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Transparent Desktop - Usage
Controls - Beginner - Advanced - Troubleshooting
You can watch the tutorial video on youtube by clicking here
Controls
Show Screen -Turns the monitor to a solid colour. Used to help find the program detect the monitor. Press space to return to normal.
Open Background - Press to load the background photograph.
Open Monitor - Press to load the photograph of the monitor.
Black & White - Displays a black and white version of the monitor photograph. Lets you see what the computer sees. Usefull for troubleshooting.
Detect Monitor - Displays a cross on the monitor picture. For troubleshooting.
Create Image - Generates the image to load on your monitor.
Save - Saves the last generated image.
Full Screen Preview - Displays the image in the box full screen. Press space to return to normal.
Sizes - Defaults to your monitor's resolution. Lets you enter values when generating images for other screens.
Colours - To select different colours to display on the screen for monitor detection. Make sure the same colour is used when taking a photo of the monitor as when creating an image.
Beginner
1) Set up camera where it won’t move with a clear view of your background. If you are using a laptop, you can fold the screen down.
2) Take
a photograph of your
background scene
3) Put
your monitor in place
4) Press the Monitor button on the program. The screen will turn magenta
5) Take
a picture of
the monitor.
6) Press
the spacebar
and the
screen will return to
normal.
7) Press Load Background and Load monitor to load the two photographs from your camera.
8) Press
Generate
image.
9) Press
full screen
(or press save
and set the image as your desktop)
10) Take another photograph. Your desktop will look transparent in the photograph.
11) Press space to return to normal
But
don't
move the camera as the effect wont work.
Advanced
Image
on another
computer/phone/games console/etc
1)
Create a
magenta
image to load onto your device.
2) Take
a photo of
the background and of the device as per before
3) Set
the
resolution to match the device (you may have to search online for the
correct resolution)
4) Load
images and
generate your background.
5)
Save the file
6)
Transfer the
image to your device and display it on the screen.
7) Take
your final
photo.
Troubleshooting
If the final photograph does not work, check the computer is recognising your monitor. Load your monitor image and press ‘Detect monitor’ A cross should appear on the photograph marking the corners of your monitor. If the cross doesn’t reach as far as the corners, or the message ‘monitor not detected’ is displayed, check the screen is not suffering from glare, there is nothing partially covering the screen and that the monitor is set to be bright enough.
If
the cross is over the
edge of the screen, then the background is too similar a colour to the
monitor,
eg taking a photograph of a green framed monitor with a grassy
background when
set to green won’t work. Choose another colour and take a new
photograph.
You
can check what the
computer thinks is monitor and what isn’t by clicking on Black and
white. The
white areas are what the computer thinks is screen and the black should
be
everything else.
Turning
your camera’s flash
on and off when taking the monitor photograph can have varied results
depending
on your monitor and lighting conditions. With the flash on, it may
glare on a
reflective monitor. With the flash off in a dark room, the monitor may
illuminate other objects the same colour as the screen.
Rotating the camera may
cause problems. If your camera does not auto-detect orientation, or you
have
put the monitor/phone/etc on its side, you will have to swap the height
and
width settings round manually. You may also need to rotate the image
with
another program if the display does not auto rotate.
Taking
photographs close to
a 45 degree angle to the screen may confuse the program and cause it
not to
auto find your monitor.