XBM and XPM

IconPainter offers full support for both the XBM and XPM formats. Both formats are common in the Unix world and this section assumes you have some familiarity with their usage.

XBM

XBM is a monochrome format and when reading an XBM file IconPainter will assign the current paint color for the pixels which are "On". When writing an XBM file IconPainter will assume that any pixels which are the current background color will be "Off" and any pixels that are not the background color will be "On".

XPM

IconPainter can read almost any variation of XPM file formats including 16 bit Hex color values. The decoder assumes that the color value "c" in the XPM color list is the last value on each line and also if the color value is missing the color value defaults to the monochrome "m" value. The decoder will also assume that the "None" transparent color value will be interpreted as the current background color.

Similarly when encoding XPM, pixels which are the current background color will be encoded as the transparent "None" color. The settings menu has an option to encode colors as all Hex or to substitute the color name eg. "lavender" where possible. If you require that the icon is to have a solid background color then you should first paint the icon background with a solid color which is different from the current IconPainter background color.

XPM with a hotspot

When saving this variation of XPM image the user should always click the pixel in the image which is to be the hotspot before the save is complete. If you find this tedious it is best to edit your icon as a normal XPM and then "Save as..." an XPM with hotspot as the last operation.

Large images and XPM

XPM can be used to store images of any dimension with any number of colors but because XPM uses absolutely no compression it is advisable to use it for smallish icons only as file sizes can rapidly get out of control.

Choosing XPM colors

In the "Current" menu there are two options for choosing the current color from the standard XPM color list. Option one allows the color to be chosen by name. Option two displays all the named XPM colors that appear in the X-Windows "RGB.TXT" file. In both displays no color RGB values are repeated so that where there are two or more names for the same color only one color name is shown.