SmartFlip


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I'm sad too that it's so slow, but I can't do any more improvement. As I sad already, thank Microsoft for providing this real "fast" Thumbnail API. I hope in SP1 they will provide some way to have direct and faster access to the thumbnails.

Until then, you could try to disable some animations.

Right now it doesn't support mouse button triggers, sorry.

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Hi! I want to anounce you that in 1-2 weeks you should expect a new version of SmartFlip. I have now a new computer (Core 2 Duo E6300 at 1.86Ghz, Geforce 7600GT) and i couldn't belive how fast is SmartFlip on it, compared to my old one (P4 3Ghz, Geforce FX5700LE). The animations are very fast and smooth, even with 30 windows opened on my display with 1650x1050 resolution ;) .

I will try to finish the trigger system, correct some bugs and optimize for dual-core.

Now I think you should have a computer with at least the below specifications (or an Experience Index of 4 or more)

Interl Core 2 Duo / AMD Athlon64 X2

1 GB RAM

GeForce 6600GT / ATI x1600

And, of course, Windows Vista with Aero enabled ;) .

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What part of the WPF API did you use to grab and draw images the windows in real time? Or more to the point, where did you find the information on how to do that?

I've been searching all through MSDN but with no success.

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Dude, nice concept and program but it is damm slow on my AMD 3200+ , 1.5 Dual Channel Gig, and Nvidia 6800 Ultra 256 MB.

By default you should aim for a default base performance of Flip3D, and not every one has dual core procs. Good program bad performance.

Removed it, for now happy with flip 3D.

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Very much like the "ring" plugin for beryl.

You should look into implementing "hot corners", they (and other useful window management features of beryl) is what made me switch to ubuntu. Either way good job!

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Hmm, I don't think the perf is the fault of the thumbnail API... I'll have to play with it myself and see how it runs for me in native code. I think your problem might be the mixing of it with WPF, which probably has some adverse performance implications given how the thumbnail API works.

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Bug: a little too robust in retrieving windows to display. When I use it with Photoshop open, it grabs each palette and document window within Photoshop as separate windows in the Flip view.

Flip3D, however does not, so it must be possible to differentiate. I also had some instances where it failed to takeover from Win-Tab properly... no seeming rhyme or reason.

Anyways, thanks for this contribution to improving task management in Vista!

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I think what your describing happened to me to. For some windows it duplicates them.. like Skype. It'll show two Skype windows despite their only being one (which doesn't happen in Flip3D). Also it seems in some programs it won't switch over. I noticied this in class when I had Opera (internet browser), OpenOffice Writer, GAIM, and a few other windows opened. I couldn't switch from the Opera window to the Writer window with this. It would stay stuck on one or the other. I would have to click off it, or minimize for it to work.

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Hello, I was linked here from the Anandtech forums.

First of all, great program!

I have ran into a few bugs though:

1) the aforementioned performance problems - I'm running on a 1.8Ghz P-M, 1.5GB, ATi X600 laptop, yes I know, it's not exactly a performance machine, but Flip3D is able to render silky smooth

2) Mouse trigger problems - I have a logitech mouse with a button bound via logitech setpoint to document flip, which activates flip3d in the "ctrl+windows logo+tab" mode. When i set smartflip to take over the flip3d key bindings, pressing the mouse button would activate both flip3d and smartflip (led to some interesting results)

3) using the mouse scrollwheel to scroll through the windows, It would scroll 3 windows at a time (I have my scrollwheel set to scroll 3 lines at once), this does not occur in Flip3d.

All in all, great program, and I hope you continue to develop it and see if you can address some of these issues

Thanks!

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Works great here, no performance issues at all, but I do have:

AMD 64 X2 5200+ @ 3.0Ghz

2GB DDR2 @ 500Mhz

Geforce 8800 GTS

Anyways, yes that wold be great if the desktop was an option just like in the orignal.

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This is actually working great on my laptop (Macbook Core 2 Duo 2Ghz, Intel GMA 950 graphics) except for one major issue...

The window I select isn't brought to the foreground! It just starts flashing in the taskbar! Kinda ruins the usefulness of it...

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Works great here, with one issue, if I select F9, SmartFlip starts, and then I can't uset Tab or Shift-Tab to cycle, The focus remains on the application it was running....

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