Updated:03-15-12-Better Draw9patch Program FOUND!

Updated.

Now with,
+ Preview windows
+ Drawable using mouse
+ Batch process
etc...

DOWNLOAD FROM HERE

UPDATED 03-15-12:

Elex_kr has introduced a NEW DRAW9PATCH Program. Please scroll down through the post to view his work. AND DONATE. This DEV deserves a lot of credit for bringing a new improved program to the rooted community. I can attest that his program is very easy to use and extremely fast. We're working on new ways to improve the program. Please post your comments and suggestions to Elex_kr below.


03-15-12-Direct link to his latest Better 9-patch Tool

Here's quick video of what Elex_kr's Better 9-Patch Tool




Original Post:

I'm putting this thread together because it's been too long that draw9patch has been in place without any updates or improvements since its release. I'm also posting this because I'm sure there's a dev willing to redesign draw9patch and make it easier to use. Here's a quick video of why we need an improved draw9patch program.



The main issue for many themers is how time consuming it can be to fill in only ONE pixel at a time. I've been using draw9patch for almost a year and it consumes a large portion of my day. The IDEAL draw9patch would be able to select multiple pixels at the same time. For example, selecting one end of the png and holding down (Shift) while selecting the end point where the pixels would automatically fill in. I'm open to suggestions or comments. Please keep this professional.

Donation: I'm willing to give any DEV $100 for a newly improved draw9patch program. Conditions as follows:
1) Must be based off the original draw9patch
2) Must have the improvements stated above, allowing for multiple pixels to be selected based on holding (CTRL, SHIFT or ALT)
3) Must have the ability to save the PNG as a .9.png.
4) Must be compatible with Windows 7.


*-*-*
Just to give the dev an idea of how long draw9patch can take. Today I used the program to stretch 59 .9.png's. It took an average of 2 1/2 minutes per 9.png. That's 2 hours and 26 minutes of solid time spent using draw9patch. I could have done these in probably 35 minutes tops if the program was more user friendly and had the above stated actions.


Attention moderator(s). If this video can be embedded, please correct it.

Newly updated!!!

Following is your requirements.

1) Show the outer line pixel being drawn. It really helps to see it being draw9 out. This is a must. The shading you designed helps but it will help much more if we see the border being drawn.

2) Your program draws the line from one end to one end. The original draw9patch leaves at least one pixel at each corner. Have you experienced any problems with your .9.png’s being designed like this?

3) Can you add a copy button or port button to allow the image to be immediately opened up in the old draw9patch editor so we can see how the image stretched? Or at least make it super easy for us to save the path to our draw9patch program from command prompt then press a button to have the image created in your program transfer over to draw9patch.

4) Create a transparent border around the png. With your latest release, there’s only a transparent border on the left and right. The top and bottom should also have a little buffer room to make things equal.

5) A save as button would be nice so we can direct the image to a folder where we want our work to be saved. Even better, give us an option to create a default work folder where our .9.png’s are saved.

6) This is of course much more difficult but would be a nice feature. Being able to compile the .9.png upon save. That would save some time. That would for sure be the icing on the cake.

DOWNLOAD FROM HERE
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I think I solved 1) ~ 5).
And 6) will be available on next release.
Please, check attached file.

And thanks for your donation!

Hello,
I just make a new id in xda to let you know that
I made an alternative 9 patch tool with Java.

And you can download it from my blog.

(sorry, it says that i shouldn't link external ... oh.. i'll attach the '.jar' file.)

Please try it. Thank you.

DOWNLOAD FROM HERE

Alternative to using draw9patch

Here's a alternative method I uncovered using Adobe Photoshop.

1.Drag and drop png's into Adobe Photoshop instead of Draw9patch
2.Increase canvass size by 2w and 2h.
3. Use the pen tool to make your corrections like you would in draw9patch.
4. Convert pen tool by right clicking on the line you created and select stroke path/pencil/ok
5. Delete the path
6. save the png as .9.png
7. Compile

Here's video on how. For now, it's the best alternative to draw9patch.

This process alone has saved me hours of time. Especially, on large png's.

http://youtu.be/kwpQ8A9r_Zo

Updated 12-16-11. Someone out of Korea just created an awesome draw 9 patch program. It's a must see. Link here.
http://fly-elex.tistory.com/m/entry/the-9-patch-builder