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Fun With Transparent Screen Backgrounds
herberts writes "Looks like the amusement factor of 'transparent' screen background is getting bigger and bigger. The french Mac fan site Mac Bidouille opened up a dedicated part of their web site where fans can post shots of their transparent backgrounds." Other great transparent background shots can be found at Flickr.
I for one can see right through them.
"I think everyone is an agnostic but just doesn't know" - Frazz
For a CRT could you draw the electron gun and circuits.
Some people have entirely too much time on their hands.
Actually, this guy almost has his hands on the time.
AhahaHAHAHAHahahahaha I am so, so sorry.
.... They take a picture, put it as their backround, and then put the computer where the picture was taken. You seriously didn't figure that out?
This just in:
Microsoft has announced that they will be building technology for Transparent Desktops into their next-generation operating-system, Longhorn. Microsoft representatives report that this technology involves cutting the back out of the monitor to allow the image behind it to show through. When asked whether this would impede the monitor's ability to display images, Microsoft replied that this was an issue that will be addressed in SP1.
I downloaded one of the pictures and put it on my desktop, and it totally didn't look transparent at all.
Lame. And it's probably smaller than a Nomad.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
I did it on my linux machine too! It's nice and transparent, although I suck at perspective.
"The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
You posted a friggin' IMAGE GALLERY on the FRONT PAGE of SLASHDOT??
Whaddaya wanna do, KILL 'EM??
I think that's how most were done, but it looks like a few may ghave been "done" by taking a picture, putting the monitor in place and putting a solid color on the background (with icons and such on top of that) and then taking a picture of that. The second picture was then merged with the first in Photoshop or a similar application by effects that mimic cromakey. The picture is only a picture, the actual view never existed.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
I was going to ask why this phenomenon only seems to be a Mac thing. Now it's clear to me.
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When you only have one mouse button you tend to find extra time for other things.
Fully licensed blockchain psychiatrist
I totally agree... what a complete waste of time. And now I've gotta figure out a way to stuff all these pieces back into my monitor.
SO STUPID!
Following that idea, I want to be able to insert ghosts in relevant locations as I reposition a thusly equipped laptop.
:)
As in, you walk around the house, and if you hold the laptop screen two feet in front of your face at all times, it blends right in seamlessly. But if you point it at something like a sofa, it looks like someone is sitting on it, when in actuality there is nobody there. Smoothly pan the laptop so that the sofa is out of the shot, and the ghost moves with it. But if you shake the laptop, the "person" on the sofa would visibly respond to the shaking by trying to keep his balance. And then your hard drive would crash.
Doing this with cheap, amateur-grade equipment would be really cool. Get cracking on it, oh time wasters of the world! And then sell your work to some game/toy company!
"What's next, taking a screenshot of the desktop and putting that as the background as a prank?"
Been there, done that, made my co-worker cry in frustration because the computer was "locked" even after several reboots.
SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
This should take about ten seconds
Well, frankly, that's between you and your girlfriend !
Many folks are claiming the easy routes:
A) Take a picture, and move the screen where the picture was.
The problem with this is perspective. lenses are not flat scans of the world, and you'll see (in fact in some of the shots you do see) some perspective distortion, especially with stuff like vertical lines.
B)Take picture with and without screen and photochop it.
Actually, the best non-cheating way to do this is:
C)
1) Set your camera up on a tripod, at the scene where you want your monitor.
2) Remove monitor.
3) Take picture.
4) replace montor.
5) Take another picture.
up to here this is the same as method B), the photochopping. But instead of pasting the background (And cheating), you crop the first photo to the dimensions of the monitor in the second photo.
6) Set the cropped picture as background.
7) Take the money shot.
8) Wait for the pulitzer folks to get back to you.
It'd be cool if the transparency showed the inside of the monitor!
Back a few years, IBM sold a laptop where you could detach the back cover of the lid, exposing the screen so that it could be placed on an overhead projector. I worked with Ted Selker who invented it, so I had a homemade prototype version. When I presented at conferences and everyone else struggled with F7 and video formats, I just whipped the back off my Thinkpad and put it on top of the overhead projector. I don't think anyone listened to my talk because they were all craning their necks to see what I had done with the display. All of the questions afterward were about where to buy such a nifty device rather than anything about my talk!
The removable back was also useful for working outdoors. You could put a white reflective surface behind the screen and backlight with sunlight, making it usable no matter how bright it was.
Wow. Are the people modding up parent the same people who find "How-To" papers on making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to be useful information?
Whew. For a minute there I was getting a little disconcerted that no one would post something saying they were disconcerted that no one posted something about that kind of thing being done many years ago in their posting about that kind of thing being done many years ago.