Skin setup help

[Agon]

Hi guys
I just got a new Clie NX70/V am now playing around with skins.
Been doing a lot of reading in these forums but things are a bit confusing and I would apreciate any help.
1- I managed to skin my graffiti area, but I would like a skin like some I have seen where the numbers area is actually buttons with numbers, how do I get those??

2- On the bottom right I can swap between graffiti and a small keyboard, how can I skin this keyboard ? The default one looks very dull.

Thank you very much for any help, I hope this has not been asked too many times already, but I have read for a few hours and couldn't come up with a conclusion, doing searches does bring some results but explanations seem always vague, like I heard of tappad but when I look for it, it is some overlay plastic tingy cover to place over the graffiti area and not a program with skins, at least that is what I understood, so pardon my confusion.
Cheers.

[the_iceman]

Agon,

There are a few programs to skin VGs.

One of the most popular is called NXSkinGen This can create Skins used for NX/NZ and many other types of Sony Type of Handhelds. This program will NOT be able to create VGs for the NR Clies.

Here is a Link for NXSkinGen: http://www.gsc3d.com/ClieNXfiles/VGskinTUT.html

Another Place to find TOOLS for Compiling Skins.... can be found at Festus' Site: http://festus440.happypalm.com/

If you can wait a week or so .... there is supossed to be a 'new' skinning program coming out which will work with 16bit images. (currently all VG/SB skins must be in 255 colors (8bit palette).

In any event .... with regards to your 'questions' about the keyboard... and whatnot..... create whatever you want. ... just ensure the images you create are 8bit images and sized dimensionally in accordance with the original images for them to function appropriately. :)

[the_iceman]

2ndly ..... there are several 'skinning' ways to do your 'vg/sb'. As I first mentioned ... there is the programs like NXSkinGen and others.

If you are a type of person who is not as interested in using the 'numerical' side of your VG area and would like to use 'buttons' to say launch certain programs or perform functions..... then you will want to take a look at a skinning solution called WONDERSILK. This VG application will compile a skin which you can have 'added functionality' in your VG area.

Here is a page with a link to get Wondersilk and some 'basic instructions':

http://www.treasure-ways.com/koby/forE/HowtoWonderSilkMaking.html

Please be advised.... many people are not as much of a 'wondersilk' VG fan due to the fact it is a little 'slow' running on a handheld. You might not see any problems on a NX handheld... but just wanted to warn you about this.

[cbulock]

Another way to skin the VG area is to use the app CodeDiver and TnSilkChange. They can be found at this site: http://www.jade.dti.ne.jp/~imazeki/palm/index.html

This method isn't as popular, but I find it much easier. All you simply need to do is have a JPEG on your Clie you want to make into a skin and it can be converted into one right on the device.

I have some basic instructions here: http://nx.cbulock.com/16bitvg , but if you figure out how to use the app, there are actually easier ways to get the skins made that how I did it.

The thing I like most is that TnSilkChange makes it easy to store all your skins on the Memory Stick, and you can have 16-bit color images on the VG area. Unfortunately, you can not skin the status bar using this and if you are using one of the beta versions of Code Diver, you need to use DTChanger instead of TnSilkChange and DTChanger does not have Memory Stick support.

[Agon]

Thank you VERY MUCH guys, I think I will get what I need now.
Thank you for your advice and time!!
Cheers