planet-slideshow Wiki

Wallpaper maker with xplanet renderings and image slideshow

Status: Beta

Brought to you by: adifm

FAQ and How to this kind of image...

I don't want borders around the planet or the moon.
A: Set to "no" the variables ENABLE_BORDER_1 (for first planet, i.e. Earth) and
ENABLE_BORDER_2 (for the Moon)

How to change the border around the planet?
A: Replace the dynamic_composite/resources/borders1024px/border_1.png and/or border_2.png with something that suits your need. You have to keep the filename and type identical with these ones. Various border pack exists [TODO: add links to packs] [TODO: add screenshots with borders]

There is a glow around the planet's edges. How to change it?
A: This glow disk (halo) is added in order to increase the contrast of the edge against the background.
If you want to disable it, edit the variable ENABLE_GLOWDISK, setting it to no
If you want a glowdisk with a different color (default is a fuzzy warm yellow), edit the file dynamic_composite/resources/default_backdrops/glow_disk_1024px.png and change it with something suitable to your requirements. Take care to edit in a program that can save transparent backgrounds (like the GNU/GIMP). It is required that the file to be square in shape (i.e. same width and height).

How to change the default geometrical pattern (that dark-brown fence)?
A: Replace dynamic-composite/resources/default_backdrops/default_backdrop_1680x1050.jpg with the image you like. Unfortunately you have to keep the name of this file (in a next version this will be fixed). This file can have any geometry, but it has to be a .jpg

How to change the default background (those blue waves)?
A: Replace dynamic-composite/resources/default_backdrops/default_background_1680x1050.png with the image you like. Unfortunately you have to keep the name of this file (in a next version this will be fixed). This file can have any geometry, but it has to be a .png

How to put the moon first (to the left) and Earth to the right?
A: Set the variable PLANETS_STACKING_ORDER="21" and PLANETS_STACKING="horizontal"

How to put moon on top and Earth below it?
A: Set the variable PLANETS_STACKING_ORDER="21" and PLANETS_STACKING="vertical"

How to put only the Earth on the wallpaper (i.e. disable Moon)
A: to disable the compositing of the Moon image, set ENABLE_PLANET_1=yes and
ENABLE_PLANET_2=no

How to put only the Moon on the wallpaper (i.e. disable Earth)
A: to disable the compositing of the Earth image, set ENABLE_PLANET_1=no and
ENABLE_PLANET_2=yes

How to put the planets somewhere else on the screen?
A: There are 10 locations possible for the planets (TODO: see LAYERING DIAGRAM).
The variable controlling it is PLANETS_ALIGNMENT.
To put the planets exactly on the center of the screen, set PLANETS_ALIGNMENT="Center".
Other possible locations are: NorthWest, North, NorthEast, East, SouthEast, South, SouthWest, West.

These positions are dynamically computed by ImageMagick to fit the screen, regardless its geometry. By design the script does not work with absolute positioning of the planets (draw them at a specific pixel).

How to change the size of the planets displayed?
A: Set SIZE_1 and SIZE_2 to the values desired, for instance SIZE_1="300" and SIZE_2="200".
This is NOT the diameter of the planet; it is the size of the box containing the planet, glowdisk and border. The diameter of the celestial body is computed as 70% of the supplied size. For the above values, the diameter of the displayed Earth will be 210 pixels and the diameter of the displayed Moon will be 140 pixels.

Reverse, if you want a specific diameter, the SIZE variable have to be set to a value equal with diameter / 0.7

I have set the Earth and Moon to have different sizes. How to change their alignment in respect to each other?
A: This is controlled by PLANETS_STACKING_ALIGNMENT variable.
For instance, if you want them aligned on the same line, it will be:
PLANETS_STACKING_ALIGNMENT=”Center” [TODO: image ]

If want to align them with the upper / right border, it will be:
PLANETS_STACKING_ALIGNMENT=”NorthEast” [TODO: image ]

If want to align them with the lower / right border, it will be:
PLANETS_STACKING_ALIGNMENT=”SouthEast” [TODO: image ]

What is the little red circle displayed on Earth?
A: It is an xplanet maker showing a location on the Earth; this is currently set over the author's current residence. Of course you can change it, edit the file:
dynamic-composite/resources/xplanet_res/markers/earth-markers

The file is heavily commented and self-explanatory (from XPlanet documentation). I added at the end some examples (Delhi, Berlin, Seattle).

If you want to disable a marker, comment the line; If you want multiple markers, add more lines, one marker/line. It is possible to change the color. Useful markers are given as examples in dynamic-composite/resources/xplanet_res/usefull_markers folder

Also, check the Xplanet' manual and site; it is possible to add a lot of marker types (i.e. earthquake locations, etc, etc). Beware: the Earth have to be rotated to show the location (see next question)

I want to display a different perspective of the Earth (i.e. I want to see Brazil!)
A: The variables LATITUDE and LONGITUDE control the Earth orientation on the screen. The center of the visible disk of Earth will be the one at the position given in these variables.
It defaults to 30, 30, which is roughly above Central Europe.
For North America, try LATITUDE=45 LONGITUDE=100
For South America, try LATITUDE=-3 LONGITUDE=-60
For Asia, try LATITUDE=39 LONGITUDE=105
For Australia, try LATITUDE=-21 LONGITUDE=135

I want to see the Moon from a different perspective.
A: By default, the Moon is shown as seen from Earth.

This can be changed, but extra-care should be from the syntax. Find the line containing “ -origin Earth \ “ (around line-number 256 in version 0.8 of the script). Change it to “ -latitude 10 -longitude 10 \ ” to show for instance the point located at 10 degrees latitude and 10 degrees longitude.

If you want to display the dark side of the Moon (i.e. the side opposite to Earth), change the line to
“ -origin -earth \ “ [TODO: check this in other versions of XPlanet]

Can I put more planets on the screen ?
A: No, only up to two planets can be positioned with this script; It can be extended however, you are welcomed if you make a fork of it.

Can I put other planets instead the default ones?
A: Yes, but requires a little bit of careful editing of xplanet command strings.
Let's say you want to display Saturn instead of Earth and Jupiter instead of Moon. This requires a bit of care.

To replace Earth with Saturn, find the line containing “ nice xplanet -body Earth \ “ (around line number #236 in version 0.8 of the script) and replace it with “ nice xplanet -body Saturn \ “

To replace Moon with Jupiter, find the line containing “ nice xplanet -body Moon \ “ (around line number #250 in version 0.8 of the script) and replace it with “nice xplanet -body Jupiter \ “

The bodies that can be displayed are those that can be rendered by the Xplanet program. Valid values for body are sun, mercury, venus, earth, moon, mars, phobos, deimos, jupiter, io, europa, ganymede, callisto, saturn, mimas, enceladus, tethys, dione, rhea, titan, hyperion, iapetus, phoebe, uranus, miranda, ariel, umbriel, titania, oberon, neptune, triton, nereid, pluto, charon, random, and major (as from the manual for version 1.2.1 of xplanet)

Can I just use the script without planets (just the image in a frame, like in SCREENSHOT - [FIXME])
A: Set ENABLE_PLANET_1=no and ENABLE_PLANET_2=no
This might be usefull if you just want a random image displayed in a nice frame on the desktop. See SCREENSHOT_N [TODO: make screenshot]

How to change text color and size?
A: There are two different of text rendered on the screen: by the script (pahse of the moon) and by xplanet (markers).

I. For the phase of the moon (pom program).
It is controlled by variables: TEXT_COLOR, TEXT_SHADOW and TEXT_SIZE
Text size is in points, at 72 dpi. Your screen can be of a different density, so you might want to test several values here. Color and shadow names are in RGB color space, like yellow, red, black, etc.

The nicknames are defined in the rgb.txt of your distribution (could be located in /etc or in various /X11 folders). For your convenience I put a copy of this file in dynamic-composite/resources/xplanet_res as a quick reference. The rgb.txt of your distribution is used by the program.

II. For the xplanet markers, is controlled by the files:
dynamic-composite/resources/xplanet_res/config/xplanet-wall-config
and /or by dynamic-composite/resources/xplanet_res/markers/earth-markers
You can also change the font used (instead FreeMonoBold.ttf) but this involves changing several lines of the script.

I want to use other maps for Earth and Moon.
A: The maps used are controlled by the config file:
dynamic-composite/resources/xplanet_res/config/xplanet-wall-config

The maps supplied with this script are customized for it and are independent of your xplanet installation. See the dynamic-composite/resources/xplanet_res/images/readme.txt for in depth explanation and check that folder for other possible maps :)

planet-slideshow Wiki

Wallpaper maker with xplanet renderings and image slideshow

FAQ and How to this kind of image...

FAQ and How to this kind of image...

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