PBIcon Release 1.1 7/12/90 PBIcon provides all of the tools you need to begin customizing the icons displayed in your Windows 3.0 program groups. This includes: - Capture any area of your display screen for use as potential icon material. - Transfer bitmaps to and from the clipboard, providing a convenient method for editting with PaintBrush or other Windows paint/design program. - Bitmaps pasted into PBIcon may be 'panned' behind the icon viewport allowing a precise lineup of the image you would wish to save. INSTALLATION ------------ PBIcon can be copied to any location on your hard disk. I would suggest creating a sub-directory for PBIcon as a convenient way of keeping track of *.ICN files that you create. C:\WINDOWS\PBICON or C:\PBICON are good choices. Copy PBICON.EXE, PBICON.BMP, and PBICON.ICN to this sub-directory. If you create a program group item for PBIcon, use the included icon file, PBICON.ICN, for a full-color, Windows 3.0 icon. Select 'Change Icon...' when building the group item and change the icon file name to use the PBICON.ICN file. A bitmap file, PBICON.BMP, is included. PBIcon will look for this file and, if found, will paint a full-color icon when minimized instead of the monochrome 2.x bitmap that it was created with. OPERATION --------- PBIcon has two main menus, 'File' and 'Edit'. The 'File' menu is used to save an icon for use by Program Manager, to open an icon file you have previously saved, or to exit the program. The 'Edit' menu is used to control copying to and pasting from the clipboard. You may 'Paste' a bitmap from the clipboard into PBIcon and it will be displayed in the icon viewport. The bitmap must be at least 32 x 32 pixels in dimension. If it is larger, PBIcon will activate scrollbar controls that can be used to 'pan' the bitmap behind the icon viewport. Yoy may select 'Copy' to copy the entire bitmap contents of PBIcon to the clipboard, or 'Copy Viewport' to transfer only the 32 x 32 pixel image visible in the icon viewport. Selecting 'Capture' places PBIcon into screen capture mode. The cursor will change to a cross-hair. Capture screen data to PBIcon's internal bitmap by positioning the cursor at one corner of your desired clip, press the left mouse button down, and drag the cursor to the opposite corner before releasing the left mouse button. The screen will 'flash' inverted colors while the cursor is being dragged to let you know the area is being selected. You must select at least a 32 x 32 pixel area or PBIcon will inform you to try again. Once you have selected 'Capture', PBIcon will have full control of the mouse until you click the left mouse button down and up. PBIcon is intended to be used in the following ways: - Design your own icon in PaintBrush. The icon should be 32 x 32 pixels. A 32 x 32 pixel bitmap is included with PBIcon for you to start with. This is the size you will want your icon to end up as. You can draw into a square this size, or, begin by first 'drawing' your icon into a much larger square area, then use the shrink command to size it down to the icon size (see WORKING IN PAINTBRUSH below). Select the scissors clip tool and select an area around your new icon. Select 'Copy' from the 'Edit' menu to transfer the selected bitmap to the Windows clipboard. Now switch to PBIcon. Select 'Paste' from the 'Edit' menu. Your bitmap should appear in the icon viewport. Use the scrollbar controls to pan the image into proper position. Now select 'Save' from the 'File' menu to select a filename for your new icon. After you have saved the icon file, you may use it in place of any icon that is in a Program Manager program group. Simply select the icon you wish to replace, then choose the 'Properties...' selection from the Program Manager's 'File' menu. Now select 'Change Icon...'. Replace the File Name: with the name of your new icon file. Be sure to include the full pathname, for example: C:\WINDOWS\PBICON\MYICON.ICN Do not hit 'Enter'. Select 'View Next' and your new icon should be displayed on the screen. Confirm the replacement by selecting 'OK' on both dialogs. - Use PBIcon's 'Capture' feature to select any icons, clip art, or other pictures that you can display. Save these images as icons or 'Copy' them to the clipboard and then 'Paste' them from Paint- brush to make changes. 'Copy' and 'Paste' back to PBIcon to save the updated image. WORKING IN PAINTBRUSH --------------------- The following information is included to assist designing icons within Windows Paintbrush. Please refer to your Windows Reference manual for more information on how to use any of Paintbrush's features. Depending on your design, you may desire to create your icon to scale initially, OR to first design a larger scale image which can be later scaled down with the 'Shrink' feature. After a creating a couple of icons you will soon become comfortable with either method. To create an icon to scale, begin by selecting the 'Paste From...' command from the 'Edit' menu in Paintbrush. Use the 'Files' and 'Directories' list boxes to select the 32x32.BMP file in your PBIcon sub-directory. Select 'OK' to paste this bitmap into your screen. While the clipping is still selected (dotted lines around it) drag it to the middle of your display area by positioning the cursor inside of the clip, pressing the left mouse button down, and dragging the image. This is your paint area. The solid black line is included in the avail- able paint area. The dotted red line lies just outside of the area. You might choose to modify this scheme to suit your own taste and/or task at hand. You may use Paintbrush's drawing tools while the image is in the normal mode, OR, you can select 'Zoom In' from the 'View' menu to enlarge the image for pixel-by-pixel editting. The second method (using the 'Shrink' feature) can be used to design a 'draft' copy of the icon at a larger size. This allows more convenient use of the drawing tools as well making it easier on your eyes. Begin by pasting in the 32x32.BMP clip as above, only drag it to a corner of your display instead of the center. Now create a much larger square in the remaining area of the display to draw your large image into. After designing the large image, use the scissors clipping tool to select the entire large square. Now select 'Shrink + Grow' from the 'Pick' menu. Position the cross-hair cursor over one corner of the small 32x32 icon square, press the left mouse button down, drag the cursor to the opposite corner, and release the mouse button. The selected large area will be duplicated into the smaller icon area. If you are not satisfied with the 'Shrink', select 'Undo' from the 'Edit' menu. Using the shrink approach introduces some side effects during the process. Colors may be changed or positioned slightly off from their larger source picture. It is never-the-less a good way to begin many icons if you are creating them from scratch. Polish the shrunk icon image by using the 'Zoom In' mode and touching up colors and pixels. LIMITATIONS ----------- PBIcon has been totally designed and programmed with the Windows 2.x development kit. (The 3.0 kit is on its way!!!) All of the knowledge required to construct the program as it exists so far was acuired in a 'lab' environment by observing data structures and debug messages. Although a formidable tool already, there are a few features I hope to add or enhance after learning from the 3.0 reference materials. This includes the 'transparent' mode. If you do not change the Windows default color of white for your application workspace, you may never notice that icons do not have a transparent background. Never-the-less PBIcon will continue to be updated with the latest, state-of-the-art, features and tools for your use! Enjoy, and thank you very much for your support! Len Gray Impact Software 2321 S. Magnolia Ave. #9D Ontario, CA 91762 CIS ID: [71630,1703]
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