Listbox with Icons

[etteru]

Hi,

for my application, I would like to use listboxes with icons. Unfortunately, this topic is very poorly documented in the PyS60 documentation. I found multiple threads in this forum dealing with the subject, but I still have a few unanswered questions:

By using a mask (black/white image) I can define which parts of my icon should be transparent. Is it also possible to create an icon with partial transparency? IMO, this would be necessary to get proper anti-aliasing.

Is there no tool that takes a picture in a standard image format (e.g. PNG) and creates a .mbm file (with mask) automatically? How do other people create their icons? Having to create a mask for every icon is very cumbersome...

Might it be possible to do this conversion directly on the phone?

Thanks for any advice!

[bogdan.galiceanu]

Hi,

You could check out the bmconv tool that comes with the S60 SDK. I found this tutorial that might just be what you need. A bit of abstract info is available here and I'm sure you can find more if you search the Symbian C++ forum.

I haven't done much experimenting on this subject on the phone but I don't think it's possible to create MBM files on the phone. But still, you could check out ViewMBM that allows you to view the contents of MBM and MIF files and (possibly, haven't checked) extract graphics from them. That way maybe you can reverse the process

[etteru]

You could check out the bmconv tool that comes with the S60 SDK. I found this tutorial that might just be what you need. A bit of abstract info is available here and I'm sure you can find more if you search the Symbian C++ forum.

Thanks for your answer! Actually, I'm already using the bmconv tool. I was looking for an easier and better way to create icons (without having to create masks manually), but I fear that there is none...

[JOM]

Thanks for your answer! Actually, I'm already using the bmconv tool. I was looking for an easier and better way to create icons (without having to create masks manually), but I fear that there is none...

As far as I know, bmconv is the only tool, which creates MBM files. Well... there is something most likely called "MifTool" most likely by w00k, but I haven't checked it yet. Recall it was able to do things inside mobile phone. My "View MBM" is on break, since I'm debugging Kameramation for the moment. Everything related to MBM and MIF is really poorly documented.

Creating mask: take original image, convert one way or another to black & white == absolute mask or grayscale == partially transparent. I have used both mask types with success. Right now doing further masking experiments in Kameramation Btw sources for latter app not available, since one Chinese person translated it to Chinese and removed my name as author... thinking about what to do, delayed already next version release.

PNG: just convert to BMP with batch conversion using e.g. Irfanview. Use it myself, as registered user, nothing but good things to say! The rest with BAT file.

Cheers,

--jouni

[etteru]

Creating mask: take original image, convert one way or another to black & white == absolute mask or grayscale == partially transparent. I have used both mask types with success. Right now doing further masking experiments in Kameramation

Thanks for the information. Is there any specification on how such grayscale masks have to look like in order to achieve a certain effect? When I just use a gray bitmap as a mask, I get indeed a partially transparent icon, but the colors look strange.

I don't want to do any "experiments". I just want to have a tutorial that tells me how I can create nice looking icons. I can't believe that there is no reasonable way to do that (after all Symbian S60 is one of the leading smartphone platforms)!

[JOM]

Thanks for the information. Is there any specification on how such grayscale masks have to look like in order to achieve a certain effect? When I just use a gray bitmap as a mask, I get indeed a partially transparent icon, but the colors look strange.

I don't want to do any "experiments". I just want to have a tutorial that tells me how I can create nice looking icons.

You know, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". What looks nice to me, might not be good enough for anyone else... As for the tutorial, would this help:

http://croozeus.com/blogs/?p=844

Btw thanx for the idea of using mask for effects. So far I've only thought of grayscale mask to smooth the edges (Nixie Watch, one unreleased game), but sure it could be used for effects! Just got to think some effects first, wrote it down...

Cheers,

--jouni with a hundred small paper notes around, under and over