With more than 200 new feature article , Tiger is overflow with kickshaw . But most mass will never unfold some of the most interesting ones . You ’ll find Core Image Fun House and Quartz Composer insert into Apple ’s Xcode developer retinue . These course of study tap Tiger ’s powerful graphics ability , let you apply live , editable effects to digital photos , and even design your own screen rescuer . No Adobe Photoshop required .
I ’ll show you how to utilise the Core Image Fun House and Quartz Composer tools to create a silver screen saver that reminds you of your annual vacation to a tropic terminus , for example . All you need are four snapshot and the Mac OS X induction videodisk . On the DVD , start the Xcode Tools folder and double - tap XcodeTools.mpkg to set up the tool . When that ’s done , go to the root directory of your main difficult drive and look in the Developer folder . You ’ll find the apps in /Developer / Applications / Graphics Tools .
Send Photos to the Fun House
Core Image Fun House let you chop-chop apply effects to your images . And since the effects are all nondestructive , you may take on around without causing irreparable impairment to the original image .
stair 1Launch Fun House and select one of your vacation images in the receptive dialog boxful ( see “ Welcome to the Fun House ” ) . The Effect Stack pallet ( A ) works like Adjustment Layers in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements ( if you do n’t see the palette , press control - pick - vitamin E to bring it up ) . From here , you could add or delete layers , make adjustments , and on/off switch stratum visibility . But unlike most icon editors , Fun House exhibit layers from the bottom up .
gradation 2Click on the plus signal ( + ) ( B ) in the top layer . The Image Units palette will appear ( C ) , list your option for effects . To make your holiday pictures colourful and dreamy , blue-ribbon Color Adjustment from the category column on the odd , select Color Controls from the chromatography column on the right , and then press Apply . Fun House adds Color Controls to the Effects Stack pallette and offer slipper for adjusting vividness , Brightness , and demarcation . Bump up the saturation to make the colors more intense .
abuse 3Repeat footprint 2 to implement another effect . For example , you might apply the Bloom filter ( in the Stylize category ) to add a glow . If the default setting are a bit too vivid and produce white halos , cart the Intensity slider to the left wing .
gradation 4Save the image to your desktop by choose File : Save As and choose JPEG File from the File Format pull - down carte . reiterate the late step to set and keep three more images .
Build a Screen Saver
If you do n’t want to ramp up typography from bread , habituate existing Quartz compositions as point of going . you could turn any composition into a projection screen rescuer by dropping it into your Screen Saver folder . For this project , you ’re going to use your Fun House images to modify one that displays text on a rotating cube .
maltreat 1When you plunge Quartz Composer , you ’ll see the Quartz Composer Assistant pane , which lets you select from a handful of templates . From the Finder , navigate to the /Developer / Examples / Quartz Composer / Motion Graphics Compo - sitions leaflet and double - select the Introduction.qtz file .
Four look-alike With String patch ( G ) ascertain the block schoolbook . The green titles indicate that these are Processor mend , which litigate data and pass the results to the pink Consumer patches , which in turn return the answer . You relate green and pinkish patches by stringing hose - corresponding connection between their ports ( indicate by small circles on the patches ) . Ports pass parameters from one patch to another , telling the composition what to do .
measure 2To replace the cube text edition with your paradigm , select the uppermost Image With String mend by clicking on it . Notice that its look-alike larboard link to the Front Image port of the Cube piece . Since you do n’t want text , press the delete key to get rid of the Image With String patch .
Step 4Reconnect the two patches by clicking on the Image port in your Modern maculation and dragging your mouse to the Front Image porthole in the Cube patch . The trope will now appear on the front of the square block . If you do n’t see it , wait for the third power to rotate around .
pace 5Repeat the above tone to delete the other three Image With String piece and put back them with your images . Be trusted to attach an image only to the Left Image , Right Image , and Back Image ports . If you bind an figure to the Top Image or Bottom Image ports by misunderstanding , you wo n’t see them .
ill-use 6Your cube looks good , but you ca n’t see the screen saver ’s screen background text . To move it to the front , you need to change the rendering order ( indicated by the yellow telephone number ) in the top right recession of the Title dapple . Control - chatter on the pink Title maculation and select Rendering Layer : Layer 3 .
To change the text to something else , double - press the String port in the Title patch . Edit the text and press return .
Step 7Save your report by pick out File : hold open As . Navigate to /your user folder / Library / Screen Savers and save the file . Go to the Screen Saver tab of the Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane , choose the file from the list , and tap the Test button .
[ Robert Ellis is a freelance writer , a Mac fanatical , and an avid digital photographer . He publish the blogFuturosity . ]
Buried treasure
Core Image Fun House and Quartz Composer are n’t the only tools secrete away inside Tiger ’s /Developer / Applications folder . Here ’s a sampling of what else you ’ll find :
Audiophiles can experiment withAU Lab , a digital intermixture app .
TheFileMergeutility compares file cabinet or directory and allows you to unify them . It ’s a handy way to recover out whether your screen background Mac and your PowerBook are in sync .
graphic designer might enjoyIconComposer , which let you apply just about any image to make your own icons .
Apple ’s occult magnifying glass , Pixie , let you magnify a part of the screen up to 1,200 percentage and then carry through it as an image .
If you ’re concerned in Apple ’s Text - To - actor’s line , check outRepeat After Me , which countenance you play with the pitch and duration of phonemes , the building blocks of speech .
And do n’t miss theSample Widgetsfolder ( /Developer / Examples / Dashboard ) . You ’ll discover a handful of way-out Dashboard gizmo here , including Framing Gallery ( which displays a picture ) and Voices ( which speaks any text you type in the thingamabob ) .
