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Animated Screensaver Maker 4.1 Giveaway
$29.77
EXPIRED

Giveaway of the day — Animated Screensaver Maker 4.1

With Animated Screensaver Maker you easily create animation by yourself.
$29.77 EXPIRED
User rating: 234 20 comments

Animated Screensaver Maker 4.1 was available as a giveaway on December 25, 2014!

Today Giveaway of the Day
$49.95
free today
Helps you get back all kinds of lost or deleted data on Android devices.

Many screensaver builders allow you to create only slideshow screensavers or use only previously-created animations. But with Animated Screensaver Maker you easily create animation by yourself.

For example, you can add weather effects, turn a photo into an underwater world with moving fish, or create a beautiful sea background. You can easily make a seaside scene, add weather effects, or use any of several other animated effects and objects!

System Requirements:

Windows XP/ Vista/ 7/ 8

Publisher:

DesktopPaints.com

Homepage:

http://www.desktoppaints.com/about.php?product=ss_maker

File Size:

27.5 MB

Price:

$29.77

GIVEAWAY download basket

Developed by CyberLink Corp.
Developed by PhotoInstrument
Create, manage, copy and edit custom images.
Developed by Mirillis Ltd.

Comments on Animated Screensaver Maker 4.1

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#17

I see my comment r/t the past hour and a half of frustration was not worthy of publishing. I still at 10 minutes left have had O luck in registering the software with the given code, although I have screenshots of it being successfully activated. SO. I suspect this being a TECHNICAL problem I shall have to append to the freaking forums. Thankx.

Reply   |   Comment by Kathy Boulier  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#16

If you want to "save" your screen there's only 2 ways, either a blank screen or put it on standby. There was a rumour when computers started that the earlier monitors would burn an permanent image on the screen if the image remained constant. I think this was just a myth as I've never heard or seen any proof of this.

Reply   |   Comment by Peter  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-3)
#15

Thank you, thank you! I missed the last giveaway and requested a repeat a while ago :-) I love my new toy for Christmas - yes I know a lot mark down screensavers as they are not 'useful' but they are FUN and get a big thumbs up from me - downloaded and installed on windows 7 home edition and working perfectly.

Reply   |   Comment by dragonqueen  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)
#14

The description at the top of this page does not adequately describe the extent or number of effects that can be applied to a still image to "animate" it.

Using a version of this software from a few years ago, I quickly created very nice screensavers (mostly of family, friends, animals, etc.) with fog, sunbeams, snow, rippling water, grass & trees gently swaying in a simulated wind, kids around a Halloween witch's cauldron, etc., all with nice results that other people seemed to really appreciate receiving.

This page (Animation Maker Manual - DesktopPaints) lists the available effects with online video examples:

http://www.desktoppaints.com/faqpg.php

It is simple to brush the chosen effect onto the area of the picture you wish to affect. You can then vary certain aspects/parameters of each effect applied (intensity, transparency, frequency, angle, number, etc., depending on the effect) before saving your "masterpiece".

The quality of the effects should satisfy most casual users for the effort required (easy) and price asked (not too high -- especially today!). No doubt some of our other online commenters will mention free alternatives.

It's a fun piece of software. Thanks, DTP & GOTD, for this updated offer!

Reply   |   Comment by harpo2448  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)
#13

I cannot seem to add my idea to the above ideas box.

BUT.... add a way to add text, a basic requirement for software of this kind.

Reply   |   Comment by Henk Van Helmond  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

Henk, in "Miscellaneous" ("Standard" tab of animations), you will find “Static text” and “Scrolling text”.

Reply   |   Comment by ouialaraison  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)
#12

Gives errors when starting on Windows XP:

first message:
render_wnd
Switching to the reference rasterizer, a software device that implements the entire Direct3D feature set, but runs very slowly.

2nd message right after this is:
render_wnd
Failed creating the Direct3D device.

The program won't run.
Any idea what is wrong or is there something missing on my pc?
Does this require .NET Framework?

Reply   |   Comment by R  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#11

I will play with this. Of course it's not very useful with those modern screens, but nevertheless.

Installed without hassle and seems very nice. The examples offered are really nice.

Reply   |   Comment by Piotr Obminski  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#10

A welcome change from screen savers that do nothing but shuffle photo's.

After playing about for a little while, I can see how almost anyone with a bit of patience could create themselves a half decent Screen Saver, albeit with a few things to learn about the program.

All in all not bad, it's worth giving a try at least...

Merry Christmas to all,

uk

Reply   |   Comment by ukdirector  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)
#9

I had another product (animated wallpaper maker) by this same developer that I had purchased. This giveaway reminded me of it since I hadn't used it for a while. I ran it and got "there's a new update ...." so I checked to make sure it was registered to me first and it was, so I went ahead and did the update. Only after everything completed did I find out I would have to pay again. Why couldn't they mention it was a paid update? DO they think I'll simply pay now instead of trying to revert back to my previous version? They knew I would have to pay before I started the update because part of the message was "you have version x and there's a new version y available.."

I suspect this screen saver product has the same "trick" if you buy the application, so my little complaint is just against the sellers upgrade "tactics", not the performance of the product.

Reply   |   Comment by jaf  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#8

This is addressed to those of you that downloaded the previous giveaway of this item OR to the developers of the product:

* How is this different from the previous giveaway?

* Can you giveaway the screensavers or wallpapers developed using this product? (This question was asked before by Havoc above)

Thanks and Merry Christmas to All of You and your families.

Reply   |   Comment by Madmaler  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-5)
#7

Thanks GAOTD and Desktop paints. This is a great company and its products are awesome if you know its many creative uses.

Reply   |   Comment by drvajra  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)
#6

Whenever a readymade screensaver or animated wallpaper by DesktopPaints is offered here (as recently as 5 days ago) I regret that they are so poorly done and advertise so badly for the powerful software they are made with. Desktop Paints three twin (or is it triplets?) programs: Animated Wallpaper Maker, Animated Screensaver Maker and DP Animation Maker (same gui, full compatibility for projects saved in DP proprietary format .asw, the only difference being the format of the output) themselves have been absent here for over a year but, in the meantime, their dev’ has kept on working hard and this brand new 4.x version features numerous big and small improvements (changelog on their blog - but this last one seems to be missing) which altogether make the software both much richer and more pleasant to use. I will focus on the main ones (my comment will be valid for the 3 programs - hopefully, the two others will be here soon!):

One of your most frequent suggestions on this site to the dev' (right after the inevitable “make it cheaper”, “make extension packs free” etc.) has been heard: the new “add animation” window, which has been redesigned for better readability and can be left open for an easier access and multiple loads, now features a preview thumbnail for each animation or effect. They are sorted by pack (the one provided free with the program + the ones you can buy) which is probably easier for the dev', but not for the user. If you are looking for a butterfly, for instance, you will find some in the original pack, others in the extension pack, more in the nature pack, and maybe in the underwat… no, strangely, no butterflies in the underwater pack, but you see what I mean.
The picture you enter can now be resized and rotated (to rotate it: place your cursor at some distance of one of its corners and move) manually in the main window. If you enter a readymade animated GIF (accepted by DP programs, transparency supported), each of the frames, now displayed in the “add animation” window, can be moved, cloned, deleted, or even given a specific display time. And you can also create your own little animations with GIFs, PNGs etc. (but once displayed, you can’t go back and modify them – a suggestion for a future version).

Also, in earlier versions, animated GIFs had only one speed setting for both the animation itself and its motion on the background, and some animations like lightning, for instance, had only one setting controlling both speed and frequency. This was absurd; there are now two distinct settings when required.

Regarding animations, the major improvement is that they no longer have to be permanent. Depending on what they are, they can now start or stop, freeze or move, fade in or out during playback. There are two modes. The random mode is not entirely random, as you already have access to some settings, like the duration of play and pause, fade in/out etc. but the manual mode is much more sophisticated: you can set a time loop, thus theoretically create a long and complex sequence of events synchronized with one another, or with your soundtrack, with text etc., and really tell a story. I said “theoretically” because in practice… Well, see for yourself, but as far as I am concerned, until they make it more user-friendly (i.e. a single timeline, easily readable on a large window, with fixed time benchmarks on which you can precisely position all your animations and see all what you have done at the same time) or I develop better performing neurons, whichever happens first, I give up. Pity, it is a brilliant new feature, and I had many ideas for it (like showing, with a superposition of masks fading out successively to reveal what’s behind, the growth of a child, or the succession of seasons or moments of the day, with different animations and sounds for each one, etc.), but, as I predict the majority of you people, I will just try to make the most of the random mode (which can be de-randomized to a certain extent). It is only leisure, after all, and leisure is meant to relax me, not make me exhaust my vast international repertoire of curses.

A last improvement, which I know matters for some of you: dual monitor support.

You can load your projects made with previous versions in this new one (some settings will need to be redone and you might have to re-enter some animations to make new settings and capabilities show), but the opposite is not true, so do not expect to make an animated wallpaper by entering in your old version of Animated Wallpaper Maker a project enriched in this new version of Animated Screensaver Maker.

Although, version after version, DP programs give more and more the feeling that it would require an engineering university degree to fully understand and take advantage of their zillions of features and settings, using them only basically can keep your eight year old, on his/her own or with a little bit of help, quiet, entertained, and much more creative than with cartoons or video games, during an entire rainy afternoon, while he/she animates school or family photos, or designs from scratch playing at random with brushes and sliders and using the animations, pictures etc. provided. And you will be offered a digital masterpiece like you offered your drawings to your parents, but, hey, this is the 21st century.

In conclusion, to thank you all, especially Levitiquetus - and, btw, Marshland, it is HER great post, not HIS :) - for the gorgeous appreciation I received for my comment yesterday, here is a little Christmas present, made with DP Animated Wallpaper Maker and Animated Screensaver Maker (old versions):

http://ahp.li/5c9ef31515a173de5f75.zip

(4 items: 2screensavers + 2 animated wallpapers. The zip is big because of the soundtracks, but everything is 100% clean and safe)

Reply   |   Comment by ouialaraison  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+55)

Thank you for the detailed comments. I'm also a regular user of the DP products (Screensaver, Wallpaper, and Animation Maker). I viewed your very interesting demos and I have a question. Can you please give us some hints on how to make the custom clocks? Merci.

Reply   |   Comment by Hayden :)  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+10)

Hello Hayden! To include a clock, I click “Add animation”, I go to the "Standard" tab and it is the 2nd animation in "Miscellaneous". I select it, I click “Apply selected animation” to load it with its red circled default dial, I select the clock in the animations list to have its properties displayed, and from there I click the little folder on the right side to browse and replace the default with any picture I like, of a dial or anything else. If I want to use some element of my background as a dial, or if I want no dial at all, just the hands, I replace the default dial with an empty transparent PNG image, which I made in a graphics soft supporting transparency, like the freeware PhotoFiltre, for instance. Voilà! Have fun!

Reply   |   Comment by ouialaraison  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+6)
#5

Used previous versions of this program from prior giveaways and liked it. A friend was just asking me the other day for a "winter screensaver", and this giveaway appears! :-)

One typo the publisher should address is when clicking on the button or menu item to register, the prompt says: "Enter your avtivation code". obviously should read "activation".

And after the registration is complete, the "Register" menu item and button (key) should either be removed or greyed out, as registration is not needed any more.

Thanks!

Reply   |   Comment by hcsnet  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+16)
#4

It was offered before and I actually liked it. Installation and activation was easy. Make sure you remove any previous install before installing the new version.

Easy to use if you quickly want to create a screensaver. I would really like to know if I am allowed to upload the screen savers to my website for free distribution as it will not really be a commercial use.

Reply   |   Comment by Havoc  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+16)
#3

Many a times
DesktopPains had offered Animated Screensaver Maker and their other two programs DP Animation Maker and DP Animation Maker .
Each and every time all those programs got more than 70% thumbs down. I think this is just because of these program's less usefulness to general users. Otherwise all its features are really good . It gives you the chance to create your own customized wallpaper or Screensaver using lots of options. I was successful to create one but when I set that as wallpaper or screensaver the system became very slow .

So It is just like a nice toy with so many options for creating cool animation. I like to play with it whenever time permits me.

♣ Merry Christmas ♣

 Thanks 

Reply   |   Comment by Jahid  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+39)
#2

I had version 3.2.5 from an earlier giveaway. I chose to install this into the same folder. The installation process was smooth until the registration. The first attempt to enter the key locked the program up. I had to use task manager to exit it. The second attempt worked okay. Another concern is after the install was complete, I was warned by Winpatrol of a new Windows Service being set to run on my system. I rejected this offer as I have plenty of Windows Services running. I hope the publisher can explain this. Either way, thank you GOTD team and DesktopPaints.com

Reply   |   Comment by dadams  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+44)
#1

Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas Everybody!!! :D


But where's the expected Christmas Screensaver?

I really enjoy those special occasion screensavers, if only to mark the special days. And what day is more important than Christmas Day?

Oh well. Hopefully next year!

Reply   |   Comment by Santa Claus  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-63)
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