Skinning Help

[Yorker]

Hi, I need help on skinning. Not as in skinning programs like "Windows Media Player" or "Firefox", but as in Mobile Device Skinning. I'm trying to make vinyl skins for my Palm T|X and hopefully get started in selling some. I'm using Gimp 2.0 and am waiting for my Adobe Photoshop CD to mail-in. Anyways, what I need to know is how to get the skin onto the template without breaking up the image. I'll try to post a picture to explain better.

Here is a site that offers skinning. As you go to the PDA Skinning section and select say...the "Tungsten E2," it brings up two palettes of the device. When you click the first you get into the skinning design you can do yourself. What I want to know is how they get the image to cut out the leftovers and apply to the palette? Is there a way to do it on Gimp?

I'll appreciate any help!

[LaurenMarie]

Sounds like all you need to do is turn that template into a mask for your image. I don't know how to do that in Gimp, but in Photoshop there are many ways. You can load the layer by ctrl (cmd) + click. If that doesn't work, trace the outline with the pen tool (or one of the lasso tools if it's not too difficult) and then load the path as a selection and create a mask on your image layer. You may need to merge all your layers into one first (save a copy with them pre-merged!).

Does that help?