Hey guys, I used it on an equipped! PC, it's very nice & works perfectly. The video card should be able to open it.

It's a very nice software :)

For me the same! XP SP3
It gives an error that the program has encountered a problem & it exits.
"Open image" & many other features are NOT active; it doesn't even open the samples!!

Any reason please??!!

Me the same!! Error Msg. that the program has encountered a problem & it exits!! (XP SP3)

"Open image" & many other options are not even active!!

Hi, thanks for this nice little piece of fun software. I am however having trouble with the registration. I am repeatedly told, about every 10 minutes via popup, that I need to register the program, but I did so [I thought]. The popup is very annoying when I'm working on something else and I'm considering deleting the program entirely, although I'd rather not. Can anyone help please? Thankyou muchly... iMagical

I installed on Windows 7 64bits and I cannot see the demo wallpapers?
It says that I have no 3D drivers on my system. Which drivers are needed? Could you help. Thank you.

Nice looking software. Easy to set up and get going. I run Vista Ultimate x64. I only found one drawback:

When running multiple displays, the image get split between the two monitors. I see the left half of the current image on my left monitor and the right half on the right monitor. I was unable to find any option to have the image confined to just one of the monitors. Maybe I missed something.

Thank you very much # 30 for all your help and suggestions. Thanks for caring. you are a very nice person. I did everything you said plus a few other things and after installing again it still had the same issues. with exact same problems.
I know about the driver issues.because I have had problems with drivers and Nero since I updated to xp3. With very little hope in getting that fixed also. I really appreciated your help and once again thank you for taking the time out to help.
But on a more positive note, maybe I can get this another time. I just have no more time to mess with it and try to get it fixed. Have a very nice week.

Sincerely
RJ

Windows 7 64 bit. 12 gb ram. core i7.
this program froze up my system, and wud not let me use anything on my desktop while it was running.

I had the version offered here before. I just installed over top of this and ran the activation. The program ran fine and was registered on my XP SP2 machine. Be aware that a wallpaper manager will attempt to be put into your start up programs. Luckily Anvir warned me so I could delete it. As always thank you to the GAOTD team for all of your efforts to get us programs. Thank you to the publisher, desktopPaints for the offer.

Thumbs down cause it doesn't work. Love the concept & have 400GB RAM so was all prepared to love it. I have windows 7, 64-bit and it's brand new. I've uninstalled & reinstalled a couple of times. If I let it run right after installing before closing, then it "appears" to work beautifully. I played around with it, made a new wallpaper, etc. But, when I went to save it, it wouldn't set as wallpaper and the program stopped working. When I clicked to activate at the end of installation but before the program opened, it appears to registers. But, when the above scenario happened, it claimed it was the unregistered version.

So, I uninstalled & reinstalled. Didn't allow it to open, closed the installation window & clicked to active. It again claimed it was registered. However, when I go to open the program & try to access the examples, it can't find any of them. It was looking directly on the C drive. However, the program automatically puts them here:
C:\Windows\System 32\config\systemprofile\documents\Animated Wallpaper Maker

HOWEVER, I can't find that folder in Windows Explorer myself (even when I change the settings to show hidden files & folder & to show protected system files). Within the program itself, I CAN "browse" & navigate to that folder to open 1 of the examples or the 1 I saved, which apparently, I did successfully save.

It's a shame..lookes like a fun piece of software I would love to play around with. :-(

Downloaded and attempted to run this program this morning. Continued to fail. Uninstalled it and decided to wait and see if the issues happened to get fixed. So I downloaded it again this afternoon and STILL received the same error messages repeatedly. Evidently the issues for Windows 7 were not addressed.

I do not have any other problems with my other programs and a system restore as mentioned in another post would not be a solution for me.

Please check the issues with this and let us know!!!!

THANKS GAOTD!!!!

#6: "... It’s probably the way you have your system set up, or maybe you are running another program that conflicts with today’s giveaway."

The GOTD app itself may not play nice with other apps etc., but the wallpapers produced are self-contained, with no other .dll or .exe or other files used or listed in SysInternal's Process Explorer. Yet I still find it spotty [though much improved] re: whether they'll run or not, which points to something beyond a software conflict with the app itself IMHO. I could of course be wrong. FWIW systems that failed had latest updates including drivers, it doesn't seem a 64 or 32 bit issue, nor does it seem a hardware conflict as it'll work on 1 OS but not another Windows version on the same PC.

* * *

#13: "I just had a thought perhaps it requires a specific version of DirectX. That would explain it as I believe XP SP3 comes with DirectX 9 standard whereas (correct me if I am wrong) Vista comes with DirectX 10. Can anyone confirm ?"

I see no indications that DX is involved in the registry etc., & prior versions produced wallpaper that wouldn't run in 7 with a DX10 graphics card & DX through 11 installed, but it would run on this same rig in XP Pro SP3 32 -- on another it runs in 7 64 but poorly in Vista 32!

* * *

#32: "Im running Win XP SP3, and i have some problems with register it i think. L lauch in Activate.exe, it puts up a code in AWM, i c/p the code to the box under and i press apply the box just disappears, and i can still try to register it, which i suppose means that its not registered"

When you run Activate.exe [preferably as admin in Vista/7], the GOTD applet contacts their servers to make sure the date's right & registration is authorized, then 1 key & 2 values are added to Windows' registry. That's it... when you run Animated Wallpaper Maker it will read those values & determine it's registered. Generally the only potential problem is if writing those values to the registry is forbidden, which is why in Vista/7 they recommend wight-click -> run activate.exe as admin.

Compatibility is improved in this version of Animated Wallpaper Maker [version history here: http://goo.gl/ygPiD ] & it shows as animated wallpaper will now run for me in 7 ult SP1 RC 64 *If/When* run as admin. In tests it's still far from universally compatible though, both the app & the wallpaper it creates, so it's not a bad idea to back up 1st, & once installed/running, test a wallpaper created using one of the included examples -- it's still not to the point where I'd suggest handing out wallpapers you've made unless it's clear to the end user it may/may not work. As previous versions it will put a 3D graphics card or chip to work, & your mileage can vary depending on the hardware used, along with OS etc.

Using Animated Wallpaper Maker you basically start with an image & add FX... many are distortions, like water ripples, &/or you can add sprites, objects that travel along a path you define -- note that these sprites are otherwise static, so that while a fish for example may move across the screen, it'll never swim. When you're satisfied with your project, you export it as a stand-a-lone, portable executable (.exe) file -- note also that a registry key is created & used if you set the wallpaper to hide the configuration dialog, & another is created/used if you set it to start with Windows. [*If* you likewise need to run as admin, & the confirmation dialog is a prob., check on-line for directions on using Windows Task Scheduler, with the wallpaper either starting on schedule or via a special shortcut on-demand]

Installation adds the program's folder [~9 MB with 10 files], an examples folder to My Documents [~1.7 MB with 4 files], a "Thraex Software" folder to Common Files [~316 KB with 1 file], the file "common_res.dll" to the system folder, an uninstaller file to Windows' folder, along with the expected Windows' Start Menu shortcuts. Four file type registry keys are added, & one, ".jpg;.jpeg;.jpe;.jfif;.bmp;.png" might pose a slight problem with software you've already installed. Otherwise you get a key for the program itself, one for uninstall, & 1 for the Thraex AutoUpdator.

I liked this software originally when I 1st saw it on GOTD some time ago... in fact I enjoyed several hours creating what I thought were some decent animated wallpapers with it. Then I tried to show them off, & found that universally they either ran poorly or wouldn't run at all on the systems I tried them on. And it wasn't/isn't solely a matter of hardware, as I've had some of these animated wallpapers run in 7 but not Vista on another PC. Personally, now that the wallpaper will run in 7, I'll likely play with it again, but it's nowhere near the top of my wish or to-do lists.

installed-wouldnt registar, like so many others lately. im one that figures if it stats out bad, its bound to have another problem down the road. im taking it out and wont reinstall. this is abt the 5th one the past month that just would not register full program ...

I am a regular user of GOTD and I am truly grateful for their service.

In regard to AWM file the Virus Total detected the following: Jiangmin 13.0.900 2010.11.10 Adware/Relevant.g

Adware is Adware, but is up to you if this short of ware bothers you.
I would like to see and hear from other users of GOTD more experienced in this area of malicious ware and give their honest comment.

Thanks GOTD.

Installed on Windows 7 Ultimate succesfully. Nice program. Easy to use. My desktop icons are in a frozen state (which they have to or the program wouldn't work correctly). Not bothered about that anyways since I like them where they are, where I put them. Made a wallpaper with my own music and it works great. Now that picture of a waterfall has movement and sound. I love this program. Thanks GOTD and Desktop Paint. Everybody have a good one and be safe.

Thank you GAOTD and Animated Wallpaper,

(Response #19) I re-entered the program with administrator login and able to create exe now, only with administrator I can do this though, I think this is to do with Vista?

Very colorful and thanks again,

i absolutely love this thing. thank you GOTD.

Noticed an error message pop-up right after launching it for the first time on XP Pro 32bit, but disappeared when the software's window appeared. I proceeded to try the 4 sample animation wallpapers, but kept getting the windows error reporting prompt whenever I tried to select one of them.

Gave up on it at this point and uninstalled it. Was a little startled to find all my desktop icons were frozen, but after rebooting the machine (which wasn't required for the uninstall), the icons returned to normal.

I don't know which "crowd" I am in here with respect to the feedback this program is getting.
I like "Animated Wallpaper Maker 2.5.0" and as with "Animated Screensaver Maker" it installed and runs perfectly on my non-English Windows XP Pro SP3 (fully patched) installation.
Thank you very much for a nice "Give Away"....

Downloaded/installed and registered with no problems. Have just finished taking my current wallpaper and made a mirrored reflection with slow moving water. Included my windchime sound I made (playing right now while I type) and have created something very relaxing. What a find for me. Thanks GAOTD and Desktop Paints. I love this. Installed on Windows XP SP3. Have a good day everyone.

Im running Win XP SP3, and i have some problems with register it i think. L lauch in Activate.exe, it puts up a code in AWM, i c/p the code to the box under and i press apply the box just disappears, and i can still try to register it, which i suppose means that its not registered.

Any help/support?
Thank you

This is very similar to the Animated Screensaver Maker that was the giveaway on 3 October.
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/animated-screensaver-maker/

Most of my comments there are applicable here too so I'll repeat them with minor adaptations to save you the trouble of going to the comment (#12) on the old page.


Although the software is basically nice I have several reservations.

1. Every time you start the program my firewall pops up telling me x:\Program Files\Common Files\Thraex Software\AutoUpdator\AutoUpdator.exe wants to contact the internet, which I obviously disallow. There is no option to disable this behaviour as is customary in well-behaved software. I, for the moment, had to rename the file in order to get rid of that. I prefer that over having my firewall blocking it by default just in case I would start it while having my firewall temporarily disabled. I very much dislike such behaviour in software and I know I'm not the only one. It would probably have no detrimental effect on the software's functioning to delete this directory with that file.

2. At start-up it always maximises itself and it doesn't 'remember' its last exit size/location as it should.

3. The Add Animation window is annoyingly small causing the need to use a scroll bar when I have a huge screen that would allow a much bigger dialog window which would allow me to select an animation without having to use a scroll bar. I don't understand why developers don't understand this should be done differently.

4. For saving the wallpaper it would be nice to be able to set a user-definable default path which you should be able to define in some options window. I mean... really... no 'Options' or 'Settings' window?

5. While viewing the wallpaper in the software itself with its window maximised and the image being fairly large there is a hardly noticeable CPU use but when previewing the wallpaper or it being the wallpaper CPU use is significant. The increase seems disproportionate. The app's process "Editor.exe" seems much more efficient than the animated wallpaper's process "Wallpaper Manager.exe".

6. Last time with the screensaver version I wanted to use the "Import image" option to add an image of the moon that I wanted to drift slowly across the sky. Unfortunately I didn't seem to be able to set a fixed level where the motion should occur resulting in the moon crawling over the foreground objects in the bottom of the screen or wherever it likes. I suggested this option should be added. Apparently it hasn't been added so far.

7. I also suggested it would be nice if you could constrain certain animations to certain areas of the screen. Also that a few more animations would be nice. Butterflies and hopping and pecking birds for instance. For such birds an area constraint would be necessary. The current animations seem to be the same as the screensaver maker. I expect both apps use the same underlying engine.

So... again: Nice... but still with ample room for improvement.

@.2 Robin Jones -- There's probably some kind of video driver conflict you're not going to be able to resolve... but trust me (I work in IT) - the first thing you always want to do when something weird is happening - is REBOOT. Re-booting resets dozens of Windows drivers and services and clears out caches that could be causing a conflict.

b)Re-install. I'd totally uninstall the offending application - and then, if you want to try it again, do the following.

1)Re-boot (again)
2)Disable your anti-virus, security software, firewalls, and anything else you can that might be running on start-up that will interfere with an installation. Also suspect are search/indexing type applications like Coppernic , automatic software updaters (Intuit has one that often interferes) - basically anything that monitors for new files. Those apps will see you installation as something bad and possibly poison it. Note that you could try booting into Safe Mode (which stops all that stuff from starting) but Safe Mode may not support the installer either.

3) With a clean re-boot and everything you can turn off -off. Try re-installing.

4) When the installation is complete, but before you start using the software - re-boot a third time.

If that works - you're all set. If you continue to get the error, there's probably something on your machine causing a low-level conflict, and that "thing" is often a device driver. So in that case you'd want to update all your video, mouse, and other hardware drivers and start again. Be sure to re-boot before trying the installation.

PS -It's not smart to use your real name on boards like this.

Hope that helps
Dr.Ishmar El

Great program! No problems installing on Win7 x64. Created an aquarium with lightning in it. ;-) Love it!

The "Water Mirror" effect as used by the "Seascape Example" DOES NOT WORK! It worked in the previous version (overwritten by installing this version), but now it not only has no animation.. it even causes the background image not to show in the Preview. The other animations and animated objects seem to work fine - WinXP-SP2 Factory on-board graphics circuit 512 MB RAM.
--GeneB

Works perfecto on win xp sp2. Thanks, great app.

# 15 drvajra

If you have truly installed the program and you love it so much, surely as a doctor? you have the intelligence to investigate the save options without asking silly questions here. The same goes for the addition of "flying birds" and "butterflies".
Your stupid comments have been remarked upon before in here - If you want to know how the program works follow the procedures like most other people and INSTALL IT, then make your comments based on facts. Don't expect others to do the work for you, not every time.

Anyone having trouble adding the mp3 music/sound? Ideas how to get it to work?

Installed fine on Windows 7 64. Easy to use with some nice effects, though these are somewhat limited, could do with a few more.

It is also quite buggy. Crashes if you open task manager, which I did to find out how resource hungry the program is. Resources were about 10% of my 4gb ram.

Not far off being good IMHO.

I try to run the setup and it keeps telling me it can't modify the registry. How do I fix this problem?

I had trouble also...created wallpaper, but rendition on screen wasn't smooth. I am running XP..SP3...Dual core...Nvidia graphics...

I used their previous version with no problems at all, so this version must have some different code.

It's not a necessary program, so I Revo'd it. Thanks anyway GAOTD.

Windows XP Pro - SP2 - crashed, same error as mentioned above - might I add that when a program is activated it would be nice if the 'registration and enter key' functions would be removed - when I click on 'about', I always appreciate the 'registered to giveawayoftheday' notification .. it just assures one that the program is successfully installed..


as always
thanks gaod

# 3 and 12 - very interesting - same experience by me -
Tried to contact the firm - was given this answer:
"I guess something happened on your computer. It maybe an issue with directx, video card driver or virus.
Only you can find out what happened.
You can try system restore function."

I found this a very vast proposal - system restore because of one program not working ...
but it seems this is this firms kind of respons. Disappointing!
Would like to have such programs working - anyone knowing about a free alternative?

Installation went fine in Windows Vista 32 bit,
I am trying my first wallpaper -> facing issue when "preview" and "set" --> preview is not coming, also the set is not setting nor saving as exe --> appreciate your help

I love this prog. Thank you so much!

Is there a possibility to export the wall paper as an avi ot flv? This possibility will be wonderful.

Also, I wish it is possible to add flying birds, butterflies etc.

Thank you

I've just installed in within PrayayaV3 (recent giveaway)on a Vista 32bit Business system.. Installation and activation went smoothly and program ran without a hitch.. Went through all the effects and did not encounter any problems.. Some cool effects are like lightning, rain, snow, fog, water ripple.. I tried out some effects on an image file, a dark surreal piece of art.. With the effects added in, the image makes an even more dramatic wallpaper...

well it looked interesting but after install crashed. over and over again. every time you try to open a project it crashes.and not to fond of the idea of the software trying to install a auto dialer.
using windows xp po with sp3.
thanks GOTD but my issue is with the developer, If you are going to promote your software at least make it work.

Nice program I made an animated wallpaper with fire, fog and light effects and it looked really good ... However some drawbacks :

the resolution of the icons was decreased a lot ... (not their size) on windows 7 .. the icons with medium size now look very pixelated ...

i also u little program called fences from Stardock which arranges icons in groups or "fences"...it was disabled when i ran the animated wallpaper and caused some clash when i double click the desktop.

But the program works and does what it claims ...

a bit more freedom to manage the animations would be nice for example being able to paint the animation on certain parts of the picture and not the whole picture ... for example i had this picture of a room with a window and wanted to place the snow animation on the window only ...

also it would be nice to be able to use more than 1 effect at the same time : fire and water ... and to specify which effect goes where ... example a room with a fireplace with fire effect and snow animation on the window and water animation on a fish bowl ... maybe that's a bit too much though :P

Good Morning
So far so good. Working as advertised, Win7 64 Home Premium. Was able to add fog and rain and a whole Boards of Canada soundtrack. Nice desktop. I am also using Windowblinds, Object Dock, DesktopX and Rainlendar. No problems so far. Thanks for this giveaway.

I just had a thought perhaps it requires a specific version of DirectX. That would explain it as I believe XP SP3 comes with DirectX 9 standard whereas (correct me if I am wrong) Vista comes with DirectX 10. Can anyone confirm ?

@ #6:

I tried to contact the developer last time with no response. These are the ONLY two products that do not work on this machine - especially set up afresh just giveaway products. All other giveaways perform without fault. So its got to be something specific to this product - I checked with depends and everything is installed correctly from that perspective.

As a developer myself this sure looks like a memory walk. This type of error is pretty fatal and I am guessing an uninitialised pointer.

Lets hope the developer has some pride and makes contact. If you look back at the animated screen saver comments, heaps of people had this problem then as well.

Hello,
Animated Wallpaper Maker works here very well but only when there are some shortcut icons on the desktop...
It crashes as soon as I start the program when no icons are on the desktop. My problem is that I do not keep any icons there on the desktop...
Other than this, the program is easy to use and works great with the included graphics effects. (IMHO., I was able to create a piece of art with a couple of photographs and this program)
Thanks !
Animated Wallpaper Maker 2.5.0 is working fine on Windows Vista Ultimate 64x SP2

Love this little program. I have the earlier version and,unlike some others, have never had a problem with it - I'm running it on latest XP upgrade and it works beautifully. Many thanks to all concerned. E

Just installed on a Windowa 7, X64 bit Home Premium system. It installed fine and registered successfully with the application running.

Can I install this software as registered after a future os reinstall?

same as No 3
running XP SP3, well maintained, good graphics, no joy at all, even tried trial version from their website,
either not compatible with XP or some special requirement needed which is not mentioned or flop, I am an experienced GOTD user,
You win some, you lose some, ( actually zilch as its all free)
have a nice day

To GW, The program runs fine on three of my systems, a Win XP Pro with SP3 32 bit, a Vista Home Premium 64 bit and Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit. It's probably the way you have your system set up, or maybe you are running another program that conflicts with today's giveaway. I would contact the developer directly (even though the read me states no support, some of the developers are actually quite good at trying to solve the problem.

Thank you,
I have an earlier version of this software, as with that version, this one works perfectly as well.
Adding your own photos is easy.
Plenty of adjustment available, for those that think it does not have enough special effects.. why not add some of your own, it is fairly easy to add special effects (without changing any program code, by the way)
This is another handy fun program.
Thank you again Giveaway...

Works fine on Vista Home 64 bit. But, now I can't move my desktop icons. I was going to drag the setup & activate icon to the trash bin, and couldn't. Had to right click & delete instead.