A tool to make .ico files?

[Jonathan Darka]

I second Axialis, bought it a month or so ago. It's very nice and you get free upgrades for life.

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Jonathan Wilkes Darka [Xanya.net]

[toxcct]

dnh wrote:

Aren't .ico actualy bitmaps?

certainly not. .ico actually contains several devices, of different sizes and colors depth...

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[kubben]

I actually wrote a code project article on it. It is a really basic way of doing it, but it seems to work ok for me. http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/HowToIcon.asp[^] Ben

[DavidNohejl]

Well, make 16x16 bitmap. Save. Rename to .ico. It now appears as icon instead of bitmap. Can be used as icon for shortcuts. Just tested. I've made some icons for my app waaaay back in time this way.

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"Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony. " - Morpheus

[zoid]

The GIMP can open and save .ico files.

[toxcct]

wow i didn't know we could do that. for your side, open the default icon provided with a new project you create within Visual Studio, and see, there are 16x16, 24x24, 32x32, 64x64.... all these into a same .ico file

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[Fernando A Gomez F]

Usually I use MS Paint, make either a 16x16 or 32x32 bitmap and save it with the .ico extension. Never had problems.

A polar bear is a bear whose coordinates has been changed in terms of sine and cosine. Personal Site

[toxcct]

yes that certainly works for a 1 device icon... not for more complex ones

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[DavidNohejl]

Just run mspaint in "expert" mode. :-D

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"Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony. " - Morpheus

[toxcct]

dnh wrote:

Just run mspaint in "expert" mode

rotfl. do we have some undocumented command line switch for that ? :laugh:

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[Rama Krishna Vavilala]

How do you get transparency in the icon then?

[toxcct]

i found this excelent description by the way : Icon vs Bitmap[^]

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[Fernando A Gomez F]

Don't know. I assumed that Windows took care of it. Can't remember for sure, but most likely my icons used all the bitmap space.

A polar bear is a bear whose coordinates has been changed in terms of sine and cosine. Personal Site

[Anton Afanasyev]

Yes, called Shift+Delete on the exe file. And then replace with Paint.net

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:badger:

[Clickok]

Free and very good: AWIcons Lite[^]

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Engaged in learning of English grammar ;)
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.(John 3:16) :badger:

[toxcct]

Anton Afanasyev wrote:

Paint.net

:~ X| are you mad ? leave me my native Paint please

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[Anton Afanasyev]

Paint.Net[^] Your choice.

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:badger:

[James R Twine]

I would highly recommend Paint Express: http://www.slavasoft.com/paintexpress/index.htm[^].  One of its best features is that you can start with a high color (24/32-bit) bitmap, copy it to the clipboard, and have the product automatically generate multiple sized and multiple depth (e.g. 32x32, 16x16, 8x8, XP-style w/Alpha, 24-Bit and 8-Bit) icons from it, and it generate them all at once using a single interface!    Fastest way to create icons from bitmaps, and you can use whatever paint tool you are familiar with that can spit put BMP files.    The only thing is that you have to open the Generated ICO files in DevStudio (or whatever) to fill in the Transparent areas with the Transparent color.    Some of the best money I ever spent.    Peace!

-=- James
Please rate this message - let me know if I helped or not! * * * If you think it costs a lot to do it right, just wait until you find out how much it costs to do it wrong!
Avoid driving a vehicle taller than you and remember that Professional Driver on Closed Course does not mean your Dumb Ass on a Public Road!
See DeleteFXPFiles

[toxcct]

far from me

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[Ed Poore]

That's because the shell icon for an icon file (as defined in the registry) is %1, i.e. itself so Windows is (just) intelligent enough to understand how to load bitmaps as well as icon files so renders it.  But it's not a valid icon file.