Axilialis : Java Glossary

A company that makes specialised image editing utilities. The important utilities are the IconWorkshop and the CursorWorkshop. IconWorkshop runs on Windows but can create icon files for the Mac as well. The current version of IconWorkshop is 6.91 Last revised/verified: 2016-08-11 The IconWorkshop comes in home and commercial versions. You need the commercial version for commercial use. You also need it to get the batch and automated features. Without it, you can’t even pop out all the different sizes of images for a cursor automatically. differences. What singles IconWorkshop out from the competition is a library of predrawn components they call image objects. This allows people without artistic skill to crank out pedestrian but polished icons. Buying the product gives you lifetime updates at no extra charge. I have downloaded the free trial evaluation for the IconWorkshop. Stay tuned…

They also sell sets of complete icons.

What I have found out

• It can edit rectangular images as well as square icos.
• Working with object images is pretty simple. They are simply pre-drawn semitransparent layers that you stack up positioning each layer. The library of components shipped with the evaluation version is quite small. I have asked them to include the complete library in thumbnail or red-stripe form so you can get an idea of how useful it will actually be. They did not respond.
• To create a single icon, you create an icon project as opposed to an icon library. That term confused me. Both terms sounded like creating a large set of icons.
• It does not have the same troubles IconLover has with images shrinking and sometimes displaying with black backgrounds
• To to convert an image to an icon, click new then click create an icon from an image. Then you select which variant sizes you want and save the ico. It took me quite a while to discover this especially with menus hiding items. It is not intuitive what to do and the tutorial does not tell you. Pay attention to the welcome screen. You can do quite a bit directly from it.
• In terms of drawing, it is similar to other drawing programs such as Corel PaintShop Pro or IconLover. It even runs Photoshop add-ons.
• The tutorial is pretty sparse, just a quick intro. The program really needs a mini-tutorial to show you what each button is for and how to use it, the way TintGuide does. There is no point in a feature if you have to fiddle around for hours guessing how it works.

Things I want to find out

• Does it have they ability to convert jpgs to transparent backgrounds? It does not appear to.
• Is the component library sufficiently interesting to generate icons I could not just find on the net?
• How steep is the learning curve? I seem to recall having a look at it long ago, and feeling overwhelmed. I am quite a bit more experienced generally with images now. There are a number of features that were mysterious, but the basic drawing operations were fairly intuitive.

Forms of Payment

They accept PayPal but charge a $3.50 handling fee. They take Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Diner’s Club. credit cards, but change a $3 handling fee. They do cheques for a $3 handling fee. They do bank transfers for a $18 handling fee. SWREG handles their store for them.