Making PNG icons with TVPaint and IFX
  • Butterfly
    Butterfly
    Posts: 66 from 2003/10/5
    From: Rapallo (GE) I...
    First of all, I'm happy to see the recent butterfly icons from Cecilia, to know that there's another MOS woman out there, and to see that she used my ZX to create their patterns :)

    Unfortunately, ImageFX has not a layers and alpha channel support so good and precise for creating 100% correct png icons. I actually found TVPaint a GREAT tool to make them! TVPaint is now freely downloadable, there's a CGX version, is fast and stable and runs perfectly on MorphOS. Only problem: it has NO PNG support for loading or saving. So I'm posting this little trick to convert brushes from TVPaint to PNG (but be aware of possible tragical headaches !!!!!)

    First of all, draw your icon with alpha channel with TVPaint (this's NOT a TVPaint tutorial, so I assume you can use it properly). Then cut it as a brush. You then have to save this brush in two different formats: TGA and TIFF (mode: RGB+A). Go into ImageFX and load both (warning: the TGA loader is perhaps broken, sometimes it refuses to load the TGA file, so you will have to try re-saving the brush with TVPaint trying a different size). Once you have loaded them both correctly in ImageFX, keep the image from the TIFF file, and the alpha channel from the TGA file. Join them and save your icon :-)
    Complex, boring but... it works !!!
  • »27.12.03 - 12:53
    Profile Visit Website
  • Order of the Butterfly
    Order of the Butterfly
    cecilia
    Posts: 459 from 2003/8/30
    From: universe, milk...
    well, hello Elena!
    i'm not sure what you find wrong with imageFX. it could just be an early version. The latest - 4.5 - redone for use on MOS, has a new png loader/saver. It always saved ok, but the old png loader didn't load the alpha buffer.

    anyway, all of that is fixed.

    As i tested the png loader/saver i used it on my old amiga 2000, my WinUAE emulation and when I get the IFX cd, i'll test it on my peg. but i'm sure it will work.
    "if you ever slam anyone, for anything, somehow you always end up eating shoe" Targhan
  • »27.12.03 - 15:46
    Profile Visit Website
  • Targhan
    Posts: 2833 from 2003/2/8
    From: USA
    :lol:

    Now all we need is a quick tutorial for fxPaint, and we'de be all set!
    :idea:Targhan

    MorphOS portal? www.MorphZone.org
  • »27.12.03 - 17:45
    Profile Visit Website
  • Order of the Butterfly
    Order of the Butterfly
    cecilia
    Posts: 459 from 2003/8/30
    From: universe, milk...
    hm, that sounded like a hint!
    while i can't have screen grabs, i'll see what i can do.
    "if you ever slam anyone, for anything, somehow you always end up eating shoe" Targhan
  • »27.12.03 - 21:57
    Profile Visit Website