Reworking user icons for OpenCPN

[svrevelations]

I will soon rework and improve the user icons for OpenCPN as available here: https://opencpn.org/OpenCPN/info/usericons.html

While I'm at it, do you require any other user icons?
Post your requirement/s or suggestion/s here.

.

[bcn]

Perhaps some "LEDs" or "pointers"? The pointers we did use for single ad-hoc soundings.
The source Inkscape svg as .doc for retouch or different export sizes attached.

[svrevelations]

Originally Posted by bcn

Perhaps some "LEDs" or "pointers"? The pointers we did use for single ad-hoc soundings.
The source Inkscape svg as .doc for retouch or different export sizes attached.

No problem - will add these when I redo the icons.

[bcn]

Great - you will know the most appropiate sizes in px to keep things structured.

Thanks!

Hubert

[reflectionsv37]

I have been talking with Dave and we want to expand the Standard Waypoint Icons and include yours as part of the standard OpenCPN distribution. Dave said if we can reach consensus, he'll add them in the next release.

I have a proposed list that I sent to Dave a day or so ago. I added about 20 icons, I would like to see. I'll PM you. Would like to send you the file of new icons. I also renames some of your Icons to better group them by topic.

Gene

[bcn]

Gene,

please go ahead and just drop me a mail with the draft.

Hubert

[svrevelations]

Originally Posted by reflectionsv37

I have been talking with Dave and we want to expand the Standard Waypoint Icons and include yours as part of the standard OpenCPN distribution. Dave said if we can reach consensus, he'll add them in the next release.

I have a proposed list that I sent to Dave a day or so ago. I added about 20 icons, I would like to see. I'll PM you. Would like to send you the file of new icons. I also renames some of your Icons to better group them by topic.

Gene

PM sent - check your private messages.

[bcn]

Gene,

no PM received.
From the panel you can send me an e-mail directly as well.

Hubert

[svrevelations]

One of the things I need to do when reworking the icons is to improve the transparent background of each icon. Although perhaps acceptable, I did not do a perfect job when I created them a couple of years ago.

[reflectionsv37]

I struggled with that on the new Icons I created. I'm not a Photoshop person, but I found a small free program I downloaded called PhotoFiltre. It seemed to do a good job of making the backgrounds transparent.

AS you'll see from the file I sent you, I didn't make all the Icons with transparent backgrounds. Any icon that contains blue or has fine lines, washes out when put on the blue background of water on OpenCPN.

Let me know if there is anything you would like me to do!

Gene

[reflectionsv37]

I was about to post a new thread on this subject, but it looks like the discussion should take place here. For the sake of discussion, this is what I intended to post:


Many of us have been sharing detailed GPX files with other OpenCPN users and have found the current list of Standard Waypoint Icons to be inadaquate for many situations. For more information on the initial discussion see this post:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post2421993

Currently, if you want to use a custom Waypoint Icon, you need to setup the UserIcons directory in the appropriate folder and copy the icon to that folder. If you wish to share a GPX file with someone and a Waypoint uses that Icon, you must also send them the icon to install on their computer.

Rather than distributing our own Waypoint Icons to one another, Dave has graciously agreed to include an updated file of standard Icons in the next release of OpenCPN. Hopefully, we can come up with a list that most of us agree with.

I have attached a file of proposed Icons below. The majority of these came from S/V Revelations who has made his Icons available for users of OpenCPN. Others, I have downloaded and some I've made myself.

Your participation and comments would be greatly appreciated! Specifically, I'm looking for a few things.

1) Are the other Icons you would like to have added? If so, please include a sample or describe what you would like to see and I'll try to find one.

2) Are there some in the proposed file you think should be deleted?

3) S/V Revelations file had many duplicates for symbols, i.e. Different colors for a check mark. Do we want to include the multiple colors?

4) In some instances I found multiple Icons for the same item and couldn't make a decision on which was best, i.e. powerlines, ice, groceries, etc. Do you have a preference for one, or should we include a limited variety?

5) Do you have a differnt Icon you feel should be used for any in file? If so, include a sample. Remember that an Icon that looks good at 512x512 pixels, may not look so good when reduced to 28x28.

6) Are the attached Icons too small or too large? I've tried to keep the size of Icons I have downloaded or created to 28x28 up to 32x32 pixels. Some of the ones from S/V Revelations are larger and of course, their are exceptions for those that are not a perfect square shape.

7) If you can find a better Icon for Submerged Cable/Pipe, please upload a copy.

8) Any other comments and suggestions!

Note: I think we will need to maintain the existing Standard Icons that have been distributed in the past. I'm sure many are using those Icons and I would not want to impact current users. I have named the proposed Icons to group them by Activities, Authorities, Hazards, Marks, etc. The current list of standard Icons will probably be mixed within the new ones as they contain no prefix.

[bcn]

A free program that allows easily to create pngs in different sizes is Inkscape.
Just select the number of px for export keeping the aspect ratio.
The "leds" from my earlier post are created this way.
And for designing symbols Inkscape works very nicely too.
No native version for macOS though.

If you export selected objects the background will be completely transparent.

Inkscape uses svg as an internal format - yet carrying quite an overhead.

As mentioned: there should be different icon sets for different screen resolutions.
The issue all the desktop UIs are struggling with.
Ideally the symbols would be svgs and scaled accordingly to the screen resolution. This is done for OpenCPN core already for chart objects.
I don't think this can be achieved for the markers for the next intermediate version of OpenCPN.

- Shall we make two or three different sized sets just in case?
20, 40, 60 px aprox. for example?

- What are the tools you are using to design the symbols?

- Can you export to svg and publish the original design?

Hubert

[svrevelations]

I use a range of software to create the graphics I need - CorelDraw, CorelPhotoPaint, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, etc.

I don't think OpenCPN supports icons in SVG format. I just made a couple, inserted them into the correct folder, but cannot find them in OpenCPN. We know that .xpm and .png works - of which .png is a far better choice. I therefor recommend that the icons be made in .png format.

[bcn]

As of today and for the short term step as planned png is the correct choice.
And the collection shall be one of pngs - as the one we have right now at our hands.

For the future a scalable format might be recommendable.

Hubert

[reflectionsv37]

A new thread to continue this discussion has been created at

New Standard Waypoint Icons For OpenCPN - Input Requested - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

Please post any comments to the new thread.

Thanks!

Gene