o save you from an image being burnt into your monitor screen, that is what a "screensaver" or "screenblanker" was all about, back in the days that it was invented. An old CRT monitor model that had the same non-moving graphics on its screen for days in a row could start to suffer from burnt-in imagery. If this was the case, it was quite annoying to see a burnt-in ghost image through new graphics that appeared on the damaged monitor screen.

Nowadays a screensaver is mainly used to mask what's on your monitor screen when you are away (with the useful option to include a password protection). Because of their advanced visual sophistication, screensavers have become increasingly popular for mere viewing pleasure when you are not actively using the computer. After the dawn of 3D graphics cards for PC compatibles and the supporting Windows 3D graphics library Direct3D, an army of 3D screensavers have been unleashed upon PC users. Users of Discreet's 3ds Max can now slip into the shoes of a 3D screensaver creator with the release of Chimeric's ScreenSaverMax plug-in and the ScreenSaverMax Pro version.

STANDARD OR PROFESSIONAL, THAT IS THE QUESTION
The main difference between SSM and SSM Pro can be found in the commercial exploitation of a created screensaver. The standard edition of SSM has nearly all available features enabled, but a user may not charge for the result. Therefore, the possibility to process company details in your screensaver is only included in the Pro version of ScreenSaverMax. Of course the Pro version costs more than the standard edition, but if you manage to sell your results from SSM Pro, you'll earn your money back with it.

After installing and authorizing SSM Pro the gateway from your Max scene to a corresponding screensaver can be found in the file export dialog. The Windows screensaver file format .SCR is added to the list of exportable file formats. When you choose to save a file in this format the SSM export options dialog appears.

There are three main types of screensavers that can be generated out of a Max scene:

• Dynamic - a number of 3D models are duplicated and bounced / tumbled around the screen;

• Movie - the screen saver plays back animation of your model or scene;

• Logo - a single model travels spinning around the screen.

ScreenSaverMax supports many native 3ds Max features, including cameras, lights, animation, transparency, environment mapping, procedural materials and multi/sub-object materials. The most sophisticated export mode is Movie, which actually samples the changing state of animated elements from your Max scene and includes the animation in the screensaver. However, there is a price to pay for sophistication: the exported animated scene quickly adds up to the file size of the screensaver. To give you more control over the file size of the exported animation an upcoming feature in the next SSM version will be a sampling option, that will let you specify an interval between sampled animation frames.

The other available export modes comprise the more conventional logo moving across your screen (rotating at a desired speed) and a realtime rigid-body physics option that makes your scene's element(s) tumble or bounce around the screen.

REALTIME-A-GOGO
As the screensaver's playback occurs in real-time, ScreenSaverMax can also be used to quickly and efficiently test in-game cut scenes, view architecture, and examine product design, all without the need for a 3ds Max installation or even the need for a realtime player. Next to the above-mentioned export dialog options, SSM also offers support of realtime dropshadows, reflections and diffuse texture maps, although such options might slow down your system's graphics resources because of the increased complexity.

But that's not all you get with SSM. Further possibilities include options to control texture map size, enabling you to limit the screensaver's file size. As mentioned before, SSM Pro offers the additional functionality to specify author and company details, including a clickable URL. Useful options when using a screensaver for commercial purposes. To ease the screensaver's installation procedure, you can specify whether SSM should create an installer version of the screensaver, complete with a license text in order to display your copyright notification and other notices.

Once you've created and installed a screensaver with SSM, the user can always fine-tune the control options of the screensaver's elements in the Screen Saver tab of the Windows Display dialog. Examples of the available controls are the speed, the number of 3D elements displayed at once and the option to choose from multiple camera views.

All in all ScreenSaverMax (Pro) is a very original initiative that deserves a pat on the back. It carries along only a few minor growing pains, like the absence of a deinstallation option for an installed SSM screensaver and the absence of a Save and Load option for the various export dialog settings, including the company details and license text. But the very fact that you can now use 3ds Max to export a real-time piece of entertainment, promotion or presentation through the common world of Windows screensavers is a worthy addition to the arsenal of useful Max plug-ins. Grab an evaluation copy from www.screensavermax.com and give it a try.

Metin Seven

www.metinseven.com
www.sevensheaven.nl
www.figurefarm.com