Xtreme 5 shortcut icon set

[Rik]

Thanks Harry and Soquily.

Just like Soquily (sorry I didn't see your name on your post) I have used Microangelo and it has been OK to be honest.

I looked at what you wrote Harry.

I downloaded IcoFX and installed it.
I don't know whether it's better than Microangelo but one good feature is the ability to easily create an icon-set for WinXP. I assume that it will be useful in Vista though I have not checked that yet.

I have tried again though Harry's Pen is much better than mine. I am still learning how to do various things in Xara! I had a bit of trouble trying to get the 'shine' on the pen. I am constantly amazed an everyone skill with even the simplest of things.

Anyway, here is my latest try. Harry will have to teach me the Pen drawing!

Thanks for your interest guys.

Please don't get upset if the set is not actually a set as this is the first time I have done that.

(Thanks for starting me off on this one Steve!)

Rik.

[Rik]

OK Guys and Gals.

Last post from me on this one because I don't want to bore people to death.

I tried my last effort on a Vista machine and if you set the desktop icons to large then my icon was blurry.

So, whilst learning IcoFX I tried a few things and started with 256x256 size and so this latest effort includes the BIG size icon as well.

I have also repositioned the '5' so that it's more visible.

Anyway, I will do my best to not post anymore on this!

Thanks Harry and everyone else.

Rik.

[HayTay]

I looked at what you wrote Harry.

I have tried again though Harry's Pen is much better than mine. I am still learning how to do various things in Xara! I had a bit of trouble trying to get the 'shine' on the pen. I am constantly amazed an everyone skill with even the simplest of things.

Anyway, here is my latest try. Harry will have to teach me the Pen drawing!

Please don't get upset if the set is not actually a set as this is the first time I have done that.

Rik,

You're welcome and thanks for sticking with it/us so far. About 80% of the people would have thrown in the towel already. As to teaching you the 'Pen Drawing' sometimes the best way to learn is by picking apart the XAR file someone else made. So, that said, and as a reward for your efforts, I'll break tradition and post the XAR file of the two logos I made/re-made so you can pick 'em apart. Hopefully, you'll learn a few things from them. The true secret to making them is just a few artfully constructed linear fills. Remove ClipView (Alt-Q) and Ungroup (Ctrl-U) are the shortcut commands you'll need to disassemble each graphic .

As an aside, the easiest and quickest way to pick up on some of these techniques is to watch a bunch of the Xara Video Tutorials and/or go through Gary Priester's Xara Xone Tutorials and Workbooks. Xhris has a bunch of tutorials & video tuts on his website, Xhris's Tutorial Trove, also. Sledger, Egg Bramhill and a bunch of others also have some video tutorials posted here on TalkGraphics and/or YouTube that are worth finding and taking a look at.

IHTH,
Harry

[HayTay]

Last post from me on this one because I don't want to bore people to death.

Anyway, I will do my best to not post anymore on this!

Thanks Harry and everyone else.

Rik,

Don't stop now when you're showing improvement...

Without you posting nobody can see how well you're doing and/or offer suggestions for improvement. Plus, not only you get to learn but others learn from the posts just as you are. If you feel guilty about posting so much in this thread, no worries, just start another thread of your own.

Looking forward to seeing your progress as you continue to learn the ins and outs of Xara Xtreme,
Harry

[Rik]

Thanks for your words of encouragement Harry.

The first problem I had was trying to get the angles of the bits and pieces correct on a slanted pen. Well, I only just thought to myself, "Why am I trying to make it at an angle?" Make it straight and then turn it!

The other thing I didn't think of was; your linear fills are complementary at the edges to the colour of the item behind the linear fill. Clever. Simple to you maybe, but a good lesson for me.

I have looked at many tutorials actually. The problem I've had is that because I am inexperienced, I find that part way through the tutorial, there is always a step, which I miss, or is missing. Then it all starts to go wrong. The 'Spiral Helix' was one that I tried but I could not do it. Last one I tried was the 'Ying-Yang'. It started to go wrong toward the end. Something missing in me or the instructions! I'm not trying to be disrespectful but one missing step then I'm sunk.

I know I am in the right place to learn all this and I wish I had joined when I first purchased Xara Pro 3.2 - I could have been much further down the road.

I am going to have a very good look at your pen and try and reproduce it. I was showing my wife last night (even before you posted your .xar file). My pen looks like a drawing whereas your pen looks like a pen.

You, Gary Priester and many others have produced stuff that I can only dream of at the moment. But, we all start somewhere.

One other thing though. How did you make your white square, like a mask? I can move it about and it actually shows a different part of the drawing through the mask. Then which part of the drawing would you save? Would you select the mask and copy/save that part?

Rik.

[Rik]

Hi Harry.

Like your new avatar.

Having considered many things, including your advice and instructions, I have decided on the current Icon set attached.

The 256x256 and the 48x48 icons are slightly different but the 32x32 and smaller could not have as much detail.

Let me know what you think please.

I would value your's and anyone else's opinions and ideas and instructions.

Rik.

[HayTay]

Rik,

Excellent job! I'm proud of you! You stuck with it and your effort shows in the resulting icons. Nice use of the 3D Extrude tool.

You should post a higher resolution image so everyone can see your new Xtreme 5 icon before they download the entire icon set. Plus, you can show off a bit.

Keep it up,
Harry

[Rik]

Thanks Harry.

Good idea. So everyone can see what it is before downloading the icons.

As I said in my previous post, the smaller icons do not have as much detail as that only made the icon cluttered.
The pen, however, is an exact copy of the one Harry did for me to have a look at and learn from.

Icon set is two posts before this one !!!

Rik.

[kinetica]

nice icon sledger, using it on my quicklaunch bar for xxp5

[bcire68]

This thread lead me to do some quick research and I found a free utility online that lets you turn various images (PNG, GIF, JPEG) into ICO files of various sizes. Nice utility for the non-full time Icon producers out there.

Check out: http://converticon.com/

Eric