To The Masters

[Red eye design]

Hello everyone!

I just wonder if some knows how to create real nice icons...I´ve done some simple myself but maybe some could help me with hints and that kinda stuff.

I use Photoshop and paint.

/Abraham

[dlz]

The first hint would be: throw Paint away.

What you should be using is a real icon editor. There's tons of those available, and a lot of the apps are free. I'm not very familiar with Windows icon tools. On the Mac side, the best bet is IconBuilder (http://www.iconfactory.com), which is a Photoshop plugin that not only handles Mac icons, but also Win 98/00/NT/XP ones, and creates correct transparencies for the icons based on PSD layer alphas.

The Iconfactory (http://www.iconfactory.com/howto_home.asp) has some nice How-To's for making technically good and understandable icons. The site is Mac-centric, but the icon guidelines apply to icons for any platform.

[Red eye design]

That is a very nice answer from you thanx buddy!



/Abraham

[Red eye design]

Hello again!

Is there any plug-in to photoshop that is good for making Icons in WINDOWS?



/Abraham

[dlz]

Originally posted by Red eye design
Is there any plug-in to photoshop that is good for making Icons in WINDOWS?The short answer to that question is a plain and simple "no". Unfortunately.

The long answer would be that I've seen a few half-assed attempts at ICO exporter plugins for Photoshop and the like, but they basically take the image you have, flatten it and paste it into an *.ico file, so you lose all alphas and other niceties.

[Red eye design]

Oki thanx for your answer!



/Abraham

[Stevos]

All those nice Icons you kids see in WindowsXP were made on a mac. =)

just an interesting piece of trivia.

[Red eye design]

Who´s the kid?

I know there made on the Mac. I work in a webdesign company.

Ps. I was just wondering if it was possible to make cool icons in Windows.

/Abraham

[Greg Vander Houwen]

Abraham,

"Who´s the kid?"

Your Swedish homeland may not be aware of this usage. It's a bit of slang that means a familar group of people here. I use it in classes sometimes where the youngest person is 30 years old. It has a smile attached to it and they understand I am including them in my group when I use it. In this usage, I am a kid too.

Language is a subtle tool isn't it... ;)

Greg

[Red eye design]

Okie now I know...it felt little respectless or something like that but now I know what ya americans mean with that.


Ps. Still waiting on your site...how´s it going with it?

/Abraham:d

[dlz]

Originally posted by Stevos
All those nice Icons you kids see in WindowsXP were made on a mac. =)Ah yes, the infamous Iconfactory-Microsoft deal. Too bad they used a lot of elements from Mac OS and lost quite a deal of the genuine Windows icon feel (I'm referring to the style first conceived by artist Susan Kare in Windows 3.0 - strong and clear geometrical shapes)... :[

[dlz]

The Iconfactory has recently released a Windows version of the IconBuilder Photoshop plugin.

Click your way over to the IconBuilder XP (http://www.iconfactory.com/ibxp_home.asp) website for more info.

[Red eye design]

Thanks for sharing the info

/Abraham

Hi all...

Just wanted to bring this to the Windows PS users' attention...

Awhile ago i found a free icon plugin for Photoshop on a Computer Arts Magazine CD (i think that's where). I can't recall though who made it, or which CAM CD i found it on now. If anyone uses a plugin manager though, they might get that info by reading the Properties of the plugin.

But none-the-less... it works fine, and it's free.

What it does do:
It simply adds the windows .ico extension to the "file types" menu when you use the "Save As..." command to save the image.

What it does NOT do:
There is no fancy interface with oodles of funky options for creating an icon image. Just use the normal Photoshop methods to create your image.

Simple DOes & DON'TS:

DO - Create the icon at the size it should be (16 or 32 pixels) or scale down a larger image to this size BEFORE saving the image out. If scalling down, try to use an image that's not too much larger than the icon will be. If you do, run the Unsharp Mask on the entire image before saving.

DON'T - try creating an icon using a very complex or busy looking graphic/photo. Chances are, you'll not get what you're expecting. Icons should be designed simple, and with a good deal of forthought as to their application & meaning.

DO - to create transparency in your icons using this plugin, just create an Alpha channel from a selection of the entire icon image. When you save out, an option "Include Alpha" will be ticked by default.

NOTE: This plugin reads alphas in reverse to Photoshop. You'll need to invert your Alpha Channel - press Ctrl+I - after you create it. The plugin sees white as transparency within the Alpha, and black shows the image through.

DO - go to "The Iconfactory" url given above by dlz, and read their "tips'n'tricks" to creating good icons.

This is all i know myself about using this plugin. I can't help with it any more than what i've said here.

INSTALLATION: easy... unzip this attached file, copy the "Icon.8bi" file into your "Plugins" folder. The next time you use the "Save As..." command to save an image as an icon, choose the ".ico" extension that will now be added to the 'file types' menu. That's all.

[Hannu Hurme]

Somebody (I forget who, but thanks) gave me this link in another forum.

Pixeljerk (http://www.pixeljerk.com)

Very, very nice looking icons indeed :[.

[theGuest]

yes quite nice looking indeed.

Too bad he only has them saved in a Mac version though... :[