New Celestia 1.7.0 icon vote

[Alexell]

In developing the new version of Celestia, after such a long break, I think we need to change the icon of the program thus revive its appearance.
Below are the icons for the Celestia maded by Russian Celestia Team (in this forum Alex_Berg).

[Goofy]

Hi.
I'm for #4
Bye
Goofy

[FarGetaNik]

Difficult decision. I made a Celestia icon myself based on the previous one, but with the black sky being transparent. Icons 2,3 and 5 are suitable for that, but I went with one because it best describes what Celestia is for me

But how about using better textures for these icons? Some of the Celestia defauts aren't pretty.

[Fenerit]

Squared icons looks bad when sized small, say, 16x16px up to 24x24px, imho. Expecially those not stylized and with complex phototextures in it. Small icons looks best if made through 3D programs. Moreover they are a bit Stellarium-like. Note that Saturn's ring viewed from top looks like the "C" of Celestia, being partially "erased" by the planet's shadows, and the icon background can be made transparent.

[FarGetaNik]

Note that Saturn's ring viewed from top looks like the "C" of Celestia, being partially "erased" by the planet's shadows, and the icon background can be made transparent.

That's a great idea. If I find time, I'll try to create such an icon

[Fenerit]

Well... do take a look at my now outdated site (I've lost all the HD local web page files within a crash and I do not have the time to re-make/re-load all. Link are working, though). Saturn or whatelse could be shown also by side; I do not think even the icon must be scientifically accurate...

[FarGetaNik]

Ok here's my take:

I used real RGBA data for the rings instead of just making the backround tranparent I imagined a more prolate C, your C is oblate. Any suggestions?

I do not think even the icon must be scientifically accurate...

Uhm... oops

Added after 1 hour 13 minutes:
I decided I'll just take a perfectly perpendicular view (circular rings). Here is my icon:

Celestia-C.zip

(132.75 KiB) Downloaded 281 times

[Fenerit]

You are too fast for me! Still I'm not testing your new sketch! Below is my work upon your big png.

Note that it is made quickly, the ring's cut away is approximate, has been made with lazo, you can do better cut. The planet is double with the original colors, while the ring is opacized with levols tools. A bit of yellow external brightness has been applied on the ring, just to enhance the blurring when the icon is then resized small. 16-24-32-48-64-128-256px view. Xp 32 icon, I don't know how Vista and up does manage such a thing.

icon:

celico_256.zip

(170.72 KiB) Downloaded 206 times

[FarGetaNik]

You are too fast for me! Still I'm not testing your new sketch! Below is my work upon your big png.

Sorry I thought I should use my freetime when I'm into it anyways

Your approach looks certainly more like a "C" because of the tranparent shadow, I went with the "scientific accurate" icon which still looks enough like a "C" in my opinion.

16-24-32-48-64-128-256px view. Xp 32 icon, I don't know how Vista and up does manage such a thing.

Some years ago I searched online for icons for different applications and the ones I found used 16, 24, 32, 48, 96, 128, 256 pixel thumbnails, I just went with that. It worked fine for me on Windows 7, 8 and 10. No idea what other systems or applications reqiure.

[Alexell]

Fenerit, I like this idea. But you propose to use your "C" icon on a transparent background? Or maybe you will make a nice frame for it? For example see my icons.

Added after 1 minute 39 seconds:
Your icon is on a transparent background is not very good looking.

Screenshot_1.png (43.73 KiB) Viewed 9604 times

[FarGetaNik]

Your icon is on a transparent background is not very good looking.

So what exactly don't you like? Have you tried my version? It's great for darker backgrounds, I havn't tried it on blue...

saturn-C background.png (20.64 KiB) Viewed 9559 times

[Alexell]

FarGetaNik, in Fenerit's icon visible jagged cut rings, it is ugly. Your icon is in my opinion better.

Screenshot_1.jpg (4.13 KiB) Viewed 9550 times

But the right side of the rings must be removed. And probably have to do a stellar frame with rounded edges.

[Fenerit]

Fenerit, I like this idea. But you propose to use your "C" icon on a transparent background? Or maybe you will make a nice frame for it? For example see my icons.

Not my icon - which is just a quick sketch made bad - but yes, its transparent background's "concept". Democratically, of course I will leave at the voters' decision on your design only. I cannot make the icon because I work just on Xp, therefore I can't test how it looks on the latest OSes and how they does manage the depth of the transparency.

P.S.
I like your icon FarGetaNik, but I will prefer the converse for the ring: darker the large surface to reinforce the "C" and fainter the shadow, maybe filled with a spacecraft.
Alexell: the framed icons have the weird, "cognitive", feature to looks outdated when the OSes does change the global ambient design, while the transparent ones not, imho.

[FarGetaNik]

But the right side of the rings must be removed. And probably have to do a stellar frame with rounded edges.

Ok if you prefer the ring shadow to be transparent, I'm fine with that.

But I don't like the frames so much, I created my icon so I have a symbol of meaningful shape displayed by transparency, if that makes any sence. But that's my opinion, If you frame it that removes the reason I made the icon and we are back to your suggestions to vote for.

I like your icon FarGetaNik, but I will prefer the converse for the ring: darker the large surface to reinforce the "C" and fainter the shadow, maybe filled with a spacecraft.

I'm not sure if I understood correctly, but I manipulated the image a bit, I matched the ring color to the font color of the splash image that pops up at startup and removed the ring shadow, it's lighter now. A spacecraft might put to much detail in such a small image and make it harder to recognice the "C".

Celestia-C3.ico.zip

(127.8 KiB) Downloaded 241 times

Added after 1 hour 30 minutes:
I also got the idea to design a new splash image for Celestia matching the icon, here is my take:

I used the font "Constania", which is my favourite for headers. But I can easily change that if someone knows one that's better suitable. And since this image is not really a Celestia screenshot anymore, I might remove the shadow again if it looks better...

[Alexell]

the framed icons have the weird, "cognitive", feature to looks outdated when the OSes does change the global ambient design, while the transparent ones not, imho.

If you do not like the framed icons, then make a normal icon with a transparent background. It must be nice, smooth and perfect look, if it is imposed on the black, gray, white, blue, dark blue, red and other colored backgrounds. And it should look good on all of these embodiments the background in different sizes: 256x, 64x and 32x. Most importantly - 32x32.

Added after 1 minute 25 seconds:
FarGetaNik, Your icon in the amount of 256 looks good, but to impose it, I did not try. Above I have listed the background color, you need to check. The standard rate of 32 icon does not look good, and look unlikely to be normal, because it is not in harmony with some colors.

Added after 1 minute 11 seconds:
Icon with my frame:

celestia-frame.png (69.65 KiB) Viewed 9497 times

But 32x32 looks I think is not very good.

Added after 2 minutes 20 seconds:
FarGetaNik, That splash with your option icons and inscriptions:

Added after 1 minute 45 seconds:
This idea Voyager and nebulae overlay invented Cham (if I remember correctly). His original version:

Added after 1 minute 7 seconds:
This my new splash version:

[FarGetaNik]

If you do not like the framed icons, then make a normal icon with a transparent background. It must be nice, smooth and perfect look, if it is imposed on the black, gray, white, blue, dark blue, red and other colored backgrounds. And it should look good on all of these embodiments the background in different sizes: 256x, 64x and 32x. Most importantly - 32x32

Isn't it kind of hard to chose a color which is in contrast with all these colors? I understand your reasoning now for framing it, but as I said, it defeats the purpose of this icon. And if your trough it on a background filled with stars, at least use the version with the shadowed rings being black to occult the stars.
I haven't thought about the background color, does an icon even save it? But it's no problem to change it. Looking at other icons on my desktop maybe a solution is to further stylize the icon and enhance the "C" with a narrow black outline.

I like the splash images, I intended a transparent background, but a frame is more appropriate there. It would be great if someone could provide the transparent "Celestia" writing on the original splash image so I could use it on my version without artifacts.

[Fenerit]

Can the 32x32px icon maybe looks better with the ring's shaded color like the main Celestia's HUD color?

[Alexell]

Looking at other icons on my desktop maybe a solution is to further stylize the icon and enhance the "C" with a narrow black outline.

Maybe

It would be great if someone could provide the transparent "Celestia" writing on the original splash image so I could use it on my version without artifacts.

You mean this sign?

[FarGetaNik]

I hope everything's ok with the forum, I couldn't access it yesterday. But that's probably a topic for another thread...

Can the 32x32px icon maybe looks better with the ring's shaded color like the main Celestia's HUD color?

You mean that pale blue?

Celestia-HUD.png (3.5 KiB) Viewed 9469 times

FarGetaNik wrote:
Looking at other icons on my desktop maybe a solution is to further stylize the icon and enhance the "C" with a narrow black outline.

Maybe

Here:

Celestia-C4.zip

(125.9 KiB) Downloaded 205 times

You mean this sign?

Exactly Is that avaliable in higher resolution? I had to upscale it, which is never good when designing a logo. The writing on the splash image is of higher resolution.

[Alexell]

FarGetaNik, splash resolution is 674x491. So I gave you a sign in the right resolution

Added after 1 minute 1 second:
But first of all I am interested in the icon. Does anyone make a nice icon?