Paper icon theme - HowTo change to any colour you like

damo · 2016-01-30 23:51:46

There was some recent dismay that the flat "Paper" icon theme changed from brown to a grey colour, but it is actually very easy to modify it to Any Color You Like:

Get the icons from github: snwh/paper-icon-theme
(zipfile direct download link)

Copy the "Paper" directory from the archive to `~/.icons` `~/.local/share/icons`, and cd into it and run the following script (the script could be a lot more elegant - it is basically a hacked-together bunch of script snippets 8o . Feel free to improve it with arrays, error-checking etc )

The default Paper icons use a grey colour for the folder icons, but there are a couple of options in the script for a sandy-brown or a blue colour - just pick the $tintcolour you want. Add your own colour by getting the rgb values from a colour picker.

Afterwards you can edit the second line of `Paper/index.theme` to change the name that shows up in lxappearance

[Icon Theme]
Name=Paper BackWriter                    <--- change this field to the name you want
Comment=A simple and modern icon theme.
Inherits=Adwaita,gnome,hicolor

Paper-convert.sh

#!/bin/bash
##
# Requires Imagemagick

#Colorize, preserves alpha and white elements
#   mogrify -fill 'rgb(x,y,z)' -tint 100 icon.png 
# Imgs to convert: folder*.png user-home.png inode-directory.png
#
# cd to ~/.local/share/icons/Paper/ and run script

#tintcolour="rgb(205,168,124)"  # sandy brown   #CDA87C
tintcolour="rgb(123,161,219)"   # blue, from Faenza     #7BA1DB

for f in */places/*;do
    fname=$(basename $f)
    if [[ "$fname" = folder*.png ]] && ! [[ "$fname" = "folder-saved-search.png" ]];then 
        mogrify -fill "$tintcolour" -tint 100 "$f"
    fi
done

for f in */places/*;do
    fname=$(basename $f)
    if [[ "$fname" = user-home.png ]];then 
        mogrify -fill "$tintcolour" -tint 100 "$f"
    fi
done

for f in */status/*;do
    fname=$(basename $f)
    if [[ "$fname" = folder*.png ]];then 
        mogrify -fill "$tintcolour" -tint 100 "$f"
    fi
done

for f in */mimetypes/*;do   
    fname=$(basename $f)
    if [[ "$fname" = inode*.png ]];then
        mogrify -fill "$tintcolour" -tint 100 "$f"
    fi
done

## Make terminator use generic terminal icon
#for t in */apps;do 
    #if [[ -f "$t/terminator.png" ]];then
        #cp $t/{terminator.png,terminator.png.orig}
        #rm $t/terminator.png
        #ln -rs $t/utilities-terminal.png $t/terminator.png
    #fi
#done

Uncomment the last bit if you want terminator to use the generic green terminal icon

EDIT:

Convert svg icons to suit Dark Themes

Copy the icon theme and rename eg PaperDark (don't forget to edit the "Name=" field in `index.theme`)

#!/bin/bash
##
# Convert svg icons for dark themes
# cd to Paper/ and run script

for f in 16x16/actions/*;do
    if [[ $(basename $f) = "image-sharpen.svg" ]];then
        sed -i 's/fill:#000000/fill:#ffffff/g' "$f"
    fi

    if [[ $(basename $f) = "image-filter.svg" ]];then
        sed -i 's/opacity:0.3;fill:#000000/opacity:0.3;fill:#bebebe/g' "$f"
    fi
    
    if [[ $(basename $f) = "mail-mark-junk.svg" ]];then
        sed -i 's/opacity:0.5;fill:#000000/opacity:0.72;fill:#BA4D4D/g' "$f"
    fi
    
    if [[ $(basename $f) = "tools-check-spelling.svg" ]];then
        sed -i -e 's/fill:#000000/fill:#ffffff/g;s/opacity:0.5/opacity:0.6/g' "$f"
    fi

    if [[ $(basename $f) = "system-shutdown.svg" ]];then
        sed -i -e 's/fill:#000000/fill:#ffffff/g;s/solid-color:#000000/solid-color:#ffffff/g' "$f"
    fi

    sed -i -e 's/opacity:0.5;fill:#000000/opacity:0.6;fill:#ffffff/g;s/opacity:1;fill:#000000;fill-opacity:0.49803922/opacity:072;fill:#ffffff;fill-opacity:0.72/g;s/fill:#000000;fill-opacity:0.49803922/fill:#ffffff;fill-opacity:0.6/g;s/opacity:0.25;fill:#000000/opacity:0.4;fill:#ffffff/g' "$f"
done

for f in symbolic/*/*;do
    if [[ $(basename $f) = libreoffice* ]] || [[ $(basename $f) = cheese-symbolic.svg ]];then
        sed -i -e 's/fill:#555555;fill-opacity:0.99607843/fill:#ffffff;fill-opacity:0.7/g;s/fill:#555555;fill-opacity:0.96862745/fill:#ffffff;fill-opacity:0.7/g' "$f"
    else
        sed -i -e 's/fill="#555555"/fill="#ffffff" fill-opacity="0.7"/g;s/fill:#555555;fill-opacity:1/fill:#ffffff;fill-opacity:0.7/g' "$f"
    fi
    
    if [[ $(basename $f) = colorimeter* ]] || [[ $(basename $f) = *ieee* ]];then
        sed -i 's/fill="#555555"/fill="#ffffff" fill-opacity="0.7"/g' "$f"
    else
        sed -i 's/fill:#555555;fill-opacity:1/fill:#ffffff;fill-opacity:0.7/g' "$f"
    fi

    if [[ $(basename $f) = x-office-presentation-symbolic.svg ]];then
        sed -i 's/fill="#555555"/fill="#ffffff" fill-opacity="0.7"/g' "$f"
    else
        sed -i 's/fill:#555555;fill-opacity:1/fill:#ffffff;fill-opacity:0.7/g' "$f"
    fi
    
    sed -i -e 's/fill="#555555"/fill="#ffffff" fill-opacity="0.7"/g;s/fill:#555555/fill:#ffffff;fill-opacity:0.7/g;s/fill:#555555;fill-opacity:1/fill:#ffffff;fill-opacity:0.7/g' "$f"
done

Last edited by damo (2016-05-15 18:08:38)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-01-31 10:43:51

Sweet guide damo, thanks!

I had no idea `mogrify` could be used like that

ohnonot · 2016-01-31 12:42:38

that's a nice script, and can be applied to other icon themes, too.
ultimately it would be better to create a seperate theme with coloured folders only, and get the inherits right, but meh.
anyhow, i changed it a little (tintcolour supplied on command line, rudimentary quality control):

#!/bin/bash
##
# Requires Imagemagick

#Colorize, preserves alpha and white elements
#   mogrify -fill 'rgb(x,y,z)' -tint 100 icon.png 
# Imgs to convert: folder*.png user-home.png inode-directory.png
#
# cd to/.icons/Paper/ and run script

# confirm will read a single character and decide whether it is yes or no.
# $1 is the prompt string, $2 is an optional default (if input is only return).
confirm() 
{
	local answer IFS=
	while read -rp "$1" -n1 answer
	do
	case $answer in 
		[Yy]) printf '\n'; return 0;;
		[Nn]) printf '\n'; return 1;;
		*) case "$2" in
			[Yy]) [[ "$answer" = "" ]] && return 0 || printf '\n';;
			[Nn]) [[ "$answer" = "" ]] && return 1 || printf '\n';;
			*) [[ "$answer" != "" ]] && printf '\n';;
			esac
		;;
	esac
	done
}

tintcolour="$1"

confirm " ...will tint all PNG folder icons with $tintcolour.
Current working directory is $PWD
This process is irreversible.
There will be no more quality control after this point.
Are you sure you want to continue? [y/n] " || exit 1

for f in */places/*;do
    fname=$(basename $f)
    if [[ "$fname" = folder*.png ]] && ! [[ "$fname" = "folder-saved-search.png" ]];then 
        mogrify -fill "$tintcolour" -tint 100 "$f"
    fi
done

for f in */places/*;do
    fname=$(basename $f)
    if [[ "$fname" = user-home.png ]];then 
        mogrify -fill "$tintcolour" -tint 100 "$f"
    fi
done

for f in */status/*;do
    fname=$(basename $f)
    if [[ "$fname" = folder*.png ]];then 
        mogrify -fill "$tintcolour" -tint 100 "$f"
    fi
done

for f in */mimetypes/*;do   
    fname=$(basename $f)
    if [[ "$fname" = inode*.png ]];then
        mogrify -fill "$tintcolour" -tint 100 "$f"
    fi
done

## Make terminator use generic terminal icon
#for t in */apps;do 
    #if [[ -f "$t/terminator.png" ]];then
        #cp $t/{terminator.png,terminator.png.orig}
        #rm $t/terminator.png
        #ln -rs $t/utilities-terminal.png $t/terminator.png
    #fi
#done

btw, there's also papirus which seems to have retained the brown folders so far (and has some other small differences to paper. i actually think i like it more).

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-01-31 12:47:26

ohnonot wrote:

there's also papirus which seems to have retained the brown folders so far (and has some other small differences to paper. i actually think i like it more).

+1

I'm using that one: https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic … 241#p17241

damo · 2016-01-31 12:57:19

...can be applied to other icon themes, too.

Why can't icon themes have consistent a directory structure? Symlinks may be used instead of an in-place icon, or names aren't always the same between themes. I've got quite a few scripts for resizing/colorizing/etc, and every one has to use different paths.

I've been using a modified papirus, but it is hugely bloated for kde. I thought I'd go back and personalize Paper, which is a third of the installed size.

There will be no more quality control after this point.
Are you sure you want to continue? [y/n]

Excellent message!

damo · 2016-01-31 20:18:59

Added script code to Post #1, to convert symbolic svg icons for dark themes

Last edited by damo (2016-01-31 21:34:39)

hhh · 2016-03-27 21:06:32

@damo, amazing work. Thanks so much! Cheers.

hhh · 2016-05-14 22:26:36

@damo, I couldn't get your script to work today on any of my partitions. I wonder what commit has messed things up, maybe this one adding symlinks? Or is this still working for you?

https://github.com/snwh/paper-icon-them … 3d90f91bcb

damo · 2016-05-14 22:33:08

I'll have a look tomorrow, but a couple of things come to mind.

1) Where are you running the script from? User icons should now be in '~/.local /share/icons', so maybe the symlinks aren't working properly?

2) Has there been a change in Imagemagick?

damo · 2016-05-15 18:06:17

I cloned the git repo, copied the Paper directory to '~/.local/icons', and ran 'paper-convert.sh' from there. It went OK.

I am using 'mogrify' from the jessie Imagemagick suite (8:6.8.9.9-5+deb8u1)

hhh · 2017-03-25 14:35:31

I'm revisiting this, on both jessie and stretch, in order to produce some flat-grey Paper icons, for instance rgb(117,117,117), and I can't get the expected results.

hhh@BL-jessie64:~$ apt-cache policy imagemagick
imagemagick:
  Installed: 8:6.8.9.9-5+deb8u8
  Candidate: 8:6.8.9.9-5+deb8u8
  Version table:
 *** 8:6.8.9.9-5+deb8u8 0
        500 http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     8:6.8.9.9-5+deb8u6 0
        500 http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/ jessie/main amd64 Packages
hhh@BL-jessie64:~$

I downloaded the zip link provided, copied the script to an executable file in ~/.local/share/icons/Paper and ran it several times.

The color values produced don't even come close to the entered values that I replace line #10 "blue from Faenza" with. Even running the script as is gives me different values than that line. @damo, your screenshot icons have different values than the brown and blue rgb values in the script, according to gcolor2.

I tried to use ohnonot's script, but I have no clue where to enter the color values and trial-and-error isn't getting me anywhere.

I could use some help, thanks!

damo · 2017-03-25 15:31:12

I'll have to revisit this later - I don't have access to my machine ATM.

It is something I was going to get round to testing for Helium anyway. Nothing like a kick up the a*se to get me moving eh?

damo · 2017-03-25 20:42:45

Ok, it seems that the mogrified colour is being combined with the base colour, so the final result is different from that expected. You can easily see this if you repeat the script - the colours get much more saturated.

I must have done it originally by trial and error to make something that pleased my eye, without double-checking the actual rgb values.

@ohnonot's script does exactly the same, except you pass the colour values as a script parameter...

paper-script.sh "rgb(x,y,z)"

or

paper-script.sh "#123456"

I'm now investigating a way of desaturating first, then colorizing. If you aren't concerned about absolute colour values it isn't a big problem, but I guess if you are trying to match theme colours.....

hhh · 2017-03-25 21:12:34

damo wrote:

... I guess if you are trying to match theme colours.....

Yes. Matching perfectly is, of course, the goal, but just coming up with something predictable is a start! For instance, I can't seem to get a grey value that doesn't have some blue in it.

For now, I've found out about numix-folders, a script which colors the vast Numix icon set...
https://github.com/numixproject/numix-folders/

Place numix-folder(-master) in Numix and run ./numix-folders

Maybe that script will help you?

#1 2016-01-30 23:51:46

Paper icon theme - HowTo change to any colour you like

Convert svg icons to suit Dark Themes

#2 2016-01-31 10:43:51

Re: Paper icon theme - HowTo change to any colour you like

#3 2016-01-31 12:42:38

Re: Paper icon theme - HowTo change to any colour you like

#4 2016-01-31 12:47:26

Re: Paper icon theme - HowTo change to any colour you like

#5 2016-01-31 12:57:19

Re: Paper icon theme - HowTo change to any colour you like

#6 2016-01-31 20:18:59

Re: Paper icon theme - HowTo change to any colour you like

#7 2016-03-27 21:06:32

Re: Paper icon theme - HowTo change to any colour you like

#8 2016-05-14 22:26:36

Re: Paper icon theme - HowTo change to any colour you like

#9 2016-05-14 22:33:08

Re: Paper icon theme - HowTo change to any colour you like

#10 2016-05-15 18:06:17

Re: Paper icon theme - HowTo change to any colour you like

#11 2017-03-25 14:35:31

Re: Paper icon theme - HowTo change to any colour you like

#12 2017-03-25 15:31:12

Re: Paper icon theme - HowTo change to any colour you like

#13 2017-03-25 20:42:45

Re: Paper icon theme - HowTo change to any colour you like

#14 2017-03-25 21:12:34

Re: Paper icon theme - HowTo change to any colour you like

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