How To Create Icons For An Application

[master_bacarra 0]

does anyone know how to create very cool icons that can be used in an application. my groupmates and i are creating an application for our thesis in school and we're now in the prototype design phase. we'll individually propose a catchy name for the application and design a User Interface for the application, and have it approved by our professor.i need to create icons for the application, but it has to be a cool one, sort of like the mozilla firefox's icons or the usual windows icons. i've searched through the net and it only teaches the basic icon-making stuff. my friend told me he uses paint to make his icons, but i'm kinda troubled when it comes to creating cool graphics in paint (it's hardcore, if you ask me. my friend shocked me when he said that he only used paint to create his icons), i might end up making prehistoric-looking icons. hehe.again, i don't know which subforum to place this, so i just put it here. sorry.

[Plenoptic 0]

If you have Photoshop CS or CS2 you can download a plugin that allows you to save a file as .ico and you can then use it as an icon. That is what I did with my programs anyway. Other than that I think you would have to pay money for a program unless you can find one free online or find another program like Photoshop you can use.

[Tetraca 0]

You can use paint to create an icon if you want to. If you're a good pixel artist you can make a good icon. It should be 32x32 and saved as a 256 color bitmap with a .ico extension.You can also look for a more advanced pixel editor on sourceforge that will allow you to make icons easier if you're inexperienced.

[lemonwonder 0]

yeh create the icon and then bring up properties for file/folder and then selct customise, and then click choose custom icon and browse for the folder/file of the icon

[TypoMage 0]

I know a way to put a icon on it. Only for Windows Xp. I don't remember exactly how here goes. I know that you can insert a icon like a star or any other icon on Windows. That was not a lot of help but I try

[electriic ink 1]

You can use paint to create an icon if you want to. If you're a good pixel artist you can make a good icon. It should be 32x32 and saved as a 256 color bitmap with a .ico extension.

Are you sure that works properly? I've heard that you can do that somewhere before but it never seems to works. Although Windows Explorer seems to be fooled somewhat, other "intelligent" programs aren't so gullible:



However Paint Shop 9, like Windows Explorer loads the disguised bitmap perfectly.

Have you tried using The Gimp to create and save the icons? Although, I myself have never tried using it, other people have said that it's really good for a free graphics program. I am sure it can save .ico files and if it can't, IrfanView can.

[master_bacarra 0]

Are you sure that works properly? I've heard that you can do that somewhere before but it never seems to works. Although Windows Explorer seems to be fooled somewhat, other "intelligent" programs aren't so gullible:

yes. as i've mentioned before, my classmate uses paint to create his icons when he did his project for his thesis last year.

well, thanks for the tips, i'll try them out once we've started on the prototype phase. right now, we're still designing the user interface and we're still trying to find a cool name for our application.