Holger Lagerfeldt Posted May 13, 2006 Share Posted May 13, 2006 (edited) How to make your own icons in Logic Pro - including the 100% original Logic Pro alpha channel transparent drop shadow effect. 1. Find the picture you want (synth, module, naked girlfriend). Use the highest resolution possible, i.e. find a big picture. Use Google Image Search or whatever. 2. Most pictures are in RGB Color mode (such as JPEGs), but some are not (GIFs). Use Image > Mode > RGB Color if necessary. 3. Remove any background around the actual image. First you need to change the background layer into a normal layer. You do this by double clicking on the layer entitled Background in the Layers window, and press OK. Use the magic wand tool, lasso tool, or manually delete the background color until the background shows the Photoshop transparency chequers. If you're familiar with the Refine Edge function, this is a great place to use it (Select > Refine Edge). 4. Use the crop tool to crop to the absolute edge of the actual image. Remember: no empty space around the image, this is important to get the size right later. 5. Open Image > Image Size. Look at the dimensions in height and width. Whichever side has the biggest number should be set for 120 pixels. Make sure Constrain Proportions and Bicubic (Smooth Gradients) are checked. Click OK. 6. Now use the Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask to manually sharpen the image. E.g. 0,3 pixels and 120% sharpen. 7. Set Image > Canvas Size to 128 x 128 pixels, with the anchor centered. 8. Choose Layer > Layer Style > Drop Shadow... and use Multiply blend mode, Opacity: 40, Angle: 90, Distance: 4, Spread: 0, Size: 4. This is a 100% match with the original shadow effect in Logic Pro. 9. Command-click on the layer thumbnail icon in the Layers window pane to load the selection. Then choose Select > Save Selection... and press OK. 10. Switch to the Channels pane from the Layers window and activate the new Alpha Channel 1. 11. Choose File > Save for Web & Devices, and select the PNG24 format. Activate Transparency. 12. The file should saved as x.png (where x is a three digit number between 000 and 324) and put in Users/YourUserName/Library/Application Support/Logic/Images/Icons If no folder exists by that name, make one yourself. Be aware that some numbers are available and some will replace an existing Logic Pro icon (as long as your custom icon is in the folder). Edited November 15, 2009 by lagerfeldt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holger Lagerfeldt Posted March 19, 2007 Author Share Posted March 19, 2007 Forgot to say that if you don't have the folder Images/Icons simply make them yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Nahmani Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 Hey, thanks a lot for this guide! Very useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holger Lagerfeldt Posted March 20, 2007 Author Share Posted March 20, 2007 (edited) Thanks, it can produced really nice results. Notice that the drop shadow truly is transparent, which means no ugly edges and the shadow adapts when the track is highlighted. This is NOT a fixed shadow like many icons have, but a real transparent shadow due to the Alpha layer. http://www.lydmaskinen.dk/forumpics/icon_rm1x.png Edited February 8, 2009 by lagerfeldt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holger Lagerfeldt Posted March 20, 2007 Author Share Posted March 20, 2007 (edited) Same icon but now the shadow adapts to the lighter background. http://www.lydmaskinen.dk/forumpics/icon_rm1x.png Edited February 22, 2009 by lagerfeldt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankSalvato Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 Don't forget about the free Logic Iconizer tool over at LogicProFiles.com. Lots of greeat Icons there too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wafze Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 8. Choose the Layer Effect called Drop Shadow, and use Multiply with Opacity: 40, Angle: 90, Distance: 4, Blur: 4, Intensity: 0. I've tested this against the original shadow effect in Logic, it's a 100% match. hi lagerfeldt thx a lot for your great tutorial, ive got one question, could you post a photoshop screenshot of the properties mentioned in point 8. cause i cant find all of them, would be great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holger Lagerfeldt Posted April 19, 2007 Author Share Posted April 19, 2007 Don't forget about the free Logic Iconizer tool over at LogicProFiles.com. Lots of greeat Icons there too! Lots of those don't have transparent drop shadows like the original icons have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holger Lagerfeldt Posted April 19, 2007 Author Share Posted April 19, 2007 8. Choose the Layer Effect called Drop Shadow, and use Multiply with Opacity: 40, Angle: 90, Distance: 4, Blur: 4, Intensity: 0. I've tested this against the original shadow effect in Logic, it's a 100% match. hi lagerfeldt thx a lot for your great tutorial, ive got one question, could you post a photoshop screenshot of the properties mentioned in point 8. cause i cant find all of them, would be great That's the standard Drop Shadow from the Layer Style menu. Are you using a LE or OEM version of Photoshop? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burger Man Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 I'm a new logic user. I love it, but how do get to use this great icons? I checked the manual, and i do not have the Logic Resources or Icon folders that the manual speaks of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryla Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 Then you simply create one in the specified path Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holger Lagerfeldt Posted July 3, 2007 Author Share Posted July 3, 2007 Multiply with Opacity:40, Angle: 90, Distance: 4, Spread: 0, Size: 4 This is for newer versions of Photoshop, the old had "Blur" and "Intensity". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethebuddhist Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 What if I don't have Photoshop, how can I resize images taken from the net to 128 by 128? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holger Lagerfeldt Posted February 8, 2009 Author Share Posted February 8, 2009 If you don't have Photoshop this whole procedure will be almost impossible - not because of the resizing issue but because you need the other features in Photoshop to make the transparent alpha channel drop shadow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 For resize images there are many freeware programs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMKid Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 You can get Seashore instead of PhotoShop. It's a Cocoa implementation of The Gimp, an open source photoshop alternative. So you don't need to have X11 installed like you would for The Gimp. Best of all it's free! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holger Lagerfeldt Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 As long as you can do layers and Alpha Channel stuff it should work If not, then you won't get the real transparent shadow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMKid Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 Yep. It has layers and transparency. I just realized however that you used layer effects for the shadow. It doesn't have layer effects so you would have to make the shadow manually. But that isn't very hard either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holger Lagerfeldt Posted February 21, 2009 Author Share Posted February 21, 2009 (edited) Yeah I suppose you could do that fairly easily if you know how. The trick is using the alpha channel information. No alpha channel = no transparent drop shadow. Instead all you get is a fixed shadow that looks crap, like most of the homemade icons out there. Edited April 26, 2009 by lagerfeldt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holger Lagerfeldt Posted April 26, 2009 Author Share Posted April 26, 2009 I've updated the guide to be even more user friendly for those less experienced with Photoshop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eedo Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 hi there, thanks for your guide on the icons! Just a quick question, can i only have one new icon*that i have added) showing in the icons page, as wheni have created a few in the folder i can only appear to see one of mine, even thought i have saved them to the folder you mention! Also my icons do not look great and they are blurred if i go bigger in the track any thoughts? Thanks Eed View user's profile Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holger Lagerfeldt Posted November 15, 2009 Author Share Posted November 15, 2009 The number of the .png should be between 000 and 324. Some numbers are available, others will replace an existing Logic icon. You have to experiment at bit or open the Logic app resource folder and have a look yourself in order to find out which numbers are available. I can't remember right now. Try something like 210 and up. If your icons look blurred when they are zoomed in, you either used a very low res picture to begin with or you did not follow my guide precisely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1pxsolid Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 Just wanted to say thanks for this... was exactly what I was after. For those interested I created an icon for Maschine, and the Moog Little Phatty. See attached. Little Phatty Maschine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brashmusic Posted May 26, 2010 Share Posted May 26, 2010 All right, so I understand how to create and load my own icons so that logic will recognize them, but I simply can't find a way to change the icon of a folder track. It seems like it arbitrarily picks an icon when you "pack folder;" the then when you click on the track header, you'd expect to see the icon selector to pop up in the inspector, but there's nothing there! Agh. it may seem petty, but I use folders a lot, and when you have tons of folder tracks all with random icons, it gets really frustrating. Any help would be fantastically appreciated. Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Going back a bit here, but I believe at least with the current version of Logic Pro there is no way to change the folder icon - it's just a blue folder. I gather that the go to place for additional track icons (and other Logic files) was http://www.logicprofiles.com/ - however that seems to be down these days! If anyone know another resource I'd be grateful if you would post it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 Answering my own post here, there is this thread on this very forum: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2347 However quite a lot of the icons are not now visible and the archive page David links to - http://logicprohelp.com/icons.php - appears not to be available any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Nahmani Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 However quite a lot of the icons are not now visible and the archive page David links to - http://logicprohelp.com/icons.php - appears not to be available any more. Correct. Thanks for reminding me! That's back on my to-do-list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Nahmani Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 However quite a lot of the icons are not now visible I have now added a few more icons to http://www.logicprohelp.com/index.php?file=logicicons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.