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Creating a Screen Saver with MakeSS
Creating a Screen Saver with Screen Artist

Screen Artist allows you to use your own pictures in Screen Savers with many options of how those pictures appear and move on the screen.  The best way to learn about all the motion options is just to try them all.  See Samples for information on the sample pictures included, and Choosing the Motion Type for explanations of your motion options. Here are some tips to get you started setting up Screen Artist and selecting pictures.

To choose Screen Artist as your Screen Saver:

Make sure the files: "scrart1s.scr" and "scrart1s.hlp" are in your main windows directory.  This is the same directory that contains "win.com".  See Installing Screen Artist.

In Control Panel, choose "Desktop".  Select  "ScreenArtist" from the list of available screen savers then select "Setup".

Selecting Pictures for your Screen Saver:

You can use .bmp, .ico, .dib, or .wmf picture files.  Select "Change Picture" to select the picture you want.  If you want to use more than one picture, you can have the screen saver cycle through all the pictures in a directory.  Check the "Cycle through all pictures in directory" option, and then choose "Change Directory" to select a directory with more than one picture of the same type. Note:  Screen Artist will only select pictures of one type in the directory.  You can't cycle through both .ico AND .bmp files in the same setup.

See Samples for examples of cool Screen Savers you can set up and use right now!


Installing MakeSS
Installing Screen Artist

Make sure the files: "scrart1s.scr" and "scrart1s.hlp" are in your main windows directory.  This is the same directory that contains "win.com".

You should have a file called "scrart10.dat" in that directory, too.  If you don't, your screen saver will just draw circles instead of pictures on your screen.  If this file is missing, don't worry.  Whenever you go into the Screen Artist Setup screen and choose 'OK', it creates this file for you.  See Creating a Screen Saver with Screen Artist.

There are sample .bmp and .ico files included in ScrArt1s.zip.  If you unzipped with the -d option, the .bmp files should be in a directory called "Juggler" and the .ico files should be in a directory called "Icons".


Choosing the Motion Type

"Bouncing off the Walls" is a trail of your pictures bouncing around the screen.  If you cycle through the pictures in a directory, it changes to a new picture each time it hits a wall.  If you choose "Grow and Shrink", the trail of pictures will change size as it moves.

"Infinite Multiplier" piles up your pictures on top of each other all over the screen forever. It's especially effective with "Grow and Shrink" checked and when cycling through a directory with lots of different pictures with different background colors.  When cycling through a directory, it changes pictures every time it puts one on the screen.

"Flying Pictures" is a variation of the "Flying Windows" screen saver that comes with Windows (TM).  Your picture (s) start off in the distance and come towards you - like flying through a starfield of your pictures.  "Grow and Shrink" isn't an option here, because it would mess up the effect.  Cycling through pictures in a directory makes it a starfield of all the pictures, instead of just one.  Check the "Tracers" option to leave each image on the screen as it comes towards you.

"Slide Show Animation" requires that you cycle through the pictures in a directory.  The pictures stay in one place in the center of the screen, and just cycle.  This enables you to create an actual animation by drawing a number of pictures with slight variations.  Or you can just use it like a slide show to cycle through your favorite pictures.  The pictures cycle in alphabetic order, so change the names to control the order.

Note: Depending on you computer, all of the options might cycle slowly if the images you use are very large, ie: more than a quarter of the screen area.  If your animation seems too slow, for instance, try cropping the edges of all the pictures and it will speed up.


Samples

There are 2 sample directories of pictures included with the program.  If you installed from "scrart1s.zip" with the -d option, all the .bmp sample files should be in a directory called "Juggler", and all of the .ico samples should be in a directory called "Icons".  The Juggler .bmp's are a simple example of how to create real animation with Screen Artist.  The Icons are samples for use with all the other Motion Types.

If this is your first time, try checking "Cycle through all pictures in directory", then go to "Change Directory", and either:

>>Choose the "Icons" directory. Then check "Grow and Shrink" and choose "Infinite Multiplier".  Or...

>>Choose the "Juggler" directory.  Then choose the "Slide Show Animation" Motion Type, click OK and try "Test" from the Desktop Options screen.


Welcome to MakeSS!
Welcome to Screen Artist!

Amaze your Friends!  Frighten your Co-Workers!  Create Screen Savers with your own pictures using Screen Artist!

But First...   If you use this product for more than 30 days, you must Register It!  Registration costs only $9.00, gets you a copy of the registered version and a free upgrade to the next version, and gives you the peace of mind of knowing that you are no longer in violation of US Copyright Law!

Choose Registering to find out how.

Creating a Screen Saver with Screen Artist

Installing Screen Artist

Choosing the Motion Type

Samples


Registering

You can receive a registered  version of Screen Artist 1.0 and a free upgrade to the next version by mailing a check for $9 and your mailing or CompuServe Address to :

Camino Cielo Labs

430 S. Canada St.

Santa Barbara, CA 93103