I have Adobe Suite 10.0. I'm wanting to make an icon. How do I do that? I know the background has to be black and the image has to be very small and in tga or dds format.

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/3977/20193086.jpg

Do I create two layers? Someone help me please.

I also have the Paint.net program if that is more suitable for making icons. I just figured Adobe had more options. And which format is better, tga or dds?

All an icon is, is a small picture of the item. So you take a picture then resize it to 32x32. As for the background, make that alpha instead of black. Black looks kinda funny in inventory and I think almost all icons use alpha anyway.

Someone had made an excellent post with detailed instructions on how to make an Icon in Gimp. (maybe it was Alaisiagae?)
But I have lost the link... anyone remember it?

It's very easy in Gimp, to re-size and add the alpha correctly... (but I haven't done it in over a year, so I forget.)

I can tell you how to do it in Paint.net, since that's what I have.

First, prepare the colors for resizing. Go to the Colors window, click the More>> button, and make both the primary and secondary colors totally transparent. Now, make it square. At the top, Image > Canvas Size..., and then make the dimensions match.

Select the magic wand tool, and set the Tolerance level at the top to between 0% to maybe 5%. Select the gray background, and press Delete. The whole background should be transparent.

Now, just resize to 32x32 and save as the format you want. That should work.

It's http://tommykhajiit.netfirms.com/MakingIcons/ in Gimp.

I also have a thread I saved, I'm not sure if the forums have pruned it or not. In any case, you can download it http://www.mediafire.com/?265zkln3y81e12w.

going by the image you have shown i would
1) duplicate the layer and adjust the contrast so the background is different enough to select with the magic wand selection tool
2) cut away the background on the original (you may need to double click it to unlock it)
3) change canvas size to a square (128X128, 256x256, 512x512 ect..) so that the hammer will fit in diagonally (if that's what you want)
4) make a new layer that is totally black and move it to be the background
5) once positioned to your liking save as a jpg (that's what i do i have had issues saving alpha channels from a psd)
6) open the jpg and go to channels right click on a channel that the hammer stands out in and duplicate it to a new image
7) on the new image from the duplicated channel adjust the contrast until the hammer is white
8) drag the black and white channel to the jpg and save as a dds

that's how i do it i have time if you need help PM me

Edit: i did make an Icon from the image you posted too

also i'm no Alaisiagae

I don't know what Paint.NET you're talking about but there ain't no colors window on mine. http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/5473/61167967.jpg
edit nevermind, found it, under windows tab.

And what is Resolution? It says 96.00 for pixels/inch in the canvas window.

How do I get rid of all that fuzzy crap all around the edges of it? http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/3991/66412166.jpg
Eraser doesn't work. I tried adjusting the tolerance to 69% and that didn't work. Not sure how I can get rid of that gray stuff.

Well went back and redid it at 12% tolerance and got this: http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/4040/37238648.jpg
Still has the fuzzy edges around it. Will it be noticable you think? There must be a better tool than that wand tool.

And which format do most modders prefer? dds or tga?

And what should I do here: http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/4440/55785348.jpg
Use auto-detect or 32-bit?

When I save it as dds, it gives me these options, which are confusing:
http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/2558/14746407.jpg
http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/9919/12019903.jpg


Okay, I tested it in the CS and it looks terrible! http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/9145/59962635.jpg

That's normal, don't change that.


Ah, I didn't think about this, sorry. The fuzzy stuff is because the picture was saved as a JPG, which messed up the colors a little. If you can, you should go back into the CS (or are you using NIFskope?) and reposition the log and save the picture as a PNG. This will help a lot and get rid of the fuzzy edges. Then, try the steps in my post again.


I recommend DDS, since it's a smaller file. You would only want to use TGA if DDS does something bad to the icon.

For DDS, under File Format select DXT3, under Compressor Type select Iterative fit, and under ErrorMetric select Perceptual. Leave the other two boxes unchecked.

Or, for TGA, select 32-bit and uncheck Compress.

[pseudo-edit]

I think this is because of using DXT1 mode.

Nope, even when saved as png, that fuzzy stuff is still there: http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/9416/85979598.jpg

And it is definitely most noticeable in the icon box: http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/4193/21215009.jpg

What else can I do? Isn't there a lasso tool or something to wrap around the log to make it line up perfectly?

Looks to me like you need a better way to make your selection. With that log you could probably very easily make a selection using the polygonal lasso tool. Other then that, if the magic lasso doesn't work (which it usually doesn't), you could try "select by color range" (Or something similar. Don't have PS open at the moment) under the "select" tab in photoshop. And don't be afraid to use multiple selection tools to make your selection as clean as possible.

There are quite a few different ways to make selections in photoshop, I would suggest searching around youtube for some video tutorials.

I'm using Paint.NET not photoshop.

Oh... Thought you said something about Adobe creative suite....

What I do in Paint.NET:

Open item in Nifskope. Adjust lighting and/or orientation. Take screenshot. I don't really care how big the object is in the window. Probably http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr50/Alaisiagae/Mod%20Screenshot%20MW/Misc/horned_bosmer_01.jpg or a bit smaller (especially if I plan on rotating), if I plan to use the whole object as the icon.

Paste screenie into Paint.NET, let it expand the canvas as needed.

First thing to do:
- select the paint bucket, the eraser, or the paint brush. TURN OFF ANTI-ALIASING. The anti-aliasing makes those "fuzzies" around your selection. I don't really know how to explain anti-aliasing and aliasing, but just trust me, you want to turn it off for making icons!
- reduce tolerance to about 10% Can adjust as needed later. The tolerance value is used by several features, such as the paint bucket and wand. You can set the tolerance via the paint bucket, and see that the wand now has that same tolerance. For some reason, the wand doesn't have the aliasing/anti-aliasing option, but it DOES use it, so make sure to turn it off via the paint bucket or eraser!
- Select the rectangle selection tool. Change from "Normal" to "Ratio" and change ratio so that the width and height are the same. Default is 3:4, I just put in 3:3 or 4:4, it doesn't really matter.

Icon Making:
- Use the rectangle selection tool (doesn't actually have to be in 1:1 ratio for this step) and select everything in the render window of the screenshot of Nifskope. Press ctrl+shift+x to automatically crop your canvas to the selection. Very handy keyboard shortcut.
- If you need to rotate the canvas (like, say, for a glove or weapon icon), press ctrl+shift+z and enter an angle. 45 degrees usually works. You might have to tweak it to get the best diagonal fit (see the next step for why). You can also go to the Image tab at the top of the screen, the drop-down menu contains commands for 90 and 180 degree rotations (cw and ccw), as well as mirroring (flip horizontal, flip vertical).
- now use the rectangle select (must be in a 1:1 ratio!) and make a square around all or part of your item - whatever it is you want to be in the icon. The square is going to be the confines of your icon. You can move the square with the arrow keys on your keyboard, or click-and-drag with "Move Selection" tool. If you mess up or decide you need to redo, then you can press ctrl+d to deselect and start over.
- Done with your square? Press ctrl+shift+x. Awesome.
- Select the Magic Wand. Flood Mode should be Contiguous, and the Selection Mode should be Replace (those are the defaults anyways). Click on the grey Nifksope background (or whatever color you made it). Adjust the Tolerance as needed. If the wand selects part of your icon, reduce the tolerance. If the wand selection leaves some grey around your icon, then increase the tolerance until it picks up all (or most) of the grey. ctrl+d is your best friend for quickly deselecting your wand and trying again.
- Happy with your selection? Press ctrl+i to invert the selection. Then press ctrl+x to cut away your item. Now press ctrl+shift+v to paste into a new layer (this command will automatically create a new layer. Yay!).
- If you have any bits of Nifskope background (e.g. your item has a hole or some other parts that weren't contiguous to your wand selection), click on them with the wand and press ctrl+x to chop them out.
- Once you are done, delete the layer that has the left-over Nifskope background. Now you should have one layer, the one with your icon, and the background should be that checkered light grey and white.
- resize to 32x32 pixels.
- Save your icon as a .tga or a .dds. If .dds, then I suggest using dtx3 compression with NO mipmaps. I used to use dtx1a, but have learned that dtx3 produces a better-quality image.

If you are making icons for the same object, but recolored (or just similar sized objects, or whatever) and want to be consistent, you can use the selection tool mode Fixed Size. Immediately change the units from inches to pixels. Find out the size of your square before you resized to 32x32. Go to Image > Resize... and you can see what the current canvas size is. Put the numbers into the fields for the Fixed Size. Now, when you click on your canvas, the exact-sized square will appear. This method (Fixed Size) is best for meshes that are the same shape and size, but just retextured, and you want the image in the icons to be absolutely consistent in size and position. Neat thing: Fixed Ratio will use the same values that you put in to Fixed Size. Because the width and height are going to be the same, whatever it is will be a 1:1 ratio, even if it is 546x546 or 821x821.

If you rotated the canvas and had blank space on the corners (i.e. the checkered background), you will notice that the wand will leave a line of grey, no matter the tolerance. Just grab the eraser tool, increase the pixel size of the eraser blotter, and scrub the lines away.

Hope this helps. If there are any problems, let me know, I'll try to help.

How in the world are you opening a jpeg in Nifskope? If I open the mesh in Nifskope, it's all white. So I don't get how you're doing that. Thanks for writing all that. Still problems occurring.

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/4494/16361250.jpg

It's still not perfect. And when I put it in the construction set, it still has fuzzy stuff around it. And I clicked the eraser and disabled anti aliasing. The tolerance doesn't get it all for some reason, whether it's at 12 or 13 or 14. And I'm not able to use the eraser to erase the fuzzy stuff. Why do I need to invert it? Why can I not just control x once I use the wand tool?

It still looks awful in the CS. http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/7434/49911795.jpg


Oddly enough, it looks great in-game: http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/6629/screenshot5ue.jpg (sorry, my character was naked for dialogue testing purposes) :blush2:

It just looks sh**ty in the CS. Why is that?

edit: Thanks a bunch, Alaisiagae! My icons are turning out great. And I don't even have to fiddle with the color window and changing the transparency either.

Hmm... I looked for a video tutorial, but I couldn't find one. So, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRm5fUbjfWg. I hope it helps someone. If it's hard to see the words, you can set the quality higher (it goes up to 720p).

I wasn't opening a .jpg in Nifskope, I just happened to have a screenshot of a bosmer head in Nifskope, and the size of the head in the render window was about the size I zoom in/out to when I take my screenshot. Type in "textures\" (without quotes) in front of the vanilla texture file name: Nifskope will now automatically apply the texture from the game's .bsa's. Pretty nifty! Failing that, you can just drop the textures in the same folder as the mesh. Open the mesh, make sure the texture name in NiSourceTexture is just the texture file name, no folders or anything (i.e. not "Textures\Alais\a\tx_longsword_banana.tga. Rather, you would make it just "tx_longsword_banana.tga"). Because the mesh and texture are in the same place, Nifskope will apply them. If you have the texture nested in some folders, click on the purple icon next to the NiSourceTexture and navigate to the texture.


Did you save as .dds? It will look like it has fuzzies or be all pixellated/blocky, but it shouldn't look like that in-game. For tolerance, sometimes you'll have to jack it up somewhere between 20% and 40% to get everything. Just experiment. If 30% is too much, go to 20%. If 20% is too little, try 25%. If that's too much, then you can try, say, 23%. In general, if you item has colors that are similar to your nifskope background, you'll need a lower tolerance to make sure the wand doesn't snag parts of your item. If your background color and the item color are very different (say, white and black or green and fuchsia), then your tolerance can be super high and still not eat in to your item 'cause the colors are just so different!

As for inverting - I think it is because you need to make a new layer that isn't a background layer. I guess it is a left-over habit from when I was making icons in adobe photoshop? If I left the background chopped out, the program wouldn't realize I wanted it to be transparent/have alpha channels. You could try just cutting away and not making a new layer, it might work out fine.

I usually first save as .tga and later use DDS Coverter to batch covert my icons to .dds format. In .tga, you won't see any fuzzies due to how the CS interprets transparencies (???). So, I usually keep icons .tga while I'm inspecting them and testing them. Once I am satisfied, I convert them to .dds. The file size as .dds is only about 2KB less than .tga, but if you have a lot of icons (like... over 100), it all adds up pretty quickly.

It's all good. I can make them perfectly now. Thanks for all your help.