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XP Folder Tutorial example

To make the icon you'll need:
Adobe Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro & GIF Movie Gear or IconBuilder XP 1.0
(I'd recommend Photoshop & GIF Movie Gear. Make sure you download the GIF Movie Gear 'for icons' version).

This a tutorial is on how to make the XP folder style icons but you should get the idea on how to make any type of icon from this tutorial.

 

First download the Photoshop XP folder folder templates from here (or the Paint Shop Pro templates from here) then open up the 48x48 file in Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro.

You'll see that the folder has 2 layers, the normal folder & the semi-transparent front part of the folder, (along with another blank layer). All you have to do is paste the icon required between the 2 folder files.

You need to import whatever other icon you want to use into Photoshop.

Find your icon you want to import, right click on it & select Open With & select  Choose Program...  then browse to GIF Movie Gear. The next time you right click on an icon you should see GIF Movie Gear in the Open With menu.

XP Folder Tutorial 1

 

I'm using the Windows Media Player file type icon as an example & removed the other colour formats (256 & 16 colours) beforehand. You should have your icon (doesn't have to be this one) in GIF Movie Gear like this:

XP Folder Tutorial 2

 

Next click on File, Save As & select Photoshop PSD... & save it as a .PSD file.

Open up the .PSD file in Photoshop. Make sure you're on the correct layer for the biggest media player icon & copy it (CTRL & A, then CTRL & C). Switch to the 48x48.psd folder file & paste it (CTRL & V). You'll now have the media player icon in the folder.

XP Folder Tutorial 3

 

This icon needs rotating. Make sure you have the media player's icon selected & go to Edit, Transform & select Rotate. For document type icons like this enter -42 in the rotation box & press Return/Enter twice. (You don't have to rotate the icon, it's up to you).

XP Folder Tutorial 4

 

Go to  Edit, Transform & select Scale. Hold down SHIFT as you resize the icon to retain the aspect ratio, or enter the size in the boxes, (I've made it 62% in the pic below). Press Return/Enter twice.

XP Folder Tutorial 5

 

Move the media player icon to wherever you want it, & save the image as another name, (so you can use the 48x48 folder template again). For example press CTRL & SHIFT & S (to Save As) & call it 48WMP.

XP Folder Tutorial 6

 

Repeat the steps with the other icon sizes you want to make, (e.g. copy the 32x32 media player icon into the 32x32 XP folder template) until you have all the Photoshop icon sizes you want. Save each icon size as a separate file.

Then close Photoshop.

 

Now you're going to import the Photoshop files into GIF Movie Gear.

You can go to File, Open & browse to your Photoshop icon images, but I prefer to have the Photoshop icon images on the desktop & drag & drop them into GIF Movie Gear.

When you get the "Handling of PSD Layers" message just click on OK.

XP Folder Tutorial 7

 

Click on File, Save Icon As... & select Windows icon (.ico) as the file type. Name your file & that's it. You can open up your icon in Microangelo Librarian or IconWorkshop just to check it if you like.

XP Folder Tutorial 8

 

You can make icons from scratch in Photoshop (you don't need to import an existing one) & just import it into GIF Movie Gear as shown here. You can make the icon with all the standard XP sizes 16x16, 32x32, 24x24, 48x48, 128x128... whatever.