Dashboard ripple effect....how?

J

Jibbinchris

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I cant get dashboard to do that cool ripple thing when I add my widgets... Is there a preference I need to change? Also when I make my dashboard appear and reapear I have to push "fn" "f12" is that supposed to be like that or am I able to just push "f12"? I have version 8A428.
 
Your video card has to be capable of supporting all the features
Core Image-capable graphics cards include:
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
ATI Radeon 9600 XT, 9800 XT, X800 XT
nVidia GeForce FX Go 5200
nVidia GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL, 6800 GT DDL

So, NO iBook will presently support ALL video effects, and Powerbooks at 1.33GHz minimum will generally support all effects. If yours is older than that, then the 'ripple' won't happen.
 
Ok so if I have an 800mhz ibook I probably dont have the right video card? Can I see which vidio card I have in system profiler? Can I install a new one in my ibook?
 
Yes, your iBook will work fine with Tiger, you just won't have ALL of the video effects that the OS can create. You can see what vid card you have in your System Profiler, but I can tell you what you do have. If yours is an 800 MHz G3, then you have a Mobility Radeon 7500. If it is an 800 MHz G4, then you have the newer Mobility Radeon 9200. Both are pretty good for video, but neither will support the 'ripple'. Again, no iBook currently supports this. But new models are due, I think. I would expect Apple to provide vid support in new ones. Not possible to upgrade your built-in video. Save your money...
 
i have the nVidia GeForce FX Go 5200 and my powerbook is the 1Ghz, so i won't get the ripple either? :mad:
 
Did you read my post with the list above? There's a list that Apple provided in the tiger tech specs. You'll notice that your FX Go 5200 is there, so you are fully supported with your Powerbook. :)

edit - I missed the 12" 1GHz, but it does have this FX Go 5200. Seems to be the slowest processor that would have fully supporting video, including desktops.
 
Obvsiouly my eMac won't get the ripple effect, however what if you don't have the recquired video card and the ripple effect is then proccessed by the cpu/video... Dunno if it can do that but can it ???
 
Personaly I would turn the ripple effect off if I could. I find it a waste of time. I want to select my widget and have it appear on screen instantly. These video effects are very clever but pointless.
 
smithy said:
Obvsiouly my eMac won't get the ripple effect, however what if you don't have the recquired video card and the ripple effect is then proccessed by the cpu/video... Dunno if it can do that but can it ???
Click to expand...
The OS is a little smarter than that. The effects are there if the video is capable, otherwise, the OS ignores the effect. It's a hardware function similar to adding a second display, or using Bluetooth. Nothing happens if the hardware is not there. There is no processing loss because the OS offloads the processing to the card to make the effect, the vid card does the work.
 
Note that this is only a partial list - it is NOT a complete list of all the cards that are supported for full CoreImage support.
 
I was reading the requirements for core image and it states that, when a programmable gpu is present, core image will utilize the graphics card for image processing freeing up the cpu to perform other tasks. Now, I am a little new to the technical side of computers, but to me it sounds like the effects may still be there, however, they will be perfomed with heavier processing. The list that is provided just states the graphics cards that are capable of handling the processing. Yes, or am I confused???

"For computers without a programmable GPU, Core Image dynamically optimizes for the CPU, automatically tuning for Velocity Engine and multiple processors as appropriate."
 
That's what i thought, but i read some user reports who stated their unsupported video cards simply don't do the ripple effect.
 
There could possibly be a preference switch somewhere that will turn it on, then. I haven't played with Tiger at all, so I wouldn't know where to start looking.

It's probably better that it's off, though. I mean, do you really want it that badly?
 
No, i don't. I was just more interested in how it worked, and why it would work on certain systems and not others.
 
Hmm well im confused but i guess the ripple effect is just another "eye candy" effect to show off the mac os. However really the ripple effect isn't that useful in my eyes, it probly slows the whole dashboard producitvity down a nitch.
 
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