Apple - How can I generate iOS/Flurry style icons in OS X?
Perhaps if someone wrote a hack (but I remain skeptical as all this could be easily done by getting the icon's template (PSD file) and doing it manually.
iOS has a framework in place to deal with SpringBoard icons. The files are as follows (naming convention taken from iOS 5. Previous iOS versions drop the ~iphone suffix):
- AppIconMask@2x~iphone.png
- AppIconOverlay@2x~iphone.png
- AppIconShadow@2x~iphone.png
(1) is the clipping mask, that dictates the shape of the icon. (2) is the "gloss" effect that has somewhat fallen out of favor in the past couple of years and is optional. (3) is the base of the icon, the shadow that is applied under the final product.
I made a graphic and accompanying explanation of how they all work together on my website which should help better explain how iOS delivers icons on its respective device.
OS X has no such system in place. Each icon is simply constrained by the dimensions set in Finder. Apple never sought to control the way icons look on OS X, but wanted to have a uniform appearance on iOS (and I don't blame them), hence the reason why they developed such a framework.
You could try contacting a Cocoa developer on porting the MobileIcons.framework from iOS to OS X, but again, because Finder can adjust sizes (in Lion, anywhere from 1024x1024 on down), I remain skeptical that it at all possible.
The other apps mentioned have their uses, but for your stated request, there are 2 apps that accomplish it very easily:
- icons
- iDeveloper - Icon Generator
Both are available on the Mac App Store, but I prefer icons between the two—it's vastly more robust, and quite polished. As you'll see from the screen-cap I added, icons makes tinkering with all the variables (corners, shine, export sizes, etc.) very easy—and that's only one part of the app! (The other tabs address non-iDevice icons…)
