Sarasota PC Monitor
Articons Pro 3.20
A Software Review
by Vinny La Bash
Member of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc.Aha-soft recently released version 3.20 of ArtIcons Pro, an icon creation and management utility that lets you create, edit, and manage icons. There are some new capabilities in the program designed to enhance the creation of icons with transparency tools. There is new support for opacity modification that lets you adjust both foreground and background color opacity to determine color transparency down to the individual pixel level. This is a very high degree of control usually found only in expensive full-function graphics design programs.
There are numerous icon creation and manager programs on the market, but ArtIcons Pro offers many powerful functions that are usually not found in standard graphics applications. One good example is the program's ability to import images from a wide array of formats. This means you can make an icon out of that picture you just snapped with your digital camera. You can even make an icon from a frame cut from a streaming video. Few programs offer that capability.
Tools in standard graphic editors are designed to work with normal sized images, which is hardly surprising. That's what we do most of the time. Try to make an icon however, and you get something that has a blocky look, tends to appear pixilated, and usually takes a long time to create. In contrast, ArtIcons Pro was developed with the sole purpose of working with icons and small graphic images. Imagine Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro designed specifically for icon creation, and you will have an idea of how powerful ArtIcons Pro is.
ArtIcons greatest strength is its ability to import multiple formats. You can import icon images created from virtually any other application, and you can transform screen captures into icons. Editing icons embedded in dll or exe files is not only possible, but easy. Supported import formats include: .ico, .ani, .cur, .wmf, .bmp, .jpg, .gif, .psd, .wbmp, and .png. You can drastically reduce the time taken to create icons because you can use material you have on hand instead of creating from scratch.
ArtIcons Pro comes with sophisticated tools. You have the tools to do the basics, which include color replacer, color selector, spray can, pencil, brush, flood fill, text tool, line tool, rectangle, curve, ellipse, and 3D frame. Advanced tools let you apply color gradients, do chess fills, import, export, and change color palettes for icon images. Drop shadows and smoothing effects allow you to add "special effects" to your icon images.
If you insist, ArtIcons Pro lets you design new icons from a blank canvas. After creating an icon with 16 bit color depth, you can then choose to export icon images to .ico, .bmp, .jpg and .png files.
ArtIcons Pro interface works like Windows Explorer. That means you can drag and drop images directly onto the working area, and change anything you want to suit your own artistic sensibilities.
It has a unique search capability that lets you easily erase duplicate files, create icon categories, and arrange icons into libraries. The library facility is what really distinguishes this software from other icon editing programs, adding functions you would not normally see or even expect in any icon editor.
This is a serious utility for creating, editing, and managing icons, buttons, and smaller graphics. ArtIcons is available in Standard Edition, and Pro Edition which has more features for export, import, effects, and managing icons in libraries.
Download the trial version and use it for 30 days. Until you purchase the full version, you'll have to put up with restricted scanning for icons and a nag screen. The full version of ArtIcons can be purchased for $19.95. The additional features found in ArtIcons Pro will set you back a whopping $29.95. Don't be a cheapskate and shortchange yourself. Go for the full version. :
Copyright 2002. This article is from the August 2002 issue of the Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL 34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and our publication. We would appreciate receiving a copy of the publication the reprint appears in, please send to above address, Attn: Editor. For further information about our group, email: admin@spcug.org/ Web: http://www.spcug.org/
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