Toolbar Icon Size on 4K Monitor

[derei]

It seems that all bitmap icons (png) are not scaled, but only the vector icons are (svg, respectively pdf on mac).
So, the solution is for the plugin developers to start including svg toolbar icons.

[Dave R]

derei is correct. SketchUp has switched to using SVG icons to deal with high res displays. Some extension authors have followed suit. Not all have, however. I expect the icons will get updates one of these days. Considering most of these extensions are free, patience is called for. Or perhaps one could hire someone to make new SVG icons for these extensions.

[Pixero]

Does anyone know if there is something special that needs to be done in the scripts code to use SVG icons or can we just put SVG icons in the plugins directory?

[Dave R]

I think SketchUp will look first for SVG icons and use them if they exist.

[Bob James]

Many thanks to the three of you for taking the time to reply

It seems somewhat incredible that given the vast amount of plugins/extensions .jpg toolbar icons being used by every SU user that SU would be modified to only use svg icons.
How in the world did this get past beta testing????

[Dave R]

SVG icons were chosen specifically because they can be scaled to compensate for high res screens. Open a PNG icon in your image editor and scale it up so you can see it. The quality will be crap. SVG just makes sense.

[Pixero]

Could we make a community effort to update all these icons to SVG if the authors don’t do it?

[Dave R]

That sounds like a good idea. I would suggest offering the same icon packages to the authors so they can include them in updates of their extensions.

[slbaumgartner]

@pixero said:

Does anyone know if there is something special that needs to be done in the scripts code to use SVG icons or can we just put SVG icons in the plugins directory?

The icon files are given explicitly by the plugin code, which has to choose between the old png for SketchUp versions prior to 2016, and between svg and pdf for Windows vs Mac. It doesn't take a lot of code, but has to be changed, and no, simply dropping a svg file into the folder won't do the trick.

[fredo6]

...in addition to the relevant comment by slbaumgartner, I would add that there is no automated way to generate a nice SVG from a PNG. Basically, the icon has be redrawn in SVG (via Inskape or similar drawing software).

Fredo

[Bob James]

@dave r said:

SVG icons were chosen specifically because they can be scaled to compensate for high res screens. Open a PNG icon in your image editor and scale it up so you can see it. The quality will be crap. SVG just makes sense.

Thank you, Dave.
Yes, it does make good sense, but only if there is an easy path for changing all of the hundreds of current plugin/extension icons. This is based on the assumption that as time goes on more and more people will upgrade to 4k. But, apparently, the consensus is that 4k will remain a niche.

[Pixero]

Could someone post a code snippet that shows how to implement svg or pdf icons so I could start updating my own plugins at least.

[slbaumgartner]

Here's an example from one of my extensions:

if(not file_loaded?(__FILE__))
  cmd = UI;;Command.new("RakeAndSplay") {Sketchup.active_model.select_tool(SLBPlugins;;RakeAndSplayTool.get_tool)}
  cmd.menu_text = "Rake and Splay"
  if(Sketchup.version.to_i >= 16)
    if(RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /darwin/)
      cmd.small_icon = Sketchup.find_support_file("rake_and_splay.pdf", "Plugins/SB_rake_and_splay")
      cmd.large_icon = Sketchup.find_support_file("rake_and_splay.pdf", "Plugins/SB_rake_and_splay")
    else
      cmd.small_icon = Sketchup.find_support_file("rake_and_splay.svg", "Plugins/SB_rake_and_splay")
      cmd.large_icon = Sketchup.find_support_file("rake_and_splay.svg", "Plugins/SB_rake_and_splay")
    end
  else
    cmd.small_icon = Sketchup.find_support_file("rake_and_splay_16.png", "Plugins/SB_rake_and_splay")
    cmd.large_icon = Sketchup.find_support_file("rake_and_splay_24.png", "Plugins/SB_rake_and_splay")
  end
  tb = UI;;Toolbar.new("Rake and Splay").add_item(cmd)
  tb.restore if tb.get_last_state == 1
  UI.menu("Tools").add_item cmd
end
file_loaded(__FILE__)

[Pixero]

Thanks.

[Bob James]

Thank you, slbaumgartner
Would you tell me how to use this for each plugin extension?

[Bob James]

@slbaumgartner said:

simply dropping a svg file into the folder won't do the trick

He's right!
I converted and replaced the icons in SketchUcation to .svg at 300pixelsx300pixels at 300dpi but there was no change in SU2018

[slbaumgartner]

@bob james said:

Thank you, slbaumgartner
Would you tell me how to use this for each plugin extension?

If you're not familiar with Ruby API programming for SketchUp, you might be in over your head as the code needs to be adapted to each specific extension, there is no universal drop-in-place form.

You need to create the appropriate icon files (svg, pdf, and png) for the extension and put them in the extension's folder. Then you need to find where in the extension's code it creates and populates its toolbar and integrate my snippet with whatever the original code does there, which will almost surely vary from case to case.

[fredo6]

For inof, all my plugins can support PNG, SVG and PDF (as everything is managed by LibFredo6).

I am just missing the icons in SVG / PDF

That's just a matter to put the SVG / PDF file in:

• subfolder IMAGES_Standards of the plugin folder (say Fredo6_FredoScale/IMAGES_standard)
• respecting convention: same name as PNG but removing the trailing _24 (or _16 or _32). So FSC_icon_Scale_24.png would become FSC_icon_Scale.svg

Fredo

[Pixero]

Question. Does the svg/PDF icons need to be made in a special size? (I know they are scaleable just wondering if the dokument size should be anything special.)

[slbaumgartner]

@pixero said:

Question. Does the svg/PDF icons need to be made in a special size? (I know they are scaleable just wondering if the dokument size should be anything special.)

You can draw the icon artwork at whatever size you wish. The view of the contents will be scaled to fit the available space in the toolbar button, so the physical size you drew is irrelevant. But you do need to verify that you haven't put details into the artwork that won't be visible when scaled to a typical toolbar button on a particular size display. Since you probably don't have a lot of different displays available to test, the best practice is to keep your icons fairly simple.

One precaution though: Whatever size you draw, you should keep the drawing canvas square. Otherwise SketchUp will scale it based on the larger dimension and it won't fill the full button in the other direction.