[Android Software Development] vrooden:
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.

:: Screenshots ::

Here's one screenshot of the app, more are in the second post or here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/byzwc8u40kjuai0/xIQ72kDZBG

:: 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!

:: Download Location ::

Versions 0.9.x as well as (maybe in time...) older versions can be found in this DropBox:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/e837ronlu4k4roc/j_kuqNgUo0

Download of version 1.0.0 and later is available here:

http://iconsetbuilder.echtzeitig.de

Direct links for latest version:

MSI-Installer

ZIP-Archive

Some AddOns:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6edgq8hnvxkur5y/lBL0R4i8n2

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.

:: Samples ::

Sheets displaying a few icons of various styles can be found here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cugwu9xzh06riuh/ecqPW_CzTY

More samples as single PNG icons are here (no complete sets!!):

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tvvmptmz47rnq2e/RDL4p3oTFZ

:: Detailed Features ::

Template:

Choose a basic template

Some templates may offer styles, i.e. various colors

Templates may have matching default settings, which one can automatically load and apply

Adjust size, cropping and position

Modify colors: invert, greyscale, transparency

Icon Set:

Choose icon set

Adjust size, cropping and position

Modify colors: invert, greyscale, transparency

Choose style: overlay / blend with template / apply as alpha mask (i.e. to create a "cut-out" in the template)

Apply a shadow/glow effect

Rotate the icon

Add mirror effect on X- or Y-axis with adjustable axis-position

Choose all or just some icons you want to use

Textual Icons:

Choose a txt-file containing the texts for your icons in icon set-list

Choose your favorite font from system or custom folder

Change the fonts size and style

Change color and transparency for the text

Choose alignment (top/middle/bottom, left/center/right)

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!!!)