Important commands: sips
A few folks have asked me where I got the nice looking Software Update icon for my post regarding Apple’s Security Update 2007-004. First, let me say, “Thanks for noticing!” Second, let me point out that Steve Jobs will probably be knocking on the door of the SlaptiShack wanting some sort of money. Let’s hope he takes SlaptiBucks.
Finding the icon file was the most difficult part of the task. As you know, Mac OS X applications are actually directories. Inside the .app directory, you’ll find a Contents/Resources directory. In that directory, should be an image file with a .icns extension. This is the icon file. In Terminal, copy that file to somewhere useful (~/Desktop comes to mind).
Here’s the command line I ran to convert the Help Viewer icon to PNG for this article. As always, the ‘$’ represents a shell prompt and should not be typed.
$ sips -s format png HelpViewer.icns --out help_viewer.png
I haven’t seen many posts with positive comments regarding sips as an image manipulation program. But, as far as I can tell, it’s the only thing that will accept an ICNS file and dump out PNG. I think the quality speaks for itself.
Get Slaptijack updates delivered to your Inbox or RSS Reader for free!
April 27th, 2007 at 12:51 am
UPDATE: Fixed PNG transparency issue in Internet Explorer < 7.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Nice tip, very useful, Thank you
May 19th, 2008 at 6:32 am
Thanks, Milhouse!
May 29th, 2008 at 11:03 am
A question: How can I convert the iCal icon with the correct date. It always shows July 17th, like it was in Tiger when you had not started the prog …
Thanks for your help.
May 29th, 2008 at 11:12 am
@HPE - That’s a good question, but I don’t have an easy answer for you. I’m fairly certain OS X uses a blank calendar image and writes the date on it dynamically. You can find the blank iCal icon in the iCal package at iCal/Contents/Resources/App-empty.icns.