Creating Icons with CorelDraw

Transcription

1 Creating Icons with CorelDraw Icons come in a variety of standard sizes, usually measured in pixels (short for picture element). All icons occupy a square space, although they may not appear square because they don't fill that space. The sizes are 16x16, 32x32, 48x48, and 64x64. The sizes are somewhat arbitrary; you could create icons any size you wish, or resize existing ones. Size What you might see it used for 16x16 menus, button bars, web site favourite icons, low resolution desktop displays (640x480, 800x600) 32x32 standard desktop icons, larger menu and button bar icons 48x48 standard desktop icons, larger menu and button bar icons, higher resolution displays (1024x768) 64x64 standard desktop icons, larger menu and button bar icons, higher resolution displays (1600x1200) Some General suggestions Even the largest icons are small don't create a huge image thinking that it will look just as good at one tenth the size, you will be disappointed. Start with a fairly small image; when you shrink it to 32x32, it will change less, and disappoint you less. Step 1: Define your working space Open a new (blank) document. Create a square: click the rectangle tool and hold down the Ctrl key while dragging the mouse pointer; this will define the size of your icon. Open the Object Manager: click Window > Dockers > Object Manager. Click the pencil icon beside the layer name OR right-click the layer name and uncheck Editable; that will protect this layer from change. Click the pencil,or... Uncheck Editable Click the New Layer icon to create a new layer; this is where you will create the icon, staying within the border of the square in the locked layer. Copyright Michael Ward

2 Now you have two layers. Make sure the top layer is selected in the Object Manager, and the pencil icon is dimmed in the bottom layer: This layer is selected This layer cannot be edited Your work space should look like this, more or less: Copyright Michael Ward

3 Step 2: Create the Icon This is up to you. Create a graphic. Remember it is going to end up small. Step 3: Save your Icon Make the bottom layer visible again (click the pencil), and remove the rectangle's outline, so it is invisible: Line properties tab Line width Click on the rectangle, and in the Object Properties docker (open if necessary: Window > Dockers > Object Properties). Click the Line Properties tab and set the width to None - unless you want to have a border around your icon. Now, with the pick tool, draw out a box around the icon so that it is all selected. The reason for this is so that CorelDraw knows exactly what you want to save. If there are discarded objects off to the side, for example, they will not be saved. What file format should you use? GIF or PNG. In both cases, you can't click File > Save As, you don't get the option of saving as a GIF or PNG. You have to export the image: click File > Export. Copyright Michael Ward

4 Click File > Export (or press Ctrl+E); you see the first of several dialog boxes: In the next dialog box, set the size and some other things: Set to Paletted 8-bit Set the size here Uncheck these This is fine, leave it When you click OK, you will see yet another dialog box. Copyright Michael Ward

5 Before conversion After conversion This is the only tab you need to worry about. These settings are probably best, but play around and see what happens; ideally, there should be no difference between Before and After. Click OK, and you see, yes, another dialog box, the last one. This is where you choose a transparent colour: Click here Click the eyedropper and choose a colour in the left image by clicking on it; choose white, since it s the background. Now click OK, and you re done, finally. Admire your icon. A transparent colour is one that is invisible. When you place this icon on a coloured background, that background colour will show through wherever your icon is white, because white is the colour I chose to be transparent. Copyright Michael Ward