RealWorld Cursor Editor 13.1

As its name clearly suggests, this program allows you to modify and customize your Windows cursors so that your working environment turns unique. Besides, you can also create new cursors from the scratch - or using any image file in JPEG, PNG, BMP or GIF formats as a base. This tool can be used to create animated and multi-resolution cursors too, for compatibility with the latest versions of MS Windows.

Initially, the program shows you a simple and intuitive user interface, based on several tabs. One of them is "Online" and gives you access to a series of helpful online resources that include multiple video tutorials, plugins and some ready-to-use samples. Customize tab, on the other hand, detects all your current cursors and allows you to edit them, change them or return to the default ones. Also, the Create tab allows you to design a brand-new cursor either from the scratch, or using a base image file. Alternatively, the program can load a previously copied image directly from your clipboard, or even capture your desktop to use it as a base.

Whether you select to edit an existing cursor or to crate a new one, the program will launch its image editor, which is based on RealWorld Paint, a feature-rich editor also published by RealWorld Graphics. This editor provides you with a myriad of drawing tools and effects such as pencil, eraser, line, text, flood fill, retouch with brush, multiple transformations, multiple selection methods and others. You also have several ready-to-use animations like clock, animated dots, spinning wheel and animated fire. Each tool includes its own configuration panel where you can adjust the appropriate parameters. Furthermore, if you plan to work with animated cursors, you can add or remove layers as required, and work with each one independently. Finally, when you finish your creation, you can save it in several image formats including PNG, GIF, static/animated cursor file, or using the program's proprietary format (RLI). You can also send your creation to the publisher's online library directly from the program's interface, but this requires having an account with them first.

To cut a long story short, I would say RealWorld Cursor Editor is an excellent tool when it comes to editing or creating cursor files. I would recommend it to any person, considering it provides a feature-rich image editor totally free of charge. If for whatever reason you are not convinced with the program or its features, you can uninstall it at any moment without any complication.

v13.1 [Jul 17, 2013]
This version of RWCE contains some changes introduced in RealWorld Paint 2013.1, including redesigned color picker, drawing tools and effect windows.
There are also changes directly related to cursors:
- When selecting cursor sizes in various places of the application, a text field with one or more sizes in pixels and a dropdown menu with standard options is used.
- Improved support for Linux XCursor files.
- Function that uploads cursor to the cursor library is now more user friendly.