You quickly create a new style by mixing your color and simply drag&dropping it into the list of styles.
If you go for a gradient, you set the type (, , , ) and then define the start and end colors. This is done with a drag&drop from a color bucket into the respective color indicator under the gradient.
-Of course you can move these indicators to change the gradient to your liking. You can also insert more indicators to add more colors by clicking into the gradient. Pressing DEL removes the selected indicator.
You can move, resize and rotate the representing box of a gradient on the canvas until it fits your needs. This works just like with shapes.
Read the Icon Guidelines to learn about important characteristics of Haiku icons, e.g. perspective, colors and shadows.
You should always try to minimize your use of paths, those are the most expensive, file size wise. Re-use paths wherever possible and work with manipulated shapes and their transformers instead. Smart use of gradients can also save space.
Wherever possible, you should activate the lowest possible Snap-to-Grid resolution from the menu, i.e. 16x16 saves the most in file size. You'll also get the crispest look if points are set on exact pixel borders.
Wherever possible, you should activate Snap-to-Grid from the menu when editing paths. Path points that align with the 64x64 pixel grid use less storage space. You'll also get the crispest look if points are set on exact pixel borders. For example, it is important to align the most prominent outlines with the 16x16 grid.
Check the preview to see if your icon still looks good in 16x16. You may want to use the Level Of Detail settings described in the Shapes section.
There's an easy way to produce letters, even if Icon-O-Matic doesn't provide such a tool. Just enter the text in a text editor, adjust font type and style, and drag&drop the selected text into Icon-O-Matic. This will create the according paths and shapes.
It is possible to transform the selected path points by pressing T or invoking the context menu by right-clicking on selected points. From the context menu, you will also have access to a few more helpful path editing features.
There's an easy way to produce letters, even if Icon-O-Matic doesn't provide such a tool. Just enter the text in a text editor such as StyledEdit, adjust font type and style, and drag&drop or copy&paste the selected text into Icon-O-Matic. This will create the according paths and shapes.
If you assign more than one path to a shape, their overlapping areas will cancel each other out. When one path is completely inside another, it practically creates a hole in the resulting shape.
You can zoom in and out of the canvas with the mouse wheel. Panning is done either by click&drag with the middle mouse button or with a normal left-click&drag while holding SPACE.