Use the Photoshop® Plug-in

To use the Photoshop® to Axialis IconWorkshop™ plug-in, you must start the Photoshop® application first. The plug-in is accessible from within Photoshop® only. Before using the plug-in as detailed in next topic, you need to install it on your computer. The plug-in can be easily installed from within Axialis IconWorkshop™ in one fast and simple operation.

If you've already installed the Photoshop® plug-in with a version of IconWorkshop prior to 6.80, you must install it again by following this procedure. A new export plug-in will be installed in addition to the filter plug-in. The export plug-in will be used with Photoshop® Templates

Use the Photoshop® plug-in

1. First of all, launch Photoshop® and open or create an image file. You don't need to launch Axialis IconWorkshop™ before using the plug-in. It will be automatically launched by the plug-in if necessary.

2. Select the layer and the portion of the image you want to transfer to Axialis IconWorkshop™ (). If you don't create a selection area, the whole layer image will be transferred. Only rectangular selections are supported for transfer.

3a. Export the image in the Current Layer only :

Use this command if you want to transfer the image in the current layer only. The images in the other layers will be ignored. If you want to export a flatten image, choose the command in step 3b.

Choose the Filter/Axialis/Transfer to Axialis IconWorkshop™... command in the Photoshop menu.

3b. Export the flatten image (all layers merged):

Use this command if you want to transfer the image as displayed. The images in all layers will be merged during the export (the layers will be kept in Photoshop).

Choose the File/Export/Export to Axialis IconWorkshop™... command in the Photoshop menu.

4. Axialis Axialis IconWorkshop™ is automatically launched (or activated if running in background) and the dialog box Install the Photoshop® to Axialis IconWorkshop™ Transfer Plug-in opens (see below).

3. The image is about to be transferred in Axialis IconWorkshop™. You can choose one of the following operations: Create a New Icon using this Image (): You create a new icon with several formats based on the image (see step 4); Create a New Image Document (): Axialis IconWorkshop™ opens a new document containing the image. You'll be able to perform various operations on the image (resize, crop, save...) and even create a new icon from a portion of it; Paste the Image in the Current Icon Document (): This option is enabled only if an icon document is already opened in Axialis IconWorkshop™. It pastes the image in the current editor area (just like the Clipboard paste operation).

4. If you choose the first option (Create a New Icon using this Image), the following dialog box opens (see below). As Axialis IconWorkshop™ support creation of both Windows® and Macintosh® icons, you're prompted to choose the format. Select option for Windows® or option for Macintosh®.

5. By choosing Windows®, the following dialog box opens (a similar dialog opens if you choose Macintosh®)

6. In the Name group (), enter the icon project name. Do not specify any extension.

7. In the Image Formats group, select the image formats you whish to add in the icon () and unselect the unwanted images (). Just click on the image preview to select/unselect. To know more about the desired Windows® standard image format, see What is an Icon topic.

8. You can also apply or not the dithering option to the 256/16 color images as well as add a filter effect to smooth/sharpen the resulting images in RGB/A mode (try and see the results in the preview images).

9. If you wish to start creating your icon with an unlisted format, click the Other Image Format button.

10. When done, click OK. The icon is automatically created with the various image formats you've selected.