Importing SVG in Icon-o-Matic

Hello. Anyone could import a SVG file in Icon-o-Matic? I tried with a file created in Inkscape, but without success (after import the file, nothing appears in the screen).

Must use some specific kind of SVG?

Thanks!

It depends on how complex the svg image is. I have had no trouble with importing simple svg images. an hvif file has a limit to the number of paths etc.

Thank you bbjimmy! I will try again!

SVG is my favourite way of creating an icon, and itā€™s always worked for me. I know though that Icon-O-Matic may not accept all SVG constructs. You might try loading your image into Wonderbrush and see if it shows. Maybe simplify it there.

And if you manage to create an SVG that doesnā€™t import right, please create a bugreport at dev.haiku-os.org and attach the file there. We can then improve the SVG import code.

My favourite source of SVGs is http://www.clker.com/. About 2 out of four files from there import perfectly, 1 does not import at all and the last one may import but looks terrible. I can live with that.

I created the ticket #13021 where I added the first three SVG I tried. 3 tries, 3 failuresā€¦ :slight_smile:

People are invited to add more SVGs showing specific errors. My examples show a stroked shape where there shouldnā€™t be a stroke, failures to correctly fill shapes, and I-O-M importing the SVG too big and placed outside the canvas.

I suspect that many SVGs showing up empty in I-O-M might just be located outside the canvas. WonderBrush accepts SVGs too, so editing SVGs in WonderBrush first and importing into I-O-M later might be easier.

I have the same problem, i add a svg to i-o-m but the icon does not displayed.

I am searching for a good way to solve the work before add a svg to i-o-m, converting a picture to svg. The best result i get using ā€œautotraceā€

1 Like

Itā€™s been a while since I hit the problem, but I seem to remember that I decided the reason certain SVGs wouldnā€™t load into I-o-M was because they had too many paths. If I took them back into WonderBrush and drastically culled the paths I could eventually get an icon out of them.

Using autotrace generates a lot of paths from most images. One option I found useful was -despeckle-level. Canā€™t remember what value I used ā€“ pretty high, I think.

Anyone knows how the heck one can erase details or shapes or whatever you call them with I-O-M?

I see some mention SVG icons that they want to import into I-O-M, but why? The SVG icon will not follow Haikuā€™s icon guidelines, so that means extra work (apart from the mentioned technical difficulties) to get it there if you care about consistency (which you should, tbh). Youā€™ll quickly find yourself thinking 'why didnā€™t I start from scratch in I-O-M, designing a simple but effective HVIF icon?'
Even the ā€˜starting from scratchā€™ part isnā€™t really literally needed. Itā€™s a lot easier to start with an existing HVIF icon that follows Haikuā€™s icon guidelines. Keep it simple, remove shapes, change colors, use I-O-Mā€™s ā€˜appendā€™ functionality to import (parts of) other HVIF icons onto/into your icon. Again keep it simple (repeat that line every minute in your head while working on your icon until itā€™s done). Just by limiting yourself to those three actions after you first did good research into what icons are available and how can they fit into your existing concept (they may even form a good concept while researching them) will in most cases be sufficient. This alternative is more rewarding, less time consuming, and also consistent. Itā€™s also the best introduction into icon making from scratch.

Select them and use your keyboard DEL key. Or the menu above each list (yes, these are menus) which has a ā€œremoveā€ entry.

Thanks Pulkomandy i really had no idea these were actually menus, then again this is the first time i tried to do something with I-O-M.

I dunno. Maybe because I-O-M is the most relentlessly user-hostile GUI program in the history of computing? Raw data manipulation without a metaphor thrown over it?

Back in the BeOS days, third-party sets of bitmap icons were posted up at a rate of one a week. Iā€™ve rescued about a hundred and put them in my repo. Since the HVIF switch weā€™ve had the McClintock set and the BeBeautified set and ā€¦ well, thatā€™s it. really. Makes you wonder why that is. Surely making icons is an easy way for newbies to contribute to the project?

Search the forum. People will import SVGs, they will design in Wonderbrush and import from there, they will use autotrace - ANYTHING to avoid designing in I-O-M. Or they will just ship apps without icons.

About a year ago someone (might even have been you, I forget) sent me a tutorial. And no matter how faithfully I followed the steps, nothing ever appeared in the drawing area. Thanks for trying, anyway. This is the single part of haiku that I really hate. It should not be allowed within a mile of a newbie, because it might put them off Haiku forever.

If you can make this thing perform, let us know your rates. You might be the first person to actually make money out of Haiku.

There are no alternate icon sets because the default one is beautiful and no one thought about replacing it.

We have had GCI students use Icon-O-Matic to add icons to various apps, including a very complete set for the Weather application including all possible (and some highly improbable) weather conditions. They seem to manage well.

The UI may be a little unusual, but certainly not ā€œmost relentlessly user-hostile GUI program in the history of computingā€.

Adding a shape is literally a two clicks operation: ā€œshape -> add with path and styleā€. Then you need to edit the path to add some points to it.

Bitmap icons are still supported, so if IOM was the problem, people would do just that.

Sorry to read my tutorial didnā€™t help, but you can always contact me and tell where exactly you get stuck.
Itā€™s true that HVIF icon making isnā€™t as common in Haiku as bitmap icon making was in BeOS. I-O-M does indeed have a threshold that can lead to mild despair, so that may be a reason (or even the main reason). Still, new hvif icons appear from time to time by various people.
To be honest, I-O-M also turned me away the first few times as I wasnā€™t able to produce anything visible in it at that time. What helped me was a video tutorial (removed nowā€¦) I believe by Zumi himself. But thereā€™s another one, which although going a bit further may be helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sWtLkxEAvs.
Remember that I-O-M is also less forgiving because in general vector work is less forgiving vs. bitmap pixel work.
Iā€™ve offered icon making services once and also once indicated that donations are welcomeā€¦ but nothing. Iā€™m still a typical member of the Precariat and Iā€™m not that far from finishing a new batch of MIT-licenced icons that took a ridiculous amount of time to get right (https://www.flickr.com/photos_user.gne?path=&nsid=40897190%40N08&page=&details=1) so money is more than welcome, folks! :slight_smile:

1 Like

Some (most?) of the questions asked are described in the I-O-M user guide.
The decription there could be improved, if people would explicitely describe where they stray from the path. Iā€™ll quote a few lines from the user guide that deal with the questions in this thread, in order for people to point out whatā€™s the confusion:

"To create any visible object on the canvas, you need a shape with a path and a style. Conveniently, you can create one, two or all three of those together from the Shape menu. "

ā€œA shape groups together one or more paths with a style. Practically, itā€™s the object that youā€™ll actually see on the canvas. The grouping is done with the checkboxes in front of the paths and styles: Just select your shape and tick off the desired path(s) and a style.ā€

ā€œAlso, a shape can be moved, rotated or resized without touching the used path. That way, you can re-use a single path and get different, but related, shapes.ā€

Hereā€™s the I-O-M video of GCI student Tejpunj Raju: GAYA69 : Daftar Situs Slot #1 Di Indonesia Terbaru

@Meanwhile: very nice work!

@all: If you get stuck with I-O-M, post to the forums or ask on IRC or the general Haiku mailing list. More likely than not, others know the answer and are eager to help.

@Meanwhile Iā€™ll PM you over the weekend.

Okay @michel
By the way I-O-M is a great piece of software once you get going with it: it never gets in your way and keeps your workflow optimal. Really well thought out, totally un-bloated and very stable too. Hope you read this, Stippi.