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New Icon theme for eCS 2.0 desktop

Started by DavidG, 2007.10.08, 21:36:39

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DavidG

I finally found time to finish an icon theme based on the Amiga desktop.  It is similar, but I tried to enhance some of the icons.  Some things aren't possible to do.

I spent some more time adding to my theme and have uploaded and updated picture.

Saijin_Naib


DavidG

Here is what the original looked like.

Saijin_Naib

Amiga has UI transparency? I am jealous :(

DavidG

Chris W has candyfolder which brings you (pseudo)transparency for WPS-folders

http://www.os2world.com/cdwriting/index.htm

It's main drawback is that it does not work at screen resolutions higher than 1024x768.  If you try, it will either not work or lock up the WPS to were an archive must be reinstalled.

He has the source code on his web page if someone wanted to fix this problem.  This is really a nice class when it works.




DavidG

I worked on my theme some more and replaced the original picture I uploaded with a new one.  See the original post.

DavidG

I created a new desktop background image which I have included in revision 1 of my theme.  I have attached a screen shot.  It looks good on my laptop, but I don't know about a CRT screen.


DavidG

A sneak preview of another theme I have been working on.

Saijin_Naib

Thats pretty weird, and very awesome. Maybe the wall-paper should be a blue-print or some architectural draft :)

DavidG

Here is another theme I am playing around with. I call it "Blackboard.  It would need a white or black background, with black being the suggested background with white text.  Believe it or not, this is an extremely hard theme to develop due to the color limitations I am trying to impose.  I have even experimented with make this theme transparant.

DavidG

Same theme with a white background with black text.

Saijin_Naib

How do you do all of this? What tools do you use?
Whats the color/size limitations of the eCS icons. Can they support 16/24/32bit color, or are they only 8bit?

RobertM

Rule of thumb I use in creating any controls for OS/2 is use the minimum amount of colors necessary for the desired look [most of my icons start out in 24bit and are then reduced to 8bit when I am finished working on them. I keep certain ones 24bit to use as templates to create others... for instance, when I create a folder set, I create an open folder, and a closed folder with no other graphics; then always keep that original 24bit set of files so when I create an "Assistance Center" folder (for instance), I can start with that 24bit folder, then put the question mark on it and convert THAT new set to 8bit. That means each icon has its own palette, but ends up being 8bit (or in some cases less) when completed].

I believe the limitation is dependent on the format used. I have 24bit icon files in OS/2 icon format that I use (though I wouldnt recommend it - it does use a lot more resources). In translating Windows icon files to OS/2 icon format, I've found that the programs I use (mostly PMView) do not properly read the transparency info and the transparent section is read as black and turned to black when saved in OS/2 icon format, instead of transparent)

PNG icons would be limited to the color limit supported by the format. The problem I have had with PNG icons is creating transparency regions (none of the software I work with seems to properly create PNG transparencies - or I am simply doing something wrong)... so I too am hoping David finds the time to answer your question too...

David?


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DavidG

Hi Saijin

To begin, doing an icon theme is a lot of work.  I started messing with graphics when I figured out I would probably never be a programmer.  I then started playing with graphics and said "I can do this."  Everytime I do something, I learn a little bit more. Over the past 6 years, I have done animated mouse pointers, icon themes, and windows themes.

Grab the icon themes toolkit from here and read the html.

<http://www.ecomstation.com/edp/mod.php?mod=ecsfile&cat=4>

Look at the number of icons involved.  Then multiply this by 4.  eCS and OS/2 use multipage icons and have for years.  Each icon contains at least 4 icons of different sizes.  The multiplage icon can contain only 40x40 and 32x32 icons, however, this leaves the operating system to modify for the smaller sizes when needed.  The operating system does a poor job when it comes to resizing the system icons to small icons.  One of the things one needs to learn is how to use the icon editor that comes with eCS.  From experience, an icon can be 2 colors, 16 colors, 256 colors, and RGB.  For icons with lots of colors, you want RBG.  I started by using the templates in the toolkit.  From there I replaced their folders with my own.

I usually develop my theme in Windows using Photoshop Elements 3.0.  I bought version 4 and found it unuable.  I make templates of the folders in varing sizes.  I then do the additional modifications to the folders by creating templates of thesemodifications.  I then layer one over the other.

From here I boot to eCS and use PMView to copy the bitmap over to icon folder I am using as a template. I started with one from the toolkit.  I normally convert the graphic to 256 colors before copying it the multipage icon I am using for a template in the icon editor.  In the icon editor, I make an additional changes I need to and then save. 

One thing one must remember when doing icons for eCS is that any light color on the edge of the icon will show up as white on a dark background.  Thus, a lot of the time, I have to modify the colors to darker colors so the icon will look at least decent.

Aother thing to remember when copying a bitmap from PMView to icon editor to to copy a 40x40 bitmap to a 40x40 icon in icon editor.  If the sizes don't match, no telling what one will end up with.

Lastly, always convert to 256 colors before copying to the icon editor.

My first theme took me over a month and that includes working almost every day on it.  Now I can do one in around a week if I work everyday for as long I feel like it.  Doing a theme is so demanding that somtimes, I may walk away for months before coming back and finishing.

I started with windows themes when I first attempted graphics.  Windows themes would be an ealier route to try if you wanted to try somthing.  I created something in the neighborhood of 135 windows themes before I moved on to icon thems.

DavidG

Quote from: RobertM on 2007.10.25, 06:26:46
Rule of thumb I use in creating any controls for OS/2 is use the minimum amount of colors necessary for the desired look [most of my icons start out in 24bit and are then reduced to 8bit when I am finished working on them. I keep certain ones 24bit to use as templates to create others... for instance, when I create a folder set, I create an open folder, and a closed folder with no other graphics; then always keep that original 24bit set of files so when I create an "Assistance Center" folder (for instance), I can start with that 24bit folder, then put the question mark on it and convert THAT new set to 8bit. That means each icon has its own palette, but ends up being 8bit (or in some cases less) when completed].

I believe the limitation is dependent on the format used. I have 24bit icon files in OS/2 icon format that I use (though I wouldnt recommend it - it does use a lot more resources). In translating Windows icon files to OS/2 icon format, I've found that the programs I use (mostly PMView) do not properly read the transparency info and the transparent section is read as black and turned to black when saved in OS/2 icon format, instead of transparent)

PNG icons would be limited to the color limit supported by the format. The problem I have had with PNG icons is creating transparency regions (none of the software I work with seems to properly create PNG transparencies - or I am simply doing something wrong)... so I too am hoping David finds the time to answer your question too...

David?

A good Windows program to create and modify Windows icons is IconLover.  This is a really nice icon program even though it does not handle OS/2 icons.  To create an eCS icon from a Windows icon, I would have to save each sized bitmp to another file format such as jpg.  I would then make changes to each size with Photoshop Elements and save.  Boot to Windows and each jpg from PMView to the icon editor and clean the graphic up even more.  There is no easy way to convert a Windows icon to a OS/2 icon.

I have never done PNG icons, so I can't comment on that aspect.