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Making Icons
- Thread starter monke
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You can use Icon Composer in the Developer Tools package of OS X. That will tell you the image sizes you need, and you can just paste in the images that you create in Photoshop.
Easy Bake Icon is great if you have a ready-made picture, and want an icon of it. It makes all the right sizes, and preserves transparency.
I wanted to create a MacBook icon and first tried IconBuilder, but after a couple hours I still could not create a transparent icon. Next I tried the freeware program Easy Bake Icon (which also needs IconDroplet to be able to copy the icon), and I was able to make a MacBook icon in a matter of minutes! For those who want to quickly make simple Mac icons for your desktop, the freeware programs Easy Bake Icon and IconDroplet were the simplest solutions for me. And I can keep the programs on my drive and not have to worry about paying shareware fees.Counterfit said:
"Export Icon" is a Photoshop plugin that allows you to export icons with transparency.iNeedtoSwitch said:
Love it!
I believe the trial version will allow you to make 10 icons before you need to buy ($19) so you can see if you like it.
http://www.kineticcreations.com/exporticon/
freeny said:
OK so you make an icon and there's a file with transparency called "name.icns" on the Desktop. but how do you use it? You can't do a get info and paste the icon because it's a standard jpeg icon. I can't use Ctrl to open the package contents. if I click on the file it opens in Preview with 6 pages with icons at different sizes plus an Alpha.
But how egzacategly do I use this icon to replace a standard folder icon, for example?
ImAlwaysRight said:
OK I can see how I can use IconDroplet now to make icons from .icns files, but can you tell me this. Can Easy Bake Icons droplet create an .icns file with transparency from a normal photoshop document or can a transparent .icns file only be created from a transparent gif file?
You should be able to do a "get info" and if you cant you may be doing something wrong.dogbone said:
try the "command+i" key command
This is a true Mac icon. if you place it into preview it is actually three seperate icons at different sizes.
Not sure where you are getting the "standard jpeg icon" from.
Of course if all was well youd just copy and paste.
If you want to change all your folders you need candy bar.
Just went back and tried the trial version and it worked fine for me.
here is the "Get info" results-
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doesn't work for me. I have to drop the icns file onto "Icon Droplet" in order to get something I can cut and paste from the icon preview. 
Funnily enough the 'export layer to Icon' plug does not show up under the filter menu, although the 'export Icon' plug does show up under the file menu, which is what I used.
The same thing happens when I use the Easy Bake droplet, I still need to drop the icns file it makes onto the "icon droplet' in order to be able to cut and paste.
Funnily enough the 'export layer to Icon' plug does not show up under the filter menu, although the 'export Icon' plug does show up under the file menu, which is what I used.
The same thing happens when I use the Easy Bake droplet, I still need to drop the icns file it makes onto the "icon droplet' in order to be able to cut and paste.
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Be sure you have "Show icon preview" selected from your "show view options" menu.dogbone said:doesn't work for me. I have to drop the icns file onto "Icon Droplet" in order to get something I can cut and paste from the icon preview.
Funnily enough the 'export layer to Icon' plug does not show up under the filter menu, although the 'export Icon' plug does show up under the file menu, which is what I used.
The same thing happens when I use the Easy Bake droplet, I still need to drop the icns file it makes onto the "icon droplet' in order to be able to cut and paste.
Attachments
Now thats weirddogbone said:
Perhaps there is something wrong with your OS?
As far as the avatars go, I had to retire the "girlies" seeing as they were causing me too much conflict in the forums.
I was having the same problem, my get info would just show an icon similar to the jpeg one, but it says icns on it. I did an icon of a nail. Then I noticed I had two files, icon of nail.icns, and icon of nail. I was opening the .icns file, when I opened the other I was able to see it in the top and do the copy/paste thing.
wheezy said:
Yes, it's not a problem as the .icns file can be dropped onto the Icon Droplet or another file can be created and used. But as you can see from 'Freeny's' get info dialog box it is indeed an .icns file that is showing the icon. It's not a problem just a mystery.
