Many people want to create their own dreams  .... and especially with their own pictures !! So I just thought of sharing the link of this software called DP Animation Maker  which allows you to animate still pictures with just a few clicks. It's very easy to use as you just have to press and drag your mouse over the part of the picture which you want to animate and it creates an animated mask for that certain portion .... export uncompressed AVI for full quality which can be converted to WMV with any video converter to use with deskscapes. I've used it for few of my dreams and found it quite easy but for skinners it'll just do the amount of work a plugin does so I personally recommend and do most of my dreams in adobe after effects .

Other details with interesting examples and information of this program can be found here . So enjoy animating your still pictures ...  [e digicons]:thumbsup:[/e]

Thanks in advance ... comments are welcome  [e digicons]:grin:[/e]

I just thought of doing this tutorial as I recieve many requests regarding space and planet dreams than any other type and they are my favorite too !!

1. Create a new composition about 40 sec. with the hdtv 1920 x 1080 29.97 fps preset and name it planet.(Screenshot 1)

2. Go to Layer>New>Solid and name it stars, then go to Effect>Noise & Grain>Fractal Noise
   (apply the values i've used in (Screenshot 2) you can play around with the brightness and contrast to change the appearance of the stars.

3. Click on Project and import a texture map of whatever planet you want to create, eg.i've used earth texture.
    In the Effects & Presets panel type "CC Sphere", you can download the plugin here - .CycoreFX
    CycoreFX HD is included in the installation of After Effects CC and CS6. just drag and drop the plugin onto your texture map.

4. You may use the values i've used for CC Sphere or just play around with all the values i've changed,
    set a keyframe by clicking on the stopwatch at Rotation Y at the beginning of the timeline and value 1x
    at the end for planet rotation, you can also play around with the X and Z rotation values as per your scene requires.(screenshot 4)

5. Now Click on the stars layer, go to Effect>Generate>Lens Flare to add a Sun. If you're looking for more options related to lens flares,
    then a very useful plugin called Optical Flares is there by VideoCopilot.(Screenshot 5)

6. Now, go to Composition>Add to render queue, under Current Render double click on the output module
    and from the dropdown menu select output Format as WMV, hit OK.(Screenshot 6)

 Your planet scene is ready, use stardock dream maker to create .dream file and apply it on desktop using Stardock Deskscapes....... [e digicons]:thumbsup:[/e]  

For any queries feel free to pm me  [e digicons]|-)[/e]

A few of my planet dreams -

 saturn

The Universe

Lava Planet

Recently im encountering a few problems uploading dreams -

1.After my upload is complete, the dream is going to my profile page instead of going to the dream gallery.(also not showing in my skin list)

2.In order to upload a functional video preview, I have to first upload the swf(video preview) file before uploading the dream ... also it has to be less than 2mb or else it does not show up later.

Please help !!

My Object Desktop subscription expired in July 2011, at that time Impulse was used to install all the programs.

Also there was an option of downloading and archiving the software in Impulse as a .Impulse file,

now when i try to install the archived files through Impulse(GameStop), it does'nt install the programs.

Recently i read this post about downloading your programs through the Stardock Store, but over there i

don't see any of the Object Desktop programs.

I know that once the subscription is over you don't recieve updates but atleast can use the older versions

of the software previously installed ... now how can i download and install them without using Impulse ??

please help.

thnx in advance !

Hello everyone,

A Very Happy New Year to you all !!

I don't know if anyone here wondered where have i been busy lately, as i last uploaded a few skins

for the WC Holiday Contest ... that was around Christmas.

Well, the good news is that I have custom built a new pc for myself as a new year gift,

the bad news " I've spent Rs.36,000 on it i,e approx. $700 U.S.D .... Lol .... [e digicons]XD[/e]

Though it was very urgent as i used to run out of memory on my 3 yr. old laptop while doing animations.

This will help me to create more and better stuff in less time apart from playing games and watching

movies.

System Specs -


Operating System           :    Windows 7 Ultimate

Processor                       :    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2320 CPU @ 3.00GHz

Installed memory (RAM)  :    8.00 GB

System type                   :    64-bit Operating System

Monitors                        :    LG E1641S LED Monitor 15.6 (39.62 cms) LED

                                    :    SONY 32inch LED HDTV

Hard Disk                      :    Western Digital 500 GB Internal SATA HDD

Graphics Card                :    NVIDIA ZOTAC GeForce GT 520 2GB 64-bit GDDR3

DVD/CD ROM drive         :   SONY DVD RW DRU-880S-ZR

Cabinet                        :    iBall-i8190

Gaming Pad                  :    Microsoft xBox 360 wired

New Software for skinning purpose : Adobe After Effects CS5 and Adobe Photoshop CS5 (64-bit)

Now im just tuning it up to my needs ... n shall require help from you all as im new to the 64 bit apps.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Regards,

Amit Saran.

I am glad to share with you all that i was just checking out the Dream gallery and saw that I have crossed over a million dream downloads ... also the Top 1 Dream Downloads, all time here at Wincustomize.

Thanks to all you great people who like my work and to the entire WC Community !!  [e digicons]|-)[/e]

Dear all,

This is to inform you and share with you my moment of pride and one of the biggest dreams of my life ... the

CEO's Council 2011 .... for which in my real life i've worked hard day and night ... though im still .Dreaming !!

 Hey guys,

this is is a first hand shot of the lunar eclipse today, 16-6-11  from my Cannon IXUS

[e digicons]:'([/e] i wish i could make a .dream outta ...... but hope you enjoy this one !!

Hello everyone,

I have a set of icons in .PNG and .ICO format which I want to use as an IconPackage, (for personal use)

how do I pack them all as an IconPackage theme ??

Also, if im using a certain IconPackage theme, can I include icons for certain applications which by default may not be

there in the package, for eg. an icon for my paintshop or after effects ??

It would be really helpful, thnx in advance !!

Amitsaran.

I don't know if any of you thought where I have been since the past few days......but all I can tell you is that I have undergone the worst time of my life during these days as my Mom died recently at an early age of 58. 

She was everything to me, I indeed know that I can't live without her, I mean it's almost impossible for me to believe that she is no more there with me !!

Can't write more .....