With DeskScapes 3 just around the corner, you have been hearing a lot about the new hybrid .dream format, which is good because it’s an awesome feature.  Basically, it allows you to take static wallpapers and apply animations to it.  This gives more people a chance to create animated wallpapers without having to know how to use 3D applications.  It’s really easy to create subtle animations without having to render a huge video file, and it uses very little resources.  It does take a bit of work to create a hybrid .dream, but it’s well worth any time spent.

What you will need:

• Static wallpaper
• DeskScapes 3
• DreamMaker (included with DeskScapes)
• Animation images or static images
• Notepad, ObjectEdit, etc.

I can’t take you through every step of creating a hybrid .dream, there are just too many variations to explore.  However, this guide should give you a general idea of how to create a hybrid .dream.  You can find the documentation in the DeskScapes directory (Program Files/Stardock/Object Desktop/DeskScapes), which will give you more options and parameters when writing the .hybrid file.

The .hybrid file is what tells the hybrid .dream how to act basically.  It’s going to tell DeskScapes what images to use, how to use it, and the various settings that can be applied.  When you first open it up, it might be overwhelming for some, but don’t worry, it’s really easy to figure out and in no time you will have yours ready.  The best thing I can recommend is opening  the .hybrid files from one of the included Stardock created .dreams and studying it.  This will help you a lot.

This is what a .hybrid file should look like.

Obviously this will vary depending on your animated wallpaper, but as you see this has the hybrid settings, images, layers, etc.   Once again, the description of these functions are explained in the hybrid documentation, but I will cover a few just to get you started.

[Hybrid]
BaseTimer= 25
HybridWidth =  1680
HybridHeight = 1020
HybridCropMode = 0
SettingsName = Animated Pumpkin

[Image1]
Image = isitabandoned.jpg

[Image2]
Image = pumpkin_animation.nwa

In my sample .dream I have just two images.  Image 1 is my static wallpaper and Image 2 is the animation image which has been converted into a .nwa file in SkinStudio.  You can use .jpg, or .png files for static images, and animations need to be in the .nwa format.  NWA files are compressed animation files often used in WindowBlinds animations.  There is also a stand-alone NWA encoder in which you can create .nwa files.  In the screenshot below I have a simple two-frame animation of a pumpkin for this example.

Below you can see the definitions for the image layers.  You can define up to 50 layers, but here I just have the two layers for my two images.  Some example of the parameters you can define are the X and Y coordinates, image size, tile modes, animation settings, etc.

[Layer1]
ImageIndex = 1
Width = -0
Height = 0
TileMode = 0

[Layer2]
ImageIndex = 2
Width = 0
Height = 0
TileMode = 0
X =  1000
Y =  500
MinAnimationLoop = 500
StartingFrame = 0
AnimationGap = -1000

Now that we have the basic parameters set for the .hybrid file, it’s time to pull it all together into an actual .dream file for DeskScapes.  Gather all your resources and open DreamMaker.  In DreamMaker you will need to fill the areas for your name, description, add a thumbnail, etc.  After all that is done, open the Dream Contents tab, and select Hybrid Dream.  This will give us all the options we need.

Select your .nwa file, then below that add your image resource files, finish up any needed descriptions and hit Create Dream.  That should crate the .dream file and place it into the .dream folder and DeskScapes.

Now you should see your .dream in the DeskScapes window.  If you need to make further adjustments to the .hybrid file, as I did to get the pumpkin in the correct position, you can open the extracted .hybrid file and adjust it from there.  Just note you will have to repackage it if you intend to share it after that.

I hope this basics tutorial will help you get started creating a hybrid .dream.  I have uploaded the example .dream on WinCustomize, so feel free to open it and look at the hybrid file to get a general idea on how it works. 

Download – Animated Pumpkin Hybrid Tutorial Dream

The hybrid .dream feature is very cool, and it is quite easy for people to create as well since the focus is on static wallpapers.  This will open up more opportunities for people as they won’t have to worry about 3D renders to make a great animated wallpaper.

Here is a video I created showing off the Vintage hybrid .dream.

You can get access to the beta now by becoming a subscriber to Object Desktop.  Get more information at www.objectdesktop.com .

Yesterday Object Desktop Ultimate users were treated to the latest build of Tweak 7.

There’s been a lot of work with this under the hood and I’m still not sure what the ultimately direction for this program should be because I don’t want it to become full of snake oil tweaks. We want to focus Tweak 7 on useful features, ideally ones that can be put into the new version of TweakVista as well.

One of the new pages is called “Usability”.  This is one of the areas I’ve been pounding on for the past few months here and we’ve tried lots of different things with varying degrees of success.

Let’s walk through the usability tab for this blog:

Context handlers are one of those things that drive many users nuts. They’re the system tray clutter of 2009 – everyone wants to get their crappy thing into the right-click menu.  There are plenty of programs out there that can manage them but they often seem really cryptic. Our goal is to make this a very easy and safe way to control what gets put into those menus.

The Profile location is still a work in progress but the idea here is to let you put your “stuff” on other drives.  My C drive is an SSD and my D drive is a huge conventional drive.  I don’t want all my stuff on the C drive.  You can move some of your folders over from Windows explorer but many others you can’t easily do so and it’s a pain.

The idea here is to let people put their stuff wherever they want rather than being forced to use the C drive. It works extremely seamlessly.

The third tab includes the confirmation options.  This is an area that will be growing and growing and growing as we find new ways to get rid of the “Are you sure?” dialogs that Windows seems to love.  We’re just getting started on this but you get the idea.

If you don’t have Object Desktop Ultimate, you can get it here: www.objectdesktop.com.

If you do, make sure you have chosen to see betas in the Impulse settings.

Fences 1.0 was released this week, and I wanted to put up a quick tutorial so new users can get setup quickly without much fuss.   Grab the free download here, or via Stardock’s Impulse.  Installation should take just a moment and then we can start getting our desktop in to some type of order.

Lets create our first Fence!

Right-click your mouse and drag an area across your screen with the size you want your Fence to be.  It doesn’t have to be perfect, you can adjust it later.  Release the mouse and you will be asked if you want to create a new Fences, say yes, and name your Fence.

Now you have your first Fence.  How easy was that?

Now you can proceed to drag and drop icons from your desktop into the Fence, and that is where they will be contained. 

If you need to resize the Fence, just place your mouse on the edges and you can drag and resize to your liking.  Right-click and select “configure Fences” for more advanced options.

If you want to completely clear you desktop of icons, just double-click to hide them, and double-click the desktop again to show them.  You can also right-click an individual icon and exclude it from hiding. 

So all you have to do now is create as many Fences as you like, and get your desktop clutter-free!

Oh what a busy week this week.  WinCustomize subscribers got another premium WindowBlinds skin which looks great, we have a holiday community project going strong, and a bunch of submissions.  Thanks to everyone making all this happen!

Now for this weeks picks!

	Yin Yang by Xuton I really like the texture of this CursorFX theme.  Well done!
	Boxes by Ausvet A very nice looking .dream with a variety of colorful effects.
	Boxed IP by pinchecl This is a fantastic icon package, so be sure to download these and check them out.
	Haunted Victorian by k10w3 The Halloween wallpapers are coming in, and this is one of my favorites so far.
	The Gathering Storm – Halloween Night by Vlad Simply amazing!
	Hanging Basket by BoXXi for Xion This is a unique skin for Xion, but it works and looks great.

Ever wanted to see what people who actually bought a given game or application truly think of something? Impulse now supports customer reviews – from within Impulse, users can rate their games and applications on a scale from 1 to 5 stars.

Rate the games and applications you have within the Impulse client

The explore page on the ImpulseDriven.com website as well as within the Impulse explore tab will now display customer ratings.

Because of the ease of rating, the developers of Impulse believe that the programs will receive a much more accurate rating than what has traditionally been possible and in addition ensures that only those who actually have the program can rate.

Fences 1.0 was released this week, and now it makes the Download of the Week on MaximumPC.com! 

“Desktop maintenance is perhaps the most frivolous form of organization, but it’s just as important as matching together pairs of socks in your clothes dresser. Fortunately, there are free applications like Fences to help aid the chronically disorganized and transform their desktops into grids of art. Previously in an beta, version 1.0 of Fences has just been released by Stardock, with improved compatibility for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows. Even if you're already rocking Windows 7, we encourage you to give this utility a try.”

Check out the feature at MaximumPC.com!

As discussed yesterday, I’ve retaken the reigns on Object Desktop after a 3 year absence.  And the team has some very cool stuff that is now coming together in rapid fashion.

Today I’m going to talk about something that I think is a pretty big deal: DeskScapes 3.

For those of you not familiar with DeskScapes, it is a program that applies animated wallpaper. It’s effectively the only animated wallpaper program available for users of XP, Vista, and Windows 7. 

One of the first changes I wanted to see made to DeskScapes as part of the “new regime” is for it to be a lot more practical.  I like animated wallpaper as much as the next person, which means I’ll load it up for a bit, check it out, and slowly get tired of it like any wallpaper.  But what we really wanted to see with DeskScapes 3 is for it to be even more useful to a wider population.

DeskScapes 3 (v2.91 beta) will be going out tomorrow for Object Desktop users.  What’s in it that’s new?

Well the most obvious new thing is the support for your existing static wallpapers. But more importantly, that you can now apply the same kinds of effects to your existing wallpapers that you could once only apply to Dreams. 

In the above example, I’ve taken a very colorful image and applied a Sepia filter to it in order to make (for me) a better background.

The new DeskScapes beta also introduces a pretty big new technology that has been discussed previously but now we’ve actually finally got it together: Hybrid Dreams

The idea is to make it so that people can take an existing image (a static one) and animate a part of it. So in this case, only the trees and the lights and some sky elements change and it’s very subtle. But because it’s such a small part, it uses virtually no CPU.  The idea is to be able to make it so that animated wallpapers need not be obnoxious but merely a natural evolution beyond the static pictures we’ve had for the past two decades.

If you don’t have Object Desktop you can get it at http://www.objectdesktop.com.  The final version of DeskScapes is due out on October 28th.

Stardock, the world leader in desktop customization, today released the highly anticipated version 1.0 of its popular and free desktop organization application, Fences. Fences is a one-of-a-kind program designed to organize the desktop by allowing users to customize how icons and files reside on the desktop based on user-defined preferences. Fences is the ultimate tool for those users who want to keep their PC desktop clear of clutter.

Fences works by allowing users to “draw” labeled shaded areas on the desktop, which become movable & resizable containers for any desktop icon. These groups can help bring organization and consistency to your computer's desktop, solving the "constant mess" problem that has plagued the desktop since its inception. Fences also helps users finally appreciate the wallpaper hiding behind a cluttered desktop.

In addition to its organizing features, Fences offers a quick-hide feature: Double click your desktop, and all your icons will fade out. Double click again, and they'll return.

Fences is free and can be downloaded here: https://www.stardock.com/products/fences/index.asp. Screenshots and demonstration videos are also provided.

System Requirements:

• Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7
• On Vista and Windows 7, both 32bit and 64bit versions are supported.

A couple of months ago we wrote about the announcement of the Dell Inspirion Mini Nickelodeon Edition which features skins and wallpapers created by Stardock!  These Mini’s are now shipping and they have a great lineup of options, and prices start at a low $329.

Features include:

• Slime left its mark on both the outside cover and inside palm rest.
• Explore Nickelodeon^TM  interactive features full of creative content.
• The world is just a click away with mobile connectivity¹.
• Watch your child’s media come to life on the 10.1" display.
• Add an optional external DVD drive to watch or burn CDs and DVDs

This would definitely be a great gift for the upcoming holiday season.  For more information visit the Dell Mini Nick Edition site below.

Dell Mini Nickelodeon Edition