Warrior of the Light
22nd August 2002 21:59 UTC
AVS as wallpaper - FUN!!!
It's not much of a problem but I guess this is the best place to post it...
Using printscreen I once had presets on my desktop.
Some day I noticed something funny:
When I switched on the AVS, some pixles changed colours...
So i picked that colour and spreaded it out using Paint
Result: I see the preset I'm using in paint, fullscreen and in the same resolution I have my window (264x241)(which goes fast, when I use the normal fullscreen mode it's either slow or bricky...)
Love it!!!
It doesn't work with all versions of winamp, so i noticed, Ive got 2.73, 2.79 and 3Beta(b)It only works at 2.79 (as far as I can check)
Try it yourself and send in your comment, If it doesn't work it should just stay dark purple or whatever you call that colour...
Enjoy!
;-c
UnConeD
23rd August 2002 00:11 UTC
Your 'discovery' is a well known AVS feature called Overlay mode. You don't even have to make a special background picture, AVS can override your desktop while it's running.
From the FAQ:
Question #4: I saw someone who had AVS running as his animated desktop background! How is this possible?
First, start AVS and open up the configuration dialog (see Q#2). Now, click the 'Settings' menu, and then 'Display'. On the right-hand side, a box labeled 'Overlay mode' should appear. Enable this, and check 'set desktop to color', you should now have an AVS desktop background.
If you don't see anything, try removing any desktop wallpaper you may have and turning off Active Desktop. Both can be done through the Display panel in the Windows Control Panel.
If you do see AVS, but it's covered in a bunch of dots, you're probably running in 16-bit colour mode (High Colour). The overlay-colour that is used can't be properly displayed in 16-bit, and so Windows draws dots of the nearest colours to give you the impression of the right colour. Try a different (slightly brighter or darker) overlay colour, or switch to 24-bit/32-bit (True Colour).
<-intangible->
26th August 2002 23:23 UTC
does the little avs box have to be open and running while the desktop is also?
Xion(810)
26th August 2002 23:47 UTC
yes...:(
I think that you can minimise Winamp and have it still on...I'll try.
Jaheckelsafar
27th August 2002 04:06 UTC
Yes, the AVS window has to be open. Overlay mode works by taking the visuals for the window and stretching them to fit your desktop. If the AVS window is not open it won't generate the visuals to be sent to the overlay signal.
Winamp can be minimized and overlay mode will still work. (which can make for a really groovy background)
If you like AVS as a backgrount, you may want to check out Drempels by Ryan Geiss. (http://www.geisswerks.com) It's the same guy that did Milkdrop.
BTW. You can chage the resolution of the overlay mode by changing the size of your AVS window.
<-intangible->
28th August 2002 02:00 UTC
Drempels is awesome!! thats a sweet program becuz you can also add your own pix to it.
swingdjted
19th October 2008 10:10 UTC
Wow. Big bump to an old thread. But, the usual procedure to get AVS as desktop wallpaper doesn't seem to work on my new Vista box. How do I try to turn off active desktop or remove the wallpaper? Or is there another way to get this to work?
Warrior of the Light
19th October 2008 15:17 UTC
Big bump indeed.. This is my second post on the winamp forums. I remember posting it, though.