Home Theater Hacks

Hack #86. Create Custom Graphics for Color Remotes

Most high-end color remotes allow you to create custom graphics and icons. These can turn a decent-looking setup into a killer one and really spruce up your control system.

Once you've gotten a good programmable remote such as the ProntoPro [Hack #84] , you'll soon find that working with the default icon set is really limiting. If your remote interfaces with your computer [Hack #85] , though, you can remedy this easily with a decent graphics program and some creativity. Most of these programs allow you to create custom graphics, load them into the program, and then use those graphics in your remote control's layouts.

That said, the purpose of this hack is not to tell you how to design your Philips ProntoPro or aid you in coming up with an original layout, but rather, to assist you in obtaining graphics of the best possible quality, regardless of your artistic abilities. There's no reason why your remote shouldn't look the best it can! Most graphic artists or web developers will already know many of these tricks, but for anyone who is new to bitmap editing or who has not yet designed a graphical remote control, there are some important techniques that you might not be aware of.

This hack focuses specifically on the ProntoPro in terms of working with the software. However, the guidelines for icon design are useful for any color remote (and probably black-and-white remotes as well).

Tip

ProntoEdit uses CCF files for its layouts (