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Create customized slideshow screensavers (revised) Desktop
Apple provides a link to the Pictures (or other user specified) folder for use as a slide show screensaver. But wouldn't it be nice if you could have a number of different personal slide shows to use as screensavers? Wouldn't it be really cool if they had all the same options for zooming and randomness that you get with the 10.2 slideshows like Beach and Forest?

Back in March, this hint explained how to do exactly that. The hint was somewhat complex, but it did work. In the comments to that article, "armin" pointed out a much easier way which accomplished the same result. I think armin's solution has probably been overlooked as it existed only in the comments, and things have changed a bit in 10.2, so I've chosen to publish these revised instructions -- and they require no Terminal work at all!

It couldn't be much easier to create your own screensaver slide shows in 10.2 Here's all you need to do:
  1. If you don't have it already, create a folder called Screen Savers inside the Library folder in your Home directory.
  2. Change into that directory, and create a new folder with the name you'd like to use in the Screen Effects panel (I'll use "Mountain Sunsets" as an example).
  3. Find all the images you'd like to see in the slide show and make and alias to those images within the new folder ("Mountain Sunsets" in my case). You do not need to copy or move the images; just use aliases!
  4. Once you've collected all the images, add .slideSaver to the name of the folder you created. The capitalized "S" in "Saver" is very important! The 10.2 Finder will ask if you're certain you wish to add this suffix, click "Add" to tell it you're certain. My example is now named "Mountain Sunsets.slideSaver".
  5. Launch System Prefs (or just click off and then back onto the Screen Effects panel) and select your custom slide show from the list. You can use the Configure button to set zooms, fades, and randomness as you desire.
That's it -- you're done! The only caveat is that, under 10.2, the folder has now become a bundle in the Finder, so you'll have to Control-click and "Show Package Contents" if you wish to add more images.

Repeat this simple process as often as you wish to create a number of different slide shows for different occasions. Thanks, armin, for finding the really easy way to do this!
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Create customized slideshow screensavers (revised) | 13 comments | Create New Account
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iPhoto
Authored by: explosivo on Sep 18, '02 10:26:11AM

I'm sorry, maybe I'm missing something, but I've been setting iPhoto albums to screensaver slide shows by just selecting an album in iPhoto, clicking share, then clicking screensaver. This sets the current album to zoom just like the beach, forest, etc screensavers.



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One app solution...
Authored by: robg on Sep 18, '02 11:59:11AM

I don't run iPhoto all the time ... I do have System Prefs running all the time. So it makes more sense for me to have the screensavers avaialble in the Screen Effects control panel. I can also have a bunch predefined without having to create Libraries for them in iPhoto.

But if you leave iPhoto running all the time, then that's certainly a viable alternative.

-rob.



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SHARE = make screen saver?
Authored by: VEGx on Sep 18, '02 05:29:42PM

Isn't there an option in iPhoto like SHARE where you can choose to set your screen saver preferences to use a given album in your iPhoto folder?



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Works on !0.1
Authored by: rselph on Sep 18, '02 11:49:42AM

Just wanted to clarify-- I just tried this on my 10.1 system and it works there too. Great tip!



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Works on 10.1
Authored by: robg on Sep 18, '02 12:19:56PM

Sorry, should have been clearer -- it works on 10.1.x, and it's actually a bit easier, as the folder doesn't turn into a bundle. So you can drag the images in after you've renamed it, saving a step in the setup.

-rob.



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slideSaver Maker
Authored by: tim1724 on Sep 18, '02 04:42:26PM

I wrote a program to do this a long time ago (around March) ... it's called slideSaver Maker and it's available here

it's easy enough to do it by hand, but some people might prefer to use my program.

It was my first Cocoa program, so it's not the friendliest program around, but it works well. Somewhere I have an improved version with a preview function, but I never got around to uploading it. I guess I'll have to dig it out and polish it up sometime.

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Hint?
Authored by: raider on Sep 18, '02 06:49:19PM

How is this a hint?

In 10.2 I just set a folder full of Jpegs in the Screen Saver preferences, and selected the "random" and "don't repeat" options. It cross-fades, and zooms in and out - just like the other modules.

What does this hint give you extra?



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More than one folder...
Authored by: robg on Sep 18, '02 07:24:29PM

So how do you switch between a folder of your vacation images and a folder of your family images? Do you select Screen Effects, click on Pictures Folder, click on Configure, click on Set Slide Folder, navigate to the images you wish to display in the Open dialog, click Open, and then click OK? Unless I'm missing something, that's how I have to do it every time I wish to switch between two different sets of images.

With this method, it's "select Screen Effects, click on the name of the images you wish to see" and then start the saver.

In addition, this method lets you created folders of mixed images -- you can combine pictures from multiple places, since it just uses aliases. You could do the same thing yourself, of course, and then point the Pictures Folder saver at the new images folder, but again, that's two steps. Here, the alias folder becomes the screensaver.

That's why I felt it "hint-worthy" - it saves a bunch of time if you switch between screensaver slide sets often ... but if someone else knows a different workaround, I'm all for it.

-rob.



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More than one folder...
Authored by: raider on Sep 19, '02 12:01:15PM
Ahh hah.
That's why it didn't seem like anything special to me, cause I only ever use 1 folder. I just keep all the files I wanna see in one folder....
Thanks for the insight...

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Getting Rid of the Others...
Authored by: bobketcham on Sep 19, '02 12:49:39AM

OK, I get it and it is quite useful. I've made a .slideSaver for each of the sets of pictures I want to be able select in the Screen Effects pref panel...

Now, I want to use the Random module to give me a different set of my pictures each time the screen saver is activated. That is, I don't want the Apple screen savers - especially the .Mac one. Any ideas?

I logged in as root and removed all the standard .slideSaver sets from /System/Library/Screen Savers. That still leaves me with the Computer Name, .Mac and Pictures Folder options. Random will still include these in its selections.

Any intrepid Unix explorers got an idea of how to remove the three remaining Apple standard screen savers?



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Getting Rid of the Others...
Authored by: linmu on Sep 19, '02 04:59:30PM

Well I use a little freeware program called "Diablotin"
It's a Preference Panel, that allows one to edit all sorts of system stuff.
check with Mac Update or Version Tracker.



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Slightly simpler...
Authored by: Thom on Sep 20, '02 12:26:27AM

Rather than make aliases of every picture, why not just make a softlink to the directory?

Open Terminal.app
cd ~/Library/Scre<tab> (hit tab and it will autocomplete)
ln -s ~/Pictures/path/to/my/photos/foldername myPhotos.slideSaver

All done. You can modify the original folder all you like; just don't move it or the link will break.

TB



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Slightly simpler (and multiple folders)
Authored by: jbuckley on Jan 31, '03 09:54:00PM

You can also include more than one folder of images this way - just create a new screen saver as described in the original tip, then instead of linking the actual image files, create multiple symlinks to image directories inside the slideSaver Resources directory. This works on 10.1.5.



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