September Windows 98 Shareware

A superior selection from the scores of Windows screensavers.

By David Nourse

I'd be very happy to hear from readers about any topics that they would like to see covered in this column -- just drop me a line care of workshop@acp.com.au or APC Workshop, PO Box 37, Sydney NSW 102

3aline's control panel is a set of tabbed panes of sliders offering a tonne of settings to let you experiment with the style of this cyber-artist. The top level of control covers things such as drawing speed, how long a single image remains onscreen, the number of colours to be used, and how often the colour palette should be changed. Then there's more -- much more.

You can try changing how often the six available shapes (in solid or wire-frame form) will appear, the kind of paths they follow, and the symmetry of the drawing. The intricate shape combinations appear against a wide range of backgrounds; you can select a background style (including walls, rooms and tunnels), background pattern (from plain black to classic fractal), viewing perspective and several different wall surfaces.

For a personal touch, you can input up to nine text messages to be included in the drawings, and you can also use JPEG or bitmap images to provide backgrounds. For a really weird look, you can use JPEG elements from your browser's cache.

Whether you're an aficionado of abstract art or just want something colourful and different to save your screen, 3aline is an impressive product which most users will enjoy.

Like 3aline, Photo Mishmash has a tabbed control panel giving you plenty of scope to customise its operations. At the top level you can decide how often a new image is mixed in, how often image distortions occur and how long the program should pause before starting on a new sequence of images. You can pause the program after a given time, which is handy if you're using a task scheduler, and you can also insert text messages.

The most powerful controls allow you to set the extent of the six image distortions available -- flipping left to right or upside down, swirling, distorting the size of parts of the image, and making it fuzzy or wavy. It definitely pays to experiment to find your favourite effects.

In addition to using your own image files (JPEG or bitmap), you can nominate Web sites as image sources (JPEG only) and choose between logging on for the purpose or using this feature only when already online. Another nice touch is that you can save a particularly spectacular screen to the clipboard for further use.

My only reservation about Photo Mishmash is that you need a speedy CPU for good results. Apart from that, it's an ingenious product that stands out in a very crowded field.

You can set the width of the screen envelope used by the program, the video mode and a range of graphics parameters that are worth experimenting with. It's quickest and most colourful in 8-bit modes -- helpful if you don't have the latest in graphics hardware.

Geiss operates interactively with keyboard controls for changing parameters, switching to new waveforms, randomly generating a new screen, and even voting on your favourites; the program saves the top 10 selections which can be called up at will. The downside of this arrangement is that you need to hit Esc to recommence work.

Geiss can also interact with sound input from any source. Audio CD player controls are included, so it's pretty easy to try your favourite CD -- you can always enjoy the music even if Geiss doesn't improve it! If you enjoy the results, check out the Winamp plug-in version available from the author's Web site.

Provided that your system is fast enough, Geiss is a great alternative to more conventional screensavers --and it won't cost you a penny!

You can display images at their original size, or take advantage of several resizing options. Images can be stretched full-screen, though this can look pretty ghastly. More sensibly, you can make them as large as possible while keeping their original aspect ratio, or simply shrink images which are too large for the screen. These processes are handled quickly and effectively.

Screen Paver's best feature is its many image transitions, ranging from simple slides to complex wipes. You can use these in any combination for a much more varied presentation than the usual slideshow. Other options include showing image file names, setting the background colour, and changing images at a selected interval or manually, via a mouse-click or the arrow keys.

This is a well-priced application that does its job well. It's recommended for those with large virtual art galleries.

The program uses a 'recording' of the author's drawing, created on a touchpad, to drive an animated hand around your screen, alternately drawing and blending colours. Display options include changing the colour depth and screen size, setting the drawing speed, and choosing the drawings you'd like to see. Unless you're extremely patient, avoid the lower speeds -- if your graphics hardware is a bit sluggish you can move things along by making the hand disappear, but it isn't nearly so interesting to watch.

Drawing Hand is only packaged with a single drawing, but a varied collection can be downloaded from the author's site. Artistic souls can also purchase a program to create their own collection -- a process that probably requires some patience.

The evaluation version of Drawing Hand is spoilt a little by a really annoying nag device -- a sizeable floating reminder notice that doesn't go away. Don't let this put you off if you're looking for something different in screensavers -- it's well worth a try.

The program initially lists all screensavers found in the Windows directory, and allows you to select those you'd like to use. You can expand this list by adding any that you've stored in other directories or drives. You can run your selection in sequence or at random, set their duration, and specify their order or relative frequency. For greater variation you can set up individual collections of savers, each with their own settings.

Serandom's System Tray icon gives rapid access to several useful functions: double-clicking brings up its Settings dialog, and the right-click menu options include starting or disabling the current screensaver and calling up the Display Properties dialog.

If you'd like to make the most of your collection of screensavers, Serandom is an excellent way to do it.