Database Develop

[Ref Tutorial] Changing the boot animation screen on google builds

Ok, so I know a lot of you are looking for a simple process to get the animation screen changed on non-hero/htc builds. Well, we can do it.
First, animated gif images dont work for google builds as of yet (at least that I've heard of), so scrap that idea right now.
The google boot animation is a combination of two images:
android-logo-mask.png
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
and
android-logo-shine.png
(images taken from Dude's 1.3RC1)
Now, the way this works is as so:
android-logo-shine is the color in the background. it scrolls across repeatedly, and that white stripe on there makes it look like it's got a light glimmer on it. android-logo-mask is the actual image. When it's all put together, it looks something like this (imagine the background color scrolling across as your phone is loading)
now, I've played with this some and my current logo is 256x265. The logo cant really be any wider than 256 pixels or it will crop off the edges of the screen. The shine has to match the image in height, but the width is fine at 512.
there are multiple methods for doing this. first is the old-school method for people who like to do things the old fashioned way.
So heres what you do: (VIDEO TUTORIAL HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMrn3n_ayHI)
1.)take your favorite rom and favorite unzip program (i use winrar). open the rom up and navigate as follows:
system--->framework
2.)you will see a file called framework-res.apk. open this file (again, winrar works good for this).
3.)open the assets folder, then open the images folder.
4.)you will see the two png files i mentioned above. extract them both to your desktop, but DO NOT CLOSE THE FILE BROWSER (unless you want to navigate to that folder all over again).
5.)now comes the fun part: editing your images. this is where it gets a little more complex:
-on the mask, any area you want the scrolling color to show up must be TRANSPARENT. You can put just about any text or image on there that you want, but the scrolling color from the shine image will not show through without the transparency.
-the shine image can be any colors you want, so feel free to play around with some schemes until you come up with something you like.
6.)after you're done and you've saved both images the way you want, put them back in the same folder you took them out of (framework-res.apk\assets\images)
7.)once you've put them back in, you have to resign the whole update. this is a very easy process that is laid out for you in this thread that stericson put together.
8.)throw the newly signed update.zip on your sd card, boot into recovery mode, flash, and reboot. you'll be happy with the result.
Just to give you guys a little taste, heres what my FIRST design looked like:
(just use your imagination to picture the red/white background scrolling across the android and lettering)
A couple things to point out for you artists: the "shorty's android" and the android outline are the only transparent parts, so they will show the scrolling color. The "1.5 customized" and android eyes are solid colors, so they dont scroll/change/nothing.
Now, at this point in time, I havent found any way of adding music like the htc/hero builds can do. If anyone figures that out, let me know and I can add it to this tutorial, with credit to you, of course.
Enjoy your spiffy new boot animations guys, and please post some screens here so we can all admire your work.
New addition guys: for those having trouble with the directions, I made a video tutorial to help out! Check it out here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMrn3n_ayHI
Next, and probably the easiest method of doing this is to use METAMORPH! If you dont know what metamorph is, well, you're behind the times and need to check out this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=591329
If you are familiar with using metamorph to at least install themes on your device, then you're set.
So how do you do it using metamorph? Simple.
First, you're going to create a brand new folder and title it "bootanimation" or whatever you choose.
Now, inside that folder, you're going to have several files in order for this to work right.
1. The folder stack where the boot animation will go (explained below)
2. the .thm OR .xml file depending on which version of metamorph you have. If you're not sure: free version uses .thm files. Pro/Donate version uses xml.
Now, creating these things is SIMPLE. The folder stack is going to be the same every time for boot animations. In your folder that you have already created and should be staring lovingly at, create a new folder called "framework-res". THIS FOLDER NAME MUST BE EXACT, as must all the ones that follow. open the folder you just made and create a new one inside it called "assets". Open the assets folder and create a new folder inside it called "images". I know it seems tedious, but thats the LAST folder you have to create, I promise. The last step here is to open the images folder and place inside it your android-logo-mask.png and android-logo-shine.png files. after you've done that, move back out to the original folder and get ready to create your .thm or .xml file.
Now, .thm files for bootanimations are simple. open notepad and put in the following:
any
any
framework-res.apk
/system/framework/
Then save the file (NOT AS A .TXT FILE) as bootanimation.thm
Now, when saving the file as indicated above, the name of the .thm file MUST be the same as the name of the folder you originally created. So if your folder, and thus your final zip file, is named purplebuttmonkey, then your .thm file must be named purplebuttmonkey.thm. Simple enough?
Now, creating the xml files is a bit more complex for the average user and certainly a bit much to put into text, so I'll simply defer you to the master, Stericson himself, in a nifty video he made to educate you how to do it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq4AuHKzNFo
So fast forwarding:
Once you've created your folder stack, your .thm file or .xml file and are ready to move on, all thats left to do is to create your zip file! Guess what, these dont have to be signed either! Hooray! So open your favorite zip program (again, I recommend winrar) and create a zip file out of the original folder you made. After that, put it on your phone, load up metamorph and go to town!
Also, metamorph is nice because it eliminates having to re-sign everything every time you want a new animation. All you have to do is replace the two png files in the folder stack you made, re-zip it and morph it once its on your phone.
NEW:
Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy Boot Animation: http://www.4shared.com/file/XWXh6pT6/HHGBoot.html
YOU MUST HAVE METAMORPH. For right now (4/25), only the pro version will work. Stericson is updating the free version to XML on the 30th. After that, this will work for everyone!
NEW ADDITION: Burlyskink made an excellent html applet for testing out your designs so you no longer have to flash an update in order to see what the finished product looks like! You can find this little gem here. Many thanks to Burlyskink for this!

Many thanks to noonski and mikey for helping get this out of the dogpile. Show your mods some love guys!

Finally!!!
Nice work bro!
I'm am that guy who goes through much trouble w/ a lot of these upgrades mods and graphic tweaks do to the fact that im a visual learner not so much the literal. Do to minimal knowledge on the graphic's aspect, i need a first hand basis tutorial like this one to successfully complete these mods!! \
ThankS a million and Hope to start seeing many more VIDEO TUTORIALS like this around, touching on different area's of graphic designing/software modding for the G1..
Thanks again to all dev's/themers(HEAVY HITTERS!): Manup456("headcrack"), Moonsspoon, Stericson, DudeofLife, koush, Tehseano, Haykuro, Cyanogen, Twisted, Jwange, Diaztradenic, Doubleokneegro, Jborque, MarcusMaximus04, LucidRem, JAC, And of course last but definitely not least The Godfather, The man/The Myth JESUSFREKE!!! and for anyone that i did not mention you know who you are thanks a million!!

I've added these two png's to my update.zip\framework\framework-res.apk\assets\images\
I've been able to reboot with them in the apk now, but it's just a black/blank screen. Does anyone see any reason why they wouldn't be able to be merged into the apk?
I've gotten a log but at the moment, I'm not seeing anything very telling....

you did sign the file and reflash the update, correct? cause I just downloaded your two png files, loaded, signed, flashed and it works just fine for me.

heya,
i have tried to edit JFv1.51 CRB43-us but when i go into the folder i dont not see a .apk file i see .cramsf is there a way i can do it on these themes???

OP,
Mind sharing your red/white background?
EDIT: Just tried this. Edited my own files, repacked into framework-res.apk under assets & images. Resigned the update & all I got was a black screen. Does the framework-re.apk have to be pulled out of the update & edited, then resigned? Or can it just be edited from within the update.zip itself? I am using 7zip if that helps
EDIT2: Just tried pulling the framework-res.apk to edit the images but it didn't work. I placed the original images back in & that worked. I don't get it. The files are the same dimensions. But my images were bigger than the original as far as bytes go. I don't know if that has anything to do with it. I don't know how to get them any smaller. I tried pnggauntlet but it didn't seem to work. O well I'll stick with the stock stuff but continue playing with it till I get it

Beast84 said:
OP,
Mind sharing your red/white background?
EDIT: Just tried this. Edited my own files, repacked into framework-res.apk under assets & images. Resigned the update & all I got was a black screen. Does the framework-re.apk have to be pulled out of the update & edited, then resigned? Or can it just be edited from within the update.zip itself? I am using 7zip if that helps
EDIT2: Just tried pulling the framework-res.apk to edit the images but it didn't work. I placed the original images back in & that worked. I don't get it. The files are the same dimensions. But my images were bigger than the original as far as bytes go. I don't know if that has anything to do with it. I don't know how to get them any smaller. I tried pnggauntlet but it didn't seem to work. O well I'll stick with the stock stuff but continue playing with it till I get it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont have the original red/white because i'm using a much different background now. the easiest thing i can recommend would be to open the original shine image with photoshop, go image>adjustments>hue/saturation and drag the hue slider until you achieve the desired color. Oh yeah, and edit the image height to match your mask image.
As far as the other two problems, you can do it from directly within the zip. watch the video tutorial at the bottom of the OP, shows you exactly how to do it step by step.

Thanks for the tutorial Kusotare,just thought I would add that I use 320 x 480 images like Dude/Manup did in his 1.1 and 1.2 builds and they dont cut off the sides at all.Both of my themes use 320 x 480 boot animations if anyone wants to grab one as a template feel free they are in my signature.

kusotare said:
you did sign the file and reflash the update, correct? cause I just downloaded your two png files, loaded, signed, flashed and it works just fine for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I can include the two pngs to my update.zip/resign/flash, and then I just get a black screen now instead...tried fixing permissions/chmod'ing the file as well....still just getting a blank screen after rebooting.

kusotare said:
I dont have the original red/white because i'm using a much different background now. the easiest thing i can recommend would be to open the original shine image with photoshop, go image>adjustments>hue/saturation and drag the hue slider until you achieve the desired color. Oh yeah, and edit the image height to match your mask image.
As far as the other two problems, you can do it from directly within the zip. watch the video tutorial at the bottom of the OP, shows you exactly how to do it step by step.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did it exactly how it was done in the video & still I get a black screen. The phone boots up fine but no animation

Beast84 said:
I did it exactly how it was done in the video & still I get a black screen. The phone boots up fine but no animation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try doing it through winrar. I've had problems with 7zip in the past, which is why I use winrar to do it.

i did this through 7zip. you can modify a whole update (for example, you love a theme but hate the vanity boot screens authors sometimes force upon you) by bringing up the context menu (right click) on the update.zip, then 7-zip>open, after that, navigate to system/framework, and at framework-res.apk just right click again and select "Open inside", and then navigate to assets, pull the two files to your desktop, edit them however you want (or if you already have your own just skip pulling them out), and then just pull the files back to the window and close, it's going to ask you if you want to save, just say yes or ok, and that's it, the update is all good to go (no need to re-sign or anything, i can confirm it works that way)

I've used WinRAR and 7z, no dice.

Threw this together to test.

Thanks for that, kusotare!
I used an adb-based approach:
1.) I pulled the framework-res.apk from /system/framework via adb
2.) then I put my modified PNGs (attached) into it
3.) I wanted to adb push framework-res.apk back onto /system/framework, but there was no space left on device.
4.) so I created a symlink (ln -s /system/sd/framework-res.apk /system/framework/framework-res.apk) to my Apps2SD partition.
5.) awesomely, it worked on the first try.
Edit: There is some kind of error with the scrolling background, it's maybe too big. Also, the blue doesn't look as good on the G1 screen as on my laptop. Firmware Information: JF 1.51 EU, 62.505.20.17U_2.22.19.26I, 2.6.27-00392-g8312baf [email protected] #1 CRB43
Edit: Okay, apparently, using Apps2SD for this is not a good idea. It can get you looped. However, it's easy to use adb to get out of it again by removing the symlink and repushing the original framework-res.apk . There is an even better solution for everyone with the current Google Maps from the Market - just erase the default /system/app/Maps.apk which is ignored anyway (according to adb logcat).
I swapped the splash out 5+ times now, and the phone boots up reliably. There is a very small possibilty of problems while using the phone, going to bed now and exploring that tomorrow. (It's 4:11)

Autarkis said:
Thanks for that, kusotare!
I used an adb-based approach:
1.) I pulled the framework-res.apk from /system/framework via adb
2.) then I put my modified PNGs (attached) into it
3.) I wanted to adb push framework-res.apk back onto /system/framework, but there was no space left on device.
4.) so I created a symlink (ln -s /system/sd/framework-res.apk /system/framework/framework-res.apk) to my Apps2SD partition.
5.) awesomely, it worked on the first try.
Edit: There is some kind of error with the scrolling background, it's maybe too big. Also, the blue doesn't look as good on the G1 screen as on my laptop. Firmware Information: JF 1.51 EU, 62.505.20.17U_2.22.19.26I, 2.6.27-00392-g8312baf [email protected] #1 CRB43
Edit: Okay, apparently, using Apps2SD for this is not a good idea. It can get you looped. However, it's easy to use adb to get out of it again by removing the symlink and repushing the original framework-res.apk . There is an even better solution for everyone with the current Google Maps from the Market - just erase the default /system/app/Maps.apk which is ignored anyway (according to adb logcat).
I swapped the splash out 5+ times now, and the phone boots up reliably. There is a very small possibilty of problems while using the phone, going to bed now and exploring that tomorrow. (It's 4:11)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I tried the ADB version when I first started, thinking "you know, pushing the framework-res would certainly be much easier than manually repacking and resigning the whole update". Then I ran into the same problems you did and decided that the method I eventually settled on and posted here was going to be much easier for most people than trying to solve the million adb-how-to questions that would eventually come up. Glad you got the adb method working well though.

Thanks for confirming that, kusotare!
In anticipation of the adb-who-what questions you mentioned, let me state it for all to see:
First: All adb questions are answered in the forum. Use search, or Google. I heard they have this nifty search engine. I don't know where it'll get them eventually, but for the moment you can find pretty much everything using Google.
Second: I don't support adb - I love it!

Custom
I was bored and decided to make an electric version. I'll fool around with it with some newer ideas later.
As usual... open framework-res.apk, drop+replace in assets/images, sign.

I'm beginning to think that it's something that Paint Dot Net does, because I can use the png's in the first image and they work perfectly, as soon as I edit the mask or the shine not changing the name or size by too much it craps out on me (it updates, but just goes to a black screen for the animation)...
Anyone doing this with pdn, or are you guys all using GIMP/Adobe?
Paint Dot Net users: do not save with 32 bit, do not allow it to choose for you or it won't work for you. Much aggravation dispelled now...

Blur Animation

I am currently using the Latest Cyan Mod ( 4.1.999 something ) and I really miss the blur transition animation. Can you guys tell me if there is a way I can push it manually ?
Thanks in advance

go to spare parts and enable window animations

Well I guess u have no idea what am I talking about ! I know how to perform those simple steps ( I have been flashing mah phones and doing all kinda stuffs for a long time ). What I am asking is" the new BLUR transition animation found in some new themes ! I just wanna know if I can push it manually without actually installing the theme
Thanks btw

haven't used the blur animations myself, so i may be wrong, but take the theme with the animations, pull the folder framework-res.apk/res/anim (the first one can't recall exact name). take that folder and drag it over into an unthemed version of your rom into the same location. sign the .zip file, then flash it.

david1171 said:
haven't used the blur animations myself, so i may be wrong, but take the theme with the animations, pull the folder framework-res.apk/res/anim (the first one can't recall exact name). take that folder and drag it over into an unthemed version of your rom into the same location. sign the .zip file, then flash it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for the info, but can you tell me how to sign the .zip file since I have not done this b4. Thanks

this is probably one of the easiest ways to set it up.

for framework-res (at least in Hero builds) you are not required to resign the apk after editting...easiest way to edit an apk is within winrar...on your computer (PC as I don't own a mac) right click on the apk and set it to open with winrar (set it as default program)
now you can edit the contents of the apk without ever extracting the contents.
So after you open take the /res/anim from file A and move it into the framework-res.apk from the build you wish to use simply ADB push (or a root file explorer or some terminal method I don't know) the file to /system/framework
reboot...and viola.

[HOW TO] Make your own bootscreen and create signed zip

Here's a tutorial for those wanting to make their own (animated) bootscreen for the HTC Hero. Decided to write it after I'd seen a couple of posts from people asking about this, and some encouragement from yet another. I've tried to write this in greatest detail possible, so everyone can have a go at doing this.
Tools
It's really quite simple, if you have the proper tools for the job:
SignAPK.jar + testkey.pk8 + testkey.x509.pem
SignAPK.cmd (batch file written by me to facilitate signapk.jar use)
Graphics editor that can work with animated GIF files (Adobe Photoshop or Fireworks recommended)
a plain text editor capable of editing UNIX files (if you're unsure about this, use the free, and open source Notepad++. You can get the Installer.exe here.)
These aren't required, but make things easier:
Android SDK Tools installed (working adb.exe at the very least)
Hero's stock bootscreen to start from)
I have attached two stock Hero bootscreens (one with and one without the HTC startup sound), as well a zip file with the signapk files.
Setting up SignAPK
First, make sure you have Java installed. If not go to www.java.com to install it.
Second, I recommend to unzip the SignAPK_xda.zip file to C:\SignAPK.
Lastly, add the signapk folder to your PATH environment variable:
[*]Go to Control Panel, System
[*]Click on "Advanced" (or "Advanced System Settings")
[*]Click the button "Environment Variables..."
[*]Locate the PATH variable under "User Variables" (or "System variables" if you want to use SignAPK under other user accounts) and double-click it to edit
[*]In the "Variable Value" field, at the end of the line, type a semi-colon and the path to the signapk files ;C:\SignAPK
[*]You could also add the path to your java.exe file here if you have troubles with running signapk.​
A note on signapk.CMD
I wrote this batch file so it's possible to sign a zip file from a command line with the least amount of typing (saves time and less chance of a typo). It will check for java.exe and if it doesn't find it in your %PATH% it will let you know and try anyway. It will also prompt you to overwrite or not, if it finds the signed destination file already exists. Open in notepad to find out more.
Contents of bootscreen_stock.zip
You can delete the following three files, as they are created by the signing process:
META-INF\CERT.RSA
META-INF\CERT.SF
META-INF\MANIFEST.MF
This file contains the command to copy the files to the SYSTEM: volume on your device - you never need to edit this:
META-INF\com\google\android\update-script
This file tells Android how and which files to display - open in Notepad++:
system\media\bootscreen\boot_animation.xml
Then we have the actual bootscreen files:
system\media\bootscreen\boot1.gif - shown first, and plays only once
system\media\bootscreen\boot2.gif - shown after first ends, and loops forever (i.e. until end of boot sequence)
system\media\bootscreen\boot_bg.gif - optional file, this file is used as background during entire boot sequence if the 2 aforementioned files are smaller than Hero's screen
system\media\bootscreen\boot.mp3 - optional sound file, played once during boot
boot_animation.xml file contents
Code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
* Copyright (C) 2008 HTC Inc.
*
-->
[COLOR="Red"]<!-- For new bootup animation
<BootConfiguration>
<BootAnimation
image="/system/media/bootscreen/boot.gif"
audio="/system/media/bootscreen/boot.mp3"
image2="/system/media/bootscreen/boot2.gif" (optional)
image3="/system/media/bootscreen/boot3.gif" (optional)
screenX="100" (optional)
screenY="130" (optional)
image_bg = "/system/media/bootscreen/boot_bg.gif" (optional)
useAudio="1" // 1: true ; 0:false (optional)
/>
</BootConfiguration>
-->
[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Green"]<!-- For cropped version -->
<BootConfiguration>
<BootAnimation
image="/system/media/bootscreen/boot.gif"
image2="/system/media/bootscreen/boot2.gif"
image3="/system/media/bootscreen/boot2.gif"
loopimage="/system/media/bootscreen/boot2.gif"
image_bg="/system/media/bootscreen/boot_bg.gif"
audio="/system/media/bootscreen/boot.mp3"
screenX="10"
screenY="180"
useAudio="1"
/>
</BootConfiguration>
[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Red"]<!-- For full screen version -->
<!--BootConfiguration>
<BootAnimation
image="/system/media/bootscreen/boot.gif"
audio="/system/media/bootscreen/boot.mp3"
useAudio="1"
/>
</BootConfiguration-->[/COLOR]
This is the file included with the stock bootscreen. This file actually contains 3(!) configurations, however the first and third (red-colored) have been commented out. In short, edit the middle (green-colored) "BootConfiguration" section.
Delete the line that begins with image3= as you won't need it.
If you do not wish to include a startup sound, delete lines starting with:
audio=
useaudio=
Alternatively, simply set useAudio=0
If you boot1.gif and boot2.gif files are both 320x480 pixels, delete lines starting with:
image_bg=
screenX=
screenY=
Alternatively, simply set screenX=0 and screenY=0
If you delete the audio= and image_bg= lines, you can ofcourse delete the files audio.mp3 and image_bg.gif to keep the update.zip as small as possible.
ScreenX and ScreenY are coordinates in pixels, that tell Android where to place the GIF files on the screen. Top-left of the screen would be ScreenX=0 and ScreenY=0; bottom-right would be ScreenX=320 and ScreenY=480. This means that if you make a GIF file that is 200 px wide and 180px high and you wish to center this on the screen, you'd use ScreenX=60 and ScreenY=150 (i.e. ScreenX=320-200=120/2=60 and ScreenY=480-180=300/2=150). If your GIF files are exactly 320x480 pixels, you can set ScreenX and ScreenY both to 0, or leave those two lines out entirely.
Creating a GIF animation from scratch
(boot1.gif and boot2.gif)
Using Adobe Photoshop CS4 (cannot speak for older versions, I think you'd need the now discontinued Adobe ImageReady instead):
Create a layer for each frame of your animation (yes, I didn't say creating an animation from scratch wouldn't be a lot of work)
Click Window -> Animation to show the Animation panel
Click the panel menu (top right icon in panel) and choose "Make Frames from Layers"
If the frames are loaded in reverse from what you intended, choose "Reverse Frames" from the Animation panel menu
From the panel menu, choose "Optimize Animation" and UNtick both "Bounding Box" and "Redundant Pixel Removal"
Finally, go to File -> Save for Web & Devices, UNtick "Transparency" and play with some of the options to reduce file size.
To (re-)open an animated GIF file in Photoshop CS4, go to File -> Import -> Video Frames to Layers and type in the file name box *.gif then hit the Enter key so you can see GIF files, browse to it, select and click Load.
Using Adobe Fireworks CS4:
Make sure the "States" panel is visible, via Window -> States
Create a new "State" for each frame of your animation
To set frame delays, or basically set how long each frame will be shown for, in 100ths of a second, select one or more states and right-click, choose "Properties"
Make sure you do not use transparency (this gave me problems)
To save, go to File -> Save As, set "Save as Type" to "Animated GIF (*.gif)" and "click Options"
Do check "Dither" for better looking gradients and transitions
Play with the options on the first tab to reduce file size
On the "Animation" tab, UNcheck "Crop each state" (don't do this and get some crazy glitchy results in your bootscreen)
Creating a GIF animation by converting a G1 bootscreen animation to Hero format
(boot1.gif and boot2.gif)
You can also import a bunch of PNG files as layers (and subsequently frames) from, for example, a G1 bootscreen.
The fastest way in my experience is simply using Fireworks' File -> Open dialog, make sure all files are in one directory, select them all, do check the "Open as Animation" checkbox and click "Open". This will open each file into its own state in one big file. Then use instructions above to set frame delays and proceed to save as animated GIF.
You can also do it in Photoshop, but this method is very slow, via File -> Scripts -> Load Files into Stack (UNtick "Create Smart Object after loading layers"). Then follow the steps above to create an animated GIF file.
Compiling your bootscreen
If you have the files you want, it's time to zip them and then sign the zip file.
Make a folder "mybootscreen" and unzip the stock bootscreen into that, so it looks like this:
META-INF\CERT.RSA
META-INF\CERT.SF
META-INF\MANIFEST.MF
META-INF\com\google\android\update-script
system\media\bootscreen\boot_animation.xml
system\media\bootscreen\boot1.gif
system\media\bootscreen\boot2.gif
system\media\bootscreen\boot_bg.gif
system\media\bootscreen\boot.mp3
Delete those first 3 files, edit the XML file as needed and replace the GIF files with your own (see my explanations above).
Use for example 7-zip to select the 2 folders META-INF and system and click "Add" (to create new archive)
Make sure you set "Archive Format" to ZIP
Open a Command Prompt window (click Start, Run, type cmd and click OK, or if you have Vista or Windows 7, click Start, type cmd and hit Enter key)
Use this command to go to the directory with your zip file: CD /D C:\path\to\your\file
Type signapk mybootscreen.zip and hit Enter key
Barring any typo's you should now have a file named mybootscreen_signed.zip. You can copy that to the root of your SDCARD and flash it via your recovery image, or use DroidExplorer's flash function.
If this tutorial was of any use to you, or you have ideas to make it better, please reply and let me know. Thanks for reading!
EDIT (2010-04-11): updated SignApk_xda_v20100411.zip. Fixed a couple of forgotten quotes in signapk.cmd that made signing files with spaces in their filenames impossible. New zipfile attached.

wooooo THANKS!
THANKS A LOT! I have made the animated gifs and the sound, but I was insure how to sign and create the signed zip. I'll be trying this ASAP when Ive finished work. Ill keep you posted....
Thanks again m8.

Great guide, I have made my own bootscreen for the Villain rom, but for some reason, when i flash it to my hero, on boot, it plays less than a second of it, ad then messes up completely and displays random static like on an old tv, and then just a black screen for the remainder of the boot time
Help!! my gifs are not that big, i made sure of that (only slightly more than the stock) and i made them in photoshop CS4 with the animations panel, and followed your instructions to the letter.
Gifs are bellow, please help, as i would really like to release these, as i think they are really nice.
Boot1
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Boot2

Hey, very nice work! Try the zip I've attached. I think it came out great.
It boils down to a few small problems. Here are some steps I took to correct them:
Imported your files into PS as I described in the tutorial using "Video frames to Layers"
Edit -> Convert to Profile -> sRGB IEC61966-2.1 (UNcheck "Flatten Image")
For just boot1.gif in Animation Panel, bottom left, set looping to "Once"
For just boot1.gif via Image -> Image Size... -> Width:320px, Height:480px, Resolution:72dpi, Check Resample Image and set to "Bicubic"
File -> Save for Web & Devices, with these settings: Selective, Diffusion, UNcheck transparency, UNcheck interlaced, Colors:64 (as this is a grayscale animation, it looks fine), Dither:100%, Matte:none, Web snap:0%, Lossy:0, Metadata:none.
The end result is bigger files, but they work. The XML was fine.

Great! thanks a lot for your help, and your original guide, I might do a few more boot screens now as it looks really good (in my opinion)

mattyyey said:
THANKS A LOT! I have made the animated gifs and the sound, but I was insure how to sign and create the signed zip. I'll be trying this ASAP when Ive finished work. Ill keep you posted....
Thanks again m8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How'd it come out? Would love to see your results!

Really interessant, this is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks for this How-To!
For the signing process I haven't use your "signapk.cmd" (since I'm a linux user)But I have a question: testkey.x509.pem & testkey.pk8 you provied are only to sign app for the Hero? or is it a standard Android singning process? I mean... where are those key from?
For now i've just "resign" the stockbootscreen for "educational purpose", soon I'll try to create something, I hope
EDIT: Okay I was able to resign the original one correctly since I was able to flash it, BUT my bootscreen is still this nexus one animated. So maybe I don't understand wich bootscreen we actually modifing. I know this is not the really first one (this one is fine: spend one day to find that we need a custom SPL to change my ex horrible T-mobile first bootscreen to a Hero one) So why can't I remove the nexus one coming with aHero ROM?
EDIT2: using
Code:
./adb pull /system/media/bootscreen/boot.gif ./Desktop
I get the right image... that mean the files are correctly flashed on my ROM but nothing change so that mean aHero is using a different path for the 2nd bootscreen ???
Thanks for any hint

carbonyle said:
Really interessant, this is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks for this How-To!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're most welcome!
carbonyle said:
For the signing process I haven't use your "signapk.cmd" (since I'm a linux user)But I have a question: testkey.x509.pem & testkey.pk8 you provied are only to sign app for the Hero? or is it a standard Android singning process? I mean... where are those key from?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The signapk files (except signapk.cmd) came from a 5MB file named "AndroidMod.zip" that floats around the internet, so to speak. It also contains 3 img files, part of a tutorial I guess, which are not needed for signing. The testkey certificates were created by whomever made that zipfile. The credentials for those files are quite anonymous ("Android" and "[email protected]", etc), so they should be fine to use. You could use openssl to generate your own key files. I tried, and they generated okay, but zips signed with my own certificate wouldn't flash. Recovery (Amon RA) kept saying the files weren't signed. So if you figure out how to properly generate your own certificates, I'd love to hear it.
carbonyle said:
For now i've just "resign" the stockbootscreen for "educational purpose", soon I'll try to create something, I hope
EDIT: Okay I was able to resign the original one correctly since I was able to flash it, BUT my bootscreen is still this nexus one animated. So maybe I don't understand wich bootscreen we actually modifing. I know this is not the really first one (this one is fine: spend one day to find that we need a custom SPL to change my ex horrible T-mobile first bootscreen to a Hero one) So why can't I remove the nexus one coming with aHero ROM?
EDIT2: using
Code:
./adb pull /system/media/bootscreen/boot.gif ./Desktop
I get the right image... that mean the files are correctly flashed on my ROM but nothing change so that mean aHero is using a different path for the 2nd bootscreen ???
Thanks for any hint
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know I'll download aHero and have a look.
EDIT: Okay, just had a quick look in "aHero07-signed.zip" and it appears Android 2.1 uses a different bootscreen format. Do this:
adb shell
cd /system/media
ls
Instead of a bootscreen directory you'll see a file "bootanimation.zip". Instead of 2 animated GIFs, it contains 2 directories. Each directory is an animation, with a bunch of PNG files for frames. A text file describes which dir is what animation (order of playback) and the delay between frames. If you want to convert a 1.5/1.6 bootscreen from GIFs to seperate PNGs for use in this new format, just open the GIF file in Photoshop (or GIMP I guess) as described and save each frame as a seperate file (Photoshop has a function or script for that, maybe GIMP does too).
Maybe you'll find more information in this thread. I got the Supernova bootscreen graphics (see my sig) from there, which I converted into a bootscreen for Cupcake.

Well, my experience from running 2.1, you can use the bootanimation.zip, or if you delete it and create the bootscreen folder, it also works.
I have the same problem though, when I load up my gif, using the old method, it looks like hells just got unleashed on the gif. Nothing in place, static, etc... I followed your tutorial, tried a couple things, nothing has been working so far...
EDIT: Nvm, found another program to remove the transparency, works now! Got bored, haven't seen any terminal style logins - this works great for my phone, the timing might be different for others though.
To get it working, just delete your bootanimation.zip and flash the zip as usual.
Boot1
Boot2
http://groups.google.com/group/admin-panel-dev/web/terminal_signed.zip

Great tutorial! And nice work that one is Warhawk
I have a problem. I made one by screen capturing some video. Converted it to .gif fine. I can play it in windows fine, but when flashing to android the image just gives a black screen (its only the gif area of the screen cos the animation is only 300x120.
I have provided the .gif above, if anyone can help.
Thanks

I went ahead and removed the transparency from the gif, it showed up on my Hero just fine when I zip/signed it.

Aaah Thanks so much buddy. I swear i tried that though (maybe i made a mistake)
Cheers so much!

I am getting an error after flashing. My installation aborts.
...
Verifying update package...
Installing update...
E:Can't find update script
Installation aborted.
...
Can you help??

quan_one said:
I am getting an error after flashing. My installation aborts.
...
Verifying update package...
Installing update...
E:Can't find update script
Installation aborted.
...
Can you help??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Upload your update.zip. Some-one should be able to help.

Did you include the update-script to: \META-INF\com\google\android

Hey guys I created my own boot screen but I am failing to see why my gif will not display on my hero. I have created it from scratch being careful not to include any transparent images or layers but it still displays as a black screen. I am not sure what would cause my gif not to play on my phone other than a transparency issue.
Any help would be more than welcome.
(I am able to sign my zip and flash it no problem)
(edit: The image was my actual .gif but after upload it turn into a jpeg. I will host the file and upload from there.)
My stuff can be found here at mediafire : http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=43b651ad9cd91774e7c82ed4b8f0c380e53d1e35008d24d5d8c7c6998cb4ca21
.psd
signed zip
Thanks again!

rejectedkid said:
Hey guys I created my own boot screen but I am failing to see why my gif will not display on my hero. ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to go into mybootanimation_signed.zip\system\media\bootscreen and edit your boot_animation.xml.
phaelox said:
...ScreenX and ScreenY are coordinates in pixels, that tell Android where to place the GIF files on the screen. Top-left of the screen would be ScreenX=0 and ScreenY=0; bottom-right would be ScreenX=320 and ScreenY=480. This means that if you make a GIF file that is 200 px wide and 180px high and you wish to center this on the screen, you'd use ScreenX=60 and ScreenY=150 (i.e. ScreenX=320-200=120/2=60 and ScreenY=480-180=300/2=150). If your GIF files are exactly 320x480 pixels, you can set ScreenX and ScreenY both to 0, or leave those two lines out entirely...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The difficult thing is that you have two .gifs that are diff sizes so not too sure what to do.
On the one I made, my .gifs are both the same resolution so the value I set for ScreenX and ScreenY work for both.
Look at some other people's .xml files and hope you find someone elses that also uses two different resolution .gifs.

ah. thanks for your input
Sent from my HERO200 using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk

And just because there are no transparent images that you can see or know you put in, doesn't mean that they aren't in there. For some reason, even if I untick Transparent layers in PS, I still get them. I went and got Animation Shop 3, optimized the gif after making it in PS, then re-wrote the file, and everything works fine.
Hope everything is working

Hi !
I have 2 questions :
First one :
To ddotpatel : Your bootscreen is really nice ! Is it working on any 2.1 rom or do I have to change it ? On which rom did you create it ?
And the second one, that tuto is working on 1.5 and 2.1 roms ? Because I heard that it was different to make an 1.5 bootscreen and an 2.1 one...
Thanks for your answers

[18 JAN][TUT][Added New % Battery Icons] How to Mod/Change framework-res.apk(NAND&SD)

[18 JAN][TUT][Added New % Battery Icons] How to Mod/Change framework-res.apk(NAND&SD)
This thread is mainly intended for those of us using Desire HD based builds but these methods should work for any Android build that is not squashed. I have seen many posts of people stuggling to mod this file and get it to work. I don't really know anything about squashing so I can't be of much help there. It took me a while to figure out how to get the % Battery mod after flashing to a NAND Android build so I thought I'd start a thread to let people know how to do it, beacause I had to reflash my ROM about 20 times before I finally got it right. Using Root Explorer or any other type of file explorer within Android to change the file always gave me a bootloop. Fortunately, with the SD card Android builds its a little easier.
Here is one I've created with some of my own stuff, and some of others:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
I've added these custom styles. The custom large digit one has large digits so I can see how much life Android has sucked out of my battery at any given moment. I added a second one with whiter digits as well, cause I had a hard time seeing the gray ones real clearly. I take no credit for the UOT Vertical battery style, it is from UOT Kitchen. All I did was change the border from white to gray. They are stock Desire HD (Base 1.72) framework-res.apk's with only the battery changed. They all have 1% increments.
If you are not using a Desire HD Android build just ignore the Desire HD stuff on here. You should still be able to mod your own framework-res.apk however you like and use it. You can take the battery icons out of the ones I've created and put them in your own. If you post the battery icons I created myself somewhere else please just let me know.
Here is a step by step method for replacing the file on a NAND Build:
1. Backup with titanium backup, clockwork or whatever you like to use. If applying this mod doesn't work, you will get a bootloop and have to reflash your ROM.
2. Droid Explorer is necessary.
It is available here: http://de.codeplex.com/releases/view/50997
To use Droid Explorer one needs the JDK and Android SDK, available here:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
The USB Drivers for adb are also necessary, they are attached to this page. One should google how to properly install them as it varies depending on what version of windows you use. I had a hard time finding them which is why I've included them in this post. Android SDK is supposed to come with them but I couldn't find them in the Android SDK. If you are using a windows x64 machine (like me) you may need to edit a few registry keys on your machine to get Droid Explorer working properly. Read the FAQ carefully on the Droid Explorer website, and when you edit the registry file, make sure you properly specify the path to wherever you installed the Android SDK. Droid Explorer will not work otherwise.
3. Connect phone to computer, leave charge only checked (make sure adb is turned on in settings). Start Droid Explorer and connect to your phone. Sometimes I have to connect/reconnect a few times before Droid Explorer works properly.*
4. Navigate to root/system/framework. Scroll down to the F's. Look for the file towards the top of the F section titled "Android System." Delete that file.
5. Copy and paste the new/modded framework-res.apk into the root/system/framework folder.
6. Hit the Reboot button on Droid Explorer and enjoy!!
7. You may need to re-enter your google account and facebook (sense builds) info.
*NOTE:
Droid Explorer has not been treating me well lately and will not properly connect to my phone so I have had to change my method slightly:
1.Instead I delete framework-res.apk with root explorer within android
2.Then I long press the end key to pull up the power menu, which causes a bootloop.
3. While the phone is in bootloop I can connect with Droid Explorer and put framework-res.apk where it belongs
4. The bootloop ends, and I usually need to reboot for real
To replace the file on an SD Card build, just create these folders in your android folder on your SD card: root/system/framework. place framework-res.apk in the framework folder and reboot.
How to Modify your framework-res.apk:
framework-res.apk can be mofidified in a number of different ways, but this is the method I've found easiest for me and seems to work every time. If one is interested in using only UOT Kitchen, then it is a simple task to have your framework-res.apk modded.
UOT Kitchen: http://circle.glx.nl/
To use the UOT Kitchen one must run this script on the .zip UOT Kitchen provides. Although this script is labeled as being only for MDJ Desire HD SD Card builds, it works for NAND Desire HD and I think would work for almost any HD2 Android build, not just Desire HD ones. (Can't promise that though):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=856915
Follow the directions for the script, though you may have to specify the path to 7zip (I did). For NAND bulds just grab the framework-res.apk out of the root/system/framework folder the script creates.
To modify the framework-res.apk from UOT Kitchen: (There are many ways to do this, this is just the method I use)
1. Find a framework-res.apk that has something in it you like, such as certain icons or graphics, even animations, and rename it to framework-res.zip and extract it.
2. Take your flashable .zip from UOT Kitchen and open it with winrar. open the framework folder and framework-res.apk (don't extract anything)
3. Take whatever you want out of the other framework-res.apk that you extracted and paste it in the new one that is still in archive. Close all the windows and run the script. Load the new framework-res.apk the script created on your phone.
For A Non-UOT Kitchen Created framework-res.apk:
Sometimes I don't want to use anything UOT has to offer but I still send my framework-res.apk through the kitchen (If for no other reason than to get the battery .xml's put in there). After that I change it however I want and run the script. I do this because I have yet to mod framework-res.apk in this manner and not have it work. IT ALWAYS WORKS, if I can get it in the framework folder in android properly.
Most images (battery, signal bars, etc) are in the folder called drawable-hdpi
Battery Animations are in drawable
And window transition animations are in anim.
I have been able to take the animations from MDJ Revolution HD, modify some graphics from CoreDroid, use some of UOT Kitchen's stuff and create my own battery Icons all in one file. Personalized just for me.
Here are a few useful links:
Stock Desire HD Battery with %: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=894837
Battery Theme Mod: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=838413
Circular % Battery Mod: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=724778
sopL87's Skins and Frameworks: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=801928

Would this work to replace a launcher? Suppose I have a normal FroYo Nexus One ROM with the 5 page Launcher2 installed and want to install the 7 page G2 Launcher2, would I be able to simply delete the current Launcher2 and paste the new Launcher2?
Also, what does it mean if files and folders won't delete? I've tried to change kernels using DE but I select to delete the zImage and associated modules but they don't delete.

MartyLK said:
Would this work to replace a launcher? Suppose I have a normal FroYo Nexus One ROM with the 5 page Launcher2 installed and want to install the 7 page G2 Launcher2, would I be able to simply delete the current Launcher2 and paste the new Launcher2?
Also, what does it mean if files and folders won't delete? I've tried to change kernels using DE but I select to delete the zImage and associated modules but they don't delete.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure if it is as simple as that, but maybe. I suppose it couldn't hurt to try. I'm really kind of new to all of this but I can say I've had a bit of trouble with Droid Explorer. The first time I used it I screwed something up and had to reflash. Also, for some reason sometimes when I connect it only shows maybe a third of the files in any given folder. Usually if I disconnect and reconnect a few times it connects properly and then I can see everything in there. I'm certainly no expert on the subject of Droid Explorer, I've only started using it recently.

patmorris said:
I'm not sure if it is as simple as that, but maybe. I suppose it couldn't hurt to try. I'm really kind of new to all of this but I can say I've had a bit of trouble with Droid Explorer. The first time I used it I screwed something up and had to reflash. Also, for some reason sometimes when I connect it only shows maybe a third of the files in any given folder. Usually if I disconnect and reconnect a few times it connects properly and then I can see everything in there. I'm certainly no expert on the subject of Droid Explorer, I've only started using it recently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same experience with showing files and folders. I usually have to disconnect and exit DE 2 or 3 times before it will work normally.
I will give the launcher a try and see if I can get it to work when I flash the specific ROM I desire to use it with. But I didn't know if there was something else I needed to do to make DE delete files. In SUFSB, you have to tap the little "s" to make it red, which puts the system into read/write, before it will delete or replace files in SD builds. Whether there's some specific button or such to enable in DE, I do not know and can't get anyone in the other section to answer.
Thanks for the reply.

I think I just highlighted the file and pressed delete in DE. I didn't do anything special I don't think.

patmorris said:
Here are a few useful links:
Stock Desire HD Battery with %: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=894837
Battery Theme Mod: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=838413
Circular % Battery Mod: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=724778
sopL87's Skins and Frameworks: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=801928
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FYI, I couldn't get the UOL kitchen to work work with the stock Desire framework from the DFT "Stock" ROM so modified it by hand. You can find a link here inc. install instructions:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=10253074&postcount=2004

Thank You. It's working.
I dont know why but Droid Explorer showed root folder as an empty folder
So I just used UOT Kitchen to create zip file and updated like any update by using MAGLDR.
Usefull Info
I like your battery style. very convenient.
Thank you.

How did you change time theme. For example, I have a timer in the left upper corner with NO pm/am. But you have it on the picture. Where is that folder which contains clock design?

Ramidalf said:
How did you change time theme. For example, I have a timer in the left upper corner with NO pm/am. But you have it on the picture. Where is that folder which contains clock design?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not part of framework-res.apk. I think you need to go into Android settings for the clock. Date & time. Mine is set to use network provided values, and not to use 24 hour time.

I did the way you told me. That's right there are two options but am/pm doesn't show up anyway. I'm running Gingerbread so i think that am/pm sign was excluded.
Its not important. I just was curious.
Thank you for reply

boba23 said:
At least the example framework files you provided do not work in gingerbread. I just copied the new framework over to my MDJ 2.5 Gingerbread. Tripple checked permissions and ownership (system:system, 644) rebooted, and am now stuck in a boot loop :-(
boba
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, the ever wonderful bootloop. It has become my friend... I was using droid explorer just now and I got as far as deleting framework-res.apk but got stuck trying to put the new one in there. The phone started to bootloop on its own and amazingly somehow I was able to put the new framework-res.apk in there while it was bootlooping. Probably a freak occurence. I thought for sure I'd have to reflash.
I wonder if you just copy and paste all the .png's and battery .xml's from the framework-res.apk I've provided into the gingerbread one it would work? I think I changed the framework-res.apk around on MDJ's SD card gingerbread build like that, but I haven't tried the NAND build at all.

My root folder is empty, what do I do?

iwin2000 said:
My root folder is empty, what do I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just hit the connect to device button a bunch of times until it connects properly and shows everything as being there like it should. I've really been having trouble with Droid explorer today. It wouldn't delete files or put them back like usual. I used root explorer to delete framework-res.apk from within Android. Then I had to let it start bootlooping and then Droid explorer was able to copy my new framework-res.apk into the system. It worked but I'm not realy happy with that sort of performance.

wow that is ALLOT of work lol.

Works like a charm
Thanks man.
Your guide is awesome I'm using MT4G running Ice Glacier 1.1.6 Themed with Red Glacier and all it needed were animations. I have been trying for days to get it working. Thanks a lot.

If anybody can make this work on the JDMS 1.7 NAND build, it would be awesome if you could upload a framework-res. Don't care what it looks like as long as it's got % numbers. I couldn't get it to work.

mattfmartin said:
If anybody can make this work on the JDMS 1.7 NAND build, it would be awesome if you could upload a framework-res. Don't care what it looks like as long as it's got % numbers. I couldn't get it to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is that build squashed? If not post your framework-res.apk and I'll try and mess with it later tonight or tomorrow. The hardest part for me lately has been getting the file on the phone. Droid explorer has not been treating me well.

Hey Pat Morris, yea the build is not squashed Thanks again for your effort, I really appreciate it. Here is the framework-res.apk

mattfmartin said:
Hey Pat Morris, yea the build is not squashed Thanks again for your effort, I really appreciate it. Here is the framework-res.apk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope this works.
I beg of you please back up everything first cause if you don't you will most likely have to reflash. I don't know if you use clockwork, but if you do here it is in flashable zip. I don't use clockwork so I can't tell you if the flashable zip method works, but it should. Otherwise just extract the zip. Droid Explorer is the only way I've found to get the new framework-res.apk put in framework folder properly. there are probably other ways. they didn't work for me at least.

Thank you Pat Morris I really appreciate it my friend

[Guide/Reference] The Basic APK & Theming Thread... {15/11/15}

Hi there.
The greatest thing about Android is that you can change just about every element of the U.I, and if all you want to do is change a few images it's as simple as copying and pasting, but this guide will teach you how to...
[*]Use ADB Commands
[*]Deodex
[*]Decompile
[*]Recompile
[*]Sign
[*]Zipalign
...in an easy to follow manner that will have you theming your own apks in no time. There are many many GUI programs which I'll link to below that automate the following process but experience has taught me that it's important to know the basic process for when those programs don't work, are no longer maintained or you just don't like them for whatever reason etc, and to be honest command line editing for me is just as quick, and I personally prefer the ability to have everything in one folder. So lets begin.
Some Requirements:
A Rooted Phone.
A BACKUP OF YOUR PHONE!
Java - Do this first if you don't have it installed already.
Notepad++ - An essential program for xml editing!
Photoshop or Gimp - You'll need one of these for image editing.
7-Zip or WinRar - Required for apk editing.
Patience. :silly:
Use Linux or a Mac? See the following threads for more information on using apktool on other Operating Systems...
[WIN/LINUX][Decompile/Compile] Quick Mod Tool 4.0 [decompile and compile with speed]
APK Manager for Mac OS X
[Linux][UTILITY][TOOL] APK Multi-Tool
[tutorial] decompiling,recompiling and signing in linux (27-01-2013)
How to install and use Apktool with Ubuntu
​
Quick Tips;
.apk files are applications on your Phone, but when they''re on your computer you can browse them exactly like you would a .zip file, so set your default zip program as the default program for handling apks which will makes things much easier when working with them.
Download themes for your Phone, for other Phones too even and compare the res folders and screen shots of the theme as that will give you a good idea of what image you need to look for when modding your own apks.
If all you want to do is change images then you don't even necessarily need to decompile, you can just drag and drop images in to an apk to replace a stock image so long as they have the same file name.
For more complex mods like changing text colors and layouts (.xml files) and editing .9 png images then you will have to decompile.
​
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
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Most of us will have Java already installed, but if you don't then get it installed before doing anything else. To save you the time and hassle of figuring out what else you need to download etc I've made a zip for you to download which contains Apktool and ADB.
Download APKTool_CMD.zip to a location of your choice, preferably the C:\ drive which will give you a folder to work from. This is how mine currently looks...
Once your folder is setup, java and other tools installed, you're going to want to get any apks you want to theme off your Phone and there are numerous different ways to this, but we're going to use adb commands to pull files to your computer so we need to open a command prompt window in your Apktool folder. To do this simply hold the shift key then right click your mouse in the Apktool folder and select "open command window here", or just click on the included command prompt.bat.
I like to pull the whole system as soon as I'm rooted as it gives me a backup of stock files which I can then copy and deodex to be themed.
The command to pull your whole system is...
Code:
[B]adb pull /system/ Z1C_368[/B]
...you can choose something other than Z1C_368 as your folder name but it will create that folder in your Aktool folder. Alternatively you can just download individual folders, the commands are as follows...
Code:
[B]adb pull /system/app/ Z1C_368 app
adb pull /system/priv-app/ Z1C_368 priv-app
adb pull /system/framework/ Z1C_368 framework[/B]
...or pull individual files...
Code:
[B]adb pull /system/framework/framework-res.apk[/B]
...so now you should have a APKTool_CMD folder with another folder within it and at least your app, priv-app and framework folders in that, which we can use for the next step.
The tool I use is this - [Tool/Utility] JoelDroid Lollipop Batch Deodexer. While I will deodex all the files I've pulled to my computer experience and battery life has taught me to only deodex the apps I've themed on the phone, rather than run a fully deodexed ROM.
Before you can do anything else you need to install your framework-res.apk and SemcGenericUxpRes.apk/twframework.apk, which will put two apks at C:\Users\YourPCName\apktool\framework which are the resources apktool uses to work its magic. The two commands to install your two resource apks are...
Code:
apktool if framework-res.apk
apktool if SemcGenericUxpRes.apk
The command for decompiling is...
Code:
[B][U]apktool[/U] [U]d[/U][/B] framework-res.apk
...which will create a folder named like for like except for the .apk extension, and in this folder is where you'll find a couple of folders, the main one always being the res folder as it's in this folder that you'll find your images and xmls to edit. First glance of a decompiled res folder can be overwhelming, 596 folders in my frameworks, but we only need to focus on a handful in the majority of apks, and they are...
drawable
drawable-xhdpi-v4 (drawable-xxhdpi-v4 depending on your device)
layout
values
...you may need to delve into others sometimes but it's very rare that I've had to.
Once you've finished making your mods you need to recompile your apk using the following command...
Code:
[B][U]apktool[/U] [U]b[/U][/B] framework-res
...notice you only use the folder name here. If you get any errors here due to a bad edit apktool will usually tell you, in a roundabout way, you just need to read the code it throws up then retrace your steps, correct any bad edit and try again. If all goes smoothly you'll now have a new folder called dist, which contains your newly modified apk, but you can't use that just yet.
This is where 7-Zip or WinRar comes in to play. We need to extract from the original apk the Android.Manifest.xml and META-INF folder, into the dist folder, then from the new apk extract the resources.arsc also into the dist folder, then drag and drop all three files back into the new apk, but NOTE, it's important that you choose store as the compression method, any other will break the apk, and if you replace a broken framework-res.apk you will bootloop.
And signing is as simple as that. Alternatively you can use the following command...
Code:
[B]java -jar signapk.jar testkey.x509.pem testkey.pk8[/B] framework-res.apk.apk framework-resS.apk
...notice the extra "S", the output name has to differ from the input name otherwise it will give an error, if done right it will create a new apk called framework-resS.apk, just remember to rename it back to the original before using it on your Phone.
[TOOL] pySignare - Quickly Sign APKs [Windows]
Signing For The Play Store
If you plan on Publishing a Theme or any other app/apk to the Play Store then using the above method to sign your apks just wont work because you need to give it an individual signature that is unique to you, thankfully @AndroidGraphix has written a great guide that will show you how, it's a bit more fidgety than the above method but simple enough to follow...
AndroidGraphix said:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- Noobs guide to signing an APK with a Private Key​
DISADVANTAGES OF UNALIGNED APKs
Quite understandably, situation would be reserved for unaligned application packages. Resource reading would be slow and memory usage would be on the higher end of the spectrum. It would also depend on how many unaligned applications are present. For example, if less number of applications with an unaligned home application, you’d see slower application launch times. This is the best case scenario. For a worst case scenario, having a number of unaligned applications will result in the system repeatedly starting and killing processes, struggling with lags and huge battery drain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- SOURCE
Move your new signed apk into your APKTool_CMD folder, you can overwrite your original if you want, and use the following command...
Code:
[B][U]zipalign -v 4[/U][/B] framework-res.apk ZAframework-res.apk
...notice the ZA, zipaligning creates a new apk which has to be named different from the original, but use what you want, it'll need renaming again before you use it.
So now we need to transfer your apk back to your Phone, you can do it by copying to your SD, then to your system, change permissions, then copy to the right folder, but that's not only time consuming but highly tedious too, so a simpler method is to use adb using the push command as this allows us to push straight to the system overwriting the original with the correct permissions too. To use this method you'll need you'll need an unsecure kernel and/or Chainfires adbd Insecure app. Try the app first but if you still can't mount and push files read this thread - [HOW TO]Make your favorite kernel adbd insecure to run ADB as root on /system and try again.
Rename your zipaligned apk to it's original name, then we need to mount the system before we can push direct to the the system, and the command for that is...
Code:
adb remount
...then we need to make sure we're pushing our apk to the right folder on the Phone, so for the framework-res it's...
Code:
[B][U]adb push[/U][/B] D:\Xperia\Z1C_368\APKTOOL\framework-res.apk /system/framework
...yet for the SystemUI it's...
Code:
adb push D:\Xperia\Z1C_368\APKTOOL\SystemUI.apk[B][U] /system/priv-app/[/U][/B]SystemUI
...if it's any one of those two then generally you need to reboot, so just type...
Code:
adb reboot
...your Phone will restart and if you've done everything right your new mods should be displayed, happy days. So that's it for how to use command prompt for modifying apks.
So now you know how to prepare an apk for editing your going to want to theme it obviously, and the following links will help you with that.
XML 101 - XML Modding Made Easy!
How To Edit Resources
The Ultimate Android Themeing Guide
[GUIDE] Smali coding guide for beginners
[Reference] Interactive Phone Modification [GUIDE]
[TOOL] Android Drawable Resizer Tool
[GUIDE] Want to learn how to theme?
[Guide] demystifying build.prop [Valid entries]
General Questions about Themes GO HERE!!!!!
[INFO] Custom framework-res.apk resources.arsc using vendor overlays
[Tutorial][NICS Themer] Create Your Own Themed apk & Become a Themer
​
U.I Modding
Tutorial :- Changing App Icons
[TUTORIAL]How to Theme Your MMS
[How-to] Edit the "About Phone" display
[Tutorial][VIDEO] Add/integrate apps into Settings app!
[TUTORIAL] Where to find the colors for making a theme
[MOD][GUIDE]LockScreen Clock with seconds[ANY ROM]
[TUTORIAL] How to add various framework/Settings mods
[TUT][JB] HOW TO THEME SystemUI.apk for TOTALLY newbie!
[HOWTO] Integrating/Adding applications to the settings menu
[TUTORIAL][ICS][GB][JB]How to change Android's black background
[GUIDE][Ultimate]Theme Apps To Dark Theme | Theme Whole System | Newbies Here! 12/11
​
Text...
Text Color Guide
[GUIDE] Tips for themers
[GUIDE][REF]Changing System Text Settings
​
Statusbar...
[MOD][TUT] Merge The WiFi And Signal Icons
[GUIDE][MOD][SYSTEMUI] How to add 0.00KB/s meter on statusbar GB/ICS/JB
[TUT] How To Center The Clock On The Statusbar..And Move Other Icons As Well!
[How-To]Removing Battery Percentage, Adding Toggles,Battery Circles to Statusbar
[GUIDE][Mods][All Devices]How to add/ Change Clocks to Analog/ Digital with Seconds
​
The three best/most popular GUI programs are...
@Diamondbacks - Virtuous Ten Studio
@Ticklefishs - [TOOL] Tickle My Android
@BDFreaks - [Tool]Advanced ApkTool
...there are others but these are I what I tend to see referred to the most.
TIP:
Restoring modified files if you mess up is easier and quicker with a CWM.zip, especially if you're modifying any framework apks! Just because an apk might build with no errors doesn't mean it won't give you any when installed to the Phone.
I hope after reading this explanation you're left wondering what all the fuss is about, as it really is quite simple. I'll use the following two images, btn_default_pressed_holo.9 & status_bar_close_off.9 to illustrate the basic point of the borders...
Decompiled .9pngs:
Recompiled .9pngs:
Those borders control which part of the image is stretched (Left & Top) and where on the image content will be displayed (Right & Bottom). We'll use Draw 9-patch which is for editing the borders of decompiled .9pngs and lets you see how the image, when stretched, will be displayed on the Phone. Notice that the borders are different sizes, well that's because I only want/need a certain part of the image to stretch to get the desired look on the Phone.
...in the image below the left side shows the stretched image and desired effect should look on the Phone and the right side shows how it would look if I had edited the borders incorrectly or used none at all...
You can get away by not using a border but you would need to edit your image to specific dimensions to accommodate for the stretching, for example it might look fine for a simple OK button but it might not look right if you used the same .9png for a screen press which stretches the whole length of the screen, so you're better off just using them to begin with, plus you'll more than likely get errors down the line while decompiling or recompiling your apk.
The use of the border is made even more clear when you add text to an image. For my status_bar_close_off.9 I've filled all four sides of the image (except for an empty pixel in all four corners as that is the max amount of border you can use) as I need it to stretch the image just how I've edited it...
...but if I used the same sized left side border as the btn_default_pressed_holo.9 then this is how it would look on the Phone...
...which is obviously not the look I'm trying to achieve, as the left side border is causing the image to stretch incorrectly.
So that's basically it, depending on the image you're editing you can usually leave the borders alone but if you create one from scratch then you might need to play about with them if your images doesn't look quite right when used on the Phone. Here's a few links that will assist you further, especially the batch editing...
How to edit .9.pngs
[TUTO] Create your 9.png !
[UTILITY][TOOL] 9patchPngSuite [Windows&Linux]
How to draw NinePatch images with Photoshop - .9.PNG
[TOOL][Multi-Platform][.9.png][ALL DPIs] Android Resizer Tool
[Tutorial][Commentary] How To Batch Edit .9PNG/PNG Images
[tool] 9compiler - batch process for themers android
ClockworkMod Recovery zips are used for flashing individual files to whole ROMS and can be a life saver if you push a badly edited apk to your Phone that results in a bootloop. There's also a few programs that can assist you with that too, but if all you're doing is replacing a few files all you really need is a template, then it's just a matter of creating the Phones folder setup in the zip which is simply creating folders: system\app - system\media\audio etc then dragging and dropping your files into it. A basic understanding of the updater script is essential, a ROM.zip will more than likely wipe your Phone whereas a Theme.zip may just replace files but it might delete some also.[/QUOTE]
See below for a CWM.zip Template but first some helpful links...
[Tool]easy flasher v4 (ur own update.zip)
[Tool][Windows/Linux] Android Flashable Zip Creator
[Utility-Tool][DEVandThemers]CWMflashpack.zipCreatorV1{TheCollective}w/EdifyScripting
ERRORS encountered in CWM Recovery
[TUT] [for NOOB] editing updater-script for noobs!
[TUTORIAL] Making Flashable ZIPs, EDIFY Script, ZIP Signing & Key Creation
​
This is my Restore_zip which is set up so you can add your own files to the framework and apps folders in the main system location, but you can easily add other folders to it if you want to add things like fonts, tones or anything else, just remember to add folders within folders if that's where the files you want to include are such as tones, media\audio\alarms for example.
If you navigate to META-INF\com\google\android you will find the updater-script which controls how the zip works and the text you see when you run it in CWM. As this zip is just for basically over writing files you don't need to edit anything except for a few lines...
...this is how I've edited it for my theme...
...so just edit it using Notepad++ to your liking.
When adding files to your zip add them using Normal as the Compression Method...
...Remember to remove the text files I've added otherwise they will be flashed to your folders too.
And that's pretty much it, the only way you're really going to learn is by reading then putting into practice what you've read and picking stuff up along the way, fortunately there are numerous guides for numerous mods and tools to help with a variety of tasks.
Notable credits and thanks to @iBotPeaches and @Brut.all for making it possible with - Apktool

Useful Suff...
rovo89 said:
In this thread, I'm presenting a framework which gives you the possibility to modify your ROM - without modifying any APK (developers) or flashing (users)!
...
Advantages:
No need to modify any APKs. This means:
No need to decompile, change things in smali, compile, sign, ...
It will work for odexed and deodexed ROMs.
Your mod is not bound to a specific version of the ROM. Unless there is a major change in the methods called for a certain functionality, your mod will continue to work even when you upgrade your ROM. Hell, it will probably even work with different ROMs.
Multiple mods can be installed at the same time, even if they change the same package. So you can use these battery icons and those quick toggles. Even hooking the same method twice is possible. Of course, this only works properly if the mods are not trying to do incompatible things.
It does its magic at runtime. That means you can implement options to let the user decide if they prefer the bikeshed to be painted in red or blue. Or you can have some extra logic for certain ROMs without building different mod versions.
It can be disabled easily without having to reflash.
It's open source.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- [FRAMEWORK ONLY!] Xposed - ROM modding without modifying APKs
Annex1 said:
CM10.1-THEME_BOOK
Theme book was created by Annex and Ebs512. I've been asked alot of questions from how to get started? what do I need to get started? to What Graphics program do I use? etc. We made a real simple theme guide to help get you started. This is in Layman Terms.. Nothing fancy.
ONLY THING FANCY IS MY FLASH BOOK
YOU MUST HAVE A FLASH PLAYER INSTALLED TO VIEW THIS!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- [GUIDE] HOW TO THEME CM10.1 - Animated Book
[Guide] Porting XTheme themes
[How to] XMLGenerator.jar + batch script v2.0
[Guide] Xposed Framework/TabletUI (Noob-Friendly)
[Tool] Drawable XML generator for CM7 theme chooser
[Guide] How to port themes to T-Mobile Theme Chooser
[Tool] [Theme Creator] [CM/Avatar] Theme creator tool
[INDEX][WiP] List of APPs & MODs that use XPOSED Module
[Tool] nhnt11's XML Generator Revived V2+Extended UPDATED!
[DEV/GUIDE]Creating APKs for use with TMobile Theme engine
[Tool][PortCx] Port CM Themes to Xtheme Engine in One Click!
Theme-Porter [v1.0] [Any Firmware / Rom Compatible] [WINDOWS]
[GUIDE] T-mobile theme engine for the faint at heart (non-linux users)
[1/30/2013] Mega 4.2.1 BlackBean Theme Template [XXHDPI/XHDPI/HDPI/TVDPI]
[MOD][XPOSED][4.0+] XThemeEngine beta5 - Theme engine for any rooted phone
[APK][Xposed] ResXploit : Theming your android the easiest way! No decompiling APKs!
-·=»‡«=·-[JB][CM10] Theme Engine Template Updated To V4 [8-7-12][XHDPI/HDPI]-·=»‡«=·-

Hi Guys, I tried to do a small tweak to my ROM like just a color change to signal bars, as mentioned in the XDA university, but once the apk is pushed to system/app and restarted, it went to bootloop. I just changed the color of a image file using GIMP (as mentioned), then dint work, so just tried decompiling SystemUI.apk and then recompiling then folder without any changes and push to system folder, even that dint work, then i saw this thread, i tried the replacing the resources.arsc from old apk (opened using winrar, and dragged to my folder), the opened my new recompiled SystemUI.apk with winrar and added this resources.arsc file which i extracted with compression option as Store, then pushed it bcak to /system/app folder , every time i pushed i connected the phone in recovery mode. But still in bootloop, the moment i replace the apk with original one, it works, can some one pls point out what am I doing wrong ?
Hardware - I9100 - galaxy S2
ROM - JellyBAM 3.3
Kernel - Siyah 5.1+
thanks,
merin

merin_83 said:
Hi Guys, I tried to do a small tweak to my ROM like just a color change to signal bars, as mentioned in the XDA university, but once the apk is pushed to system/app and restarted, it went to bootloop. I just changed the color of a image file using GIMP (as mentioned), then dint work, so just tried decompiling SystemUI.apk and then recompiling then folder without any changes and push to system folder, even that dint work, then i saw this thread, i tried the replacing the resources.arsc from old apk (opened using winrar, and dragged to my folder), the opened my new recompiled SystemUI.apk with winrar and added this resources.arsc file which i extracted with compression option as Store, then pushed it bcak to /system/app folder , every time i pushed i connected the phone in recovery mode. But still in bootloop, the moment i replace the apk with original one, it works, can some one pls point out what am I doing wrong ?
Hardware - I9100 - galaxy S2
ROM - JellyBAM 3.3
Kernel - Siyah 5.1+
thanks,
merin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi There
Try using 7zip to update the apk instead of winrar. if that doesn't work, post your logcats,
Thanks

trevd said:
Hi There
Try using 7zip to update the apk instead of winrar. if that doesn't work, post your logcats,
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will try that when i get back home today, and is there any option i need to set when using 7zip like store mode ?
thanks,
merin

hi, I tried with 7zip, 1st i just opened the recompiled zip with 7zip and dragged and dropped the resources file from original apk to this archive, and pushed to phone , still boot looping, and then tried to right click on the resource file from original apk, and selected add to 7zip archive, and changed the archive format to .zip/compression mode to Store and saved, then pushed to phone, still boot looping. So here i have attached the logcat, hope that is correct how i have done it, after rebooting the phone, i typed in consle logcat > log.txt and it was waiting for device, once in boot loop i did ctrl + c, then it exited. Please let me know if you need more info, do i need to attach my original SystemUI.apk and framework-res.apk ??
Happy New Year !!!
thanks,
merin

Nice tuts I will try at home :thumbup:
Sent from my ST18i using xda premium

merin_83 said:
then i saw this thread, i tried the replacing the resources.arsc from old apk (opened using winrar, and dragged to my folder), the opened my new recompiled SystemUI.apk with winrar and added this resources.arsc file which i extracted with compression option as Store, then pushed it bcak to /system/app folder , every time i pushed i connected the phone in recovery mode. But still in bootloop, the moment i replace the apk with original one, it works, can some one pls point out what am I doing wrong ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi.
Are you copying the AndroidManifest.xml and META-INF folder from the original to the new apk too?

Actually i did the exact thing you said yesterday, when i found in the youtube, and it worked thank you!, but dint copy the resource file (but had some fc's when opening camera 1st time), may thats the reason,,, so i should copy AndroidManifest.xml and META-INF and resource file ?, and is this a standard procedure when we do a recompile every time ? or it varies with situation ?
thanks,
merin

Hey hi guys....can any 1 tell me how to set boot image which i want hmmmmm
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using xda app-developers app

merin_83 said:
so i should copy AndroidManifest.xml and META-INF and resource file ?, and is this a standard procedure when we do a recompile every time ? or it varies with situation ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's how I do it every time and never have an issue (unless I've screwed up somewhere), so yes.
sagar4all007 said:
Hey hi guys....can any 1 tell me how to set boot image which i want hmmmmm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

oh okey thank you XperienceD, does it make a difference if we just use apktool or Androidsuite for decompiling and building ?
thanks,
merin

merin_83 said:
oh okey thank you XperienceD, does it make a difference if we just use apktool or Androidsuite for decompiling and building ?
thanks,
merin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think androidsuite uses apktool for its decompiling and build it just uses it through a ui as apktool is command line so its more a preference of use for you
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA Premium HD app

ttibbetts83 said:
I think androidsuite uses apktool for its decompiling and build it just uses it through a ui as apktool is command line so its more a preference of use for you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What he said. I've set this up for when such programs don't always work.

How about some links for how to guide for Ubuntu user and some links on .XML file editing I was doing .apk mods on windows then started messing around with Ubuntu and find its I little more work to get it setup but all an all it to me is a better environment for android then windows IMOA
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA Premium HD app

ttibbetts83 said:
How about some links for how to guide for Ubuntu user
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After a quick search for android theming ubuntu there doesn't seem to be a lot of information for it, and this post...
Nikkopt said:
What and where have you heard about Ubuntu helping on theming? It depends on personal taste and choice. You also have much more tools to help you graphically on windows and mac os.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
from this thread - Which version of Ubuntu is recommended for theming? suggests why.

here are some links for ubuntu installs that will help with .apk modding on ubuntu for those who want it
how to setup apktool on ubuntu
http://my.opera.com/ubuntunerd1/blog/2012/08/20/how-to-apktool-with-ubuntu-under-construction
ubuntu version of paint.net
http://pinta-project.com/
xaraxtreme looks to be a good program from what i have read but i have not tryed it out yet
http://www.xaraxtreme.org/download.html
gimp is avalable through ubuntu software center and for .xml ubuntu has built in editer software just by right click and open with text editer

hex color website http://www.procato.com/rgbfind/

Nice guide my friend :good:
if anyone get apktool doesn't work on apk JB 4.2.2 ROM you can use this Latest apktool http://d-h.st/cze

Rizal Lovins said:
Nice guide my friend :good:
if anyone get apktool doesn't work on apk JB 4.2.2 ROM you can use this Latest apktool http://d-h.st/cze
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Rizal.