Okay so I recently discovered a few of PS’s hidden secrets that can help icon makers so much.
Pretty much what this tutorial will show you is how to make large amounts of icons very quickly.
We will be using the PS Script “Image Processor” to achieve this.
What you will need:
Photoshop
Screencaps
A decent knowledge of PS Actions & Coloring
Patience
Before I start this tutorial I would like to say that if you are the type of person that has to tweak every icon until it looks perfect, this is not the method for you. While you can still add coloring and such, it adds the same to every icon.
I will say that this is not the best way to get quality and perfect icons, but they do turn out looking pretty nice if you have a good coloring and such.
Anyways, On with the tutorial! Underneath the cut.
First gather your screencaps. Save them all in their own folder on your computer.
I suggest screencapped homeofthenutty or kissthemgoodybe for screencaps.
Important note: Make sure that all the screencaps you choose have the person towards the center of the screen. Later on when we do the cropping in the action, it will be centered.
Okay, now open up photoshop and drag any screencap into a new document.
Now go to Window > Action.
The little action menu should pop up. (Don’t mind all the actions I have loaded, those are just ones I have saved.)
Click the ‘Create new action’ tool, (the little paper with the corner up.)
Note: Please remember every move you have now will be recorded. If you need to do something that you don’t want to be made into the action, click the stop button while you do it, then record when your ready to resume.
Now click the crop tool.
Make sure that the 1x1 square option is selected.
Crop the picture in a square in the center.
Now go Image > Image Size and change it too 100x100 pixels.
Okay, so now you’ve made the icon part of well, the icon.
Now it’s time to do the coloring and create the action.
You might want to zoom in on your icon a bit until it looks normal. This will make it easier to work.
Now this is where you are going to do your coloring, adding textures, borderes, ect.
I won’t cover how to color and such in this tutorial. If you would like to know how to do that kinda stuff, click here.
But I will add a few notes.
As for borders and textures, if you have premade pngs you use that you normally drag and drop, don’t. Instead put the texture/border in a new blank document (100x100) and save it as a pattern. Then use the pattern in the action for your icons.
Also make sure that your coloring action is suitable for all screencaps. I would shy away from extreme changed in the color balance.
Last note, if you want to sharpen it, just unlock the background layer and sharpen the icon. This will go straight into the action and do it to all icons when you run the script.
Okay, so now you have your icon colored and all purty-ed up.
Now this is the part where we make all the icons at once!
Make sure you have already ended your action.
Go to File > Scripts > Image Processor
Okay, so the first step is to select the folder that contains the screencaps you want to use.
Then for the second step, select that same folder. That way it will save in the same location.
Make sure that the quality of the jpeg is 10.
The last step is very important. Make sure that you select the action that you just made.
Now click Run
Depending on how many screencaps you have, this may take a while. Do not do anything in photoshop during this time.
Note: this may temporarily slow down your computer while it is running.
When it is done, if you go into the folder with your screencaps. There should be a new folder in it called JPEG and this will have all your new icons in it! Already made and edited!
