Skin



A skin refers to the texture that is placed onto a player model or mob.

The skin is divided into areas that act as the surface area of the character (For example, there's the front head area, left leg area, etc.). A skin will only allow solid color; transparency is not allowed on the skin file except on the second head area, which is transparent by default. The second head layer can be used to give the character glasses, hats, or other accessories (even a bigger head).

World textures
A skin can also refer to other textures in the game, such as block textures, item sprites, mob skins etc. A list of these can be found here. Modifying these has been officially supported since the Alpha 1.2.2 Update on November 10, 2010.

It is worth noting that Pigmen, Zombie, and Zombie Pigmen mobs can use typical player skins (and vice-versa). Skeleton mobs can use typical player skins as well, but keep in mind that they have their skinny arms and legs. (If a skeleton mob skin is used as a player's skin, their legs and arms will NOT be skinny.)

PC
A player can only change their character's skin if they have purchased Minecraft. This is done on the Profile page by uploading a valid .png image file, which will then replace the default skin. The char.png file in minecraft.jar can also be changed and replaced, but then, only in that game will the player character appear different, and anyone else using the default skin will appear to that player to be using the changed skin as well as it is the default skin that is being changed.

Xbox 360
There are currently 8 default skin types (with the exception of the skin packs), all of which appear to have Steve's face, but wearing different outfits and skin colors. The following are available through split screen and online only. The skins are available to be chosen in the 'Change Skin' area of Help & Options.

Default:

Skin Packs
Since the Xbox 360 Edition's initial release, 4J Studios have begun rolling out Skin Packs as downloadable content.

Skin Pack 1


Skin Pack 1 was released on July 16th, 2012. It contains 45 different skins to choose from. It is purchasable through the Xbox 360 Marketplace or directly in-game through the Downloadable Content section of the game and costs 160 Microsoft Points.

Summer Of Arcade Promotional Skin Pack


The Summer of Arcade Free Promotional Skin Pack was released on July 18th, 2012. It contains 15 different skins to choose from. It is currently only downloadable through the Summer of Arcade Promotion on the Xbox 360 Dashboard.

Skin Pack 2


Skin Pack 2 will be released next month, according to Valve. It will contain 40+ different skins to choose from. As part of a promotional crossover between Valve's Left 4 Dead and Minecraft, Skin Pack 2 will feature all 8 survivors from the Left 4 Dead series. So far only 8 skins have been announced.

Future Skin Packs
No information has been given about further Skin Packs, however, 4J Studios has announced that they have finished two Skin Packs including Skin Pack 1 and 2 and are working on an additional three.

Each DLC Skin Pack will contain 40+ skins to choose from, from video game characters to regular skins like kings and wizards. Each Skin Pack will cost 160 Microsoft Points.

Creating a skin


A custom skin is a great way to personalize your player model and can be done either by using a variety of community-made skin editors or by editing Minecraft's char.png file manually. This is stored in the mob folder within the minecraft.jar file, and can only be accessed by using an archive decompressor (such as Winzip, Winrar, or 7-Zip).

On Windows 7, minecraft.jar is located in the .minecraft folder at "C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\bin", accessed by pressing + and entering "%appdata%" in the command box.

On a Mac it is in "/Library/Application Support/minecraft/bin"

On Linux it is in.

Skin files must be 64 x 32 pixels.

Capes
Capes (previously known as cloaks) are vanity items and are worn in addition to the player's skin. There is currently no way to obtain a cape on one's own, however there are various mods that allow players to do this.

History
The player skin originally had a beard (that was commonly mistaken for a smile), and was removed in Beta 1.6.6(he got a shave). Though, if you happened to find one of these bearded skins, and stick it in your mob folder in the minecraft.jar, you can see what the old skin clearly looked like.

Exclusive cloaks (later renamed capes) were added in Beta 1.0 on December 20, 2010.

In October 2011, Notch re-named the cloak to the cape mentioning that the name was already wrong in the first place.

So far the Christmas and New Years Capes have only been given out in 2010 and not subsequent years.

As of the 1.9 pre-releases and 1.0.0, all "bottom" textures (including hand and foot) have been flipped 180 degrees. It's worth mentioning that the textures were specifically flipped and not rotated because an updated texture with the bottom surface rotated as opposed to flipped may display incorrectly depending on the intended alignment with relation to the rest of the skin.