There is not a specific program for designing skins, but there is info coming soon!
There hasn't been a public announcement of this yet, but this is such a great lead in, I can't resist. :)

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I have been working on a tutorial that will walk you through redesigning a skin. There are a few folks "Beta" testing it, but I could actually use one or two more Beta testers. If you are interested PM me with your email address and I will set you up as a tester.

Before deciding --- In order to make or modify a SlingPlayer skin, you will need the following:

1.      SlingPlayer v1.1 or greater
2.      A file compression program  - The utility included with Windows XP for zipping folders and files is perfectly acceptable. If you would like to use a more feature-rich application, try WinZip at http://www.winzip.com.

3.      A graphics editor - The graphics editor should have the ability to save BMP, TIFF, and PNG images. It will be easier for you if it supports layers and/or frames, and ruler/grid overlay for x,y coordinates. Macromedia Fireworks and Adobe Photoshop are both very robust graphic editors that meet these criteria, but Windows Paint is sufficient for the job.

4. A text editor for editing the XML files  - If you’re already familiar with XML you probably have a preferred XML editing tool, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver or TextPad. but you can also use Notepad or Wordpad that come installed with Windows XP.
5. This is only for Windows, sorry Mac guys

...Follow Me on Twitter... Why is it after I push 1 for English I still can't understand the person on the other end?...

Brandon C. said: FYI, on the new 1.4.0.206 player the skins used are a different format than the skins on older versions. The older version skins will work with the new version, but the new version skins will not work with older player software. Probably won't affect anyone except the guys that run the older player to enable the At-Large recording feature and want to import a new skin into the older players.

Back up the horses... First of all what is a Skin?

Can you provide a link to a Skin? I would like to see one.

I have Corel Draw which I Love. I tried Adobe Illustrator with their free trial but it was way to complicated. Corel Draw is very easy to use (try it with their free trial) , very intuitave, and it has everything in there you said that is needed to create skins, except for the XML, and I'll have to check perhpas it has that as well.

I would probably be happy to be a beta tester, and I am a perfect beta since I don't have a clue what a skin is, therefore the directions need to be very clear or I won't be successful.

Brandon, Thanks! it is a little hard for me to figure out exactly what the skin is because people showed their skins with video iside. basically it is the frame around the video and the remote controls. Do all the buttons on the remote controls have to be programmed so that they actually work? I think the best example of a skin is on page 2 Oiled Walnut. But why is the remote control so large? If you are watching a video wouldn't you want the remote smaller? Or is the remote a seperate window? It is hard for me because i don't have a Sling player yet so I cna't visualize, I am getting one soon though, I just won the Grand Prize! Brandon, why do you put the remote control in your skins on the left hand side? Are you left handed? Repeating here, but do those remotes really work to connect back with the Slingbox player form your computer? I think I would have fun doing this, it will help me learn Corel Draw even more. I will PM you.

Hi guys, Is there a tut yet to make a skin, I would like to make my own remote control to resemble the Telewest remote.

Cheers

Swanny

Cheers Brandon C for the info.

Swanny