Hi All

This is a really basic question....

How do you pros create custom graphics? It seems to be a really tough thing to do. If I want a custom layout with unique icons it's going to be quite a piece of work to design all the buttons in the various states and sizes etc.

Is there something I'm missing or all you all more talented than I already think?

Most people are either great programmers or great graphic artists.. very few are both. Many larger companies either have a graphics dept or farm out the graphics development.

Hi cma

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm just looking to customize an existing XCF so that the icons do a better match to my hardware as well as few other bits and pieces. As this is all new to me it's been interesting to find there are no embedded drawing tools and resizing an icon is just not going to happen.

I may be better off creatively re-using what's already there.

Thanks again.

Hey Kaizen28,

To create your own graphics and layout takes a long time to do. People spend many hundreds of hours creating and tweaking their designs. That is why most people do not give out their graphics in an editable format. The best thing to do is start playing around with a graphics program like Adobe Photoshop - probably one of the most well known and popular products out there. You can download an evaluation copy from their website.

If you download my XPronto Scuba Edition Pronto Professional configuration (version 1.3), there is a manual that explains how I created some of the buttons as well as all the Photoshop templates necessary to make your own based on my design. Feel free to play around with them. It may give you some ideas on how to start putting together your own design.

I am by no means a graphic artist and would not compare myself to someone like André du Fresne, David Beck or many other individuals who have posted their work on this site. The important thing is to experiment, have fun with it but remember to think about the ergonomics of the layout.

Currently, I am working on configuration based on the iPod Touch. I call it the iPronto Touch. The layout is pretty much set, I just need to find the time to finish up the graphics.

FYI - The most recent version of the XPronto Scuba Edition is version 1.8 - not posted on this site as yet. There have been many tweaks done to the design as well as inserting some ProntoScript for some higher-end functions. If you would like a copy of my latest version, please send me a line.

Regards,
Scott

If you get a decent graphics package, you may surprise yourself with the results.

I bought Corel Paint Shop Pro around Christmas last year, so I could create my config in advance of ordering the TSU9600. My graphical ability is nil - drawing stick men is a struggle - but I'm very happy with the way my config has turned out. Some of my recent apps need to be sorted (now that I've got the remote I tend to go for functionality first, and pretty pictures later) - but I'm confident I should be able to make it look pretty good with a little time.

You might want to take a look at the free program paint.net. A lot less complicated than Photoshop and a lot less expensive. At least it will get you started.

What makes you think that?

Hi All

Thanks for the excellent feedback. As usual, I'm being too impatient and am hoping to achieve too much in too short a period of time. ;-)

Peter, I'm referring to resizing existing icons. I don't believe that this is possible or I've missed where to change that.

Thanks again to all

It is possible to resize icons within a paint/illustration program. But you have to keep in mind that the resulting icon will have a degraded image quality if it is resized too much - more so if you are taking a small icon and making it very large. It is best to start off with a large icon and scale it down.

The beauty of creating an icon from scratch in a program like Photoshop is that the images are stored in such a way that you can resize and distort the image without affecting the image quality.

It's not possible in the current version...

Hi All

ScottGrimes, you have put together a beautiful configuration and, somewhat embarrassingly, I will be borrowing from it. ;-)

Given limited skill and time, the approach I think I will pursue is to use some excellent fee PNG icons that I have found on-line. What I do need to do is modify them so there is a "pressed" and a "released" state. Barry, I will look at paint,net to achieve this.

Thanks everyone!

Feel free to use whatever you want from my file. That's why I posted it. I wanted to give something back since I learned so much from others on this site. If you download my file and read over the little manual included, it will show you one way of achieving the desired effect of pressed and released states. Most paint programs have some form of a bevel function. You can set the bevel to up for the released state and bevel down for the the pressed.

Scott

it would also depend what he means by re-size and what he will resize.

for example if it is a plain elongated button that he wants to make longer (to fit more text) then copy/paste works easily with no degradation.