To Make your own Custom Icons:
- - You can use a graphics program like GIMP or Photoshop to create your graphic PNG file
- You can also import an existing Icon for editing, as such:
- Extract the Icon from the DLL or EXE file first,as described here: http://classicshell.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=302
- Then import it to your graphics program and edit it.. for Photoshop, you first need to add .ICO support:
- Download the 32-bit or 64-bit file from this website: http://www.telegraphics.com.au/sw/
- Extract it, and place the ICO extension in the following location:
- CS5 & Earlier: (Photoshop Install Drive):\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS5 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins\File Formats
- CS6: (Photoshop Install Drive):\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS6 (64 Bit)\Required\Plug-Ins\File Formats
- Restart Photoshop
- Drag your .ICO file to stage, select the largest size & highest bit available, 32-bit 256x256 is best, otherwise, whatever the largest 32-bit image is
- Be sure you're working in 8-bit RGB mode
- Edit away & Save it as an 8-bit PNG file (8 bit per channel, RGB+A = 4 Channels, so 8-bit x 4 channels = a 32-bit PNG)
- Many Icon editors can open .ICO files directly & have basic editing tools.. I use the Free Greenfish Icon Editor Pro
- Save it as a PNG file.
- *One work-around if your Graphics editor doesnt support .ICO files, and your Icon Editor isnt powerful enough for what you want to do, is to:
- Import the ICO file into Greenfish or other Icon editor
- Click on the Largest 32-bit format (256x256 is best)
- Save it as a 32-bit PNG file of the same size (256x256)
- Import that PNG file into your Graphics Editor
- Edit the File, Save it as PNG, and re-import it into your Icon Editor
- - Open the PNG in your favorite Icon editor - If you use the Free Greenfish Icon Editor Pro:
- Drag the PNG Image to the stage
- Go to Menu>Icon
- Click "Create Windows Icon from Image"
- Select only the following formats (which work best for Classic Explorer)
- 32-bit 48
- 32-bit 64
- 32-bit 256
- if you choose smaller ones, it may not end up looking as you want it to, since the program automatically resizes and substitutes pixels as it sees fit - and Classic Shell can use 48 or more no problem, it will just select the closest size
- Click OK
- Go to Menu>File>Save As...
- Browse to a Location
- In "file types", select "Icon Files" to add the .ico extension & see the other .ico files in your folder
- Give it a Relevant Name
- Click Save
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