Special thanks to my wife and friend Terry, without her help and encouragement there wouldn't be a Screen Gear Pro! She is also the one who created all the cool graphics. I would also like to mention that I'm dedicating Screen Gear Pro to my baby girl, as she was born the same month I started working on this release! By the way, that's me behind the computer ( in the about splash screen ) working hard on Screen Gear Pro so my wife and daughter ( in the balloon inset ) can go shopping for all those great baby things.
Screen Gear requirements:
1.) Macintosh or compatible computer running System 7 or newer.
2.) QuickTime 3.0 recommended ( So you can take advantage of WAV and AVI file types )
3.) Sound Manager 3.0 or newer
4.) Minimum 600k of free RAM
5.) Minimum 1 MB of free hard disk space.
Q. What does Screen Gear Pro do?
A. Screen Gear Pro is a screen saver and a simple presentation tool. Screen Gear Pro will take a folder full of AIFF, PICT, JPEG and QuickTime files and turn them into an elegant slide show, fading one file into the next while playing narration, music or both. How's that for ease of use!
Q. How do you use Screen Gear Pro?
A. Refer to the "QuickStart" or "Using Screen Gear" section.
Q. How much does Screen Gear Pro cost?
A.The shareware fee for Screen Gear Pro is $15 for a single copy.
WHAT'S NEW?
• Totally new preferences interface!
• You can have Screen Gear Pro launch an application (like a director movie) instead of Screen Gear Pro!
• Option for making Finder frontmost application everytime you start Screen Gear.
• Option for making startup file of Screen Gear Pro in startup folder. Now you can have Screen Gear Pro startup everytime you start your computer without having to hassel with setting it up yourself.
• Option for switching your active applications via hot keys. This feature also displays memory information for applications as well as the system memory.
• Check box option for asking for the password to open the preferences.
• Setting that allows you to set the delay seconds for the sleep corner.
• Option that turns off the non sleep corner icons.
• Option that allows Image (PICT & JPEG) to fill the screen proportionately.
• Check box for setting your background color to any color in the color wheel.
• Check box for stopping the presentation on the last file in the folder.
• 13 additional speeds for the fade transition (great for those fast machines).
• Option for positioning the QuickTime files on the screen.
• Option for setting the size of QuickTime files.
• Option for playback of QuickTime Movies at different speeds.
• With QuickTime 3.0 installed playback of AVI and WAV files is now possible.
• Option for viewing file information while viewing presentation.
• Feature that allows you preview your files in thumbnails when making your file selection.
• File menu item that allows you convert files to QuickTime.
• File menu item for converting QuickTime files to other file types supported by QuickTime.
• Reduced Screen Gear Pro's RAM requirements to 600k.
• Complete use of Screen Gear Pro's features for 15 days for non-registered copies. After the 15 day trial period many of Screen Gear's features become disabled. Unlike the previous versions though, you will still be able to use Screen Gear Pro as a screen saver. Once Screen Gear Pro is registered all features become available again.
HOW TO REGISTER
Screen Gear Pro has the following pricing.
1-4 single user licenses, $15 per user
5-9 single user licenses, $13 per user
10+ single user licenses, $10 per user
A Site License costs $150 and covers
all locations for your organization within a 160 kilometer radius
of your site (100 miles). One big advantage of a Site License is
that you do not need to keep track of how many people at your site
are using the software.
A World-Wide License costs $300 and it covers all locations for your organization.
Contact us for pricing information for trade shows or other special situations
If you are a registered user of a previous version of Screen Gear you can use that information to register this version of Screen Gear Pro!
Paying for Screen Gear Pro is fairly simple. Open the "Register" program that accompanies Screen Gear Pro. Enter your name, your email address and the number of single user licenses you desire for each program you wish to purchase (or Site or Word-Wide licenses). Save or Copy or Print the data from the Register program and send the data and payment to Kagi. Kagi handles all the payment processing.
If paying with Credit Card or First Virtual, you can email or fax the data to Kagi. Their email address is sales@kagi.com and their fax number is +1 510 652-6589. You can either Copy the data from Register and paste into the body of an email message or you can Save the data to a file and you can attach that file to an email message. There is no need to compress the data file, it's already pretty small. If you have a fax modem, just Print the data to the Kagi fax number.
Payments sent via email are processed within 3 to 4 days. You will receive an email acknowledgement when it is processed. Payments sent via fax take up to 10 days and if you provide a correct internet email address you will receive an email acknowledgement.
If you are paying with Cash or USD Check you should print the data using the Register application and send it to the address shown on the form, which is:
Kagi
1442-A Walnut Street #392-M3
Berkeley, California 94709-1405
USA
You can pay with a wide variety of cash from different countries but at present if you pay via check, it must be a check drawn in US Dollars. Kagi cannot accept checks in other currencies, the conversion rate for non-USD checks is around USD 15 per check and that is just not practical. If you have a purchasing department, you can enter all the data into the Register program and then select Invoice as your payment method. Print three copies of the form and send it to your accounts payable people. You might want to highlight the line that mentions that they must include a copy of the form with their payment. Kagi can not invoice your company, you need to act on my behalf and generate the invoice and handle all the paperwork on your end.
Please do not fax or email payment forms that indicate Cash, Check or Invoice as the payment method. As far as we know, there is still no technology to transfer physical objects via fax or email and without the payment, the form cannot be processed. Payments send via postal mail take time to reach Kagi and then up to 10 days for processing. Again, if you include a correct email address, you will hear from Kagi when the form is processed. Screen Gear Pro has a protection scheme and when you pay, we tell you how to indicate to Screen Gear Pro that you have paid the registration fee. If you do not have an email address, please enter your complete postal address and please remember, we do not know what country you live in so please enter that into the postal address also.
Assuming that Kagi provides you with the registration code: If you do not have an email address you should consider selecting the Postcard Receipt so that Kagi can inform you of your registration code. Kagi transmits the registration codes via email and paid postcard receipt only.
Once you receive your registration number for Screen Gear Pro do the following:
Click the "I've registered" button in the "Registration" section of the "Set Preferences..." menu. The registration information has to be typed exactly as it appears in the registration document that Kagi provided as it is case sensitive. Alert, after you have recieved your registration information please keep it in a safe place.
QUICKSTART
• When we created Screen Gear Pro we wanted to make it easy to use with minimal work on the part of the user. To this end all you need to do is double-Click the "Screen Gear" application and dismiss the about dialog (Only present on non-registered versions of Screen Gear Pro). Next select the folder that you want to view from the "Select File..." option of the "File" menu. Finally select "Start" from the "File" menu. That's all there is to it! If you would like more information on how to use the keyboard to navigate these files press the "?" key while viewing the files. Or check out the "NAVIGATION" section in the preferences.
• If you really want to make Screen Gear Pro a screen saver and have it start every time you start your computer, then do the following: Double-Click the "Screen Gear" application, then check the "Start Screen when you start your Mac" box in the "General" section of the "Set Preferences..." menu. That's it! Now every time you start your computer Screen Gear Pro will automatically start as well.
That's all there is to it! If you would like more detailed information on using Screen Gear, refer to the "Using Screen Gear" section.
USING Screen Gear Pro
• To display or listen to an AIFF, PICT, JPEG or QuickTime file types with Screen Gear Pro, just place the file, files or alias's to files in a folder. From the "File Menu" choose "Select File..." and locate the folder with files you would like Screen Gear to present. Note: You can use a similar procedure to change folders or jump to an image while Screen Gear is active by pressing O and then select your file. You may need to turn on the disable mouse to ensure that Screen Gear doesn't detect mouse movement and wakeup. Then as long as Screen Gear Pro is running and is the front most application(currently active application) select "Start..." from the file menu or press the Command + S keys
As an alternative you can move your mouse to a sleep corner if you have previously selected a sleep corner and Screen Gear Pro is running. If Screen Gear Pro doesn't activate imediately check your sleep corner delay settings.
Lastly wait until Screen Gear Pro has timed due to no activity (that could be a long time depending on your settings). Now sit back and enjoy your presentation!
• While a presentation is running you can press the “?” key to see a list of keyboard navigation commands.
• Images will be displayed in the center of your screen while movies can be located anywhere on the screen. Each image will be shown at the physical dimensions specified for that particular file. If that size is bigger than your current screen can accommodate, the image will be adjusted to fit your screen. (be aware this can cause some distortion to the image). Selecting "Full Screen" allows the image to be stretched proportionately to the size of your screen. Selecting the "Fill the Screen" option in the preferences this will cause all pictures and movies to fill the entire screen. Note: If the files don't maintain an aspect ratio similar to the monitor i.e. 160 x 120 or 320 x 240 or 640 x 480 etc. The images will become distorted and may cause undesirable results. Although this can cause some amusing effects.
• Unless you have a very fast computer and hard disk drive, the size of your images may affect the rate at which the screen changes, because larger files or JPEG's will take longer to load (they have to be decompressed). You can resize your image(s) to fit your monitor at 72 dpi non JPEG or keep the files at their original size and wait the extra loading time.
• The images will be presented in alphabetical / numerical order. You can change the order by adding a letter or number to the front of each name — for example “aBook,” versus “bBook” and so on.
• If you have a movie that you would like to play on top of a picture(this is the same for QuickTime sound files) all you need to do is have the movie follow directly after the picture — an example
would look like the following providing your folder "View" option is by name.
CoolPic1p "PICT or JPEG file or Black Picture"
CoolPic1s "QuickTime file"
CoolPic2p "PICT or JPEG file or Black Picture"
CoolPic2s "QuickTime file"
CoolPic3p "PICT or JPEG file or Black Picture"
CoolPic3s "QuickTime file"
and so on... Note: files can be an alias of a file in a different location.
The picture that is being displayed with QuickTime file type will be presented for the duration of the QuickTime file only.
If you don't want the QuickTime movie or sound file to play over your picture(it will by default - remember any picture that the movie follows) then create a small colored picture. This file should be the same color that have selected as your background color so you won't notice the difference. You can copy and rename the file or make an alias (saves space) as necessary to use it in multiple locations.
• If you pause a movie by pressing the space bar you can continue the movie where you paused by pressing the right arrow. If you press the left arrow the movie will play backwards and will start looping until you stop it. Pressing the pause key and then pressing the right arrow automatically places you in the pause play mode. This will cause Screen Gear Pro to stop displaying the next picture or movie until you press the right arrow key again. This is perfect for presentations so you have control over the playback of the slide show. To place Screen Gear Pro in the auto play mode just press the P key and the screen will automatically change to the next picture and will continue there after.
• There are many different ways to combine your files to create all sorts of interesting effects, don't be afraid to experiment. To change the order and add or remove files just go to the location of your files make your changes and then re-activate Screen Gear Pro.
• If you place an AIFF file into the Screen Gear Pro folder you can have a music file or several music files playing in order in the backgound. The AIFF files will play independantly of pictures or QuickTime files. In other words if the music is longer than the 10 seconds that the picture is set for displaying, the music will continue to play through the next picture and so on. Once the music is finished and there are no other AIFF files to play, the music will start playing from the beginning of the first AIFF file again.
• If you would like to adjust the volume while Screen Gear Pro is running you can press the S key and then press any number from 0 - 9. The number 9 would set the volume to the loudest setting and the number 0 would turn the sound off. Once the S key has been pressed the volume control remains active until the file fades into the next file. This will allow you to adjust the volume without constantly pressing the S key. Note: If you aren't fast enough in changing your volume settings and your image changes to the next image while you're in the middle of setting the volume, you could accidently change the frames per second settings.
HELP WHAT DO I DO?
Q. Oops, I forgot my password and I keep getting locked out of my computer when Screen Gear Pro activates! What do I do?
A. The best thing to do is force Screen Gear Pro to quit by pressing and holding "option and command" and then pressing the "esc' key. This should allow for you to save and then quit any open applications that you may have. After none of the applications are running restart the computer. FYI you should restart the computer anytime you force an application to quit. Once you have restarted the computer start Screen Gear Pro if it's not already started. Then go to the "Preferences..." menu option under the "File" menu and check the "Password" check box. From here you have two options, you can enter a new password or select the "No Password" button. If you can't access the preferences to change your password, go to the "Preferences" folder located inside "System Folder" and place the file called "SCGRPro Preferences" into the trash.
Q. I keep getting these irritating messages that say that I'm out of memory. What do I do?
A. Screen Gear Pro should be able to handle most of the memory needs by itself but occasionally you may need to quit one or more open applications or reduce the bit depth of the monitor ( from thousands to 256 colors etc.) if you don't need it. Sometimes you may need to increase the application's "Preferred size" by selecting Screen Gear Pro and choosing the "File" menu's "Get Info". If you still can't get the memory you need, turn on virtual RAM in the memory control panels. The drawback is that your performance could suffer, but it will work in a pinch. Lastly you may need to buy some more RAM, fortunately it's much cheaper these days.
Q. I want to register Screen Gear Pro but I don't have access to the Internet. What do I do?
A. Open the "Register" program that came with Screen Gear Pro fill out the information and print it. Place the printed paper and your check in a self addressed envelope and mail to (Kagi 1442-A Walnut Street #392-M3 Berkeley, California 94709-1405 USA).
Q. I can't find the register program or I don't have a printer to print and mail the registration form and I don't have access to the Internet. What do I do?
A. You can always get a fresh copy of Screen Gear Pro and the register program from <http://www.screengear.com.gu/>. If you don't have a printer and you don't have access to the Internet just put your "Name, Company, Address, City, State, ZIP or Postal CODE, Country, Phone Number on a piece of paper. Place the paper and your check in a self addressed envelope and mail to (Kagi 1442-A Walnut Street #392-M3 Berkeley, California 94709-1405 USA).
KNOWN CONFLICTS
Screen Savers
• Sorry Screen Gear Pro doesn't support multiple monitors at this time. Look for this support in the future.
• Don't use Screen Gear Pro while another screen saver is active. Using any screen saver while using Screen Gear Pro as a screen saver may cause unpredictable results, or predictable depending on how you look at it. An example might be as follows: you are doing a presentation using Screen Gear Pro and you have another screen saver running in the background set to become active in 5 minutes. Now lets also add that your presentation is self running. At around 5 minutes after you start the presentation the other screen saver becomes active and blows the presentation. Oops we wouldn't want that!
• Having Screen Gear Pro set to sleep too early, or not moving your mouse to a non-sleep corner before you do a task that requires processor activity but not user activity, may cause Screen Gear Pro to sleep when you don't want it to. Make adjustments accordingly.
• When an Apple language kit such as JLK, KLK, CLK is installed and you want to use keyboard navigation during a slide show, make sure that before you start, you select "U.S." language from the menu. Otherwise you might not get the desired results from your keyboard.
• If you try to view a ( PICT, JPEG, MOOV or listen to an AIFF or MOOV ) file that was created on anything other than a Mac you might not be able to use the file. The reason is that the other platforms don't use resource information and Screen Gear Pro relies on this information to identify the file types. If you would like to read these files you will have to use ResEdit to open a resource fork and type in the file type. Or you can open the file with your favorite Mac graphic, movie or sound editor and re-save the file.
Other Programs
• Screen Gear Pro is not compatible with RAM Doubler™ if Apple's hard disk driver is installed. This incompatibility only happens when Screen Gear is playing AIFF sound files. Third party hard disk drivers seem to work fine. The system's built-in virtual memory works fine as well.
• Screen Gear Pro is not compatible with GoMac's keyboard commands while Screen Gear is running in the presentation mode. Make sure to wake up Screen Gear Pro if you want to use GoMac's features.
