Axialis IconWorkshop is a Windows application for creating and editing bitmap icons for software projects. It builds Windows ICO files, macOS icon files and PNG images for desktop and mobile interfaces, with tools for converting artwork into several sizes and editing toolbar image strips. The program is sold with a perpetual license and offers a 30-day trial.
Icon Editing
A desktop icon can contain several images with different dimensions and color depths. Axialis IconWorkshop keeps these images together in an icon project, so the small toolbar-sized drawing and the larger application artwork can be edited separately. Selecting an image from the format list opens it in the editing grid; an actual-size preview shows the result without the grid's enlargement.
An existing PNG, PSD, BMP, JPEG or GIF can supply the artwork. After selecting the image or a region within it, you choose the sizes and color formats to generate. The conversion controls include dithering for reduced-color images and filters for smoothing or sharpening the generated results, with previews available before creation. Alpha transparency is retained, while palette generation supplies alternatives for 256-color and 16-color formats.
IconWorkshop supports PNG-compressed images within Windows ICO files, with Windows icon dimensions up to 768 × 768 pixels. It also reads and writes macOS ICNS, RSC and BIN formats, supporting icons up to 1024 × 1024 pixels. Windows and macOS icons can be converted in either direction. PNG output provides separate images for Linux, Android and iOS projects.
SVG files can serve as source artwork for bitmap icons. Editing the vector paths requires a separate vector editor; IconWorkshop's work is generating and editing the resulting bitmap images. Its integration with Axialis IconVectors connects that source-editing work to ICO and ICNS production.
Image Objects
Image Objects are ready-made PNG components that can be combined into an icon. Rather than drawing every element, you drag backgrounds, symbols, borders, highlights or shadows from the Librarian into the project. Each addition becomes a floating selection, with controls for placing it in front of or behind the existing artwork.
Preserving transparency while adding objects keeps earlier components visible around the new piece. Once the composition is complete, it can supply the other image formats in the icon. The object packs use 256 × 256 artwork, which is a different starting point from importing a larger source image.
Photoshop and Illustrator plug-ins provide another route into Axialis IconWorkshop by transferring artwork directly between applications. The included Photoshop templates give each icon size its own drawing area, allowing separately adjusted images to be transferred together as a complete icon.
Toolbar Strips
A toolbar strip stores several equally sized button images side by side in one wide BMP or PNG. IconWorkshop detects the strip and presents its contents as individually selectable images. You can edit one button, copy or remove images, add another image and change their order by dragging them in the list. Saving assembles the edited contents back into a strip.
All images in a strip share one size and color depth, so a toolbar that needs different sizes uses separate strips. For 32-bit strips, alpha carries partial transparency for edges and shadows. Lower color depths use a designated transparent color instead. IconWorkshop displays that color as transparency while editing and restores it when saving; you can also change the designated color.
Icon Collections
Batch tools generate icons from groups of source images, convert collections between Windows and macOS formats, and normalize image sizes across icons. The built-in File Explorer previews images and files containing icons, while the Librarian stores reusable artwork and supports copying, moving and extracting assets. These collection tools keep the source components available alongside the individual icon projects they produce.
