July is finally here and a holiday is also approaching.  With a new month comes another edition of "This Month in Dreams" where I highlight some .dreams that were submitted to WinCustomize throughout the month of June.  We had quite a few less than last month, but still some great ones that deserve to be featured. 

Lets get those submissions coming in and make July another great month for Dreams.

If you would like to download the .dreams you seen featured in this video, the download links are below.  You need to have Vista Ultimate, DreamScene, and Stardock DeskScapes (free) to use these animated wallpapers.

USA Flag by GH33DA
Aurorix 1440 by NGTV
The Moon by Gonerelly
Island Oasis by PaulG2
Grimstad Grassfield 1 by dEEPZoNE
RED by KnowTheFuture
Lava Lamp by TheMasterBaron
Liquid Dream by Stardock Design
 

The end of this month snuck up real fast, but I did not forget about "This Month in Dreams".  This was another month of some fantastic submissions, and some of the creators are pumping out dream after dream.  Just as it gets hard to pick weekly skins, it's just about as difficult to select Dreams every month.

This Month in Dreams - May '07

The dreams in this months edition are:

• ATI Ruby
• High-Tech
• Orange Tube
• Star Destroyer Convoy
• Falling Rain
• Living Blue Wallpaper
• Shark Pit
• Spout
• Desktop Collage

Another dream I wanted to feature this month was Necromancy: Inferno.  Due to a strange codec problem I was unable to include it in this months video, but be sure to check it out.

To use these animated wallpapers you need Windows Vista Ultimate, and Stardock DeskScapes.  For the free DeskScapes download and more dreams, visit:

• Dream.WinCustomize.Com

Every week on WinCustomize I write a feature called "This Week in Skinning" in which I feature some skins that caught my eye throughout the week.  The response has been great so I wanted to start another feature I am considering doing on a regular basis as well.

Animated wallpaper, or Dreams as we call them, have become extremely popular in recent months.  The Dream site on WinCustomize is the official site to get them and the dreams that have been submitted have been fantastic to say the least. I wanted to showcase some of the top Dreams for the month, so with that I introduce....This Month in Dreams.

• Stellar Dream
• Blue Ocean
• Bay Bridge
• Electric Colors
• Fire Scape
• Leuchturm
• Tulips
• Under-Water
• Desktop Earth
  

Dream.WinCustomize.Com

Note: Please be aware that some of the dreams appear "choppy" in the video.  This is due to the video recording software and should be improved over time.  The animated wallpapers shown all have very smooth animations.

Stardock is working on DeskScapes 1.01 which is now internally being tested. The next public release will include dynamic and triggered content with it to help get the ball rolling on that kind of content.

Stardock will also be releasing an updated DreamMaker which will make it easy (full GUI) to create your own triggered DREAMs.

Regarding Microsoft's Windows DreamScene, we don't have any official word but Microsoft is aware that some users have run into problems when the default MPEG encoder has been replaced by a different one due to installation of third-party video players. This should not be a problem in the final version of Windows DreamScene.

Also, we should also mention that Microsoft will be releasing a number of DreamScenes when Windows DreamScene is officially released.  We don't have any official dates from Microsoft on the official release of Windows DreamScene.

For dynamic content, Stardock DeskScapes will still require that Windows DreamScene is installed.  In our tests so far, dynamic content (at least the type we've created) is using less than 4% CPU on average on a mid-range PC.

DeskScapes 1.01 will be available in beta hopefully within the next week or so for users of Object Desktop via Stardock Central. Stardock will also be releasing a premium DREAM on Stardock Central for Object Desktop users as well. 

Once 1.01 has been tested, it'll be released with the updated DreamMaker and Dynamic Dream SDK including source files to create your own dynamic content.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment here and we'll do our best to answer them.

When I first learned of DreamScene and Stardock DeskScapes I was pretty excited, but I also had some reservations about it.  The idea has always been around for a while, but nothing ever practical came out of it until now.  At first thought an animated wallpaper sounds cool, but will it hold up under daily use, or interfere with my productivity?

Those were just a few of the questions I originally had, and after being able to work with DeskScapes for a while, I have to say I was quite impressed.  My first original concern is that an animated wallpaper would be too distracting, but after working with it for a few days straight, the answer was a definite no for me.  While a few of the Dreams I tried could be considered very "busy", I tried to stay with animated wallpapers that were more subtle in nature.

The first one I used was Nebula by Stardock Design.  This is a very subtle animated wallpaper with a beautiful space scene complimented by "twinkling" stars.  This image is great as a static wallpaper, but the simple animation really brings it to life.

Next up I tried Wasserfall by peter22.  This is a very relaxing scene of a waterfall with the water animated.  This is a little more busy than something like Nebula, but it fits right into the desktop and has been one of my favorites.

Next was Blissful Sunset by Stardock Design.  Grass swaying in the wind as the sun sets in the background, very nicely done.  This is another "relaxing" Dream that you really need to see for yourself.  This was very easy on the eyes without any distraction, so this was my favorite so far.

After working with DeskScapes over the past week I am pleased to give it a big thumbs up.   I had used Dreams here and there for a while, but never worked with them on a full-time basis.  My real first impressions were very positive, the animated wallpapers looked good, and they work quite well on my system.  Now I'm waiting for the next step which will be dynamic content and triggers in DeskScapes.  I think those alone will take animated desktops to a whole new level.

• Dream.WinCustomize.Com

With the release of Stardock DeskScapes I wanted to give a brief tour on how to get it installed and running on your system.  DeskScapes previously required Windows DreamScene and Vista Ultimate only to use, but DeskScapes 2.0 will allow any Vista version (that supports Aero) to run animated wallpapers.  Subscribers to Object Desktop now have early access tot he DeskScapes 2.0 beta.

If you are a Object Desktop subscriber, you can download DeskScapes through Stardock Central, along with some exclusive .dreams.  If not, and if you are a Vista Ultimate user, head over to Dream.WinCustomize.Com and download the DeskScapes application (free).  Oh wait, you might want some extra Dreams so check out the Dream gallery and pick up a few more while you are at it.  Now we should be all set.

1. Right-click desktop and select "Personalize".

2. Select "Desktop Background"

3. Click the picture location drop-down and select "DeskScapes Animated Wallpaper"
   
   

Now you should see a list of Dreams that are available.  When you click each file the animated wallpaper should appear on your desktop, once you have selected the one you want to use just click OK.  If you have downloaded other .dreams or would like to use your own video or .dream creation, then simply drag the file into the window.

If you need to pause the wallpaper then just right-click the desktop and select "pause", and then click "play" when ready to resume playing.

Dream Maker will let you easily create your own animated wallpapers in the .dream format in which you will be able to share with other people. Be sure to check out the guided tour of DeskScapes, and visit Dream.Wincustomize.Com for more information and downloads.

• A Guided Tour of Stardock DeskScapes 

• Dream.Wincustomize.Com