Windows Icons

June 21, 2004 2:21 PM

Need help creating Windows ICO files! I seem to be able to get nice anti-aliasing or transparency -- but not both (the problem one often sees with webgifs). Yet I've seen really nice transparent windows icons. There must be a way, right? [more inside]

You can see what I've already done by going to http://weston.canncentral.org/misc/icons/ . There's two sub folders. The one called 48-png contains the transparent .icos and the pngs I made them from (using png2ico). The one called 48-gif contains transparent .icos and the gifs I made them from (using Microangelo).

I seem to get clean transparency from the png2icos, and some of the icons look fabulous (like ). However, others (like ) have some awful aliasing problems (less visible against darker colors, but definitely present).

The gifs-based Microangelo produced .icos have predictable haloing and index transparency problems similar to what you'd expect with web gifs.

Any hints?

posted by weston to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

You need to make sure your icon creator can create "Windows XP" .ico files. They have the added feature of an alpha channel, which will get you nice fades-to-transparent, instead of the .gif-like hard off/on transparency of the old .ico format.
posted by zsazsa at 3:05 PM on June 21, 2004

(Weston: call me, and I'll explain how it all works...)
posted by silusGROK at 3:09 PM on June 21, 2004

While we're here, does anyone have a recommendation for a tool to make nice, smooth-gradient-to-transparent .gifs? I usually use Paintshop Pro, but it's remarkably asstastic in doing this, at least in the 8.0 incarnation... I'm thinking in terms of small, (x- or) y-tileable images for css div backgrounds for an upcoming redesign of my site....
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:26 PM on June 21, 2004

stav: You can't. GIF only supports two-bit* transparency; either a pixel is transparent or it's opaque. While support may be spotty in places, PNG does offer alpha transparency that (I believe) will allow you to accomplish such a feat.

* In both senses of the term
posted by Danelope at 6:30 PM on June 21, 2004

Microangelo is the best icon maker out there.
posted by riffola at 6:44 PM on June 21, 2004

GIF only supports two-bit* transparency

Actually, it only supports one-bit transparency.
posted by kindall at 7:43 PM on June 21, 2004

Duh. I'm stoopit. I knew that already, but had a brain fart. Apologies.

And PNG isn't properly supported in IE.

Still, any recommendations on the best gif-making tools would be welcome, if anyone's still around...
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:02 PM on June 21, 2004

kindall: Right you are. Momentary lapse in brain function due to heat overload, I assure you.

riffola: I second the Microangelo recommendation. It's been the de facto standard for years, and well worth the tiny sum they charge for it.

stav: If you can find it, revert to Paint Shop Pro 6. It may lack the robust features of later editions, but it's fast as hell and makes pixel editing and GIF creation a breeze. Also, see this Ask MetaFilter discussion on hacking PNG transparency in IE. Not an ideal solution by any means, but workable.
posted by Danelope at 8:13 AM on June 22, 2004