HunterAmacker’s Desktop Customization Guide
Whats covered in this guide:
• Have system info updated and on your desktop in real time
• Daily weather reports for your area on your desktop
• An ACTIVE oscilloscope ‘wallpaper’ that reacts to the music you’re listening to
• (Optional) Have your wallpaper change at any interval you choose, switching between dozens of HD pics
• Just one awesome looking desktop
Required software:
• Rainmeter
Also, download these Rainmeter skins- Enigma and HUD.Vision
Or you can download my pre-configured pack here.
My pack is just what I’m using, it’s a combination of the two other skins that I modified to look like each other. You may want to start from scratch using the other 2 downloads.
• WinAmp
This is for the ‘Live’ desktop that reacts to your music. Note that you don’t have to use the oscilloscope visualization, it’s just my personal favorite.
• Any Wallpaper
A highly configurable program that will switch your wallpaper at your discretion. I may include the pack of wallpapers I use with this, if there is a high demand for it (its 64mb and my upload speed sucks).
Part 1:
Setting up Rainmeter
So download and install it and go to the following directory: C:\Program Files\Rainmeter
Now you need to ask yourself how ambitious you’re filling. If you have the confidence of an Wall Street broker, you might just want to download my pack. Its configured to work with a 1680x1050 screen, and the two skins have been modified to integrate seamlessly. Now if you’ve had your fare share of desktop customization and proprietary scripting languages, then feel free to download the two different packs and modify them to your heart’s extent.
Once you’ve decide which skin pack(s) you want, extract them to the ‘Skins’ folder in Rainmeter’s installation folder.
Restart Rainmeter (if it was already running), right click on it icon, go to “Configs” and select which ever skins you want from the HUD.Vision and Enigma folders. When you select a skin, it will appear on your desktop and allow you to drag it where ever you want. Rainmeter can get really deep, and full out customization can take a long time, so you it’s up to you on how much time you want to invest in this customization.
Part 2:
Installing and using Any Wallpaper
To change your wallpaper, simply double click on the Any Wallpaper icon in your taskbar. It will switch to the next image depending on how you configured it, as in it will be in order or random. You can also set the program to stretch and skew your images if they don’t match your screens resolution.
What I usually do it flip through a bunch of different wallpapers until I find one that works particularly well with Rainmeter.
Part 3:
ZOMG, DESKTOP OSCILLOSCOPE!!11!1!one!1
This is where I have the least amount of experience, mostly because I just learned how to do it about 30 minutes ago. What this will do is display an oscilloscope (or any other visualization) on your desktop which will react to your music playing in WinAmp.
First, download WinAmp and install it. Open it and Go to Options > Preferences and scroll down to Plugins > Visualizations and select MilkDrop 2.0e and press ‘Start’.
And this is the fun part. Press the crowbar on the lower right section of the Visualization panel labeled “Preset Editor / Options”. A absolutely beautiful text-only menu will appear on the left of the visualization window. I’m going to tell you how to make the visualization look like an oscilloscope, simple because that’s my favorite, but you’re welcome to tweak this to your heart’s content.
First, press “L”. This should bring up a list of presets for the visualization. Using the arrow keys on you ‘re keyboard, scroll until you find the one called “Geiss – Blur Mix 3”. Press enter, then your scroll lock key. Then press “Esc” to get out of the preset selection menu and then press “M” to modify the Blur Mix 3 preset. *NOTE* This isn’t necessary, it’s just how I like it. You don’t have to modify the preset at all if you like it how it is.
You are now in the preset modification menu. There is something you should know about it. It’s a mean son of a bitch. You’re going to have to test/try/experiment/debug a lot to get your presets just how you like them. This is how I set up the Blur Mix 3 preset to make it look like it does in my screenshot.
First, go to “—drawing: simple waveform”, press enter, then press it again on “wave type”. Using the “Page Up” and “Page Down” keys on your keyboard, select “6” or “7” for an oscilloscopic line (I chose 6). Press Enter and go down to “color (red)” and press enter. Hold down the “Page Down” key until it reaches zero and press enter. Do this again with the “color (blue)” option. Really, all the other options are up to you. I didn’t change any of them, but you can go about switching as many different variables as you want. When you’re done, simply press “Esc” until all of the menus are gone and you are left with a green oscilloscope.
Now to get it on your desktop, all you have to do is right click in the Visualization windows and select “Desktop Mode” or press ‘Alt + D’. If everything worked out right, the visualization should be playing as if it were your wallpaper. Its also a good idea to select “Hide Desktop Icons” by right clicking on the desktop then ‘View’.
And that’s it! Remember you can use any preset in the MilkDrop visualization plug-in, not just the Blur Mix.
Here is what my desktop looks like, with and without the ocscilloscope:
http://i33.tinypic.com/34zn1b4.jpg
http://i33.tinypic.com/2iaubnn.jpg
Edited by HunterAmacker, 25 November 2008 - 05:07 PM.
