make the desktop wobble

[some-guy]

i can't explain this idea better than this video :D
DO WHAT IT SAYS it is not a trick ;)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Bk7CxHCasts& ... ted&search (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Bk7CxHCasts&mode=related&search)

[SmSpillaz]

That makes me dizzy =/

[Deciare]

8O That was... Actually a lot less disorienting than I thought it would be, seeing as how even maximise/unmaximise wobbles could make me nauseous. It reminds somewhat of a series of 3D screensavers that were originally introduced into Windows with the Plus! add-on. There was an effect that made it appear as though a glass sphere was rolling around on your desktop, and another where a vortex seemed to be sucking things in...

I'm not certain I understand the appeal of such an effect, but I'm thankful that it doesn't make me as nauseous as it could have. ^^;

[Fyda]

It reminds somewhat of a series of 3D screensavers that were originally introduced into Windows with the Plus! add-on. There was an effect that made it appear as though a glass sphere was rolling around on your desktop, and another where a vortex seemed to be sucking things in...
(off-topic) I remember that, too. It was, unhelpfully, named the Science screensaver (probably because it came with the Science Plus! theme, with the beaker icon for the Recycle Bin). The glass sphere and vortex were two of the available modes for this one screensaver.

(on-topic) This makes me think of the Water plugin, actually. I have noted with interest that on one system (my laptop), the Water ripples are merely a translucent overlay over the screen (not affecting pixels underneath), but on another system (my desktop), the ripples actually distort the image itself, leading to pixels becoming momentarily scattered whenever a wave travels over them.

It seems to me that this wavy desktop effect could be a specialised Water effect, with a constant sheet of water which is gently waving in a controlled manner (rather than isolated waves being produced). The desired behaviour, then, would be that from the second case mentioned above: the waves (gently) distort the image.

But, I could be wrong, and there could be easier ways to achieve this than through some hacking of Water.

I recall there being screensavers which perform distortion effects upon the screen image (eg. the Science screensaver mentioned at the start of this post, which was neat in that you could watch an image of your open windows and desktop being distorted by it). I am sure it would be trivial for such a screensaver to accept an arbitrary image (eg. a wallpaper) as input, rather than a full-screen capture. Additionally, I recall there being a few popular methods to replace the desktop with an animated screensaver. Consequently, I wonder if there may be some way of having a "wobbly desktop" by combining what is already available, instead of creating a new plugin.

The Water approach would be suited for making everything (ie. the whole screen, including windows and panels) wobble, whereas the screensaver-as-desktop approach would allow for normal windows and panels on top of a gently animating wallpaper.

All theoretical, of course. :)

[Deciare]

The most frequent issue that arises when setting a screensaver, a video, or other program to exist on the desktop layer is that it prevents the user from accessing the functionality of the desktop itself. Having a non-desktop program on the desktop blocks access to icons, context menus, makes the (fake)] translucency in SuperKaramba applets look really weird, may interfere with other programs that draw onto the desktop (like torsmo), and so on.

If we must have an animated desktop, then I think a compositing-manager-based implementation would serve better than a window that overrides the desktop layer.

I do like your description of gentle waves ebbing across the desktop. It's very serene, and an excellent complement to wallpapers of undersea environments, empty swimming pools, and abandoned cities. XD Of course it's good for all kinds of themes, but... Post-apocalyptic flooded cities. Hehe. Sorry. That kind of disrespect did no justice to your description at all!

There are many transformations that can be applied to the desktop, some of which were suggested in the old Beryl forums. A light source that travels across the desktop in sync with the sun, subtle changes in hue to complement the weather... It would certainly be interesting to appreciate the same wallpapers in a variety of changing ambiences.

[ticopelp]

My eyes!