Those who have used LH may already know this but if you open explorer.exe in reshacker you may note that the My Computer (Now just Computer) Icon is available in a new format.
The format is written in Reshacker as 0x0 (16.8 mil colours), 0x0 (256 Colours) and 0x0 (16 Colours).
However it is in fact a 256x256 PNG format icon. So, here's to the future where all icons will be distibuted as PNGs and will be multiplatform (I wish)
PNG Icons on Windows.. have the heavens opened? i hope so... :woot:
Cheers!
The only thing I don't like about that is that PNG's only contain one image. So that means you can't have a seperate icon for tiny sizes that are more legible at that size, which is especially good for the titlebar, or listviews. You'd litteraly have to make seperate files which would create lots more seperate files in a folder.
On OSX the Finder icon and trash are hardcoded PNG's in the dock but the rest of the icons are .icns. OSX just has a better scaling algorythmn.
And yes, people do use the small sizes on OSX the way I mentioned. But when people convert them to PNG on windows those small sizes get lost. Here's an example with the rhapsodized folder showing how different the smallest size is from the largest.
*edit*
My screenshot got deleted at it source so I moved it. =Þ
Anyway I pretty much think going to a image format that only has one image is a downgrade especially considering OSX has 24x24 ,32x32, 48x48, and 128x128 in most .icns icons again going back to what I was saying above.
are you talking about Windows XP?
I have SP2 installed and I cant see what the hell you are talking about
Originally posted by Duckie@Feb 28 2004, 11:49 PMare you talking about Windows XP?
I have SP2 installed and I cant see what the hell you are talking about
He talk about Windows Longhorn ( available @2006 )
Originally posted by Duckie@Feb 28 2004, 03:49 PMare you talking about Windows XP?
I have SP2 installed and I cant see what the hell you are talking about
just out of curisoity, how do you have SP2 already? are you a beta tester for it?
is this LH build 4051?
Originally posted by Duckie@Feb 28 2004, 04:49 PMare you talking about Windows XP?
I have SP2 installed and I cant see what the hell you are talking about
He said LH = LongHorn.....tsk tsk Duckie you're growing older than you already are :6
i think that would be cool to have just one sice...but:
first:
till 2006 a damn long way to go, much could change
which brings me to
second:
i thought ms is planing to implement a brand new icon system based on vectors in lh, not on pixels. that would be really coooool.
B²
Originally posted by Brainbug@Feb 29 2004, 02:00 AMsecond:
i thought ms is planing to implement a brand new icon system based on vectors in lh, not on pixels. that would be really coooool.
@brainbug: i think that might be what theyre gettin around to, they probably implamented that png thing because they are still workin on that. but just a gues 
did anyone else go here expecting to SEE a new windows icon.... or do i just need to get some sleep 
probable just need sleep.
(for the sake of this leading to more offtopic posts lets just say it was a retorical question) 
A: it's in Longhorn PDC 4051
B: the PNG is setup as part of the IconGroup for the explorer icon (i.e. you canuse multiple PNGs in the same was as making a .icl. The Explorer icon has 16x16, 24x24, 32x32, 48x48 and this PNG (0x0 but really 256x256)
C: The UI is vector based, drawing every icon using vectors would take more ram than just using PNGs (PNGs are almost as flexible as vectors and Fireworks can kinda make vector PNG files)
Sorry for any confusion, I didn't know the title would do that.
Vector icons may be a good idea for big sizes, but I doubt if they will look good in smaller sizes (16x16, 32x32). And, in any case, they will require more processing power than a plain bitmap icon. What will happen if you have a folder containing tons of icons?
The big qustion for me is can you do photorealistic icons with vectors. Can you convert any picture while retaining it's look 1:1? From what I have seen it doesn't seem like you can.
Also..... I read before that MS was writing their own version of flash for longhorn which means they could be using it for the UI. So the interface could either be vectors or bitmaps.
One more thing though.. if the themes are made of PNG's then the UI isn't vector based as PNG is a raster format.
Originally posted by wookietv@Feb 28 2004, 07:15 PMjust out of curisoity, how do you have SP2 already? are you a beta tester for it?
WindowsUpdate
if you read thru, some of the updates are listed as SP2
SP2 may not exist as a whole, but it does exist in parts
Originally posted by Duckie@Feb 29 2004, 10:41 PMWindowsUpdate
if you read thru, some of the updates are listed as SP2
SP2 may not exist as a whole, but it does exist in parts
That's not SP2 - that's what're known as "Pre-SP2".
"Pre-SP#" patches are those that'll be included in the final service pack.
As for SP2 not existing as a whole, it does, to Microsoft Beta testers.
Right, Lets get this a little straighter.
PNGs show as a raster image, they can however store vector information for each element of the image (As shown in Fireworks), from what I can tell Microsoft are using this to make the GUI and icons as with this information the PNG image can be built at any size without distortion as it's litterally rebuilt at the new size.
However, Aero is supposed to support a true vector based GUI system but currently Slate and Plex (The 2 LH VS' that have been seen) use the PNG method.
If you mess around with some of the Whidby tutorials you can build GUI Elements in true vectors using Aero so the system is implemented, just not used yet.
I think Microsoft will stick to PNGs for vectors and probably for the GUI as well but it seems the system available for designers to use in their own programs.
a little off topic:
are pngs designed to include vector information?
vectors inside a png appear only in fireworks, i think.
Originally posted by Acaeris@Feb 29 2004, 07:26 PMRight, Lets get this a little straighter.
PNGs show as a raster image, they can however store vector information for each element of the image (As shown in Fireworks), from what I can tell Microsoft are using this to make the GUI and icons as with this information the PNG image can be built at any size without distortion as it's litterally rebuilt at the new size.
However, Aero is supposed to support a true vector based GUI system but currently Slate and Plex (The 2 LH VS' that have been seen) use the PNG method.
If you mess around with some of the Whidby tutorials you can build GUI Elements in true vectors using Aero so the system is implemented, just not used yet.
I think Microsoft will stick to PNGs for vectors and probably for the GUI as well but it seems the system available for designers to use in their own programs.
So what you are saying is they plot lines from point A to point B and then draw a line either straight or on a curve, or draw a gradient from A to B, and this rebuilds an image when it goes past the images default size and it does this without changing it visually?
From what I have gathered you can't add detail to an image like for example if it's a 256x256 image blown up to say.... twice it's size. You always get some kind of effect that looks like blurring.
This is why in games we have bilinear\trilinear filtering. And to do hi res they take textures that are very large and scale them down.
IMO if you have proper scaling then you don't need vectors to help you out.
BTW, no one answered my question on doing a photo icons with vectors that looks photorealistic.
I'm not sure how fireworks stores the vector information in the image but it's the only program that shows it cause it's the only program that knows it's there.
Smoke: Doing Photorealism with vector graphics is possible but wont be seen on windows icons using them. It's so complicated that a 32x32 icon would easily have over 150 elements just to make it photorealistic.
You may not have noticed but when you stretch GIFs, JPEGs or BMPs you get extreme blur or just scaled pixels.
When you scale PNGs, depending on how they were saved the blur is much less and the image is generally of higher quality. Don't forget LH will be built to enable all the features a games developer would have in DirectX on the desktop itself. (i.e. You could use bi-linear or tri-liniear filtering on elements of the windows GUI)
Edit:
There seems to be some confusion as to what does what in Longhorn. Aero is the new system that is replcaing Luna for the User Interface (The VS is called Slate but the system is called Aero).
Avalon is one of the "Pillars of Longhorn". It will allow developers/designers to create vector based graphics in their applications using a standard control system (XAML and MSHTML).
Aero doesn't do the vector graphics, Avalon does. It looks like MS is going to just move to a 32 bit interface and not create the interface purely in vectors.
PS. Additional thing I've noticed about the VS file: It contains the icons used in the new explorer windows as well as all the normal VS images.
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