NOTE: The full skin packs will
display all buttons and sliders for Thetis v2.10.0 as well
as all previous versions of Thetis. All button and slider
packs are updated as well if you like to play with those.
Free Custom Skins for all Thetis Versions -
W1AEXIMPORTANT INFORMATION BEFORE
YOU START: This project requires a basic
understanding of file structure and folder hierarchy. If you
are uncomfortable with the thought of navigating through
folders and subfolders, then this is not for you. I do not do
this for a living and do not provide technical support, so if
you decide to try this you are on your own! If you know how to
navigate through folders and files with Windows explorer, and
know how to unzip files, then I have no doubt that you will
enjoy playing around with these display skins. Keep in mind
that this project ADDS folders and files to the Thetis Skins
directory, but it does NOT alter any files that are installed
by Thetis.
NOTE: As of 5-19-2023 all the skin and button/slider packs are compatible with all versions of the Thetis software. The installation notes below will detail where to find the skins folder for the Thetis software.
INSTALLATION NOTES for Thetis: In Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 and Windows 11 the path to the Thetis skins folder can be found here:
C:\Users\your windows login account name\AppData\Roaming\OpenHPSDR\skins
Note that these Thetis skin archives have a recursive Console sub-folder inside them. All you have to do is unzip the folder into the skins directory and you are done. Make sure that you shut down Thetis before you unzip a new pack as your skin will not be recognized unless the program is restarted. Be aware that if you attempt to install a custom skin, and it does not show up in the list of available skins, or the skin displays incorrectly, the problem is ALWAYS a result of incorrect placement of your custom folder and its Console subfolder. After examining the file and folder structure, if you are still stuck visit the Troubleshooting Page for help.
DISCLAIMER: With all that being said, if you somehow manage to mess things up, I take no responsibility for any issues that you cause for yourself! If you are brave enough to give it a try you'll see how easy this actually is. The reality is that Thetis is so forgiving that it will start up and display an interface even if your selected skin has an empty Console folder! It will be ugly, but just like those "People of Walmart" photos that get passed around, Thetis doesn't really care how you dress it up. What the heck, it's ham radio! You're supposed to experiment and have fun! It's my hope that someone with more artistic skill and creativity than I have will visit the PowerSDR Skins Tutorial Page and make some beautiful display skins to share with the entire SDR community. If you come up with something great, I'd love to see it. If you have some ideas to share, feel free to contact me. If you would like any of these skins to be included in future software releases, tell the Thetis developers that they are always welcome to anything that is here!
COMPATIBILITY NOTE: If you see a display skin on my Flex Radio PowerSDR Skins page that you would like to use go ahead and install it. It will come up fine but will be missing several buttons and sliders. To correct this, simply go down to the bottom of this page and download a slider and button pack and unzip those right into the skin's console folder. When you restart Thetis all the controls will then display and function correctly.
NOTE: As of 5-19-2023 all the skin and button/slider packs are compatible with all versions of the Thetis software. The installation notes below will detail where to find the skins folder for the Thetis software.
A screenshot of the entire
AM BCB as viewed in Thetis
INSTALLATION NOTES for Thetis: In Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 and Windows 11 the path to the Thetis skins folder can be found here:
C:\Users\your windows login account name\AppData\Roaming\OpenHPSDR\skins
Note that these Thetis skin archives have a recursive Console sub-folder inside them. All you have to do is unzip the folder into the skins directory and you are done. Make sure that you shut down Thetis before you unzip a new pack as your skin will not be recognized unless the program is restarted. Be aware that if you attempt to install a custom skin, and it does not show up in the list of available skins, or the skin displays incorrectly, the problem is ALWAYS a result of incorrect placement of your custom folder and its Console subfolder. After examining the file and folder structure, if you are still stuck visit the Troubleshooting Page for help.
DISCLAIMER: With all that being said, if you somehow manage to mess things up, I take no responsibility for any issues that you cause for yourself! If you are brave enough to give it a try you'll see how easy this actually is. The reality is that Thetis is so forgiving that it will start up and display an interface even if your selected skin has an empty Console folder! It will be ugly, but just like those "People of Walmart" photos that get passed around, Thetis doesn't really care how you dress it up. What the heck, it's ham radio! You're supposed to experiment and have fun! It's my hope that someone with more artistic skill and creativity than I have will visit the PowerSDR Skins Tutorial Page and make some beautiful display skins to share with the entire SDR community. If you come up with something great, I'd love to see it. If you have some ideas to share, feel free to contact me. If you would like any of these skins to be included in future software releases, tell the Thetis developers that they are always welcome to anything that is here!
COMPATIBILITY NOTE: If you see a display skin on my Flex Radio PowerSDR Skins page that you would like to use go ahead and install it. It will come up fine but will be missing several buttons and sliders. To correct this, simply go down to the bottom of this page and download a slider and button pack and unzip those right into the skin's console folder. When you restart Thetis all the controls will then display and function correctly.
RANDOM THOUGHTS: After
studying the file structure of the skins in Thetis and
PowerSDR mRX it was possible to find the elements that were
needed to display all the buttons and sliders correctly.
Everything displays correctly in all my versions of Thetis
with the skins that I have re-compiled and other users have
confirmed that it all works correctly for them. As a former
Apache Labs ANAN-100 user who is now running a new ANAN-200D,
I have to say that I am very happy to have access to the
collapsed view that is shown below. There appears to be a lot
of very cool functionality with Thetis that I was not aware of
until I studied what was under the hood. Note that your meter
and frequency displays will be the traditional dark colors
rather than the yellow coloring shown in the pictures. I
always change them to a yellow background as my eyes seem to
like the high contrast it offers. There are instructions for
making this change if you are interested in doing so at the
bottom of the page at this link: http://www.w1aex.com/psdr/psdr.html
- I found that Thetis placed its skins files in the "Roaming" folder for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 and Windows 11:
C:\Users\your windows login account name\AppData\Roaming\OpenHPSDR\skins
- Note that these skin packs should be extracted directly to the Skins directory without manually creating a Console folder.
- If you have trouble seeing a skin pack that you have installed in your list of choices in Thetis this is always the result of an incorrect folder hierarchy or incorrect file placement. Check the troubleshooting page for help.
W1AEX Blue Mix
Download the W1AEX Blue Mix skin assembled from components by Joe - K2GX, Jeff - W2NBC and Cory - K9CDR
K2GX Blue Gem - RGB
Download K2GX Blue Gem - RGB
K2GX Brushed Black - RGB
Download K2GX Brushed Black - RGB
K2GX BW Gem Dark - RGB
Download K2GX BW Gem Dark - RGB
K2GX Green Metal - RGB
Download K2GX Green Metal - RGB
K2GX Superhero - RGB
Download K2GX Superhero - RGB
K2GX The Darkness - RGB
Download K2GX The Darkness - RGB
K2GX World Blue - RGB
Download K2GX World Blue - RGB
K2GX World Green - RGB
Download K2GX World Green - RGB
K2GX World Time - RGB
Download K2GX World Time - RGB
K2GX N Brush - RGB
Download K2GX N Brush - RGB
K9CDR The Blues - Cory came up with this beautiful skin using his custom blue panadapter background with lighting effects
Download K9CDR The Blues skin
W2NBC Series of skins!
W2NBC Scope Mesh Skin. Careful attention has been paid to contrast so that the menu items, buttons, and sliders show up very clearly. This is easy on the eyes!
Download W2NBC Scope Mesh skin
W2NBC Scope Dark Skin (Custom console display, panels, buttons and sliders)
Download W2NBC Scope Dark Skin
W2NBC Oscilloscope Skin (Custom console display, panels, buttons and sliders)
Download W2NBC Oscilloscope Skin
W2NBC Oscilloscope Skin Using Andromeda Collapsed Mode With Docking Panels
W1AEX Series of Skins!
W1AEX Thetis Chrome Plus Skin (Featuring W2NBC buttons and control panels)
Download W1AEX Thetis Chrome Plus Skin
W1AEX Thetis Gray Skin
Download W1AEX Thetis Gray Skin
W1AEX Thetis Lite Skin
Download W1AEX Thetis Lite Skin
W1AEX Thetis Med Skin
Download W1AEX Thetis Medium Skin
W1AEX Thetis Dark Skin
Download W1AEX Thetis Dark Skin
W1AEX Camouflage Skin
Download W1AEX Camouflage Skin
W1AEX Dark Incremented Skin with new Black Incremented Sliders
Download W1AEX Incremented Dark Skin
W1AEX "ANAN Old School" skin
Download W1AEX "Grilled" skin
W1AEX "Grilled Lite" skin
Download W1AEX "Grilled Lite" skin
W1AEX "Mesh" skin
Download W1AEX "Mesh" skin
W1AEX "Mesh Light" skin
Download W1AEX "Mesh Light" skin
W1AEX Heathkit Apache TX1/RX1 skin for those who still love the look of Heathkit green
Download W1AEX Heathkit Apache TX-1 display skin
W1AEX "Clarity N" display skin with bright edge-lit buttons that make it easy to focus on what you need to see as you are operating.
Download W1AEX Clarity N Skin
Download W1AEX Tektronix 465 Scope Skin
(Note: The Tektronix logo will not display when the second RX is enabled)
View this skin being used on YouTube
Download W1AEX HPSDR ONE Skin
W1AEX HPSDR TWO Display Skin
Download W1AEX HPSDR TWO Skin
W1AEX SINCGARS Military Transceiver Skin
Download W1AEX SINCGAR Military Transceiver Skin
W1AEX Cosmic Blue National NC-155 Display Skin
Download W1AEX Cosmic Blue National NC-155 Skin
W1AEX Black Wrinkle Display Skin
Download W1AEX Black Wrinkle Skin
W1AEX Heavy Metal Display Skin
Download W1AEX Heavy Metal Skin
W1AEX HPSDR Collins Replica Display Skin
Download W1AEX Collins Replica Skin
(Note: The Collins emblem in the lower left corner of the expanded view will be covered by various elements of the functional overlay if not sized to give it space.)
Collapsed view of the
"Thetis Dark" skin available below. This view is a nice
feature that is sadly not present in the FLEX version of
PowerSDR.
Quick
Installation Notes
- I found that Thetis placed its skins files in the "Roaming" folder for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 and Windows 11:
C:\Users\your windows login account name\AppData\Roaming\OpenHPSDR\skins
- Note that these skin packs should be extracted directly to the Skins directory without manually creating a Console folder.
- If you have trouble seeing a skin pack that you have installed in your list of choices in Thetis this is always the result of an incorrect folder hierarchy or incorrect file placement. Check the troubleshooting page for help.
Good luck and 73!
Rob W1AEX
Rob W1AEX
NEW SKIN!
W1AEX Steam Punk Skin
Download the W1AEX Steam Punk skin
W1AEX Cold & Snowy Skin
Download W1AEX Cold & Snowy Skin
W1AEX Steam Punk Skin
Download the W1AEX Steam Punk skin
W1AEX Cold & Snowy Skin
Download W1AEX Cold & Snowy Skin
W1AEX Blue Mix
Download the W1AEX Blue Mix skin assembled from components by Joe - K2GX, Jeff - W2NBC and Cory - K9CDR
K2GX Blue Gem - RGB
Download K2GX Blue Gem - RGB
K2GX Brushed Black - RGB
Download K2GX Brushed Black - RGB
K2GX BW Gem Dark - RGB
Download K2GX BW Gem Dark - RGB
K2GX Green Metal - RGB
Download K2GX Green Metal - RGB
K2GX Superhero - RGB
Download K2GX Superhero - RGB
K2GX The Darkness - RGB
Download K2GX The Darkness - RGB
K2GX World Blue - RGB
Download K2GX World Blue - RGB
K2GX World Green - RGB
Download K2GX World Green - RGB
K2GX World Time - RGB
Download K2GX World Time - RGB
K2GX N Brush - RGB
Download K2GX N Brush - RGB
K9CDR The Blues - Cory came up with this beautiful skin using his custom blue panadapter background with lighting effects
Download K9CDR The Blues skin
W2NBC Series of skins!
W2NBC Scope Mesh Skin. Careful attention has been paid to contrast so that the menu items, buttons, and sliders show up very clearly. This is easy on the eyes!
Download W2NBC Scope Mesh skin
W2NBC Scope Dark Skin (Custom console display, panels, buttons and sliders)
Download W2NBC Scope Dark Skin
W2NBC Oscilloscope Skin (Custom console display, panels, buttons and sliders)
Download W2NBC Oscilloscope Skin
W2NBC Oscilloscope Skin Using Andromeda Collapsed Mode With Docking Panels
W1AEX Series of Skins!
W1AEX Thetis Chrome Plus Skin (Featuring W2NBC buttons and control panels)
Download W1AEX Thetis Chrome Plus Skin
W1AEX Thetis Gray Skin
Download W1AEX Thetis Gray Skin
W1AEX Thetis Lite Skin
Download W1AEX Thetis Lite Skin
W1AEX Thetis Med Skin
Download W1AEX Thetis Medium Skin
W1AEX Thetis Dark Skin
Download W1AEX Thetis Dark Skin
W1AEX Camouflage Skin
Download W1AEX Camouflage Skin
The next skin is an experiment with
dressing up the sliders in the GUI. I kind of like
the effect at the moment and have tried them out
with most of my skins. If you like the incremented
sliders, I added three variations of them (Light,
Medium, Black) to the slider pack download section.
You can download them and install them into any skin
where you think they might look good. Mixing and
matching slider packs, button packs, and various
skins is part of what makes customizing the software
fun. You can always unzip the original slider pack
right into the Console folder to restore the skin to
the original sliders.
W1AEX Dark Incremented Skin with new Black Incremented Sliders
Download W1AEX Incremented Dark Skin
W1AEX "ANAN Old School" skin
W1AEX "Grilled" skin
Download W1AEX "Grilled" skin
W1AEX "Grilled Lite" skin
Download W1AEX "Grilled Lite" skin
W1AEX "Mesh" skin
Download W1AEX "Mesh" skin
W1AEX "Mesh Light" skin
Download W1AEX "Mesh Light" skin
W1AEX Heathkit Apache TX1/RX1 skin for those who still love the look of Heathkit green
Download W1AEX Heathkit Apache TX-1 display skin
W1AEX "Clarity N" display skin with bright edge-lit buttons that make it easy to focus on what you need to see as you are operating.
Download W1AEX Clarity N Skin
Download W1AEX Tektronix 465 Scope Skin
(Note: The Tektronix logo will not display when the second RX is enabled)
View this skin being used on YouTube
W1AEX HPSDR ONE Display Skin
Download W1AEX HPSDR ONE Skin
W1AEX HPSDR TWO Display Skin
Download W1AEX HPSDR TWO Skin
W1AEX SINCGARS Military Transceiver Skin
Download W1AEX SINCGAR Military Transceiver Skin
W1AEX Cosmic Blue National NC-155 Display Skin
Download W1AEX Cosmic Blue National NC-155 Skin
W1AEX Black Wrinkle Display Skin
Download W1AEX Black Wrinkle Skin
W1AEX Heavy Metal Display Skin
Download W1AEX Heavy Metal Skin
W1AEX HPSDR Collins Replica Display Skin
Download W1AEX Collins Replica Skin
(Note: The Collins emblem in the lower left corner of the expanded view will be covered by various elements of the functional overlay if not sized to give it space.)
For those who are
feeling adventurous and creative!
NOTE: UPDATED 4/17/2022 TO DISPLAY ALL NEW BUTTONS AND SLIDERS FOR VERSION 2.9.0.6 OF THETIS.
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W2NBC_Buttons.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_bright_buttons.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_smartsdr1_buttons.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_smartsdr2_buttons.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_sincgars_buttons.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_high_visual_buttons.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/K2GX_skin_buttons.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/k2gx_rgb_buttons.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_dark_sliders.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_med_sliders.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_light_sliders.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_dark_increment_sliders.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_med_inc_sliders.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_light_increment_sliders.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W2NBC_Sliders.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/k2gx_rgb_sliders.zip
Something pretty and new to play around with!
Here is something new to play around with if you want to brighten up the panadapter area of your Thetis display area. Joe - K2GX was inspired by the bright blue "picDisplay.png" file created by Corey - K9CDR and used the gradient tool in Photoshop to create a collection of different versions of the bright blue picDisplay.png file. These that can be copied into any skin and displayed by renaming the original picDisplay.png file to something like picDisplay_BAK.png and then installing any one of these by giving it the picDisplay.png name. Thank you to Corey for the inspiration and to Joe for his skill with the Photoshop gradient tool!
Download the picDisplay archive
The button and slider
packs in the links below include all the components
used in Thetis, PowerSDR mRX PS, and the FLEX version
of PowerSDR. These can be unzipped into any skin on my
Flex
and PowerSDR
mRX PS - Thetis download pages and all the
buttons and sliders should display correctly. Simply
choose the button or slider pack that looks best
with any skin and unzip it into the console
directory for the skin you wish to apply the new
components to. Take a look at the "Short Story
About Creating Your Own Skins" narrative under the
Button and Slider links down below and then feel free
to mix and match any sliders and buttons with any skin
to customize your displayed skin!
NOTE: UPDATED 4/17/2022 TO DISPLAY ALL NEW BUTTONS AND SLIDERS FOR VERSION 2.9.0.6 OF THETIS.
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W2NBC_Buttons.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_bright_buttons.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_smartsdr1_buttons.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_smartsdr2_buttons.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_sincgars_buttons.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_high_visual_buttons.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/K2GX_skin_buttons.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/k2gx_rgb_buttons.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_dark_sliders.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_med_sliders.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_light_sliders.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_dark_increment_sliders.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_med_inc_sliders.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W1AEX_light_increment_sliders.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/W2NBC_Sliders.zip
http://www.w1aex.com/hpsdr/packs/k2gx_rgb_sliders.zip
Something pretty and new to play around with!
Here is something new to play around with if you want to brighten up the panadapter area of your Thetis display area. Joe - K2GX was inspired by the bright blue "picDisplay.png" file created by Corey - K9CDR and used the gradient tool in Photoshop to create a collection of different versions of the bright blue picDisplay.png file. These that can be copied into any skin and displayed by renaming the original picDisplay.png file to something like picDisplay_BAK.png and then installing any one of these by giving it the picDisplay.png name. Thank you to Corey for the inspiration and to Joe for his skill with the Photoshop gradient tool!
Download the picDisplay archive
The Short Story About
Creating your own skins for Thetis, PowerSDR mRX
PS and PowerSDR - W1AEX
Here's the short story about how incredibly easy it is to create your own Thetis custom skin for . All you need is one of the button packs and one of the slider packs from above. Seriously, that's all you need to create a functional skin that will work fine. Take a look at the screenshot below of what happens when you unzip the W1AEX_smartsdr2_buttons.zip and W1AEX_light_sliders.zip files into a correctly placed "Console" directory inside of the PowerSDR Skins folder hierarchy:
Finally, this is what it looks like when you insert a file called "PicDisplay.png" which fills in the area behind the panadapter grid:
So... that's pretty much all there is to it. There actually are nine other files that are involved in the event you wish to add additional texture effects in various places of the interface, but they are not essential. If you are interested in all the details take a look at the full PowerSDR tutorial. There is one VERY IMPORTANT CAVEAT about playing around with these skins. It would be a violation of copyright laws if you took any skin provided by the Flex Radio Corporation and then modified it and distributed it. These include, but are not limited to, any skin that begins with "IK3VIG" and "Beppe" or even the Default series of skins for PowerSDR. Flex has specifically listed its skins as copyright protected, so please respect that. You are welcome to take any of the graphic components (buttons, sliders, consoles) or complete skins that I have created and do whatever you like with them, but be very careful with the copyright protected materials provided by others in PowerSDR or the OpenHPSDR project. One other thing, if you make something really nice, be sure to share it with the SDR community!
Here's the short story about how incredibly easy it is to create your own Thetis custom skin for . All you need is one of the button packs and one of the slider packs from above. Seriously, that's all you need to create a functional skin that will work fine. Take a look at the screenshot below of what happens when you unzip the W1AEX_smartsdr2_buttons.zip and W1AEX_light_sliders.zip files into a correctly placed "Console" directory inside of the PowerSDR Skins folder hierarchy:
Buttons and Sliders
Only! Look Ma, no console! This skin will work fine,
but it uses whatever default texture windows inserts
into the graphics.
Here's what
happens if you add a file called "Console.png"
to fill in the main body of the
interface: Buttons + sliders +
one file called Console.png
Finally, this is what it looks like when you insert a file called "PicDisplay.png" which fills in the area behind the panadapter grid:
So... that's pretty much all there is to it. There actually are nine other files that are involved in the event you wish to add additional texture effects in various places of the interface, but they are not essential. If you are interested in all the details take a look at the full PowerSDR tutorial. There is one VERY IMPORTANT CAVEAT about playing around with these skins. It would be a violation of copyright laws if you took any skin provided by the Flex Radio Corporation and then modified it and distributed it. These include, but are not limited to, any skin that begins with "IK3VIG" and "Beppe" or even the Default series of skins for PowerSDR. Flex has specifically listed its skins as copyright protected, so please respect that. You are welcome to take any of the graphic components (buttons, sliders, consoles) or complete skins that I have created and do whatever you like with them, but be very careful with the copyright protected materials provided by others in PowerSDR or the OpenHPSDR project. One other thing, if you make something really nice, be sure to share it with the SDR community!