Icon Editor Tips and Tricks

Here is the text file provided with the Icon Editor:

How to install the Icon Editor:

   This is a stand alone application so there are no DLL files to worry about.
   Just unzip the file and move it to any folder.
   You can then create a shortcut to IcnEd01p.exe.
   A folder of sample icons is provided.

A word about transparent color:

   Icon Editor will let you use a different transparent color for your icon,
   but will not remember it when you load it back into the editor. The 
   transparent color will default to white.

Bitmaps:

   You can import a bitmap file with some limitations. 
   Select Bitmaps from "Files of type" in the Open dialog.
   The editor will only see a 32x32 pixel square from the upper left hand corner
   and the bitmap will be converted to 16 colors. 

This program is FREEWARE and should not be sold. 
If you like this program please write and tell me about it.

Randy Ford - randy@ranfo.com.

More tips:

Windows 98 defaults to the "My Documents" folder in the open file dialog box. You may want to move your icon folder to inside the "My Documents" folder.

More on transparent colors:
An icon file (.ico) does not remember what color is used for the transparent part. It only keeps a mask of the transparent area. Instead of having you draw a separate mask, you select a color that you want to be transparent and click on the transparent color box. This creates a mask of the selected color. When you re-load the icon into the editor you will need to remember your transparent color or after looking at the icon, decide what the transparent color should be and then load the icon again.

Example:
The icon "ship4.ico" that comes with the editor has white sails and a transparent sky. When you first load the icon into the editor the sky looks white. We see that there is no green used in the picture, so click on the little green square and then on the transparent color box. (The transparent color box should turn green.) Now open the icon again and the sky portion will be green. When the picture is displayed as an icon the green area will be transparent and the sails are white.

Converting Bitmaps (.bmp image files):
It is difficult to get a photo into a 32x32 pixel square of only 16 colors, but sometimes it can be made to work. The "mtcat.ico" was taken from a large bitmap.
mtcat icon

Here is another example step by step:

Start with a small picture of a friend:

With your photo editor, Shrink it down to 32x32:

Reduce the image to 16 colors:

Touch up the image and paint a background:

Save the image as a bitmap and load it into the icon editor. Be sure to set the transparent color before loading the image. In this case, it is set to bright green. All that is left is a little more touch up and save the image as an icon.

As you can see, a lot of information is lost in the conversion of a photograph, but it is not impossible.

Here is another example:

Take the Nonags Duck...

Clip, reduce and dither to 16 colors using a photo editor.

Save as a bitmap and load it into the icon editor.

Finally, touch up the image and save it as an icon. Here I used a transparent color that is not used in the icon. This way there are no transparent parts.

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