PLANSAHEAD Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Good morning all. Is it just me or do the toolbar icons look a bit more 'cartoonish' or caricature like in X-7 ? They appear amateurish, like a $9.99 software program, and even a little blurry and not sharp to me. I know its a small point, but it seems like that feature has taken a step backwards instead of forward in looking more like a professional software program, kind of like Pong would look next to GTA or some newer gaming software. I have trouble enough with the size of the icons with my fading eyesight, but they appear bloated and unclear to me now. And like others I am experiencing extending lag time in plan regeneration. On the other hand, kudos to Chief with the latest release(s), I have had no bugs or real issues to speak of, even bringing forward decade old plans.....fantastic stuff ! Anthony Thompson Plans Ahead LLC Branford, Connecticut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLANSAHEAD Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 Thanks for the reply. I was a Beta tester, but I did not know there was a forum dedicated to that testing phase. I did make a 'report' regarding this however. I too will adjust to the icons, although its kind of silly and also I do find them more difficult to distinguish from one another because of their fuzzy and blocky appearance. I do not have a lot of customers 'looking over my shoulder' while I work, I find the complexity (good) of the software precludes what used to be a routine revision session with clients sitting in. However my software is open and continuously on screen when they come in, and I think it would look more beneficial and valuable to me if the icons did not look like they were from Turbocad 1988. Again, a small point, not worth chastising Chief Architect (?) (formerly ART) over, because the program and upgrades are fantastic. And I loved the '80's..... Tony T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pshelander Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 I am also not happy with the look of the toolbar in X7. The color scheme makes everything look the same. I much prefer the way things looked in X6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kMoquin Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 I had the opposite reaction. I think X7 looks less cartoony than previous versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACADuser Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Too bad they don't provide Theme's so you could choose to remain with X6 icons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwideziner Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 They were apparently changed so that they would scale up on large monitors, they do take a bit of getting used to. My solution is to use more of the shortcuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4hotshoez Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Screen shots for those of us who need to wait to upgrade? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACADuser Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 X7 Scree Shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4hotshoez Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 I like them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designer1 Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Anthony, yes, I agree I liked X6 icons a lot better. I had posted about this earlier not knowing if it were just me thinking this or what. The previous icons had looked good with variation in color and depth. Now they are harder to distinguish and look too similar. Hope they come out with the old dashboard icons again or advance the next version with a more developed appealing icons like they had before. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 I'm trying hard to find a reason to download my upgrade and so far you guys aren't helping. Crashes, icons from Teletoons, and problems with layout font.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich_Winsor Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 You guys do know that you can edit the icons to look like whatever you want them to. They are just .PNG files. You can edit them in Photoshop or PSP or even in Paint. Here I spiced up the background of the Stair Icon as an example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiefArchitect Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 The icons for Toolbar buttons and new high definition icons scale to fit screen resolutions and increased DPI (128pixels in X7 vs. 20pixels in X6). So, if you have a larger monitor with high DPI they look sharper. The trend for icons in general is a flat look, which is a change in the look they now have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJohnson Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 You guys do know that you can edit the icons to look like whatever you want them to. They are just .PNG files. You can edit them in Photoshop or PSP or even in Paint. Here I spiced up the background of the Stair Icon as an example. Rich how about a step by step guide to doing that. I would love too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kbird1 Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 You guys do know that you can edit the icons to look like whatever you want them to. They are just .PNG files. You can edit them in Photoshop or PSP or even in Paint. Here I spiced up the background of the Stair Icon as an example. When done with them all Rich , please post to the Symbols Library Thx. M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kbird1 Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 For those of you who would like the old X6 Icons in X7 , I changed them back to the X6 ones to "see" if it would work , and so far so good but YMMV as there are new Tools in X7 ,so far I see one red square ...fixed below****. the How Too: - Close X6 and X7 if Open - Rename C:\Program Files\Chief Architect\Chief Architect Premier X7 (64 bit)\resources\buttons to - C:\Program Files\Chief Architect\Chief Architect Premier X7 (64 bit)\resources\buttons_Large ( ie they are backed up) - Copy Buttons folder from X6 ie - C:\Program Files\Chief Architect\Chief Architect Premier X6 (64 bit)\resources\buttons to - C:\Program Files\Chief Architect\Chief Architect Premier X7 (64 bit)\resources\ ****Because there are 40+ new icons in X7 ,copy the contents of the Buttons_large folder back into the Buttons Folder Not copying the Conflicted files (1370, check box for conflicts) ,this way you don't have to figure out which ones are already in there. Now ReOpen X7 and see if everything is working ok To revert back delete the folder C:\Program Files\Chief Architect\Chief Architect Premier X7 (64 bit)\resources\buttons and rename C:\Program Files\Chief Architect\Chief Architect Premier X7 (64 bit)\resources\buttons_Large to C:\Program Files\Chief Architect\Chief Architect Premier X7 (64 bit)\resources\buttons Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
builtright3 Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 I'm trying hard to find a reason to download my upgrade and so far you guys aren't helping. Crashes, icons from Teletoons, and problems with layout font.... I'm not excited about the loony tunes icons either but its not that bad. I'm getting used to them. X7 is great and giving me no problems so don't let that stop you from enjoying the benefits of X7. Good Job CA!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicinus Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 I think they are a massive improvement, someone spent a lot of hours doing it as well, so very grateful for the cleaner look. I wouldn't mind taking it one step further and make them less colorful in some cases, but I know I'm in stark minority on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Spent the better half of my business day going over X7. Update went very smoothly. While some of the icons are slightly different, I'm OK with them as I've suffered through ACAD;s 2008 to 2014 GUI that looks like cartoon threw up. CA's is acceptable. I threw together a quick house to test out the software and it performed nicely...as did X6. All in all, good job, especially the cabinet update. I really like the back splash fix. I wonder what X8 will bring us....CAD perhaps? Anyway, back at it tomorrow... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mthd97 Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Oh really, I can't believe you guy's what is more important the Icons or how the program works? I like it as it has a retro feel to it and things always come and go in fashions and sometimes old comes back? I think as Designer's we should all be aware of that and I like the colors but we all have different tastes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich_Winsor Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Rich how about a step by step guide to doing that. I would love too! When done with them all Rich , please post to the Symbols Library Thx. M. JJ, I see that Mick has pretty much picked up the ball and run with it but the process is easy. Using the image editing software of your choice navigate to the "buttons" (what Chief calls them) folder. Most likely it will be: C:\Program Files\Chief Architect\Chief Architect Premier\resources\buttons and then open the Icon you want to change. Creating icons is a mini art form in and of itself (get it? mini art form ). Talk about a minimalist canvas, X6 gives you 20 x 20 pixels to work with. Although I haven't downloaded it yet I guess that has been increased to 128 x 128 pixels for X7. You can do anything you want from here. You can copy and paste content or you can draw it from scratch pixel by pixel. Once you have what you want just save it to the "buttons" folder and the next time you open chief you will see your revised icon. Be advised it's probably a good idea to save the original to another location so that you can go back to the default icons if you wish to later. Also be advised that there are lots of icons in the buttons folder and it might take some searching to find the one you want. If you aren't sure if you have the correct icon you can edit it and then check to see if the icon you wanted to change has in fact changed. Remember that you will have to close Chief and then restart it every time you change an icon for the changes to take effect. Here are a couple of other icons I have changed to make them more recognizable (the Library Browser and the Mouse Orbit Camera icons). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kbird1 Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 I like those Rich , would you mind posting the 3 you have shown here please ...and thanks played in X7 tonight , no issues with my X6 icon Change that I found. M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_Carrick Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 For "Library Browser Icons" you can change the icon - without having to restart Chief - by dbl clicking on the icon in the toolbar and browsing to any image you want. It would be nice if there was a way to do the same thing with all the icons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJohnson Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 JJ, I see that Mick has pretty much picked up the ball and run with it but the process is easy. Using the image editing software of your choice navigate to the "buttons" (what Chief calls them) folder. Most likely it will be: C:\Program Files\Chief Architect\Chief Architect Premier\resources\buttons and then open the Icon you want to change. Thanks Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich_Winsor Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 I like those Rich , would you mind posting the 3 you have shown here please ...and thanks played in X7 tonight , no issues with my X6 icon Change that I found. M. Here you go Mick. Here are a handful of icons I created for X6 to replace ones I found to be less than intuitive. 1) Mouse-Orbit Camera - I overlaid the sphere icon with CA's original mouse-orbit camera icon and added a little color to the background to make it more visible. 2) Save - I replaced the hackneyed 3 1/2" floppy icon with a simple "S". 3) Library Browser - I never could find those little books on a shelf so I replaced them with highly visible letters. 4) Record Walkthrough - What a brown circle had to do with recording walkthroughs I'll never know so I made what for me is a more intuitive icon. 5) Project Browser - Ditto the Library Browser above. 6) Straight Stairs - Just added some color to Chief's transparent background to make it easier to find. I guess I really need to get on with upgrading to X7. Compared to the 20 x 20 pixel format of X6, X7's 128 x 128 format will be like night and day. Heck with 128 x 128 I can make the Mona Lisa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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