OS X

How to Create Custom Animated Screensavers for the Mac

In this tutorial I will show you how to not only create your own screensaver but how to set your screensaver as your desktop background. Yes the screensaver will run like normal in the background and your Mac can perform as if it’s a normal background image. You will need:Β iScreenSaver Designer 4, Magic Desktop


1. Building your screensaver

iScreenSaver Designer 4 is what we will be using, you’re going to need to obtain a video clip to make the screensaver out of, for this tutorial I am using the Matrix Raining Code.

Open up iScreenSaver and hit β€œClose” on the first window, it’s just an informative pop-up.

On the next window hit β€œNew” to start a new project.

Make sure you are on the β€œVideo” tab and drag the video you wish to morph into a screensaver into the field.

You will be asked to name your screensaver but you are actually naming your project rather than the screensaver itself, you can even skip if you don’t wish to name the project.

Once your video is loaded into the project field click on β€œBuild”

Uncheck the box next to β€œScreensaver for Windows XP”, we only want a screensaver build for the Mac OS X. Hit β€œBuild All” to begin building the screensaver.

A common mistake when creating a screensaver is not saving your project, if you forget to save your project before hitting β€œBuild All” you will get a warning. Hit β€œOk” then File > Save As and give your screensaver a name.

After saving your project hit β€œBuild All” to begin the building process.

When the build process is complete click β€œInstall” not β€œOk”. Next you will get another window where you will hit β€œInstall” again.

You’ll get a warning about using the unregistered version of iScreensaver, it states that you may not use the screensaver for profitable use, click β€œOk”.

2. Setting your Background

Now your screensaver can be found under the β€œOther” category in System Preferences > Desktop Background & Screen Saver. Set your new screensaver then open up Magic Desktop.

When the Magic Desktop window comes up click on β€œScreensaver” and viola your desktop background is now a screensaver and everything runs the same. If you want to switch back to a regular image then open Magic Desktop again and hit β€œImage”. It’s that simple.

Before you go

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About the author

Chris

I've been a passionate evangelist for Apple and the Macintosh throughout my working life, my first love was a Quadra 605 working with a small creative agency in the south of Norfolk UK in the mid 1990's, I later progressed to other roles in other Macintosh dominated industries, first as a Senior graphic designer at a small printing company and then a production manager at Guardian Media Group. As the publishing and printing sector wained I moved into Internet Marketing and in 2006 co-founded blurtit.com which grew to become one the top 200 visited sites in the US (according to Quantcast), at its peak receiving over 15 million visits per month. For the last ten years I have worked as an Affiliate and Consultant to many different business and start ups, my key skill set being online marketing, on page monetisation, landing page optimisation and traffic generation, if you would like to hire me or discuss your current project please reach out to me here.

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