First a note on what "beta" means: all of the features planned for version 1.5 are complete and functional, but there are still some bugs remaining which may cause Icon Machine to crash. However, most users report having no problems.
Normally I don't do public betas, but I decided an exception was appropriate. Version 1.5 has been a long time coming, and even though there remain a few stubborn bugs I need to move on and add more features, especially to keep up with the new icon-related additions in MacOS 8.5. So I hope you will benefit from the improvements I have made over the last couple of months, and that the few remaning bugs won't get in the way of you making some wonderful icons.
There have been reports of Icon Machine crashing in certain circumstances, such as booting with SOMObjects installed, but I (and many of my faithful beta testers) have been unable to duplicate these problems, and this makes it very difficult to find and fix these bugs. If you do find any problems, please don't hesitate to sent me a detailed description at dathorc@kagi.com.
For those of you eager to break into the world of 32-bit icons, here is my plan. Adding 32-bit support to Icon Machine will involve several interface modifications, and some of these are also useful for the traditional 1, 4, and 8-bit icons. Among these are a more relaxed approach to mask editing (no more mask spots that won't erase) and a mask view similar to the one you see in regular icon editors. These features will be added and released as I complete them, along with whatever bug fixes happen along the way. Once these are in place, I will begin on the 32-bit icons themselves.
Bear with me; the best is yet to come. This 32-bit stuff is actually interrupting a series of improvements that I was already working on. Don't touch that dial!
