Integration with Other Programs

    Iconographer recognizes the fact that it might not be the only tool you use to create icons. With the advent of 32-bit icons, it becomes more and more appealing to use professional applications such as Adobe Photoshop to create icons, and leave only the final tweaking to tools such as Iconographer.

    Once you have the icon in the state you like, there are two ways of getting it into Iconographer. One is the traditional copy and paste method, the other is through drag-and-drop. You can drag images into the editing area (the dragged item will be placed into a floating selection, as well into the various icon and masks slots on the right side.

    If the program supports enhanced transparency data (such as in Adobe Photoshop's layers), Iconographer can import that data as masks. This can be done through the Paste as Icon and Mask command, or by dragging and dropping the image into the preview area. The image will be split up into an icon and a mask, and the results will be merged with the current icon contents (if any).
External Editors

    Although Iconographer can fulfill most of your icon editing needs, sometimes other applications provide unique features that Iconographer does not have (e.g. filters or layers). Here are the basic steps to using this feature:

    1 Create or open an icon.
    You can either start from scratch or use an existing icon. Make sure that the member you wish to edit is currently selected.
    2 Make sure that an external editor is selected.
    This can be done in the preferences dialog.
    3 Open the current member in the external editor
    Use the "Open In External Editor" command from the Icon menu, or the key shortcut.
    4 Edit the icon using the external editor
    The member can be treated like just another graphics file.
    5 Return to Iconographer.
    After you have saved and closed the member in the external editor, you can return to Iconographer where it's contents will be updated with the changes you made.

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