PsIcon5 - A Psion Series 5 Icon Tool for Windows 95/NT
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PsIcon5, like it's predecessor PsIcon (for the series 3) has been written to
ease the creation of icons for use with OPL programs etc. on the Psion Organiser.

It creates four colour icons in any or all of 24x24, 32x32 or 48x48 bit formats.
(nb. the unregistered version of the program is limited to 24x24 icons) These can
either be drawn freehand or imported and converted from suitable BMP format files.
These must be either 24x24, 32x32 or 48x48 pixels, 16 colour and in RGB format. (These
can easily be created by or converted from other formats using Paint Shop Pro, etc.)

The three icon sizes are displayed by the series 5 at the three zoom level settings.
The larger formats will be scaled down in the absence of smaller ones - i.e. if an
icon contains a single 48x48 image, this is zoomed to 32x32 and 24x24 as required.
Conversely however, smaller images are used 'as is' in larger sizes in the absence of a
larger image. The advantage of having multiple images within the icon is that they be
different for the different zoom levels.

Each image must also be stored with a corresponding 'mask'. The mask is used to specify
which pixels in the actual image are used - thus catering for image transparency. PsIcon5
has the capability to initially generate the mask images from the actual pictures, and
allows them to be edited separately as required.

Operation of the program should be straightforward. On running the program, a tab-box of
bitmap grids is displayed - one each for the picture and mask at each size. Drawing,
by clicking/moving the mouse over the grid, can be done in four colours on pictures,
two on masks. The 'Copy Picture to Mask' button maps all non-white pixels on the currently
selected picture to black on the mask. The 'Shrink' buttons copy a 48x48 picture to
32x32, and 32x32 to 24x24 respectively. (This operation is performed fairly crudely by
simply discarding certain pixels - if editing pictures from another source, better
results may be obtained by using any available 'resample' facilities.)

Icons can be saved for later use in a format peculiar to PsIcon5, or exported as Psion
MBM format images. It is also possible to import BMP format images. As previously described,
these have to be of a suitable size and format, and will be loaded into the appropriate
picture size. A colour map will be displayed on selecting a suitable file - this shows
the (16) colour palette as it exists in the BMP, and allows the definition of mapping
for these colours to black, dark grey, light grey or white in the icon image.



Registration

To register PsIcon5, a registration code must be obtained from the author. This is 
available for the bargain price of £15.
Send your cheque/postal order etc. to:-

	Colin Hitchcock
	17, Henley Wood Road,
	Earley,
	Reading,
	Berks. RG6 7EE

Your registration code can be sent via email, or post if you prefer.

The author can be contacted by email: colinh@cix.compulink.co.uk

Bug (if you can find any!) fixes, enhancements etc. will be considered, time permitting.

No guarantees, implied or otherwise, are given with this software.

Thanks to Lieuwe de Vries for figuring out and publicising the MBM file format.

PsIcon, for drawing icons for the Psion Series 3, is still available completely free
from numerous sources on the internet and the cix Psion conference.