Creating Widows Icons

[gbredon]

Has anyone seen a tutorial on how to do this in Xara X/Xtreme? Or maybe has some tips on how this could be done?

[Soquili]

I use Xara to draw my icons. I begin by putting a square on the screen. The size isn't important as long as you are comfortable drawing within it's outline. When I have the image created, I group all elements together and make duplicates. I resize the duplicates to 48x48, 32x32, and 16x16. These are the standard size icons for Win98 and newer. Sometimes the smaller versions will need to be edited to make them viewable at that size. I usually keep the identifiable parts and delete the rest, resize to keep the desired size. I copy each resized image one at a time and paste them in my favorite icon editor: Microangelo. http://www.microangelo.us/ The newest version of Microangelo will be released sometime this month and will support the Windows Vista 256x256 and all previous icon sizes.

Windows icon files can contain multiple images. The images copied from Xara are retained as the True Color versions. I well then make the lower colour resolutions by copying the True Color version of that size.

[alpinedigital]

I was really hoping someone would create a plugin that would allow Xara Xtreme to export to .ico format. However, there is a Photoshop plugin that allows you to export a 32 bit image directly into AWIcons Pro at which point u can use a nifty feature that creates 'all standard sizes from the the selected image'.

*Sets up the plugin*
Made a quick transparent sphere thing to export, then the proceedure:
http://img487.imageshack.us/img487/9467/export9sv.png

and AWIcons inport configuration screen which shows the transparency still intact:
http://img487.imageshack.us/img487/4086/import5gb.png

I did save one to my desktop, its a 32-bitter alright, cuzz my desktop color is showing thru the sphere.

This is my method until Xara can export directly to ICO, hopefully with a sort of 'generate all standard sizes' function.

[cazza42]

Do you have a link for the plug-in? This looks interesting.

Carol

[stlewis]

Carol

The Lite version does not have it; the Pro version does.

"* only in Pro version
This plug-in lets you export an image, with transparency, from Adobe Photoshop directly into AWiconsPro without temporary files.

You must install the plug-in before first use. Go to the File menu and select Install Adobe Photoshop plug-in. Detected applications compatible with Adobe Photoshop are shown in the list in the Install dialogue. You can select suggested plug-ins folders or use the Browse button to locate another program.

After installation start Adobe Photshop, open your PSD file, select the layer (RGB format only), go to menu Filters -> Lokas Software and select 'Export to AWicons' Pro'. "

[amoore]

I use Xara to draw my icons...I copy each resized image one at a time and paste them in my favorite icon editor: Microangelo.

I do it the same way, except that I use Axialis. About half the time, I let Axialis create the 16x16 icon. Other times, I do better stripping down the image in Xara.

Frequently, I prefer to make a 16x15 icon instead. That 1-pixel "space" at the top of the tiny icon makes it easier to distinguish between icons in my file manager. (Details view on a high-res display)

[Soquili]

Hi Allyson (hope I spelt that correctly ),

Very good point about that 1 pixel space at the top. I have not tried Axialis, but it looks very interesting. Thanks.

[amoore]

Hi Allyson (hope I spelt that correctly )

Close enough. It's Allison.
I tried to get my company to buy Microangelo years ago, and I still have a bit of a soft spot for it.
At the time, Microangelo was considered way too expensive when our programmers could do what they needed for free. Now, icons are rather more complex affairs, I need icons for projects the programmers have no part in, and price is less of an issue (so long as it's reasonable per the use we'll get out of the product).
When I was evaluating icon apps several years back, Microangelo and Axialis quickly came out ahead of all the rest. They're both excellent. I think it's just a question of interface preference.

[Soquili]

The price of Axialis is very reasonable. I now have both Microangelo and Axialis

I have used the icon editors Microsoft provides with Visual Studio and found them lacking in capabilities. After trying several third party applications, Microangelo was the best of the ones I found. Axialis may have been around back then, but I don't recall it when I did my search.

[standay]

I've been using Microangelo for a long time, but I've been wanting something a bit more capable and updated. After reading about "Axialis" and "AWIcons Pro" in this thread I downloaded both today and tried them out. I liked Axialis the best out of the bunch. I'll continue to evaluate it for awhile but it looks like I may have to switch to Axialis. Thanks for the information in this thread!

Stan