Grasshopper Icon vector source

NOTE: This post is out-dated. Please visit the newer post which features source for the new icon style.

Dear 3rd Party Component developers,

we at the Grasshopper® development team (hereafter GDT) are thrilled by your enthusiasm to develop custom components and widen the base of the Grasshopper platform. We feel it is important your products become an integral part of Grasshopper, and are therefore shocked... shocked and appalled at the quality of icons we've seen so far (yes, Jon, that means you).

In order to facilitate this process, the GDT (unanimously) agreed to make the source for all the original icon images available online. They have been attached to this post for the time being, but we hope to centralize all developer resources someday soon.

You are free to copy and modify these graphics in any way you see fit. They come free of copyright and copyleft restrictions.

You'll need XaraX to open these files (a free 30-day evaluation is available, but it's cheap and really quite good, the GDT highly recommends it for any sort of vector-based computer graphics development).

Also note that almost all icons used in Grasshopper have a drop-shadow applied to them (2 pixel blur, 1 pixel offset towards the right and bottom, 50% opacity). This typically means you should refrain from drawing anything in the 2 outermost pixel columns/rows, otherwise the shadow will visually intersect with the icon edge.

GDT

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mårten Nettelbladt on May 1, 2010 at 11:55am

Downloaded XaraX and have been drooling for some time over the GH icons in vector format. They´re so nice, you really do it well David. There is just one thing you forgot: The Grasshopper! I mean the one appearing on the Splash screen and in the header of this forum. I think it can be vastly improved! In my mind I see a much more simplified/cartoony/three-dimensional/vector-drawn/ruttenesque thing. PLEASE MAKE ONE! I know you will love doing it and I know it will be great. Thanks!

Permalink Reply by trevor.patt on May 6, 2010 at 2:18pm

Haven't delved into custom components yet (thought it would be wise to wait for Rhino Common) but I have been using this button in Rhino to open Grasshopper:

It's here if anyone would like it.

Permalink Reply by Ángel Linares on May 6, 2010 at 6:36pm

And this is mine :)

It's a 32px Rhino 5 version. I hope it could be usefull.

Permalink Reply by Mårten Nettelbladt on May 6, 2010 at 11:12pm

And here is mine

... couldn't fit the last "R" though...

Permalink Reply by kleerkoat on July 21, 2010 at 11:04pm

here's mine that i made to add to the collection.

Attachments:

ghIcon_ryan.png, 1 KB

Permalink Reply by to] on May 7, 2010 at 2:36am

original hopper
24px rhino all (i prefer smaller buttons ;)

Permalink Reply by Steve Lewis on May 15, 2010 at 12:17pm

Ive just downloaded and installed Xara. Im able to open the icon douments but I cant for the life of me unlock the icons so i can edit and play with them. Is this intentional? If not how do I 'unlock" these icons in Xara?

DOH. I see, go to layers and unlock object layer

Permalink Reply by Steve Lewis on May 21, 2010 at 9:57am

Is it best practice to export a user defined icon created in Xara, and overlaid on the template widget for export, as bitmap image size greater than 24x24 px? I read somewhere that down sizing an image gives a sharper image.

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on May 22, 2010 at 2:17am

Hi Steve,

that is only true in very specific cases. Typically, resizing an image always makes it fuzzier. This works great for photorealistic content, but it's terrible for line drawings.

I do sometimes use a down-sizing technique to get around a certain issue, but I make sure to always use a multiple of 2 for the original image. I.e., if I need a 24x24 icon, then I export the image as 96x96 or 768x768. Most pixel editor do a pretty good job of maintaining crispness if they can fit a power-of-two number of original pixels into a target pixel.

However, I almost always export directly to 24x24 using the background rectangle.

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
London, UK

Permalink Reply by Steve Lewis on May 24, 2010 at 7:04pm

David thanks for the reply. One thing ive noted is that when I set the bitmap backgorund to transparent i..e using psuedo code:

dim bmImage as Bitmap
bmImage = me.resources.ComponentImage
bmIimage.transparent

I often still lget some bleeding of the back gorund colour of the component on the image - i.e. a slight orange line or pixel will come through. Just wondering if you had any advice for this............

Permalink Reply by Mårten Nettelbladt on December 14, 2010 at 7:50am

David, I'm curious to see what those nice letters look like as a typeface. Would it be ok with you if I try to compile them into a font?

Mårten

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on December 14, 2010 at 11:52pm

Hi Marten,

go ahead. They've been designed on a per-pixel basis, so I doubt it would look any good unless they are exactly the right size of very much larger.

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Seattle, WA