I can't get a clear image of the icon

[galashkina]

Colleagues, please help me find a solution.
I've forgotten how to create icons for new graphical menu components.
I can't get a clear picture.
I'm using AutoCAD Electrical 2020.

[jalger]

Not sure if there is a maxmium size any more.

I know after 400x 400 it seems to just truncate the size or rather auto sizes back to the ratio it wanted. 

The Default size is a measly 40x40 pixel image in most cases, which is blurry at best.

Use Pick Zoom in as close as you can and still see the component you want to capture (for the default).

What I like to do is open up the original image that was saved for the icon in MS Paint, then I reset the pixel size to what I want so I can clearly see the image, but small enough to stay under 400 pixels.  

You could use any Image editing software, make sure its saved as PNG. (you can also use a slide ".SLD" but I haven't really used that before) 

I hope this helps,

James

[jseefdrumr]

I've never been happy with the look of the auto-generated images for the icons, so I always just draw my own and save it as a png. This is a little more time consuming but I don't need new icons that often so I deal with it.

[pmccutcheon]

I've tried both IRFANVIEW and MS PAINT.

IRFANVIEW has a "paint" dialog you can draw with

and yes, is vexing to get a readable image, a lot of trial and error

I've tried 200x200 pixels, seems okay

IRFANVIEW might have issue with PNGs, some images come out in ACE inverted (negative image)

a lot of times I can't get a nice picture, just wind up showing text

[jseefdrumr]

Here are the two different workflows I use:

PREFERRED WORKFLOW

*create the block as normal

*after creating it, copy JUST THE GRAPHICS off to one side of the drawing somewhere

*I manually assign these graphics a lineweight of 0.014"

*I plot this with the 'publish to PNG.pc3' plotter setup

*for the page size, I use 80 pixels by 80 pixels, and the settings in the screenshot 'PNG ICONS'. Basically, Portrait orientation, fit to paper, and center the plot. No plot stamp.

*once it's plotted and saved to the correct location, it's ready to be used in the Icon Menu Wizard. Don't forget to delete the unneeded graphics from the block file.

THE LAZY GUY'S WORKFLOW

*google the thing you're making a symbol for

*look at the 'images' tab

*pick one and download it

*convert to png using Irfanview or something similar

*use that instead of drawing one up

*example: the screenshot named 'motor brakes'

Pertaining to the 'preferred workflow', that lineweight that I use on the graphics is pretty arbitrary. I do that so as not to get really faint icons, like you see in the screenshot called 'faint icon'. YMMV as far as that goes.

Hope this helps,

[pmccutcheon]

1) hmmm mulling this over a bit ... I've been using 200x200 pixel size, but I had to use an enormous text size to make it visible ... ie I had to use say 48point or even 72 point

So, using a smaller size (80x80 suggested elsewhere) might make a lot of sense

2) I got curious, and was wondering how the built-in icons were defined (?)

Looking at the pushbutton menu, the image given is s2(s_pb)

BUT I couldnt find this file anywhere

?anybody know how/where these are stored?

[jalger]

The default for the images  in 2020 is:

C:\Users\<User Name>\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\AutoCAD Electrical 2020\R23.1\enu\Support\Images

Its a similar path for the older products. 

The size depends on what your trying to show, I have had clients that wanted to show a simple Letter and a 32x32 pixel image was more then enough. I have also had people want to show a picture of the part which is best at a 400x400 image. Though to be honest I think it just scales the image to fit in the icon menu image box. (80x80 was the max size at one point, but it has been scaling the images nicely for a number of releases now.)

I hope this helps,

James

[jseefdrumr]

The image named 's2(s_pb)' is part of a slide file library. For more info on slides and slide libraries, see 'About Slides' in HELP.

[jalger]

my bad I thought they were asking about the their custom images...LOL

that's an RTFQ on my part...

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2020\Acade\UserDataCache\en-US\Electrical\UserSupport

look for the sld files.

direct from the help file:

To Make a Slide

1. Display the view of a drawing that you want to use for the slide.
2. At the Command prompt, enter mslide.
3. In the Create Slide File dialog box, enter a name and select a location for the slide.

   The name of the drawing is the default name for the slide and automatically appends the .sld file extension.

4. Click Save.

   The current drawing remains on the screen, and the slide file is saved in the folder that you specified

I don't do much with slides, to be honest I'm not sure if you can edit the original one. if you want to replace the image you can do that while editing in the icon menu wizard. right click on the pushbutton in question then go to its properties.

[rhesusminus]

Details schmeetails....

After AcadE got it's new icon menu (many, many full moons ago...), it's using the images found in DLL resource files by default.

So, s2(s_pb) gives you a image stored in the S2.DLL file:

If you rename the S2.dll file, AcadE will use the S2.slb (slide library file) instead 🙂

Like this:

[galashkina]

Many thanks to everyone who responded to my question.

The result was a piggy Bank of secrets.