Related
Trying to learn and I have yet to see a place for such basic questions. Also, there was a request for this type of information in my Sticky thread.
What is the difference? Both are done from Stericson... I've read he doesn't really use MetaMorph any longer (not sure if he does Ninja).
Metamorph is for theming... ninjamorph is for apps?
Is one better than the other?
Does a morph for one, work for the other?
Why morph vs. doing the flashes of a .zip file (old school way)......
Also... morphs... do they have to be specefic to your phone?
Would morphs for the Nexus work on our phone?
I know metamorph was suppose to make themeing easier and allow you to mix and match themes. Update.zip files couldn't to that easily. IIRC themes are specific to each device and ROM. I've seen ninja morph but have yet to use it. Would like to know how it works as well.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
To my understanding, Ninjamorph is for allowing you to extract and modify apk files to create the morphs on your phone (along with using something like silveredit to create the xml files). Metamorph just lets you apply the morphs.
I'd be curious to learn some more about this as well. I found this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=763439 about creating morphs which is helpful but still leaves me with questions.
s15274n said:
Is one better than the other? They do different things. So far I figured out that ninjamorph is good for unpacking .apks so that you can find what you need to modify/modify it. Metamorph does the actual replacing.
Does a morph for one, work for the other? They do different things.
Why morph vs. doing the flashes of a .zip file (old school way)...... This seems to be because a morph doesn't change much and it allows you to make updates and things easier. Not really sure other than what I read in one of the battery mod threads and since using them a bit it is much faster to apply a morph.
Also... morphs... do they have to be specefic to your phone? Yes because they replace specificly named things. If you try and use one on a different device or different rom it may not work because the file names will be different. I don't think there is a reason you couldn't modify that though.
Would morphs for the Nexus work on our phone? Would probably need to be updated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use them together... Want a quick tut?
Go to ninja and start a new project...
System/framework/framework-res.apk
You just extracted the files from the app... Inside the res/drawable-hdmi folder are the images you want to change...
Statusbar_background.9.png is the status bar color... If you click it it will ask what you want to replace it with... you can do the same think to any other pics...
Now make a new folder, My_Morph, add another folder here, framework-res, and now another res,
copy the android themes/workspace/frameworkresapk/res/drawable-hdmi (folder you just changed) and add it to the res folder you just made..
Now to make an xml doc... I have a tut/template here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=759329
and there is one by stericson in my sticky morph thread...
I use silver edit to create my .xml docs on my phone...
Add the My_Morph.xml to the My_Morph folder with the framework-res folder.. You just made a morph...
To test the morph first you can finish project with ninja.. It will rebuild the apk then install it... This is how I build half of my stuff...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Junk you're the man. I think I just found me some android crack to play with lol.
Vibe the XDApp
I am sorry if this is a noobish question or there is an easy answer, but I was looking at customizing my phone a bit and I saw the part about making your own splash screens (which is awesome), but I was wondering how to make custom boot animations - what tools I would need, type of files, etc. I thought there would have been a thread somewhere in the Themes & Apps section but I could not find it, and doing Google search leads me to just people posting their own custom animations.
Is there a thread someone can direct me to that has this sort of information? Any help would be appreciated - thanks!
Bump - does anybody know? Also, the boot noise for the BAMF Sense 3.0 RC3 does not work, another reason why I want a new one, ha.
Have you opened one of the bootanimation.zips? What file types are in there?
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
A PNG image and a series of JPG images that make the animation, but I was wondering if there was a program that took an animation to make it into a series of JPGs, or if there were certain requirements/specifics in terms of how to make a boot animation.
+1 on this whole post, I attemted last night to make my first animation, and if it is just the tedious task of re-saving the same picture over and over again with just minor changes on each one to create the animation, than ok, so be it.
It just seems that with some of the very cool animations there are, for example the boot animation to the new BAMF 3.0 has moving clouds in the background, that seems like it would be pretty hard to do manually moving the clouds a little bit for each frame.
It would seem pretty obvious to anyone that extracted the bootanimation.zip how the animation works, just more speaking on the creation of each of those frames.
Would be nice if someone with experience with this chimed on and offered some help.
Thank's in advance.
Does seem pretty tedious manually moving and saving them as you said but I'm guessing that's what they do.
Probably wouldn't take that long if you had everything on layers in photoshop and you could just move layers themselves.
Alternatively, if you already have a video, I'm sure there's a way to convert that to a series of png's as well.
Ok I'm on the phone so giving a tutorial is out of the question. All you really need is patience and a goal.
First download Gimp for editing. Forget PhotoShop all together unless your rich.
Download the following scripts or plugins.
Background overlay
Save all layers
GAP (video editor for Gimp)
Google the hell out of what you want. Chances are someone allready has done what you want.
Read, read, read (time to not be lazy, what ever your doing you can find some direction at least with some good internet research)
Google "editing Android boot animations".
Create images (JPG or PNG) in the same aspect ratio of 480x800.
JPG images will be significantly smaller in file size
PNG images will have a much better quality
Sent from my thunderstick
Use GAP to convert an existing video to images frame for frame.
Very useful if you find a good video.
Sent from my thunderstick
I actually do have Photoshop, do you know how I can use that instead of Gimp/GAP? Also, I am sort of confused at how you take an existing video and turn it into something you can use as a boot animation... I found this link (http://www.machackpc.com/how-to-changecreate-your-boot-animation-for-droid/) but I am sort of confused by it and wish I could find someplace with simpler instructions.
I just use others. I used the Call of Android animation and the mw2 style on my incredible, and I just edited the files to use the same ones on my thunderbolt.
Message delivered via my BAMF Thunderbolt
Ok, did a little research last night and today and tried a bunch of different programs for converting animations to a series of .png files and finally settled on one. I tried some free one's some trials and this is probably the best one I found so far.
Xilisoft Ultimate video converter. I was able to load an .avi, (or many other supported formats.) Program made it very easy using the "clip" feature to select out a section of the video I wanted, then converted that "clip" to a series of .png files. I was able to easily select the length of times between the extracted images "less time will obviously give you a smoother animation but require more pictures", also I could manually input the size of the outputted files (to match our phone's resolution).
I have only played with it a little bit but so far seems to be pretty good.
Also I have one other program I have been playing with to help with this. Jasc animation studio, which works with paint shop pro, has a pretty cool feature, which lets you copy into the clipboard all of your extracted image .png's, then "paste" them into animation studio as a new animation, you can then watch them from there, or load any indivual frame into paint shop pro. You can also save the clips as an animated gif. Very easy to make changes to individual frames and see the result's without having to flash to your phone.
Hope this helps.
Wow! Awesome, thanks, this is perfect and in great detail - what about sound? If the video has sound, will I try hope it gets synced with the series of .png images? And what else would I need for the bootanimation.zip folder? Will I need a .txt like when I change the splash screens?
Anyone have a Dark themed Google Voice? That would go with FunkenEclipse?
Anyone know how to theme this and up for the challenge?
** UPDATE **
Here is a working DarkGrey/Green themed version of GoogleVoice (0.4.2.32) if anyone wants it.
*Thanks to xkape*
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=721602&d=1316189086
** Just put on SD card, boot into recovery, install zip and reboot **
There is a screenshot in xkape's post #16
Okay, So I've been trying everything I can think of, have done alot of reading. Really could use some help here guys. If anyone can give me some pointers I would greatly appreciate it.
I DLed the Google Voice from the Market, put on my computer, unzipped it with 7zip.
Took the res folder (drawable-hdpi), and replaced all the .png files with updated green/black themed ones from that above post.
This is where I get lost. I try to rezip the package, tried it with every kind of compression.
Everytime I go to install it on my phone, it tells me.....
Parse error
There is a problem parsing the package.
Anyone got some pointers?
OK buddy, 1st off, I am assuming by dark voice, you mean black background with white text. If that assumption is true, theres a lot more work to be done than editing images.
However, if you are in fact just trying to change images and are familiar with 7zip, the process is pretty easy. Especially since you already edited your images.
Lets do it this way, since your progression will yield the right results...
grab your completely stock voice that you have.. open it (NOT UNZIP) it with 7zip... find your way to the proper folder(s) and move your edited images into.. yes, while still zipped. Once thats done, close 7zip. it will ask you about updating the archive.. say yes... you're done.
And if you are in fact looking for the black backgrounds with white text.. grab my BNB theme and pull the Voice out if it. Its inverted.
xkape said:
OK buddy, 1st off, I am assuming by dark voice, you mean black background with white text. If that assumption is true, theres a lot more work to be done than editing images.
However, if you are in fact just trying to change images and are familiar with 7zip, the process is pretty easy. Especially since you already edited your images.
Lets do it this way, since your progression will yield the right results...
grab your completely stock voice that you have.. open it (NOT UNZIP) it with 7zip... find your way to the proper folder(s) and move your edited images into.. yes, while still zipped. Once thats done, close 7zip. it will ask you about updating the archive.. say yes... you're done.
And if you are in fact looking for the black backgrounds with white text.. grab my BNB theme and pull the Voice out if it. Its inverted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, Dark themed Google Voice, like in the 1st post. The green one.
I havent thought about the TXT color... crap im not going to be able to read it after i update the PNGs......
One of your themes has a themed Google Voice? I might have to try that.....
Thanks for your help sir.
K, So I ended up pulling your Voice.apk from the BnB theme (which looks awesome btw... dunno how I missed that one)
I like it, but its just black and white. So I opened it with 7zip, go to res/drawable-hdpi and replace the file "widget_inbox_background.9.png"
That is the background for the widget.... only thing I care about..
I let it update the archive and save.
Copy the apk to my SD card and attempt to install it.
Everything looks great it appears to be installing then it gets to the end and says "Application not installed" done
I cannot get past this part..... am i doing something wrong?
bobhilton.... what color do you want it to be? Im willing to bet I can find the color you are looking for.
I mean the whole app, not just that background image. I can make that right in 5 minutes for you.
xkape said:
bobhilton.... what color do you want it to be? Im willing to bet I can find the color you are looking for.
I mean the whole app, not just that background image. I can make that right in 5 minutes for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? wow that would rock. I'm just starting to learn this stuff. I've done so much reading and feel like i've came so far. but I'm finding out how much a pain in the arse these .9png files are....
The theme I'm looking for is the Dark greyish/ green one. Its in my first post of this thread. There is a screen shot here
http://www.mpmitchell.com/download/droidx/Apps/GVDA3.jpg
I like those colors.... not a fan of the font but i dont really care. I've tried everything. I found that .9png background widget image but I cannot insert it into your BnB theme
I would love if you could insert it if its not a big deal, you make it sound easy. I'm going on about 4 days of reading and about 10 different programs..... I must be missing something.....
Thanks for you help man.....
wait, you just want the widget?
Like this?
xkape said:
wait, you just want the widget?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well..... All I use is the widget and the inbox....You click the widget it takes you to your inbox for your voicemail.......
The pic you posted was of FaceBook....
I basically like it the way you themed it but with darkgray/green like the theme in the first post.....
Ok I get you now. Send me that image.
Sent from my DROID X2 using XDA App
All the images and pngs are in this thread.....how can I send them to u?
Sent from my DROID X2 using XDA App
bobhilton.... I was looking back thru here and didnt see the widget image attached anywhere BUT.. I also noticed something... did you by change try sticking the apk in an update.zip template and installing it thru recovery?
xkape said:
bobhilton.... I was looking back thru here and didnt see the widget image attached anywhere BUT.. I also noticed something... did you by change try sticking the apk in an update.zip template and installing it thru recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is all of the PNGs with the dark theme.
http://www.mediafire.com/?kk6hk22abeajyc1
Yes, I did try flashing them with an update.zip it went with no errors but did not work. But I dont really know if I did it right..... this is a huge learning process for me.... If you can get these to work.... please tell me how.... and it better not take you 5 mins lol
Bob
ok I am downloading it now.. let me see what I can do.
---------- Post added at 11:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:06 AM ----------
why in the hell did I post a facebook widget?...lol wow.. just realized I did that. And you even told me I did.
Doesn't look all that fantastic with all the rest of my orange theme but.. speaking on the app, I believe this is what you wanted?
xkape said:
Doesn't look all that fantastic with all the rest of my orange theme but.. speaking on the app, I believe this is what you wanted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome man! Geeez that was fast..... mind giving me a few quick pointers on how you did it?..... You must've used cheat codes or a game genie
Actually, I think you may have just been trying to install it wrong..lol I decompiled it thinking I was going to need to fix some 9pngs but the log said they were all ok. So I just stuck it in an update.zip and installed it..lol
I attached mine if you want to try it.
Wow, I don't get it....
It worked flawlessly.... looks perfect.... you rock man.....
So if you don't mind.... just help me understand this a little....
I went through your flashable zip (Voice.zip) and looked at everything.... It just pushed the apk (Voice.apk) to ssytem/app..... right?
K, so, the Voice.apk that is in your updatezip... system/app/voice.apk
how did you get this to work?
Is this your original inverted voice.apk? and then you just replaced the drawable-hdpi complete folder? or just the updated pngs? and thats it? Thats like the first thing i tried.... for like HOURS....
I just went through the apk.... looks like you just overwrote the pngs and 9pngs with the new gray/green ones.... man... you didnt have to mess with any xmls did you?
That just seems way to easy... I tried that like 10 times
Anyhow... thank you so much for your help man!
If the above is true, shouldn't I be able to do this same process with the new updated googlevoice from the market? and just update the pngs?
Don't know if I want to try it yet, but im really curious where I went wrong so it might be a good challenge...
I think I may of had a bad update.zip... I will try yours next with themed facebook
Theres an new GVoice? I guess I need to get to it.
For this, All I did was take Voice out of the BNB theme and opened it with 7zip. (NOT UNZIP)... then I opened (again, not unzip) you hdpi folder. I highlighted all the images and moved them all at once into the BNB hdpi folder. I then closed 7zip and yes to updating the archive. I stuck Voice.apk into a update.zip template and put it on the SD Card. I rebooted into recovery and installed the zip.
Ive never tried just sticking something in the system folder and hiting install. Not sure that would work.
Maybe just putting the apk in there, making sure the permissions are correct and then just rebooting would seem more like the solid option to me. I mean, technically, if its in your system folder it is installed.
I have tried UOT Kitchen before, always was unlucky at having flashing errors.
My question is this... If I take a flashable theme, with permission from the creator, I should be able to use the scripts that they include for flashing? I am savvy with un-APKing zipping, signing and what not, is that all I would have to do to recreate a theme using my own images?
Thanks to everyone here!
Yes, the script you see other themes using can be changed out with your own, as well as the content. You can also just use the UOT Kitchen script. Credit given where credit is due, of course, but the script itself (IMHO) is not something you really need permission for.
Another tip, this from firsthand experience, when you're zipping everything up getting ready to flash, make sure you're zipping the contents of the theme folder (/META-INF/ & /system/) vs zipping the theme folder.
It sounds really stupid, but it took me forever to figure out why everything I did in UOT Kitchen perfectly but everything I did, using the same damn script, just froze. But ya gotta learn somewhere, right?
Remember when using the kitchen make sure u click amend scripting in the area where u load the apks... x2 uses 2. Something recovery.. if u don't click that there will be errors everytime
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Thank you, I think I've tried UOT 5 times but never had success.
Kevin, I tried the amend scripting, it solo didn't work.
I would much rather use my own images then those offered in uot kitchen.
I'm going to try to put a theme together this weekend, I haven't modded anything since BF2 wake island air show
Dee Ex Two - See Em Seven
Ok, how much do you know about themeing? Because if you are wanting to edit just the images(.pngs) you will need some info first...
You can "simply" take the framework-res.apk and systemUI.apk and go to the HDPI folder(or wherever the images are) and "drag n drop" to your desktop and edit those... OR you can take a .png that you wanna use(say one from another theme) and just drag n drop in the HDPI folder. And then, simply make a flashable .zip and your good to go.
.9s !!!
These are a PAIN if you dont know what you are doing.
If you are going to try and get into themeing, download APKManager and decompile the framework-res.apk ... go to a .9 image(i think its .png.9 or something of the like). When you load the image(say in GIMP) you will see black squares on the OUTSIDE of the image(like near the edges of the ACTUAL picture edge)... DONT TOUCH THOSE!!!! leave them there and make edits how you choose to the rest of the image. Once you are finished, just recompile(DONT SIGN AND YES! THESE ARE SYSTEM APPS!). Put in a flashable .zip and your set.
NOW Please note:
When you are doing the drag and drop method, make sure you are REPLACING an image and not ADDING more images.. catch the drift?
this is quick how to, hope it helps and good luck. let me know if you need anything else.
All the themes rock! I have poor eye sight (far sight) so my main concern always is status bar and the battery icon. I love being able to see the percentage, but some themes use smaller battery percentage text.
.9 seem like the stretchable area I'm beautiful widget... I understand that
Thanks Peperm1nt
Dee Ex Two - See Em Seven
I was thinking of trying out theming. That is until I looked at the crap load of images just thrown into one directory. lol. It may not be as hard as it looks but I havent looked any further than that yet. I still want to try something out though. Is there an easy way of figuring out what image does what on the phone? Like if I want to change some things, I have to know the name of the image. Well, to me, it looks like they aren't named plain and simple. Plus when they are just thrown into one directory its kinda hard to distinguish what is what. It was so much easier theming for webOS. lol
Js if u really look at the framework u will see all the images in the drawable hdpi folder are really a lot of the presses..tabs. status bar icons... over scroll glow theming takes a lot of time to build straight from scratch... any .9 PNG can be edited when it is decompiled in apk manager or apk multi tool just don't edit the black patch as peppermint said or u will not compile...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Kevin3328 said:
Js if u really look at the framework u will see all the images in the drawable hdpi folder are really a lot of the presses..tabs. status bar icons... over scroll glow theming takes a lot of time to build straight from scratch... any .9 PNG can be edited when it is decompiled in apk manager or apk multi tool just don't edit the black patch as peppermint said or u will not compile...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, one of these days ill download the tools and play with it. I've always enjoyed theming.
Sent from my MB870 using Tapatalk
I'm just trying to figure out the script to flash, is it the one in the google folder?
Dee Ex Two - See Em Seven
@js I know what you are saying about the desire to do it but the system isn't really what I would say themer friendly! Admittedly I am not the sharpest tool in the shade when it comes to some things (like the Android OS), so I would imagine that plays a big role in my intimidation of the whole thing.
What got me was the De-Compiling and Recompiling of everything just to change something. Not to mention the signatures and etc... perhaps one day someone will write a piece of software (be it windows based or Android in a shell on a PC) that will make it all pretty simple on that part. Till then I will prob. just enjoy and appreciate the work of others.
GL, Slim!
SlimMan said:
@js I know what you are saying about the desire to do it but the system isn't really what I would say themer friendly! Admittedly I am not the sharpest tool in the shade when it comes to some things (like the Android OS), so I would imagine that plays a big role in my intimidation of the whole thing.
What got me was the De-Compiling and Recompiling of everything just to change something. Not to mention the signatures and etc... perhaps one day someone will write a piece of software (be it windows based or Android in a shell on a PC) that will make it all pretty simple on that part. Till then I will prob. just enjoy and appreciate the work of others.
GL, Slim!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I agree about the decompiling and recompiling thing. When I had a webOS phone I created my own theme just by simply replacing the images and restarting the phone. With android, it seems you have to take the whole framework out, theme it and recompile the package file and flash it to the phone. Just seems a bit overwhelming.
Sent from my MB870 using Tapatalk
It's not that bad if you are just changing the images... Just timely. I suggest gimp to do the work. Another tip, some of the images are indexed. In gimp change from indexed to rgb...back to indexed, then rgb. Reason being that you are now able to add any color and doing it twice clears the pixelation...
What gets hard is smali editing and .xml editing. Let me know if you need help there.
Tapin' the Talk on the xSquared
Send a PM to "KTT16" on the Motorola Photon Forums, he is a great themer, let him know what you need help with, tell him you are running stock on the X2, he'll ask you for whatever files he needs, and he will help out.
By the way, if you are at all interested in a signature image, I can create one for you, just PM me, and I'll get on it.
Peperm1nt said:
It's not that bad if you are just changing the images... Just timely. I suggest gimp to do the work. Another tip, some of the images are indexed. In gimp change from indexed to rgb...back to indexed, then rgb. Reason being that you are now able to add any color and doing it twice clears the pixelation...
What gets hard is smali editing and .xml editing. Let me know if you need help there.
Tapin' the Talk on the xSquared
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can batch process in PS.....and what is this bout clearing the pixelation...lol
Thanks I'll check it out
Dee Ex Two - See Em Seven
When you find a indexed image going to rgb pixelates the image...going back to indexed and then to rgb fixes this.
Tapin' the Talk on the xSquared
Peperm1nt said:
When you find a indexed image going to rgb pixelates the image...going back to indexed and then to rgb fixes this.
Tapin' the Talk on the xSquared
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was p playing with you, all my online gaming and forum names have always had pixel, pixelated, pixelation, pixelized or any variety of pixel
Edit: swyponese
Dee Ex Two - See Em Seven
I am trying this out for the 1st time. My main goal is to create a transparent status bar for CM7. Will this make that "patch" I need for this?
Kevin3328 said:
Js if u really look at the framework u will see all the images in the drawable hdpi folder are really a lot of the presses..tabs. status bar icons... over scroll glow theming takes a lot of time to build straight from scratch... any .9 PNG can be edited when it is decompiled in apk manager or apk multi tool just don't edit the black patch as peppermint said or u will not compile...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i seem to be a complete idiot lol
im sitting here trying to use apk manager and have no clue how to go about it
i cant get it to friggin pull files, i have no clue what im doing tho lol
i been trying to find info on how to use it with the x2 but cant find jack that is actually useful.
time to go eat, clear my head, and get back to researching, im probably just missing something extremely easy i knoow, but hey, i havent had a working computer in years so yea, im kinda learning on the fly here, lol
Lol @ash
In apkm select the apk you want, then decompile... Make edits, recompile.
Tapin' the Talk on the xSquared
I'm using SuperSU but I love the icon for superuser , (its the superman s under the andr) with my theme.
(Q) Is there anyway to extract that icon and attach to SuperSU? Its much cooler than #.
Let's skip the chick flick moment..
Use root explorer to extract the two .apk's from "data/app" and upload them here. I should be able to change the icon for you.
Thanks so much....I went in and extracted .apk and started looking through folders. As I was going through I think I recognize how to change the icon. The only problem now is, the one I am looking for is in my theme .apk and there are a lot of .png files. Just to make sure, when I find it, move and replace the icon.png in the other .apk, fix files etc and reboot...
Let's skip the chick flick moment..
Right now I'm not at a computer to provide/explain everything in detail, however, I can tell you it's slightly more involved then it may seem at first. You actually need several PC programs to do it. If you really want to do it yourself, I'd be glad to type you up a mini guide if that's the path you want to take. I'll give you the choice, kinda like the Matrix (which I finally watched yesterday ) and offer you option of the 'blue pill' or the 'red pill'...
Blue pill- This is simple, upload the two .apk's and I'll get it done for you in a jiffy. You install it and everything goes as it was.
Red pill- If you take this path I will type up a mini guide and help you with any difficulty you have. You walk away with both knowledge and a nice icon.
...Lol. The choice is yours. Which pill will it be?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2