the thanks button then don't be shy about it ;)​

*I'll sort out the font and size of the text soon, add more screen shots, and make a video on how to do it so its slightly easier to see and understand