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How to Make Mac Icons

macinstruct.com — Detailed tutorial on creating an icon for mac applications or the web.

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  • kidtux, on 10/14/2007, -148/+7Pretty cool tutorial. Too bad I no longer use OS X. I just put Vista on my mac mini and haven't looked back since =p

    -- http://www.iheartmygeek.com
    • flamingmb, on 10/12/2007, -8/+19pleas stop with the spamming.
    • turpenine, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14blocked for spam (i suggest others do the same)
    • kidtux, on 10/12/2007, -49/+3@turpenine

      How would that comment be spam? I read the article, gave my opinion and then put a footer at the end of the comment.
      What's the problem with that?
    • pwill, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2from duggmirror: "Currently, the username is mcone and the database server is localhost."
      Uh-oh.
    • MattyLite, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18@kidtux: The footer makes it spam. Digg doesn't have a signature feature for a reason.
    • smhill, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Blocked, partially because it is spam, partially because it is a stupid kiddy blog.
    • kinghajj, on 10/12/2007, -17/+3uh, this isn't spam, idiots. just because somebody put a sig doesn't make it spam.

      "spam: to indiscriminately send unsolicited, unwanted, irrelevant, or inappropriate messages, especially commercial advertising in mass quantities."
    • Phatt138, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9King - using a thread about making Mac icons to tout the superiority of Vista -and- encourage people to visit your blog about said superiority could certainly be argued to be an "unsolicited, unwanted, irrelevant, or inappropriate [message]" for the rest of us. The blog has absolutely jack-***** nothing to do with icons. If we wanted to read his 'work,' we could go to his profile for a link to the page.

      There was no need to make such a fuss about it, but I'm not surprised that he was buried or sorry for adding my negative vote to the mix.
    • Domza, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@flamingmb

      Please?

      Just ***** stop spamming, you ***** *****.

      Fixed.
    • fonseca, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0dufus.
  • tizz66, on 10/12/2007, -2/+34This should be called "How to save a graphic as an icon". I think most people will be expecting a tutorial on the techniques for creating the icon itself, and therefore will be disappointed.
    • wphj, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Exactly
    • Snoozer, on 10/14/2007, -19/+2Your average mac users isn't disappointed by much. So long as it says Mac or apple somewhere they'll be happy. Plus saving an icon is complicated stuff.
  • dxprog, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2http://www.duggmirror.com/

    nm, looks like it didn't pick it up
  • Build, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7http://www.photoshopsupport.com/tutorials/cian/how-to-make-icons.html
  • gmoney1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Nice tut :).
  • Burmask, on 10/12/2007, -18/+1Who the ***** cares about some stupid mac icons. Go away!
  • kuwan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13OK, this is just really REALLY lame...

    IMNSHO this is much more complicated than it needs to be and the article could be trimmed down to almost nothing. First of all, Apple's Icon Composer application will properly open Photoshop PSD files that include transparency. So there's no reason to export your icon as a transparent TIFF or anything else, this cuts out most of the article.

    Basically the entire article could be cut down to this:

    Create an icon in Photoshop.
    Drag your .psd file into Icon Composer.

    That's it. Forget about everything else, it's way more complicated than it should be.
    • NikZ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Indeed, although there's one caveat to this method: you need Dev Tools installed for Icon Composer to be present on your system.
    • StarManta, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6If you're making and applying icons, there's a very slim chance you DONT have Dev Tools installed. (They're free anyway.)
    • alej744, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Ok, who the hell uses "IMNSHO" anymore?
  • nonokiaboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Just a side comment, but...

    I've always wondered what the words say on the Mac Icon for TextEdit, anyone have any ideas?
    • nayr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4My guess? addressed to someone, with the text reading:

      Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
    • strabes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That's been a standard filler text for printing presses for centuries.
    • meatmcguffin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The icon for CSSEdit (great app) has a really small "ie sucks" written on it :)
  • jexdawg, on 10/12/2007, -7/+4How to make icons in Linux/Ubuntu:

    1) Select .png image.
    2) Set as Icon.
    ...
    • se1zure, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1ubuntu icons don't look as good though.
    • strabes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That's because Gnome is ugly. KDE icons are very pretty.
    • Snoozer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Isn't Ubuntu an old African that means "Unable to install Debian" ???
  • Stadsport, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I juse use img2icns. Drag and drop an image onto it and output it as an icns file or a folder/volume's icon.
    • smhill, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Ditto. I can't view the site, but img2icns makes icons in pretty much one step. And it is free.
    • Lounger540, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I second this. When I used some other methods, including similiar to this guide, a lot of times the Alpha mask would be screwed up and give me weird issues. img2icns always worked and has a couple of other cool features like adding a shadow, AA, or even making it have a fold like the document icons.
    • Lounger540, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Opps, sorry. The name of the app I'm thinking of is Pic2Icon. I'll take a look at the app Stadsport is talking about also.
    • alej744, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2They are different apps.
      Img2Icns
      http://www.shinyfrog.net/it/software/img2icns/

      ---

      Pic2Icon
      Dead? I challenge anyone to find a download link.
    • codenameconer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0@alej744: Pic2Icon? We Google so you don't have to.

      http://www.download.com/Pic2Icon/3000-2256_4-8881968.html
  • chunkylover15, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2There was a vectoring tutorial on digg before but i cant find the link please does anyone have it
  • Alicezhong, on 10/12/2007, -17/+0I found a website I do like to recommend one software that contains PictureViewer .EXE, Image Converter .EXE and Image Merger .EXE,that is,
    Picture Viewer and Converter Suite,http://www.qweas.com/
    have a good time!
    • KyleMistry, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Wonderful, EXEs! Too bad nobody gives a damn since those don't run on Macs. Blocked for spammin' suckah.

      Don't be spammin' digg wit' no jibba-jabba, foo'!
  • Alicezhong, on 10/12/2007, -8/+0www.qweas.com, The website can search software features a
    discount price to facilitate inquiries.
  • HellGlitch, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0@ Kidtux

    they dugg you down because you installed Vista on a mac. =/
  • component, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Step 1: Open Fireworks
    Step 2. Commands > Bitgenious > MacButton

    http://www.fireworkszone.com/index.php?root=2&extension=1&idTutorial=42

    pwned
  • ideabrian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Here's a nice dissection of turning an idea into an icon by Jasper Hauser.

    http://www.jasperhauser.nl/weblog/2006/02/appzapper-inside.html
  • freeiconsweb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Axialis Software - Icon design, Cursor and Screensaver Authoring Tools for Windows
    15,000 Free Windows and Mac icons Hope they are useful to someone
    http://www.freeiconsweb.com
  • freeiconsweb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Axialis Software - Icon design, Cursor and Screensaver Authoring Tools for Windows

    Freeiconsweb have 15,000 Free Windows and Mac icons, Hope they are useful to someone
  • tuaregorama, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Nice indeed. I've never paid so much attention to this before.
  • Alicezhong, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Easy Icon Maker 5.0
    Easy Icon Maker allows you editing a transparent or opaque icon. The sizes may be 16 X 16, 32 X 32, 48 X 48, 64 X 64 or custom it as you like. The colors may be Monochrome(1 bit), 16 colors(4 bits), 256 colors(8 bits), true colors(24 bits), or true colors + alpha channel(32 bits).

    http://www.qweas.com/download/graphics/icon_tools/easy_icon_maker.htm
  • dirceuctba, on 02/03/2008, -0/+0How to make iPhone Style Icons - video tutorial:
    http://fasticon.com/freeware/?p=84#more-84
  • artistsvalley, on 03/03/2008, -0/+0Nice Tutorial
  • slali, on 09/24/2008, -0/+0Some beautiful vista icons.. Is better than do it yourself: http://www.iconshock.com/?prd=52779
  •  

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