Right-click here for the full Help. (Right-click and choose 'Save Target As..')
 

• The recommended system is:
  • PC running Microsoft Windows XP Home or XP Pro
  • Screen size 1024x768
  • Windows Media Player (version 7 or higher) installed
  • 5MB free hard drive space for program files
• You MUST have the Microsoft Dot Net Framework installed

• The PicSkinner application software
• The PicSkinner Help file (accessible from the application menu bar)
• The graphics used as overlay markers (to show you where controls will be placed in the skin)
• Four styles of button graphics, plus slider and area graphics

You can get the Dot Net Framework via Windows Update, or download directly from the Microsoft Developer Network
 

Please note that I can't provide detailed support for installations on Windows 2000
 

Also, please note that I can't provide detailed support for installations on Windows 98 or ME.
 

(Please remember to check this FAQ page to see if your question is already answered here.)
 

The time taken to make the background graphic will depend on whether you are creating it from scratch, using an existing picture, or just 'tweaking' one for size, colour, etc. But please don't violate any copyrights!
 

Close PicSkinner, then from the Start menu select 'Settings', then 'Control Panel'. Choose 'Add or Remove Programs' then scroll down the list of programs and click on 'PicSkinner'. Click 'Change', then choose the repair option in the dialog box.

If a problem occurs while PicSkinner is trying to build the skin, this may be due to temporary files being left in the build folder (this will only occur if your PC suffers a glitch while the skin build is in progress).

Close the program and find the folder called 'Out', which is located under the PicSkinner folder. This folder should be empty, because it is only used to hold files while the skin is being built. If there are any files in this folder, delete them, then try running the program again.
 

• (Windows 2000) With a new WMP installation, when no skin other than the default one has been used. Only appears to occur on some installations. Is OK on subsequent attempts.
• (All Platforms) When attempting to load a skin with exactly the same name as the current skin. It is best to return WMP to Full Mode before loading a new skin.
• (Windows XP) Occasionally, if WMP contains two (or more) skins with exactly the same name and version number. Increment the version number each time you generate an iteration of one particular skin.
• (All Platforms) When the Windows Media Player installation has been corrupted. Remove and reinstall WMP from the 'Windows Components' panel of 'Add or Remove Programs'.
• (All Platforms) When the PicSkinner XML has been incorrectly manually edited. Refer to the WMP SDK before attempting to edit XML generated by PicSkinner.
• (Windows XP) When Media Player has a video clip loaded (but not playing), and a non-video skin is loaded. Select an audio track in order to force WMP to unload the video clip. Only occurs on some installations.

Note: As from v1.3, there is a build option checkbox to disable Preview Auto-hide

Remember, PicSkinner can hide your picture in the Windows Media Player preview pane. The background picture doesn't become visible in your skin until the media player is in 'Play' mode, or until you toggle the cover-up using one of the Quick Hide buttons in the bottom corners. When the picture is visible, it can be hidden again by clicking one of the Quick Hide buttons.

So if you've made a skin at work using a picture of the boss - or you've been making skins with pictures that your Auntie wouldn't like - the skin can't be viewed in the preview, and can quickly be hidden when the player is in use!

Quick Hide can't cover the screen when a video is being played - so just be careful what you watch!
 

The standard XP installation puts this shortcut on your start menu. If you can't find the shortcut, copy and paste the following line into the 'Run' dialog (click 'Run' on the Start menu):

%SystemRoot%\system32\control.exe appwiz.cpl,,3

You can also copy and paste the line into a DOS box (Start|Programs|Accessories|Command Prompt. Right click at the cursor and choose 'Paste').

The 'Add or Remove Programs' window will open. Click the 'Custom' radio button, then under 'Choose a default media player' select 'Windows Media Player'. Make sure that 'Enable access to this program' is ticked.

When you've finished, click the OK button. You may need to restart Windows for the changes to take effect.
 

If you want to do complex graphics manipulation, though, you will need the full version of something like JASC PaintShop Pro, Adobe Photoshop, or Corel Photo Paint.
 

Although the program allocates a different layer in the skin to each button, the Windows Media® Player sometimes has trouble with overlapping elements.

Wherever possible, try to arrange your controls so that they won't overlap. In particular, don't let the playlist area cover the playlist button, because you won't be able to close the playlist. The same is true for the visuals button.

If you're short of space, it's OK for the playlist or visuals areas to overlap a button whose function you can access by right-clicking on the skin (Play, Pause, Stop, Previous, Next, Shuffle, Repeat, Open). Also, the media player usually works OK if you place a playlist over a visuals screen.
 

You may also want to add some non-transparent graphics to your background to visually link the system buttons, otherwise they can appear rather 'disconnected' from the rest of the skin. For example, you could use simple straight lines to link the buttons.
 

First find the PicSkinner graphics folders. The default installation paths for the control image libraries are:

  C:\Program Files\SeaThree Projects\PicSkinner Freehand\imagelib\set1
  C:\Program Files\SeaThree Projects\PicSkinner Freehand\imagelib\set2
  C:\Program Files\SeaThree Projects\PicSkinner Freehand\imagelib\set3
  C:\Program Files\SeaThree Projects\PicSkinner Freehand\imagelib\set4

Each of these folders contains a graphic file called 'coverup.gif'. If you rename this file (eg rename to 'cover.back') you can add your own graphic as the 'coverup.gif'. Your graphic must be 256 colour non-interlaced GIF format. The recommended size is 128 by 64 pixels.
 

• The cover-up image needs to be exactly the same size as the background image you used to make the skin.
• Save this image in .gif format, with the file name 'coverup.gif'.
• Find your skin file, and change the .wmz extension to .zip.
• With WinZip installed (or later versions of Windows Explorer), drop your 'coverup.gif' file onto the zip file, to replace the 'coverup.gif' that is already in there.
• Change the skin file extension back to '.wmz' from '.zip'.
• Double-click the skin file to add it to the WMP skin collection.

There are two approaches that you can take to making very small skins. The first is to limit the functionality - for example don't try to include a playlist, equalizer, or visuals.

The second approach is to increase the skin 'canvas' so that you still have a small background image but can fit the playlist or visuals in a blank transparent area. If your graphics program doesn't include canvas resizing, just copy and paste your small graphic into a larger sized image made of just the transparency colour.
 

Unfortunately, the Windows Media Player itself automatically allocates the video screen to a layer which is on top of all the others. Because this is an internal function of the player, it cannot be over-ridden, so it isn't possible for 'Quick Hide' to cover the video screen.
 

  C:\Program Files\SeaThree Projects\PicSkinner Freehand\imagelib\set1
  C:\Program Files\SeaThree Projects\PicSkinner Freehand\imagelib\set2
  C:\Program Files\SeaThree Projects\PicSkinner Freehand\imagelib\set3
  C:\Program Files\SeaThree Projects\PicSkinner Freehand\imagelib\set4

Each folder contains one complete set of graphics. Back up these folders before changing anything. Browse through the set folder to find the graphics that you want to change.

An alternative to changing the masters in the graphics library is to make the changes in a specific skin.

Change the skin file name extension from '.wmz' to '.zip'. You can then extract or replace any of the graphics files in the skin using WinZip or later versions of Windows Explorer. When you've finished, just change the skin name extension back from '.zip' to '.wmz'.

PicSkinner uses various fixed colours in the skin definition, so don't modify any of the graphics that aren't button images, and don't change the button image background colour.

The background colour defines the transparent area of the button, so make sure that you don't use it in your graphic unless you deliberately want to have a 'see-thru' part in the button.

You must use the same size graphics as the original buttons. Small 8x8, medium 16x16, large 32x32. Visualization 'Prev' and 'Next' are 18x18.

Each button has 3 images: 'up', 'down', and 'hover'. You'll need to make sure that you change all three, unless you deliberately want the original graphic to appear in one of the states.

You must save your modified graphics with exactly the same name as the original. The graphics file format is non-interlaced GIF, which has a maximum of 256 colours.