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HOW TO: Replace Red Arrow With Car Image


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This modification will replace the red arrow used in 2D navigation mode with an image of your choosing (car or anything else you want to use).

 

Required Software/Files/Content

- Copy of DATA.ZIP

- Image to use as arrow (the higher resolution the better)

- Photoshop (or other image editing tool capable of color channels)

 

 

Step 1: Prepare the data file

Unzip your DATA.ZIP file, and navigate to:

 

DATA/pioneer_ui/common/

 

There you'll find a daycar.bmp and nightcar.bmp. Rename these to something else (daycar.bmp.bak and nightcar.bmp.bak work well) so you can go back later if you want. Now we're ready to create our new images.

 

 

Step 2: Create the images

Open the image you want to use as your new arrow in the image editor of your choice (we'll be using Photoshop CS2 here). You need to select just the car so that the background can be cut out.

 

car_arrow_1.jpg

 

There are a number of ways to do this, I won't go into detail here, but the best way to get a clean selection is with the pen tool. With the car selected, invert the selection and remove the background so only the car remains. Retain the selection.

 

car_arrow_2.jpg

 

With the car still selected, switch to the channels palette and add a new channel. It will automatically be created as an Alpha channel, and filled with black.

 

car_arrow_3.jpg

 

Now select #cacaca as your foreground color, and fill the selection. This will create a mask of the content we want to show up on the screen, the car.

 

car_arrow_4.jpg

 

Next you can trim the image, resize the canvas so that it is a square, and then resize everything to 82px X 85px. Also, make sure your car is facing forward (up), so it displays correctly on the map.

 

car_arrow_5.jpg

 

Now we can save the new image into our DATA file in preparation for installation. Select Save from the file menu, and in the dialogue that pops up, make sure you have your file type set to BMP, and that Alpha channels is checked. Browse to find DATA/pioneer_ui/common on your computer and save the image as daycar.bmp. A dialogue will pop up asking you to confirm the image settings, just click OK. Complete the same process, but save the image as nightcar.bmp and you're ready to load it on your F-Series.

 

car_arrow_6.jpg

 

 

Step 3: Load your changes

Go back to the DATA folder you created in step 1 above, and select all of the subfolders and the two files. Create an archive of those (right click -> send to -> compressed file). You will end up with a new zip file that you will need to rename to DATA.ZIP.

 

car_arrow_7.jpg

 

Boot your F-Series into Windows CE using the TESTMODE hack and copy your new DATA.ZIP file to the flash drive. When the copy is done, remove your SD card, and restart the headunit to get your new car to show up.

 

car_arrow_8.jpg

 

That's all there is, enjoy your newly customized nav system!

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Nice, hopefully we can get a collection of options for people to select from here.

 

Thanks for mentioning the ghost as well, I should have said something about it. The ghost is the faint image that shows up along the green path of the navigation route. I chose to leave mine as the arrow that comes from the factory, but you can update it to be the outline of your car following the instructions above.

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I made mine on a Macintosh with a program called GraphicConverter. It identified the original daycar.bmp as ARGB (alpha, red, green, blue). The 'black' is not black, it's the alpha/transparency "colour"... so you can't just use black, you do have to use an actual alpha/transparency layer.

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I made mine on a Macintosh with a program called GraphicConverter. It identified the original daycar.bmp as ARGB (alpha, red, green, blue). The 'black' is not black, it's the alpha/transparency "colour"... so you can't just use black, you do have to use an actual alpha/transparency layer.

Correct, those BMPs that look like they're on a black background actually just have an Alpha mask around them. If you just put it on a black background you'll actually have a black background behind the image.

 

If you use Photoshop, you can see the channels palate in the lower right corner of my screen shots above, along with what is happening in the Alpha channel.

 

yea yeah i know... but i got a buddy of mine to do it for me...

So in the 34 minutes since you posted you were able to get someone to make one for you?

 

Man I wish I could delete posts...

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No kidding, especially now that we're really starting to turn out some mods, it would be nice to be able to keep everything clean. I sent JasonH an email, so hopefully he'll get back to me.

 

I looked around a little bit online, but my main machines are all Macs, and it looks like it is a PC only program.

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skicrave, have you tried using your custom icon in 3d mode? I think that all that happens in 3d mode is you get the icon sort of forshortened, and the 'ghost' / shadow appearing below it. It doesn't actually have to rotate around or anything, or does it? From the pictures I've seen in 3d mode, the icon looks like it's really only squashed vertically to simulate it being tilted.

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Switching to 3D mode reverts to the red arrow. The reason I believe it is an animation controlled through daycar.spr is because depending on the perspective, the shape of it changes. In 3D mode you can change the pitch and yaw (for lack of better terms) so that you're higher or lower on the horizon. Which each change, the arrow changes to appear more squashed, or more elongated.

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Switching to 3D mode reverts to the red arrow. The reason I believe it is an animation controlled through daycar.spr is because depending on the perspective, the shape of it changes. In 3D mode you can change the pitch and yaw (for lack of better terms) so that you're higher or lower on the horizon. Which each change, the arrow changes to appear more squashed, or more elongated.

 

is it possible to take a rear shot of the car and change the coding so the unit uses a bmp image of the rear image rather than the .spr file altogether? I'm sure it would take away the rotating feature, but does anyone even use that anyways?

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