The GUI Championships is a contest held every other year in which different aspects of the Windows GUI are customized by contestants.

The contest has over $15,000 in cash and prizes available to those who win.  The way it works is that the entries are judged by a panel of experienced UI designers (including myself). The finalists are then voted on by users.

This year, a new category was added -- animated wallpaper.  Animated wallpaper is a tricky thing to do because you want something that is nice to look at but isn't distracting.

Each judge has their own criteria for what makes a good animated wallpaper.

My criteria are:

• How good does it look
• How usable is it (is it distracting)
• How much CPU does it use

With that said, here are the finalists:

Above the Stream

Original:  5

It's reasonably original but water flowing down the stream is something we've seen a lot of.

Usable: 8

Very good. It's a video dream but i don't see any looping while running it, the quality is good and it uses little in terms of CPU for me. I could definitely run this all day.

Overall: 7

A good animated wallpaper.

 

ALF

Original: 4

It's a ball of energy. Not a bad effort.

Usable: 4

It uses quite a bit of CPU on my system and the animation is a bit distracting. No noticeable looping.

Overall: 5

A nice effort, just not my style.

 

Alien Queen (v2)

Original: 8. Very original creation.

Usable: 5. Not too distracting but it uses quite a bit of CPU. Great looping. Seamless.

Overall: 7. Better than the sum of its parts really. It's a good work.

 

Alternate Reality

Original: 5.

Usable: 4. Central ball rotates with dots moving around. It's quite distracting, uses a lot of CPU.

Overall: 3. Woudl actually have been better off without the ball in the center. The background has a subtle flow effect that is pretty decent.

 

Autumn Leaves

Original: 9. While leaves aren't that origianl, the quality of this is really outstanding. This is better than most of the video-based dreams included with Windows DreamScenes.

Usable: 8. Averages about 5% of my CPU. Very low CPU requirement. It's also extremely pretty.

Overall: 8. Oustanding work.

 

Brahmand

Original: 10. Fantastically original. Wow.

Usable: 7. It's actually quite usable. At 138 megs, it's not surprising that it has a very long loop. Uses very little CPU.

Overall: 8. This is one of my favorites in the contest.

 

Calm Seas

Original: 3. There's actually quite a few dreams like this one. I like it but it's not terribly original.

Usable: 7. Extremely usable in my opinion. Low CPU, smooth flowing. Some may find it quite distracting.

Overall: 4. I like this one quite a bit but it reminds me much of others I've seen. I also think that other people may not like it because the motion could be seen as quite distracting for some people (it doesn't bother me).

Original: 5. It's a lot like other water-based dreams except the designer made the decision to have it be very dark which was a clever choice because it makes it much more usable and original.

Usable: 10. This is about as usable as it gets. It's more usable than any of the Stardock Design dreams that came with Windows DreamScenes (except for maybe Aurora).

Overall: 9. I would say that this dream represents what animated wallpaper can be. It's very usable but simple. Some may feel it's too simple. I suspect it wasn't terribly difficult to make but effort to create isn't one of my criteria. Those reading this later may want to keep that in mind.

 

 

Color Array

Original: 5. A cool rotating image

Usable: 2. It is not smooth on my machine at all. Low CPU but the looping is not seamless and is very distracting.

Overall: 4. A decent effort.

 

ColorClouds

Original: 8. This is one where a screenshot doesn't do it justice. It's really quite a neat Dream.

Usable: 3. Low CPU but it's just way too distracting for daily use.

Overall: 3. I like it but it's not something I would keep on my desktop.

 

cubic

Original: 6. Cool objects dancing

Usable: 5. Somewhat distracting, fairly high CPU use.

Overall: 5. Nice work ovearll.

 

Dead Planet

Original: 3. Not a bad concept but the execution needs work. Feels rushed. It's mostly static other than the rotating planet. That's fine except that the static part isn't strong enough on its own. I'm all on board with animated wallpapers that are extremely subtle but it also means that the overall quality of the wallpaper has to be higher. I.e. looking at the above screenshot, how good is it on its own compared to other static wallpapers? Then imagine the planet in the background orbiting fairly quickly.

Usable: 6. It's quite usable except that the planet can actually be distracting because it moves relatively fast. It's also 120MB in size which isn't uncommon but there's not enough going on to justify that size.

Overall: 4. I would personally use this on occasion but it doesn't really stand out.

 

 

Distant Moon

Original: 10. This is outstanding.

Usable: 10. Subtle, uses virtually no CPU (3% here).  Only downside is that it is big. It trades size for CPU use.

Overall: 10. One of the best animated wallpapers I've ever seen.

 

Fluttering Nature

Original: 8. This is a really good animated wallpaper.

Usable: 9. Extremely usable. Very low CPU usage (my CPU spiked in the screenshot because of Incredibuild). Higher quality than what comes with Windows DreamScenes in terms of video.

Overall: 9. If you like realistic wallpaper, this is about as good as it gets.

 

Galaxius (v2)

Original: 8. Very original. The art quality could be better but it's still first rate.

Usable: 6 Quite usable though oriincally if it didn't have the planets that slowly come into view and move around it would be more usable. Also, the star bursts from the light sources are somewhat distracting.

Overall: 6. It's a good effort.

Gargoyle

Original: 10. A scene of a scale from day to night. It's very clever. The gargoyle statue turns into a demonic thing during night and during the day it's just a statue. It's really quite cool.

Usable: 2. The changing in color, sometimes rapid, can be very distracting.

Overall: 6. High quality work. I probably wouldn't run it very often because the concept requires the wallpaper rapidly changing from darkness to lightness which is too distracting.

Hypnotic Flower

Original: 7. It's a good animated pattern.

Usability: 8. Very usable. Low CPU.  There's a couple moments where light colored ribbons twirl quickly across the screen which is distracting.

Overall: 8. This is an animated wallpaper I will likely use.

Life on Europa

Original: 8. I love the concept here. It's a near-perfect blend of something that looks good even when paused with something that really shines when animated.

Usable: 8. Low CPU,  easy on the eyes. Looks good when paused.

Overall: 8. One of the best submissions.

Metal Milk.

Original: 10. This is my favorite entry. It's one of the few that looks incredible just from its screenshot and it looks even more incredible in action.

Usable: 10. Low CPU, looks great paused, consistent motion makes it low distraction.

Overall: 10. This is the best entry this year in my opinion.

 

MiG 17

Original: 8. Very original but it's not clear how this isn't just a rendered scene as opposed to something made to be an animated wallpaper.

Usable: 3. Very distracting because of the jerky camera.

Overall: 4. Very high quality work but I'm not sure if it's been made to be an animated wallpaper or not.

 

Motion

Original: 8. While energy/light effects aren't generally original. It's the execution that really makes this special.

Usable: 10. This is something that shows off what animated wallpapers are all about.

Overall: 9. One of the best entries this year.

Ocean Clouds

Original: 4. Water and clouds with clouds passing over.

Usable: 5. The clouds moving is pretty cool and I think it's a great scene but I find it a bit distracting.

Overall: 6. A case where it is greater than the sum of its parts.

OGA Processor

Original: 7 It's pretty original

Usable: 3 Low CPU use but I just don't like this one.

Overall: 3. It could be a matter of taste but this one isn't my style.

Plaktonic

Original: 10. This is a scene that was clearly designed to be an animated wallpaper.

Usable: 9. Some may find the movement distracting but I don't think most would. It's really oustanding. Uses virtually no CPU.

Overall: 10. One of the best animated wallpapers in the contest. If this won, I wouldn't be surprised.

Rainy Flower

Original: 8. Similar to some of the other ones I've seen but it's really good.

Usable: 8. It's a tough call on this one because on the one hand,it's very pretty but on the other hand, would someone use this if it weren't animated? The colors are a little muted (since it was taken when it was overcast) and the camera is so tight that it's a little jerky.  Low CPU use.

Overall: 8. A very good entry.

Springtime in the Alps

Original: 8. This is a good scene for an animated wallpaper because the execution is so good that one could imagine taking a moment to just look at it and relax.

Usable: 7. It's a little distracting but it's a nice distraction.

Overall: 8. This is one that people need to download and try for themselves as the screenshot shows you very little about it. This one will be very hard for people to judge because it is so dependent on the person viewing it.

The Abyss

Original: 4. Energy pattern that looks somewhat low resolution.

Usable: 5 Somewhat high CPU use (WMV base?). Somewhat distracting.

Overall: 5. If you like energy patterns, and many do, this is one to check out.

The Depths

Original: 7. I'm not sure how to describe it. The energy ribbons move around on a watery/motlen background.

Usabilty: 5 High CPU, the ribbons are a bit distracting.

Overall: 5. A nice entry though I'm not sure if the energy ribbons add or distract from it.

Dream Machine

Original: 10. Good gravy this thing is cool. Whatever the designer is having, I want some of that!

Usable: 10. Low CPU, easy on the eyes, makes a good still wallpaper. Just insanely good.

Overall: 10. One of the best entries of the contest. A definite contender for best overall.

Tidal Forces

Original: 9. Very clever concept.

Usable: 8. Low CPU usage, easy on the eyes, makes a good wallpaper on its own. Clearly designed as an animated wallpaper.

Overall: 8. One of the better entries to the contest. I like it a lot.

Venus

Original: 6. Not a bad effort here. It's a water scene with a cool sky effect.

Usable: 8. Quite usable. Avoids any distracting effects. The animation is a bit too fast overall and it uses quite a bit of CPU.

Overall: 7. It's a good effort but its animation is a bit too fast and its CPU use a bit too high. (15% on my monster rig).

Warp

Original: 9. If aliens had an acid trip, this is what it would look like I bet. Very well done.

Usable: 9. Near perfect pacing, low CPU, great work.

Overall: 8. An excellent entry, if I had to say anything about it negative it would be that it overall is missing "something" to make it to the very top artistically. But it's still outstanding.