[HOWTO] - Add your own pictures to the Apple-savers

[swizcore]

From simX... Thought it'd be nice to have in the boards...

Adding your own pictures to the Apple-savers

Here's a little tutorial to add your own picture to an Apple
screensaver. I should note that it is much easier to do this by logging
in as a root user, and then doing all of this via the Finder GUI.
However I will include the way to do it with the Terminal here. (To log
in as root, log out of your current user, then type in "root" as the
username, and the root password as the password. Then follow steps 1-6.)
I should also note that if you DO use the root user, you need to enable
it via the NetInfo Manager application -- for instructions, just reply
back, or pm me. I will also use the 'sudo' command instead of the 'su'
command, so that you don't accidentally do something that you don't want
to do (believe me, I've erased my whole OS X system folder with a single
mistake and the hitting of a return).

1. Go to the path:

Computername/OSXvolumename/System/Library/Screen Savers

Here you should find all of the built-in screensavers except for the
Slide Show and Basic ones.

2. Choose the saver that you want to add pictures to: you can only add
them to the Abstract, Beach, Cosmos, or Forest savers.

3. Highlight your choice, control-click on the saver's icon, and select
'Open Package Contents' in the contextual menu.

4. Open the folder called "Contents" in the window that appears. Then
open the folder called "Resources". Inside here, you should see the jpg
files that comprise the screen saver. At this point, you could just copy
those files to the desktop and then just create a custom slide show.
However, to add pictures, it's simply a matter of putting them in this
folder and renaming them to the next number up (I didn't check to see if
the name change was necessary). Note the naming system of the jpg files.

5. For purposes of ease, it is easier to rename the files FIRST before
moving them, if you're going to do it via the terminal. Looking at the
naming system of the jpg files, name your files in the same way,
starting with the lowest positive number that is not used. For example,
if the last cosmos picture is named 'Cosmos10.jpg', then you should name
your files 'Cosmos11.jpg', 'Cosmos12.jpg' etc., without the single
quotes, of course.

6. Creating a custom slide show by using those pictures does not require
using the Terminal.. just copy them to your desired target folder.
However, moving items TO the folder DOES require root/terminal access.
If you want to do this, open the terminal. Root access is actually
easier because you can use the GUI this way to just drag them into the
folder, and not having permissions problems. However, it's kind of
annoying since you have to logout and relogin again (to log in as root,
just log out, type "root" as the username, and the root password in the
password field, and then just drag your files directly into this folder
using the GUI, and then rename them to the needed filename).

7. Using the Terminal, keep the "Contents" window open (so you can see
the icon to the "Resources" folder), and open the folder that has your
desired pictures that you want to add to the screensaver.

8. You named all of your files that you want to place in the screensaver
according to the naming system that Apple specified, right? Good. That
will save you a lot of time:

Type 'sudo cp ' in the terminal (without the single quotes but with the
trailing space), and then drag the Resources folder onto the terminal
window. The path should automatically come up onto the terminal window.
Type a space in the terminal window, and then drag the desired file you
want to move into the Resources folder onto the terminal window. The
path should also be entered automatically. DO NOT PRESS RETURN YET!! The
command should look like this:

sudo mv pathtoresourcesfolder pathtodesiredfile

Note that the path to the resources folder and to the desired file will
have spaces in them, but before each space there is a backslash. The
backslash indicates that the space should be considered part of the path
(not exactly, but it does that for the purposes of this tutorial).

Now, to make your life easier, we will make the transfer of all the
files at once (make sure all of your pictures are in the same folder).
Remember, you named all your files according to the naming system. So to
transfer all of your files, replace the last part of the path to one of
your pictures (for example, Cosmos11.jpg) with an asterisk replacing the
part of the files' names that changes. For example, for the cosmosaver
example, if you have 'Cosmos11.jpg', 'Cosmos12.jpg' and 'Cosmos13.jpg'
to move, you would type 'Cosmos1*' instead. The * means anything in
place of the asterisk, and so it copies all files that start with
'Cosmos1'. Note that any extraneous files that start with Cosmos1 may
also be moved, so make sure there aren't any of those. The command
should now look like:

sudo mv pathtoresourcesfolder /C3P0\ Users\ simx\ Pictures\ Cosmos1*

This is just an example: your command will vary depending on which
folder your pictures are in and which saver you are editing (remember
that the backslashes negate the special function of the space).

9. Type return, and at the prompt, type the root password. If you type
in the correct password, the files should be copied to the Resources
folder.

Thanks man,
Twyg

[Draco]

That is very cool, but here is a question for you.
I work in a corporate environment, and have a thing about security. Not only on the network level, but the physical level.
I have a box running OX 10.1 that runs a program called InterMapper. I don't know if you have heard of this program, but if not it is VERY nice.
http://www.intermapper.com

Anyways, I would like to leave the terminal up, but use the program running, since it is a LIVE network map, but have it act as the screen saver.

Or have a transparent picture to the active screen as an active screen saver???

An option like this would help me very much.
Any ideas?

Thanks, and please let me know!