Change the Photoshop 7 Splash by Michael Coyle

The first thing you notice while launching the new Adobe Photoshop 7.0 is the beautiful splash screen with the transparent lens. How did they do that and how do you change it?

The new splash is a PNG image stored as a ResEdit resource (very similar to how the scroll bars are stored in an iTunes skin). Below are shown PNGf resources #2197 and 2198. I think the latter is from the bets period of Photoshop.

To change the splash, you need to convert the Photoshop application into a package you can open with a double-click. In the Contents folder, there are two additional folders as shown below. Each contains an application made specifically for MacOS X and Classic MacOS. The two applications can be opened in ResEdit then scroll to the PNGf resources. Use this previous edit to convert the PNGf to a normal PNG image you can edit in Photoshop then paste it back in to see your work.

Updated 05-14-02

Yesterday, Cletus mentioned a utility named ResPloder. It splits the resources out of a file into individual items in a folder. Could this technique be used to make it easier to change the splash screen in Photoshop 7? Well of course!

If you remember from the previous edit, the new Photoshop 7 splash is stored as a PNGf resource. After opening the package, you can drag the Classic (or X) application onto ResPloder. Deselect all the resources but the PNGf and change the create code and type then Explode it.! Then find ID 2197 in the PNGf folder and replace is with your new version of the splash.

After placing the new splash in the folder, use ResPloder to Implode the folder back into ResEdit resources. Then continue with the original edit and use ResEdit to copy the PNGf resource back into the Photoshop application.