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Old 08-23-2015, 03:24 PM   #1
pcmusicpro
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Default What program to use for button and Reaper graphics design?

Hello

Currently I´m using Paint.NET for making or modifying Reaper Icons and toolbar buttons but find complicated when I want to add fonts and text over the graphic.

What other options do you use for making the graphics for your themes?

Thanks
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Old 08-23-2015, 03:28 PM   #2
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The GIMP
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Old 08-23-2015, 04:19 PM   #3
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Paint.NET has been my favorite graphic editor for years now. I have used Gimp occasionally but avoid it since I don't like the workflow that much. I used to do more icons, especially text graphics using Inkscape but for me that one is also harder to use than Paint.

Since icon and button images are so small, it's pretty hard to get nice looking text into them. Sometimes I just draw them in pixel by pixel rather than trying to find the proper font and size. But trying to do anything else than strictly horizontal and vertical can get ugly real fast, so that is a hassle too. I'm also interested in hearing if somebody has other solutions or ways to make text work on icons.
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Old 08-23-2015, 06:14 PM   #4
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I use photoshop cs6 and illustrator but is not free but powerfull
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Old 08-23-2015, 06:46 PM   #5
Tomm
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inkscape (great for icons and text)
blender (great for 3d knobs, buttons, and lighting effects)
paint.NET (great for cleanup and other pixel pushing duties)
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Old 08-23-2015, 06:53 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xpander View Post
I have used Gimp occasionally but avoid it since I don't like the workflow that much.
I found the gimp pretty excruciating for a long time, until I finally buckled down, read some docs, watched some tutorials... the interface has grown on me a lot, and now I use it pretty much exclusively, and I like it a lot. But it definitely will rub the wrong way at first for a photoshop user.
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Old 08-23-2015, 07:18 PM   #7
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Inkscape is great. If I didn't already own Corel Draw I'd be a user of it.

You can do all of that stuff with vector graohics, 3d buttons, shiny metalic looking stuff, and all kinds of things like that, you just have to know how to approach it. There are some really great Corel tutorials on YouTube and those approaches will pretty much directly translate to Inkscape.
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Old 08-24-2015, 08:19 AM   #8
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you can also hand paint graphics on canvas, then scan them in at kinkos, but I'm guessing that's a little too masochistic for most people :P
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Old 08-24-2015, 09:31 AM   #9
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Quote:
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you can also hand paint graphics on canvas, then scan them in at kinkos, but I'm guessing that's a little too masochistic for most people :P
That's actually a pretty cool idea - except that I'd use markers and scan 'em in @ home.

Hmmmmm...
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Old 08-24-2015, 10:51 AM   #10
Lawrence
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xpander View Post
Since icon and button images are so small, it's pretty hard to get nice looking text into them. Sometimes I just draw them in pixel by pixel rather than trying to find the proper font and size.
Crank up the DPI. For stuff like that I use 1200 DPI.

Anywho, here's a tutorial on shiny buttons in vector graphics. It's all just an illusion and when you see people do it you facepalm yourself.

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Old 12-06-2015, 02:40 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xpander View Post

Since icon and button images are so small, it's pretty hard to get nice looking text into them. Sometimes I just draw them in pixel by pixel rather than trying to find the proper font and size.
Hi xpander,
you could search the web for "Pixelfonts". There are a lot of free fonts for download.
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