Welcome to Icon Family Maker 2.3, formerly Explode Cicns
Improvements over Explode Cicns and version 2.2
This version of the program corrects some problems with cicns smaller than 32x32, fixes the printing bug introduced in version 2.2 and adds the following features - create 32x32 PICT resource, PICT resource to icon family conversion. It no longer creates cicns from icl8s automatically when the resource file is opened, and can open any file type by holding down the Option key when selecting the Open menu item. The user can choose to dither small color icons (ics8 and ics4). This produces better results in most of the conversions, though I think this will only work with 32-bit QuickDraw installed.
General
Icon Family Maker is a program that will create an entire icon family from a cicn, icl8 or PICT resource. I am defining an entire icon family as icl8, ics8, icl4, ics4, ICN#, and ics# resources. This is accomplished by plotting the cicn or icl8 in three offscreen pixmaps of different pixel depths and copying the pixmap data to the various icon family resources. Cicns can be created from icl8 resources. 32x32 pixel PICT resources can be created from cicn and icl8 resources. Including an optional ICN# resource with the same resource id as the icl8 or PICT will allow the program to create better cicns.
How to Use
To use Icon Family Maker, start with a file that contains the cicns, icl8s, and PICTs you want to convert into icon families . For safety's sake, DO NOT WORK WITH AN ORIGINAL COPY of the file. If Icon Family Maker is being used to convert icl8 or PICT resources to cicns, the file should contain ICN# resources for each icl8 or PICT, with the same resource id as the icl8 or PICT. If an ICN# is not found with the same resource id as an icl8 or PICT, the program will make an icon and mask for the cicn from the icl8 or PICT resource. The quality of the resulting icon and mask may not be as high as icons created by hand.
Open the file containing the resources you want to convert with Icon Family Maker. To open files with types other than 'rsrc' or 'SunD', hold the Option key down when you select the Open menu item. If you try to open a file that does not have a resource fork, Icon Family Maker will give you an error message. If the file opened successfully, you will see a window displaying the cicns, icl8s, and PICTs in the file. PICTs are displayed in a 32x32 area. Cicns are identified by the letter c following their resource id. Icl8s are identified by the letter i following their resource id. PICTs are identified by the letter p following their resource id. If there are any cicns, icl8s, or PICTs in the file, the Save menu item and Resources menu will be enabled.
Use the Types menu item to select the resource that you want to create and set two parameters related to saving new resources. These setting must be set for each open document if you do not want the defaults, i.e. the settings are not global.
Using the mouse, select the cicns, icl8s and PICTs you want to convert. Hold the shift key down to select additional icons and hold the Command key down to remove icons from the selection. Select Save from the File menu. The icon family resources will be written to the resource file. Newly added cicns, icl8s and PICTs will appear in the window once all resources have been written to disk. You can now close the resource file and edit the newly created icon family resources with Resedit or your favorite resource editor.
The Types menu item allows you to set two parameters. The first is dithering of ics8 and ics4 resources. Dithering usually results in small icons that look better than those created without dithering. The second parameter is overwriting old resources. If this item is selected, the program will replace old resources having the same type and resource id as new resources it creates. For example, if you spent hours creating a nice ics8 resource with id 129 and use Icon Family Maker to create an ics8 resource from a cicn having id 129, your hand made resource will be deleted and the new resource will take its place. You can uncheck this checkbox to preserve existing resources.
That's all there is to it. This program was tested on a IIcx and Centris. Send questions, problems, suggestions, etc to me, and I'll try to respond as soon as I am able.
This program was written with MPW Object Pascal and MacApp 2.0.1 and is free, but not in the public domain. Source code is available.
Thanks to the following:
Bruce, for getting me to write the first version.
David at UCLA for encouraging me to add icl8->cicn conversion ability.
B. Kearney for suggesting the small cicn fix and getting me to finish this version.
Kate & Anna McCarrigle, Indigo Girls, X, Don Dixon & Marty Jones, Patty Larkin and numerous other artists for recording music that makes those late night programming sessions tolerable.
S.E.L.
Internet lasleyse@wam.umd.edu (checked often)
Compuserve 76324,107 (checked once a month or so)
USPS Mail Scott E. Lasley
2404 Cool Spring Road
Hyattsville, MD 20783-2253
Problems:
There is a fundamental problem converting files with several hundred color icons. There is a maximum size for a resource file. The program currently does rudimentary checking to see if this maximum size is likely to be exceeded, but a more intelligent checker needs to be implemented. You may be able to work with files containing more than 500 cicns if you save only one or two resource types. Otherwise, use a resource editor to delete all but 300 or so cicns. This seems to be a reasonable limit if you are creating entire icon families.
Sometimes the program gives an out of memory dialog box when you try to save even though there is enough memory available. If this happens, try to save a second or third time. If the dialog box reappears, quit the program and assign it more memory in the Get Info dialog box in the Finder.
Enjoy the program, and send me any problems or suggestions you have about it.
Legal Stuph:
Apple Computer, Inc. makes no warranties whatsoever, either express or implied, regarding this product, including warranties with respect to its merchantability or its fitness for any particular purpose.
The MacApp software is proprietary to Apple Computer, Inc. and is licensed to Scott E. Lasley for distribution only for use in combination with Icon Family Maker.
I have made an effort to insure that this program will not corrupt data, but I am not responsible for any losses incurred by running this program. Please use it on a copy of your files.
