How to create Animated Wallpapers

[Frogboy Administrators]

If you are using Windows DreamScene to display animated wallpaper, here is what is involved in making your own:

Note that Windows DreamScene plays .MPEG or .WMV files. .WMV files use substantially more CPU to run but are much smaller in file size and encoders are more readily available for them. .MPEG is what I would recommend if you want.

The key to a good animated wallpaper for Windows DreamScene is that it's loopable.

The specifications that Stardock Design worked from via Microsoft were:

1) Loops should be between 8 and 16 seconds but not longer as file size becomes problematic.

2) File size should be at least 720P (think 1024x768) for a 4X3 or 1280X900 for 16x9

3) Find a good encoder. This is easier said then done because good encoders cost money. A lot of money.

But you can get a free one here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsme...er/default.mspx

Other notes:

a) There are various tutorials on the net on how to render your own scenes using Maya, 3D Studio, or whatever.

b) There are also tools that will help you animate a static scene. I.e. a scene with water that gives it wave effects and such.

c) Strong recommendation: If you are serious about your work, use DreamMaker to turn your video into a .Dream file. The reasons for this are (1) You can insert your name and website into the file which is then displayed on the Windows wallpaper dialog and (2) Your creation will be much easier to find in searches -- .DREAM for wallpaper is a lot easier to find than .WMV for wallpaper.

You can get tools, content, etc. at http://dream.wincustomize.com

[Joomling]

"b) There are also tools that will help you animate a static scene. I.e. a scene with water that gives it wave effects and such."

would you suggest the name of the tools. I'm interested in this. thanks

[Frogboy Administrators]

"b) There are also tools that will help you animate a static scene. I.e. a scene with water that gives it wave effects and such."

would you suggest the name of the tools. I'm interested in this. thanks

I'll see what I can find.

[null_]

Thanks for the tips, Brad. I just migrated over to Windows Vista and am interested in trying my hand at creating some nice animated wallpapers. :)

[Island Dog]

After talking with some people who have been creating some Dreams, I found that this is what many of them are using to create the water effects.

Nature Illusion Studio

Some are also using software such as After Effects, but this Nature Studio seems to be a simpler way.

:)

[dw2003]

What are the specs for MPEG file encoding? Anyone have a recomended bitrate and other settings so the videos dont look really bad and dont use too much CPU?

I'm using Media Coder to encode my MPEGs.

[Island Dog]

Here is a DreamMaker tutorial that shows you the basic steps of making a .dream.

DreamMaker tutorial

[Breck]

What are the specs for MPEG file encoding? Anyone have a recomended bitrate and other settings so the videos dont look really bad and dont use too much CPU?

yes, these are good settings for MPEG encoding (i have also added some good settings for WMV):

- MPG-Format (MPEG2)

Stream Format: Generic ISO MPEG Stream

Stream Type: MPEG-2 Elementary Stream

Width: 1280

Height: 720

Frame rate: 25 or 29.976 fps

Interlacing: Non-Interlaced

Aspect Ratio Code: 16:9

Quality/Speed: Mastering Quality

Bitrate type: CBR

Video Bitrate: 8-15 Mbps

Profile/Level: HP@HL

VBV Buffer Size: 1492

Max GOP Size: 15

Closed GOP: yes

Chroma Format: 4:2:0

Intra DC Precision: 9

Strict GOP bitrate: No

Insert one sequence header before each GOP

- WMV-Format

Width: 1280

Height: 720

Aspect Ratio: 16:9, Pixel [1:1]

Format: Windows Media Video 9

Framerate: 25-30 fps

Bitrate: 4-6 Mbps

Bitrate type: CBR

Number of passes: 1

Image quality: 98

Interlacing: Non-Interlaced

Buffer: 3000

Video Codec: Complex Auto

btw. to create 3D DreamScenes i normally use Blender (freeware, open source), for best quality i first render the scene to raw AVI and then i convert it with the settings written above.

[Orbitron]

The first link in the main post doesn't work.