Sib Icon Editor Editor's Review

Sib Icon Editor is a nice tool for editing icons. It can be used to transform images into icons, capture your desktop into an icon, or to edit an icon. The user interface is simple to use and resembles Microsoft Paint a bit. However, Sib Icon Editor's toolbar icons are much better designed, making the user interface nicer.

The application supports icons that are up to 256x256 pixels, but you can also define a custom resolution for your icons. The maximum supported color depth is 32 bits. This means that you can create icons for Windows Vista using this software. Another useful feature allows you to convert an image into an icon.

If you want to create three dimensional looking icons, you can use the perspective grid. The normal grid is enabled by default, but you can disable it anytime you like. Sib Icon Editor also allows you to define multiple layers on an icon. Customizing the default Windows icons is supported. You can choose a different icon for just about any item that is displayed on your computer.

Pluses: In my opinion, the nicest features of this software are in the 'Effects' menu. You can create a shadow, sharpen the contents of the current layer, adjust the hue, saturation, brightness, contrast and opacity levels, replace colors, and so on. Also, the program can use resampling algorithms in order to make resizing smoother.

Drawbacks / flaws: On the user interface, the list of icon formats is displayed in the same space as the layers list.

In conclusion: Sib Icon Editor is a good icon editor. However, I must point out that there are free alternatives to this program. IcoFX is the one that caught my eye.

version reviewed: 3.10