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File:Mob1.png

The default player skin, "Steve", as it appears in-game.

Char

The above skin when directly opened in an image viewer.

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.)

Changing player skins

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:

Name Image Original Notes Descriptio
Default Skin (Steve) File:Char Snap.png Char Player 1's Skin The classic Steve.
Tennis Steve File:Char Snap2.png File:Char2.png Player 2's Skin A blond Steve in a tennis outfit and a sweatband.
Tuxedo Steve File:Char Snap3.png File:Char3.png Player 3's Skin Steve in a fancy-looking tuxedo. A reference from James Bond possibly.
Athlete Steve File:Char Snap4.png File:Char4.png Player 4's Skin A darker version of Steve with a sleeveless top, a gold medal necklace, and track pants.
Scottish Steve File:Char Snap5.png File:Char5.png Player 5's Skin Steve in a kilt with fancy hair and clothing.
Prisoner Steve File:Char Snap6.png File:Char6.png Player 6's Skin Steve as an escapee from prison in bright-colored, orange clothing.
Cyclist Steve File:Char Snap7.png File:Char7.png Player 7's Skin A Steve with shorts, a jacket, and shoes.
Boxer Steve File:Char Snap8.png File:Char8.png Player 8's Skin A Steve with boxing gloves, a belt with shorts, no shirt, and fancy boots. Possibly a reference to Ivan Drago from Rocky IV.

Skin Packs

Since the Xbox 360 Edition's initial release, 4J Studios have begun rolling out Skin Packs as downloadable content. Skin Packs add additional skins that players may choose from along with the 8 default skins packaged with the game. They often feature characters from other video-games (usually games on Xbox Arcade), alongside original designs.

Skin Pack 1

Xbox Skin Pack Promo 3

Promotional image for Skin Pack 1. From left to right: Jack of Blades, Clayton Carmine, Banjo, Ms. 'Splosion Man, Prisoner.

Skin Pack 1 was released on July 16th, 2012. It contains 45 different skins to choose from.[1] 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. A trial version of Skin Pack 1 is available as a free download, which enables the full use of the original design skins, but not the skins based on copyrighted game characters which include those based on Minecraft's own characters.

Summer Of Arcade Promotional Skin Pack

File:SoASkinPack.jpg

Promotional image for Summer of Arcade Skin Pack. From left to right: Paladin, Randall Wayne, Knight, Dust, Tony Hawk.

The Summer of Arcade Free Promotional Skin Pack [2] was available through July 18th and August 22, 2012. It contained 15 different skins to choose from.

Skin Pack 2

File:Skinpack2.jpeg

Promotional image for Skin Pack 2. From left to right: Agent Level 5, Joanna Dark - Dress, Damon Baird, Pretztail, Bill.

Skin Pack 2 was released on August 24th, 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 will cost 160 Microsoft Points. A trial version of Skin Pack 2 is available as a free download, which enables the full use of the original design skins and Indie Games.

Skin Pack 3

TBA

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.[3]

Each DLC Skin Pack will contain 45 skins to choose from. Each Skin Pack will cost 160 Microsoft Points.[4]

Creating a skin

Skintemplate

A color-coded skin template on transparent background with all faces labeled.

Skinzones

Another skin guide on a black background. For the arm and leg sections only, "right" indicates those facing outward, whereas "left" indicates inward.

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, UNRAR, Winrar, or 7-Zip).

On Windows 7, minecraft.jar is located in the .minecraft

folder at "C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\bin"

accessed by pressing windows key, navigating to run, and entering "%appdata%" in the space provided.

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

On GNU/Linux it is in ~/.minecraft/bin/.

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.

Name Image Original Notes
The Mojang Cape File:MojangCloak.PNG File:Mojang.png All Mojang AB employees have Mojang logo capes.
The Christmas Cape 2010 File:ChristmasCape.png File:Xmas.png On December 24/25, 2010; all users were given a Christmas cape.
The New Year's Cape File:Newyearscloak.png File:2011.png On New Year's Eve, 2010; all users were given this cape.
The Bacon Cape File:MicleeBaconCape.png File:BaconCape.png Miclee was given this cape by Notch, presumably due to his idea of the Pigman. However, later it was removed from him due to other users asking Notch for personal capes.
One Million Cape File:1000000.png File:1MCape.png This cape was made for akronman1, the lucky buyer of the 1,000,000th copy of Minecraft.
dannyBstyle's Cape File:Cloak DB.png File:DBCape.png This cape was given to dannyBstyle.[5]
JulianClark's Cape File:JulianClark cape.png File:JulianClark.png This cape was given to JulianClark in return for bringing Notch the TV presenter and actor Ray Cokes.[6]
MineCon 2011 Attendees Cape Creepercloak Creeper cape This cape was given to all MineCon 2011 attendees.
Crowdin Translator Cape Translatorcape File:Capeeeee.png This cape was given to 29 translators on the Minecraft translation project at Crowdin using a fair dice roll. More capes will be given out to translators from time to time.[7][8][9]

History

Jigsaw Block (top texture) JE2 BE2
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The player skin originally had a beard (that was commonly mistaken for a smile), and was removed in Beta 1.6.6..

Though, if you happened to find one of these bearded skins, and place 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 renamed the cloak to the cape mentioning that the name was already wrong in the first place.[10]

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.

If trying to make a skin that has a transparent part, it will appear black in-game.

Gallery

References

See also

  • To share your skin with other users, please do so on the skin gallery page.

External links

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