Want to create your own icon sets based on an existing one?
Tired of manually having to apply all necessary steps per icon?
Well... maybe this little tool can help you:
Icon Set-Builder v1.x
:: Introduction ::
Lately I saw an icon style I'd liked and wanted to recreate it using Android ICS icons as base.
Using Paint.NET I could create my template and do so... but since Paint.NET does not support scripting, I had to do everything (resizing, changing color and transparency, applying as alpha mask to my template, etc) again and again for about 200 times.
Being a .NET developer, I thought "Why not write a little script to do that treadmill work for me?".
Well, finally it grew into this "Icon Set-Builder" tool.
:: Features ::
What can you do with it?
Well, basically it works with several layers (template, icon, mask and overlay) for each you can apply a lot of adjustments.
The basic steps:
Choose a template and, if supported, a template style (i.e. several colors)
Choose your favorite icon set
Optionally, choose an alpha mask to be applied for each icon
Optionally, choose a matching overlay
Play around with the settings
Let the tool generate your icon set
All changes you make are immediately applied to the previews, so you always know, what the result would look like.
Basic icon sets (ICS, Metro, PixelPerfect, iOS-like) and templates are included.
Most templates i created myself myself, some are based on or inspired by other's ideas (see below).
But of course you are free and encouraged to create your own stuff and contribute!
Well... that's what it's for, right?
To easier bring your own ideas to live!
Both a simply zipped version as well as an MSI-installer are available.
The folder also contains a ZIP "IconSetBuilder_Samples.zip" containing some created samples.
The tool itself is only 160kB, but with base stuff it's about 9MB.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Using MSI-installer, v0.9.1 should no longer cause problems with Windows "User Access Control", since the installation folder changed.
Also fixed a nasty bug with leftover debug-code which tried to save an intermediate image in "D:\Temp" and crashed if that folder was not available. SORRY!!!
Requirements: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or later, but I guess that's already installed nowadays on all Windows PCs.
Choose wether text should wrap on blanks and/or shrink to fit inside the available space
Use all basic effects mentioned above for further modifications
Alpha Mask:
If you wish, you can apply an alpha mask to the icon
This allows i.e. to cut off parts
Overlay:
If you wish, choose an overlay
Adjust size, cropping and position
Modify colors: invert, greyscale, transparency
Choose style: overlay / blend with template / apply as alpha mask
Preview:
Save currently shown icon as single file (without generating complete set)
Open a preview window which "simulates" a phone's screen
Choose between different backgrounds to see what it looks like
Layouts from 3x3 to 5x6, plus dock
Create:
Choose the output size of the icon, from 8x8 to 256x256 everything is possible
Give your icon set a name (will be used as folder name)
If the folder exists, you can let the tool automatically create a new one (i.e. "My Set (001)") or use the existing output folder
If an existing folder contains icons, you can let the tool delete all of them before generating the new set
Optionally save your settings for later reuse
Press "Generate" and watch it do it's work
The tool works pretty fast. Some effects (shadow basically) may take a little longer. But overall it takes less than or only a little longer than a second per icon.
:: Thanks and Mentions ::
I would like to thank the following guys for their great work and inspiration.
Their ideas and work are the fundament the tools is build upon.
Some elements I reused as templates or basics, I hope they don't mind (will inform them soon and will remove from tool if necessary).
NiteOwl360
for the great "Semi Sense" icons I cut and spliced and re-implemented as template
BlackBearBlanc
for his awesome minimalistic ICS-based icon sets, which I included honorably as templates
for his work on the ICS- and additional icons included as base in some of his set (BTW: some needed optimization; I did so *g*)
rawdealer
for his "PixelPerfect" icon set, great minimal basic set; I took the liberty to also include them
P_C
for his "3C" icon set, great minimal basic set; I took the liberty to also include them
Unknown guys:
the various Suave icons I included
the various other iOS-like icons I included
various creators of Metro-styled icons (I don't quite remember which one I used for creating my basic set, SORRY!!!)
FIXED: Rotation of final icons sometimes resulted in not properly sized icons (i.e. 128x124 instead of square 128x128)
Version 1.0.1:
Added "Brightness to Alpha": Create single color icons with the original icons' brightness used as transparency value. More in this posting.
Version 1.0.0:
New stuff:
App Settings: Some settings are now stored in a config-file, like chosen Visual Style, Preview Device or Author Name
Continue session: When closing Icon Set-Builder, this current settings are automatically saved, so next time you start the tool, you are asked wether you want to load the settings and continue your work.
Add to queue: If you want to create multiple icon sets (different, slightly changed or whatever), you may queue the generating and finally start processing all queued sets at once.
Import/Export: FINALLY the long awaited feature to export your creation to a ZIP file and of course import ones from others is available!
Overlays now also have "Hue/Satuation/Lightness" settings like templates.
HSB color functions are now also available for template
Moved "Generate" parts (output size, icon set name, buttons) from tab to main window area
Version 0.9.6b:
In version 0.9.6 MSI and ZIPs one DevExpress DLL was missing, app didn't even start, SORRY for that!
Uploaded 0.9.6b with included missing file, should work now properly.
Version 0.9.5pre2:
Preview version only right now, not released yet!!!
Reworking UI in progress
New effect "Pixelation"
New effect "Color Accent" with three modes and adjustable width of accent
Color Accent: only accent chosen color
Primary Color: finds primary color in icon and accentuates that color
Replace Primary Color: finds primary color, but uses chosen color for accentuation
New adjustments "HSL":
Shift HUE in color wheel, i.e. red becomes blue etc
Adjust SATURATION (boost or dim color strength)
Adjust BRIGHTNESS, make colors brighter or darker
Version 0.9.3:
Only added functionality to save currently shown icon as single file (without generating complete set).
Version 0.9.2:
Added "Simulation Preview":
Open a preview window which "simulates" a phone's screen
Choose between different backgrounds to see what it looks like
Layouts from 3x3 to 5x6, plus dock
Version 0.9.1:
SORRY the first version caused problems. Didn't take Windows Vista/7 UAC into account. Also there was a stupid DEBUG-code left over, which tried to save an intermediate file into "D:\Temp", but crashed if that path didn't exist. That and hopefully missing rights related problems are fixed now. For MSI please try 0.9.1, it uses a different (per user) install folder, so UAC should be history now. Uninstall 0.9.0 before.
Performance:
Greatly optimized performance for many functions, average 30-40% faster now. All functions working per-pixel now are much faster, since I'm now working directly with the underlying bits and bytes of each (LockBits) pixel instead of using the slooow GetPixel-/SetPixel-functions.
Label-over-Icon with Shadow
Label-over-Icon now has it's own "Shadow" settings independent from the icon.
Mirror
"Mirror" is now in "Icon FX", now called "Mirror / Reflection", and has many more options. Basically I was inspired once more by a screenshot by BlackBearBlanc with ICS-icons with reflection: the reflection is semi-transparent and is moved by an offset up and a bit to the right. Now you can, too, easily -- and also change the transparency ("Alpha"), saturation and brightness (luminance).
"Open folder"-buttons
Easily open folders (i.e. containing Exports) in Explorers by simply clicking on the big button "Open folder in Explorer" in tab "Tools", or "Open output folder".
Logging
Under "About" you might enable logging to help me out in case you find some functions working slowly.
Download items
Loading preview is now running asynchronous, speeded up launch of the dialog.
It's done, created assets for Icon Set-Builder from Lala V2-PSD-template. You need high resolution icons, but it works pretty well.
BUT: Not only did I port the template, I also added a LOT of different backgrounds for the basic icon. This opens a lot of new possibilities, i.e. to create icons like wooden block with ICS icons.
It's two ZIPs, one for 128x128 icons, one for 256x256 ones.
You must unzip the ZIPs into the Icon Set-Builder-tools "Assets"-folder (i.e. located at "c:\Users\{User}\AppData\Roaming\Icon Set-Builder\Assets\" if installed using the MSI).
After that it's listed in "Templates" and also applies default settings.
Enjoy!
EDIT: Fixed ZIPs, unzip into "Assets" didn't work, accidently there was an additional subfolder in the ZIP. Now it works.