Filed under: Software, Odds and ends
Make your windows fly with Fenêtres Volantes, a 3D screensaver
For years now, I haven't really been one for screensavers. Ever since I started owning nothing but portable machines with LCDs and I found out that burn-in really doesn't happen anymore, I either opt to let my displays dim and turn themselves off to save power or I simply leave my chat and email apps front and center so I can keep an eye on what's going on. Aside from occasionally turning on Mac OS X's RSS screensaver in a coffee shop to show off a little, I just haven't been that interested in screensavers.Until TUAW reader Mark Rickert sent us a tip for the Fenêtres Volantes screensaver.
This screensaver takes your idle windows and gives them something to do - by making them fly around your display in 3D space. The effect is really slick and driven by Quartz Composer, which also means the unfortunate lack of anti-aliasing is a ball in Apple's court, not the developer's. The screensaver is fairly customizable, with controls for how many windows to use, how fast to move, whether a second display is involved, and more. Mac OS X 10.4.6 is required, as is a G4, G5 or Intel CPU at 1 Ghz or faster.
Fenêtres Volantes is donationware and available from the author's site at Objective Cocoa.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Uncle Jerry said 11:20AM on 7-28-2006
sounds cool but since I'm still running 10.3.9 (shrug) I'll stick with my screen saver that displays the Swarm's going on over at Digg.com.
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andy said 11:29AM on 7-28-2006
its cool, but with 2 big displays, a couple of open windows look quite lonely, im opening lot just to play haha
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Mark said 11:32AM on 7-28-2006
I installed this program and immediately fell in love with it... but watch out: setting the windows higher is obviously going to use more system resources.
Other than that, I'd recommend turning off the password protect function if you can so that it all runs smoothly when you go back to work. i love how it snaps all your windows back into place.
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nic mitham said 11:36AM on 7-28-2006
nice. what we want to set my screensaver time to 1 min.
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Brian said 11:36AM on 7-28-2006
The prettiest (and most useful) screensaver I've seen is "ClockSaver". It puts a pretty clock on your screen. It looks especially good with the new glossy screens. The rich black background almost looks like a gel.
(Everytime this comes on my screen I get questions on where it can be downloaded.) It's free
http://www.freemacware.com/clocksaver/
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Stephen C. said 11:52AM on 7-28-2006
Wow. I desperately wish I could use this, or at least try it. Yet sadly, I'm stuck with my old 700MHz iMac. Bagh. I tried ClockSaver though, and it is nice. Another one I recommend is the iTunes Album Art screen saver that comes with OSX. I love it -- simple and elegant, yet it shows off my stuff very well.
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bt said 11:52AM on 7-28-2006
This is exactly the screensaver that I've always wanted, and it just made my day.
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Jason said 12:47PM on 7-28-2006
I wish more screensaver posts and developer sites gave videos of what to expect. Anyone have a video of this one in action?
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Pierre said 12:58PM on 7-28-2006
>I wish more screensaver posts and developer sites gave videos of what to expect. Anyone have a video of this one in action?
On the web site of the screen saver, if you run Safari, you can see this in action as a banner header.
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John D. said 1:42PM on 7-28-2006
Burn-in may not occur on LCDs, but burn-out certainley can. The backlight doesn't last forever, and has a limited number of hours. While it may take years to burn out, my older ones certainly have gotten dimmer over the years.
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Radu Dutzan said 2:46PM on 7-28-2006
'Tis awesome. One of the best SS I've ever seen.
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jmatt1122 said 2:50PM on 7-28-2006
Awesome, and for those who didn't know, fenêtres volantes is french for, you guessed it, flying windows!
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Ih8bg8s said 3:32PM on 7-28-2006
Thank you Thank you Thank you
It is things like this that make me glad to be part of the Mac niche
and to be reading this blog
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Gerry O'Sullivan said 4:51PM on 7-28-2006
C'est formidable! J'aime beaucoup les fenêtres volantes.
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mrtotes said 8:27PM on 7-28-2006
I didn't think LCDs could burn, but I'm sat right now at work with 6 19" Dell LCDs in front of me all but one burn (it's off most of the time) - I can see the dialogue for perhaps 20 minutes after logging in. Simply awful. Still if I stick to my nice Apple branded LCDs at home I've never seen anything similar at all. ;-)
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ChrisMtP said 11:44PM on 7-28-2006
Great application! I installed it on my new 20" iMacIntel..sweeeeet!! It makes my 256mb video card sing with 10 windows going at once. But the beginning has a slight hesitation and stutter then it smooths right out. Great work! It's well worth a donation.
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Edward said 4:09PM on 7-30-2006
That was a nice one. I like those a little more discrete screensavers, as one I made, named Void.
http://www.memention.com/void
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Halopend said 2:08PM on 8-01-2006
Wow, I downloaded this in stores on a 20" iMac and must say this is quite possibly the best screen saver I have ever seen. My favourite part is that when you start to use the computer again it all fly's right back to assemble your computer screen. As a favour to the store I set it as the default screen saver, I'm sure it'll catch a few eyes...
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