How to make your own skins
It's pretty simple. I've made the following template is one that corresponds to the default positioning of the numbers. Feel free to download and use it:
You can also make your own if it's easier... It's just a 250x90 image. The clock numbers appear centered right above the text in the above templates, so you can use that for reference if you'd prefer to make your own.
Once you're done a skin, simply create a folder for it in the skins directory of PhanTim3, and name it "back.jpg" or "back.bmp". The program will automatically detect the skin the next time you open the program, or if you press the 'refresh' button on the skin selection page. If you have any difficulties feel free to ask for help at our forums.
If you do make your own skins, please submit them so we can release them in future skin packages!
Advanced Customization
The newest versions of PhanTim3 allow skin makers the power to customize the position, colour, font, and size of the days/hours/minutes/seconds text. This is done with a special file, Custom.txt, which is put in the same folder as back.jpg/back.bmp.
Here's a diagram that explains the basic parts of the Custom.txt file:
![[Diagram]](custom.png "[Diagram]")
Additional Notes
- Font Face: The font for the numbers. Note: Unlike on webpages, you CANNOT put multiple fonts separated by commas. Only one font must appear on the top line of the file; if the computer doesn't have a font of that name, Arial is the default.
- Font Size: Must be specified in pt.
- Font Colour: Specified by three numbers, each from 0-255, representing red/green/blue. See the RGB colours section below for more information about this.
- Coordinates: The last four lines are the coordinates for the numbers for each of days/hours/minutes/seconds. Each line consists of the number of pixels from the left edge of the skin, followed by a space, followed by the number of pixels from the top edge of the skin (see diagram for details). The numbers will appears centered around the point specified by these coordinates.
NOTE regarding font faces: You can set the font to be anything you wish, and as long as the font is installed on your computer it'll work. But if you're going to be making skins for distribution to others (either submitting them here, or just to give to a few friends), we suggest that you use only fonts that come with Windows. For a list of the most common fonts, click here.
Most of the latest skin packs on the Skins page use Custom.txt files, so if you're having difficulties, download them and use them as additional examples. And as always, feel free to ask for help at our forums.
Additional Help for RGB Colours
If you're unfamiliar with specifying colours in RGB, here are some common colours and their RGB values:
Many image editing programs have a way to see the RGB values of a particular colour, so you can get any shade you wish. There are over 16 million possibilities! :)
How to Convert Hex Colours to RGB
If you know the hex value for a colour you'd like to use (eg. #cc33ff), you can convert it to RGB pretty easily.
- Open up Windows Calculator (Start|Programs|Accessories|Calculator).
- Put the calculator into Scientific mode, if it isn't already (View|Scientific).
- Now select 'Hex', and type in the numbers or letters of the FIRST TWO characters in your hex colour. eg. with #cc33ff (a shade of purple), you'd type in 'cc'. Now select 'Dec'. The number that appears in the display is your first number for RGB (the red value).
- Repeat step 3 for the second two characters of your hex value (in the example '33') to get the green value.
- Repeat step 3 once more for the last two characters (in the example 'ff') to get the blue value.