A Quick Look At BlackBerry Theme Builder 5.0 From The Experts!

on 13 Nov 2009 03:49 AM

With the launch of the new BlackBerry Theme Builder 5.0 and all its new options implemented, it should come as no surprise that Research In Motion is putting a lot of attention on its release. We have been hearing for months now that Theme Builder (formerly known as Plazmic Content Developers Kit) was being brought "in house" in an effort to get it up to par where users thought it should be.

The 5.0 release has brought us that much closer and while it's still not perfect, I cannot really think of any software that is. Perfection in the software industry is a myth. But at least some of the major bugs have been addressed, such as the Storm theme bug. With the new efforts in regards to Theme Builder 5.0 now in full force the Inside BlackBerry Blogs have started up a series of posts to assist users with learning just how to use it to the full potential. While it's just the first of many I'm sure we will see, it's well worth a look as a lot of effort has been put into it. If you have any interest in making your own themes I highly suggest reading up on it - the Inside BlackBerry team did a great job on it.

Filed Under: BlackBerry Themes;

23 Comments

Posted by gorgalis Friday, Nov 13, 2009 821 days ago

That is a great video. And I see the incoming call screen is theme controlled... it shouldn't be long before we have full screen caller ID!

Posted by webmastir Friday, Nov 13, 2009 821 days ago

is there a vid out for the new v5 builder?

Posted by BBThemes Friday, Nov 13, 2009 821 days ago

i agree if only rim would make a 5.0 video to show the full potential of the new theme suite

Posted by sonar_chris Friday, Nov 13, 2009 821 days ago

Nice program, seems a little more user friendly than Plazmic. Overall a nice update I would say.

Posted by DarkStar50 Friday, Nov 13, 2009 821 days ago

As a newbie to this, I appreciate all the help and info I can get. However, that video was throwing out info so fast that I stopped watching it before my head got too dizzy. Slow down dude!

Posted by havrin Friday, Nov 13, 2009 821 days ago

I tried to download the software twice but I get to a point where all I get is an Apache Tomcat/5.5.20 Error and it won't go any further.
Anyone having any luck getting it downloaded?

Posted by Hyperplex Friday, Nov 13, 2009 821 days ago

There is an apparent bug in theming the Incoming Call Screen:

Even if the screen is left alone to the defaults and nothing is changed, when exported (at least to the Tour), alignment on the incoming call screen is completely messed up. Rather than being centered (when no profile pic is present) or left-justified with a pic, the phone number is positioned correctly but the contact name (and company if applicable) is completely out of alignment. In the case of contacts witha profile pic, they bleed over the picture.

There are no alignment options for those text items so it basically becomes a crapshoot getting the info to line up properly.

Posted by Shifty_P Friday, Nov 13, 2009 821 days ago

during install, has anybody else had it stop at BBAlphaSans.ttf? it hasn't moved for minutes...

Posted by robotaholic Friday, Nov 13, 2009 821 days ago

I downloaded it and it's awesome. I never made any themes before because I was stumped with plazmic - so now I got transitions and awesome fonts & cool focus tabs - this thing is great- I can't quit playing with it. If you play with any type of photoshop/paint shop pro application and have bits & pieces of photo editing remnants I recommend this program.
Rim should include this with the user tools cd when you buy your blackberry- it's so much fun lol

Posted by chrs1212 Friday, Nov 13, 2009 821 days ago

when clicking the above link and directed over to read the full article on the blackberry website, there is a really cool theme image posted. My question is how do you make the banner clear with all the "indicators" overlayed on the background image? My next question is how do you make the application icons look as they do without the typical box format? I understand that this must be done by creating a .svg file but there is no option to load a .svg file into the application background section in Theme Builder.
Thanks in advance, i appreciate any help very much!!

Posted by nuttie Friday, Nov 13, 2009 821 days ago

downloading at BBAlphaSans.ttf any fix for that? i can't even get it to cancel or quit.

Posted by drumzalicious Friday, Nov 13, 2009 821 days ago

How about a Mac Version eh?

Posted by weisguy Saturday, Nov 14, 2009 820 days ago

@ hyperplex - I can confirm this most annoying bug about the incoming call screen on my BlackBerry Tour. This renders the whole thing absolutely unusable for creating professional themes. I have experimented for hours in trying to move the text by loading it on to my 'berry, calling myself, and seeing where the text *really* ends up. If you keep playing with it, you can get to a point where it's almost usable but even then it seems like the alignment changes for each incoming call.

If anyone knows of any fix or better workaround please post.

Posted by DoctorNeutron Saturday, Nov 14, 2009 820 days ago

I'm thinking that current Plazmic 4.7 users need a cookbook install set of instructions from THE MAN for Theme Studio 5.0. This is based on looking at a fairly bizzaro set of symptoms and complaints so far.

I offered these comments:

As to order of installation for 5.0, here is my 2 pence: (1) wipe DM, (2) install Studio, (3) install Simulator, (4) install DM.

Then again, I am not THE MAN.

Doctor Neutron

Posted by nuttie Saturday, Nov 14, 2009 820 days ago

after downloading Theme Studio again and freezing again at font. then tried to remove from control panel where its showing but got this application has unexpectedly quit. invocation of this java application has caused an invocation Target Exception. this application will now exit (LAX). so i don't have the studio but can't remove it either..help!

Posted by persian777 Saturday, Nov 14, 2009 820 days ago

it works fine on my xp computer but when i tried installing it, it installed everything except Blackberry Theme Studio and that other one that starts with a C. I tried installing it like 10 times but i never get it to appear. Anyone know whats wrong?

Posted by titainium81 Saturday, Nov 14, 2009 820 days ago

Ok, so Im new to building themes but Im figuring it out. Only problem Im having so far is while using theme studio, Im trying to edit a buttom while in inspector under themes and controls. So I click beside the buttom, click edit, then I get an Error box, could not open application. It should open into composer shouldnt it?

Posted by juju705 Saturday, Nov 14, 2009 820 days ago

I think I may have developed OCD, thanks to this thing. I was up 'til 3 AM messing with it--and back up at 9 so I could mess with it some more.

Inspector is really nice and intuitive, but Composer baffles me. I was ready to kill something 'cause the button I made, which I wanted to be invisible, kept showing up on the Inspector homescreen. Long story short, I'm a dumb@$$.

But I do have a really cool (to me) theme now.

Posted by jblake Sunday, Nov 15, 2009 819 days ago

No Mac version. Bugs with Tour edition. I am looking forward to version 5.2 maybe. I would really love to be able to create themes- someday.

Posted by samgbx Sunday, Nov 15, 2009 819 days ago

downloaded, its going to take me a long time to learn how to use this!

Posted by OME6A Tuesday, Nov 17, 2009 817 days ago

I loved watching the video.

The narrarator totally sounds like a grown up Chris Griffin from Family Guy. Just watch it with that in mind, makes it all the more enjoyable.

Posted by NYdude Sunday, Nov 22, 2009 812 days ago

anyone have an idea as to when they will announce a version for mac os x snow leopard?

Posted by ericthelutheran Friday, Mar 12, 2010 702 days ago

Any way to build a hidden today theme for the tour with this?