Making buttons out of Pronto files

ShiftyPowers · Post by **ShiftyPowers** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 1:37 pm

So i managed to create a software remote on my PDA using the standard theme buttons. Now I went to remotecentral and found a ton of cool graphics and buttons that can be exported to png files. The problem is that if I use one of the images as a button in Meedio, only the left side of the button shows up. Now, Scott said that it's because the "pressed" version of the image should actually be put in the same file on the right side.

Anyone know the best way to do this and what program to use to make these buttons work in Meedio?

switzch · Post by **switzch** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 2:44 pm

I have been using recorded 'actions' in photoshop which automaticly doubles the size of the canvas, then moves the orignal image to the far left, then creates a copy of the orignal image and moves it to the far right, finally it changes the colour of that image. If you are familar with photoshop its not to hard to create an action that does something similar to this.

ShiftyPowers · Post by **ShiftyPowers** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 7:27 pm

that's the problem, i'm so not familiar with photoshop, i've done basic stuff on it. Is there a tutorial anywhere?

Post by **ScottBot** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 8:30 pm

I think I may write a little program to duplicate the images. It seems to be a common need.

ShiftyPowers · Post by **ShiftyPowers** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 8:34 pm

that would be awesome....is it hard to do?

Post by **ScottBot** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 8:35 pm

ShiftyPowers wrote:is it hard to do?

Don't know yet.

Post by **ScottBot** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 11:11 pm

This might work for you. I've not spent much time at all testing it, but it seems to work for the few images I've tested. It's a command line utility, so you may have to create a batch file if you have a lot if images. No need to tell me that there's many ways to improve it for more usability...

It's very simple. Run

ImageDup [Source Image File] [Destination Image File].

It will simply duplicate a single image into a double image in the format HouseBot uses for its buttons.

It will accept PNG, BMP, and JPEG files. You can even convert between them if you use different extensions for the source and destination files (again, this hasn't been tested very much, so no guarantees).

ShiftyPowers · Post by **ShiftyPowers** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 4:45 pm

thanks man, i'll definitely try it out when i get home tonight. Now the only thing missing would be a way to control Essentials through a PDA and the whole package could be complete.

andremu · Post by **andremu** » Sat May 20, 2006 11:20 am

Hey Scott,

Could you please repost your link to your ImageDup utility if you have a moment? I'm trying to stitch together some cool buttons I've found - the buttons have "up" and "down" versions.

Thanks in advance!

Andre

Post by **Richard Naninck** » Sat May 20, 2006 7:26 pm

I would also really like a simple utility like that. After duplicating the image, I could easily tweak the contrast of the downstate a little bit so there would really be a downstate. There are lot's of Hoclou icons that can be used in HB. I wrote a little macro in Fireworks that does the same. It also resizes the icon to a smaller size because the Hoclou icons are fairly large.
As for this ImageDup program, having a resize to a 'percentage off' option would be even greater.
Just a thought...

Post by **ScottBot** » Sun May 21, 2006 12:48 pm

Here's an updated version that supports resizing the output also. Note that the command line options have changed a bit from the original version. Run it without any arguments to get the help and samples.

Post by **Richard Naninck** » Sun May 21, 2006 5:49 pm

Thanks Scott, works as advertised!

Dazed and confused · Post by **Dazed and confused** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:10 pm

Can anyone explain to me just how to use this utility? When I try to run it , a small window appears and then disappears as quickly as it appeared. When answering, please remember I'm a moron.

Thank you,

Post by **Richard Naninck** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:32 pm

Did you try running it from a DOS window (cmd.exe)? Don't click on the executable itself, but run it with cmd.exe. If all is OK, you should see some options.

Dazed and confused · Post by **Dazed and confused** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 1:23 pm

Richard,

I just figured that out. I actually got it to run and duplicate some buttons just now. I haven't been able to force transparency, but maybe with time I will stumble on how to do that as well. I haven't done ahything in DOS for years(very clumsy at it).

Thank you very much for your quick reply.