Ever get tired of looking at the same old icons on your desktop? Wouldn't it be fun to design your own? Aha-soft has a new shareware program called IconPilot, which is especially made to design icons, cursors and animated cursors. Icon Pilot is easy enough for the beginner, and has features that will satisfy a professional developer.

Beta Version
Icon Pilot 2.0b is still in the beta testing phase, which means the developer wants to see how their software reacts to a wide range of computers and systems. So most developers would like to hear about any problems you have with their programs so that they can fix the problem before they release the final version. There is a little more risk with downloading a beta version, but I had no problems with this one affecting my operating system.

Like Paint But Not
Icon Pilot's interface looks a lot like Paint but has many more features, including a larger palette, preview pane, larger toolbox, zoom controls and grid scale that singles out each pixel. The selections for image enhancement include transparencies and layering of images. There are also effects such as rotation, drop shadow and a variety of fills.

Possible Uses
The developer can use Icon Pilot to create libraries of icons for their software projects, and import icon libraries from executables for editing. Adding customized unique icons is an effective way to help software stand out from all the others. The graphic designer could specialize in sets of icons and cursors, or create nice freebie gifts for promotion. Icon Pilot can also scan specific folders, or your entire hard drive, and create libraries that can be used to organize and manage all your PC's icons from one place. I'm sure there are many more possibilities, but I've had fun just playing around with the icons on my desktop.

Support
The help files for Icon Pilot are complete, although I think a search feature would be a nice addition. Aha-soft's web site is professionally done, having a newsletter, FAQs, a form to submit problems and also a section to download free icon collections for the beginner.

Aha-Soft is offering this as a shareware trial that requires registration after 30 days, and at $19.95 the cost is very reasonable. This software did everything it said it would and installed clean with no problems. I had allot of fun reviewing this product it was easy to learn and with a little imagination your can really jazz up your icons.

Until next time,
Ann LaBonte
Shareware & Freeware Host
BellaOnline

P.S.
Also see How To Make Your Own Icons by Bella's Digital Art & Design Editor Diane Cipollo.

From Amazon.com:

Icon Design: Graphic Icons in Computer Interface Design

The Icon Book: Visual Symbols for Computer Systems and Documentation

Product Information and System Requirements
Name: IconPilot 2.0b
Developer: Aha-Soft
Download size: 914KB Zip File
Required hard disk space: 1.08 MB
Other Requirements: True Color Video Mode
Operating System: Windows 95 or higher