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Cursor and Icon creation FAQ

Cferra

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Here is a How to guide for the creation of cursors and icons. A Pokebuddies FAQ will be forthcoming as that'll take longer to explain.

1.) What are cursors? How do I change them?

Cursors are divided into static and animated varieties. Static cursors are like the pointer for the mouse that you're using right now. That file is called a (.cur) file. Working or Busy in Background cursors are animated cursors usually with a file called (.ani)

You can change them through the windows Control Panel's mouse icon and click the pointer tab. Once there, you can change the cursors for working in background, busy or the pointer by browsing any folder. Usually it's C:Windows/Cursors

2.) Cool, LX. How do I make them?

You use a cursor editor program such as this:

Microangelo : http://www.impactsoft.com/

Once you open the program, you see a grid, color table and a preview window usually. The large grid operates on a 32 by 32 pixel size. You see a lot when you're working and see the results in the preview. Once you finish, you can save the picture as a single icon (.ico) or a gif.

If you want to turn it into a cursor, you save it as a .cur file. For animations, you simply draw in the animator and add frames and move the picture around to animate it. Once you finish, save it as a .ani file.

3.) Can you turn animations into animated gifs?

You sure can! If you take each frame and copy them into a gif animator, you can turn something like this: :lx104: into a cubone tossing his bone in the air.

If you have more questions, please ask and I'll be glad to answer.

LX
 
So, would I have to make a cursor in one of those programs? I'm not very good at pixel art, and if I were to make something, it would probably be easier in MS paint because it's what I'm used to.

And is 32 x 32 the limit?

Sorry for the newbish questions, I've just never done something like this before, but it sounds interesting.
 
Joey said:
So, would I have to make a cursor in one of those programs? I'm not very good at pixel art, and if I were to make something, it would probably be easier in MS paint because it's what I'm used to.

And is 32 x 32 the limit?

Sorry for the newbish questions, I've just never done something like this before, but it sounds interesting.

It's okay, Joey. I'm here to answer any and all questions regarding cursors. To make it a .cur or a .ani file it needs to be made in a program like Microangelo or IconEdit. The problem with MS Paint is that you can't save the file as a .cur or .ani.

32 by 32 pixels is the standard cursor and icon size. That's the siize of the smilies I made such as these: :lx154: :lx219: :lx160: They're on my hard drive as icons in an icon library. More on those in another FAQ.

Pixel art for me is easier in Microangelo. I use that program and you can draw like it's in PSP or Paint. You can turn the grid off too. The program's FAQs and other Icon editor FAQs go into greater detail. Any other questions?

LX

Edit: Here's a picture of Microangelo's animator to give you a feel of what it's like.
 
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Assumably so, but I admit I have no idea how. I am not as big a fan of cursors as LX nor as devoted to 32x32 icons as he was, and he is no longer available here on Bulbagarden...
 
Just to add - for icons, while 32x32 is the standard size, it might be a good idea to create an icon for the following sizes at the very least if you are making icons for Windows XP and Vista (those in brackets are recommended if you are making them for Vista): 16x16, 24x24, 32x32, 48x48, 72x72 (maximum size of icons in Windows XP), (128x128), (256x256). This way, your icons won't look like crap in some places or on some systems where the icon resolution may be higher or lower (for example, the Tile view in Windows XP uses 48x48, while the Start menu in Windows XP uses 24x24 if you use 32x32 icons for your system).
 
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