Building a screensaver??

[paulrus]

I tried posting this to XSIBase, but whenever I click "Post" over there I just get a blank screen.

One of my best clients came to me with an odd request. Build a 3D version of their logo and then turn it into a Windows screen saver. They've got a big trade show coming up and they want it on all their systems.

The logo part is simple, but I have no experience dealing with screen savers.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Paul

[Nightwalker]

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/screensaverswin/index_r.htm

hope some of these can help.

[pboucher]

This might not be the best place to ask for the screen saver part. It would be a great place for the logo part though.

Meanwhile back in Google land:
http://www.axialis.com/ssp/

40$ for a screen saver creation tool might just do the trick and it seems pretty feature complete.

[miga]

A screensaver is basically just an exe (if its under windows) with different parameters (screensaver.exe /d for preview or so, can't remember). So you could use something like Visual Studio/Delphi/... to program it or have a look if you can find a flash tool to create them (using Papervision3D to get your models in)

[Tekano]

you have a few options

firstly render a series of images or make an .avi then have a search on google for 'how to make a screensaver' there are like a million utilities out thier that will use a sequence or avi to make an instalable screensaver. - essentially it is a .exe file renamed to .scr

if you have a version of adobe Flash then you can assemble the sequence in there and make a self executable (.exe) remember to write some if mousedown or mouse moves then exit code. rename the file to .scr, copy to windows folder and you are good to go. there are also a few 3rd party apps that can take a flash file and do all the leg work for you, including making the screensaver control panel previiews etc - I remember using one called 'screentime' many years ago - dont know if thats still going.

another option is to go down the '3D' route and see if there are openGL or DirectX screensaver makers that accept .obj files, and take it from there. again this can all be found with google - you did search before posting didnt you? :yes:

[paulrus]

Thanks guys! Interesting options. I have to talk to the client and find out more of what they want. The easiest for me would be the Flash route - I used to be a Flash animator, so I know the software pretty well. But that would mean a pre-rendered animation versus something that does OpenGL or Active-X.

I didn't realize screen savers were just EXE's renamed. Interesting....

Of course this has a killer deadline and they need a bid in the next 3 hours.

[ajclaude]

If you want to go for the Flash route, why not try the Papervision 3D stuff ? Our friend Luc did a nice tutorial on how to create 3D content for flash using XSI, Papervision 3D and COLLADA. Of course, that assumes that you can generate a screen saver with Flash. In any case, watch this, it could be a good solution for you.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uKWo3P-M58




Thanks guys! Interesting options. I have to talk to the client and find out more of what they want. The easiest for me would be the Flash route - I used to be a Flash animator, so I know the software pretty well. But that would mean a pre-rendered animation versus something that does OpenGL or Active-X.

I didn't realize screen savers were just EXE's renamed. Interesting....

Of course this has a killer deadline and they need a bid in the next 3 hours.