How do I make transparent bars and buttons for my themes????

This is a question asked by alot of new themers.... so I hope this will be some help to you as this will show you how to make basic bars/buttons to help you on your way

I use Paintshop Pro X, but I`m sure you will get the idea and be able to figure out any software you use



First thing is to open a new image for your bar/button.... 176x26 (stardard softkey bar for SE W800) and leave the background as white


Next select a gradient colour and use the `fill` tool to colour the image


to make to bar slightly transparent move the tranpancey slider to want ever you want...but for this I`m going to put it to 55


You will see your bar has gone slightly transparent but the most important thing is when you save the image....The image MUST be saved as a .png file.so save using the Save As button


And thats it your first but very simple transparent bar...And the same princapals goes for buttons too

You could also try multi-layer Transparent bars when you get the hang of things!!!

I Thankyou BIG TIME for this Information dude..
it will help me out in a VERY BIG WAY..
As i am new to this theme making, and did try it out, but nearly gave up because i couldnt do Transparent Bars And Buttons.. or i was going to make a few request for people to do me a couple of themes..
So i thankyou again.!!

So i will be trying it out as soon as i get the time,
now maybe i can get as good as some of the themers on here.(wishful thinking)
but dude, you have helped me out no-end and i nearly gave up on the whole idea..
I THANKYOU..

@Cassie159


To continue with multi-layers: http://www.skorpan.dk/tut/softbar.html

very helpful Tutorial thanx alot

I use Paint.NET to do transparent pictures (Paint.NET is the name of the program, not a website).

It is completely free, no trials, no adware, no spyware

Paint.NET Website

Sounds easy when you say it...But is their anyway of doing it with ms paint? Or any other free software i can download to do this?

best bet is GIMP, it's free. google for it.

hello im new.
Im not gonna be sued by the owners of the themes I make right?
for example I made a theme for Fantastic 4 and it is due for release this year (the sequel)
Marvel isnt gonna hound me right?

@keith_rcm
Technically, they could, but I don't think you have to worry about it. It's not in their interest to rid mobiles from Marvel content. It's free advertising for them and if I had a company I would welcome it but you can never be 100% safe when dealing with any company and the pictures we "borrow"..

IF it were to happen, I'm sure they would contact you and ask you to remove them before they drag you to court..

How can u do transparent images on paint?

you can't.

I was trying diferent tools and stuff, and i got a opaccity tool, i can with it.

Thank you so MUCH.

I finally can get started on my buttons for my SE K800i theme.



Hail to ya.

If you have any more tricks????

Im using psp9, want to make my "desktop highlight" button tansparent to around 35% so you can just make it out, have followed what you have said to do here but Im still not getting it right., Any other helpful hints??

Janet

Save the file as .png and you shouldn't have any problems

Doesnt matter anymore, Downloaded Paint.Net and its working well. Ive got a lack of insipiration so cant really come up with any good themes, But its fun editing existing ones to suit my needs.

Anyway, Thanks for the guide. Helped me a lil' bit.

ahh thanks Rikard I was saving them as .jpeg thats were Ive been going wrong.

Thanks for the help

Janet

You're welcome

Thnx for program solidsnake204

you can make pictures transparant..

Very good program..

Thnx dude

how can u do it in GIMP? or is paint.net easier? i think i'll try paint.net, i allready got gimp

I wanna know it, too!!
How can you do it with GIMP??
Or is it the same?? I'm new ;-)
Please help
I'm so thankful <3

CHEERS FOR THAT ADVICE GREAT HELP THANKS REG

Hey, thanks for the advice on transparency Im using paint.net and will give a small instruction on how to make things transparent. (its a real quick one)

1. First open paint.net, select the paint bucket and fill the white sheet with black.

2. Press F4

3. Layer properties appears in the middle of the screen. at the bottom of that box there is a slider, move it to the left and you will see a chess colored board come to sight, the more clearly you see the chess board, the more transparent the picture is.

Hope this is helping someone good luck theming!

dont know if this is the right place to ask this, but im really really interested in doing the TMC,
but have read prev posts in there bout adding music to your theme and also posting ur theme
on a thread, and to be honest, im a little computer illiterate, and would not have a clue how to do
those things! Is there anywhere i can find out about these things??

Also I still cant get the S60 theme creator working...can anyone suggest another easy to use TC???

Also I use Photofiltre the free version, does anyone know how to make animations in there?? if not can
you suggest another program??


again....Im very sorry if this is posted in the wrong place!!!

I dont know about adding music to an S60 theme...
As for posting your theme in forum... above your typing window you will see a row of tabs...7th tab in from left is the "insert image" tab.. by clicking that, brings up an additional window where you paste in your URL for your image ( you get your URL from where your image is hosted i.e photobucket, imageshack etc ) once URL is paste, simply click "OK"
Under your theme screenshot, you can also provide the themes download link allowing people to download your theme once they have seen your screenshots etc.. again this is the 6th tab in from the left called "insert link", again it brings up an additional window where you paste in the themes URL itself, then click "OK" this will then allow you to rename the URL to something like "Download my theme" or similar...

There is another easy to use on line S60 theme maker but i dont think i can type it here for obvious reasons, failing that there is Carbibe UI but because you asked for easy, then this would not be for you maybe.

As for making animations etc...Paint.NET is an excellent free programe Download Paint.NET

Thanks for that Nemesis, Really appreciate ur help! Ive tried the carbide one before and you are right, it was very hard for me!
couldnt understand a thing in there!

Thanks again for your help,

very nice tutorial , big thanks

nice one
and i have another question
how i create icons
or from where i got good icons

this is good tnx

great

very good tutorial thnx

nice

Brawn GP

if you know how to make border please sent

Very Nice Tutorials

ye, its some similar in paint shop im no use photoshop..

In most design programs you define transparency in Opacity or Fill, make sure you don't include any "Blending mode" because that won't work when you export it, always use PNG images (in theme customization case) else other formats with alpha channels like TGA, DDS etc

that is a great tutorial ..........................thanks alot

NICE THANKS

Thanks Alot For The Info

thatz gr88888888888888888

Very Nice Tutorials,thanks.

can some1point me in the right direction for a tutorial on making active and passive tabs for nokia theme creation s60

best gimp us it ...