Help for iSnow

Let it snow on your desktop and have Santa and his reindeer fly around your screen for that Extra Festive Season Cheer, while snow piles up on top of your windows (really!). Maybe there's a polar bear somewhere too, and if you have been good this year, Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) has arrived, as well!

Version 3.0.0 introduces new features:

  • The Moon, Sun and Earth moving over your desktop with correct rise and set times
  • Aurora Borealis, that you can customise

    Preferences

    To change the settings go to the top of the screen, click iSnow in the menu bar, and select "Preferences..." from the menu.
    A window is shown where you can can select Snow, Santa, Bear, Moon, Sun, Earth, Aurora, Snowdrops and Displays. Geolocation.

    There are very many options to change. If you made choices that you don't like there are buttons labeled "defaults", to reset to the default values.

    If iSnow does not startup or crashes at startup: hold down the option-key while starting the application.
    This will reset the preferences. Please contact me if you cannot resolve this. [rick.jansen@xs4all.nl]

    Snow

    Here you can change the snow. There are sliders to make the snow fall faster or slower, rotate faster or slower.
    More snowflakes means more CPU. For a nice layer of snow you don't need very many snowflakes.

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    Santa

    Bigger or smaller Santa, or Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) instead of Santa.

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    Bear

    Bigger or smaller bear.

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    Moon

    The Moon rotates around the Earth in 29.53 days, while keeping one side to us, as it's rotation duration is also 29.53 days. So, we always see the same side of the moon, although there is a slight "wobble". The Moon moves over your desktop, with proper rise and set times for your geolocation on Earth, and actual illumination is shown for the moon age. This is the default behaviour, shown when you have these options selected (see image below, left): With these options selected the moon travels slowly over your desktop, as in the sky.

    NB: the relative locations of Sun and Moon are genuine here, so the Moon is illuminated by the Sun on one side!

    To change the Moon's behaviour select the options below.

    Note on Location Services

    This tells whether location services are available to iSnow or now, or if a geolocation was determined before.

    Moon trajectory - timing and visibility

    Moon trajectory - shape of the path

    The Moon path is either an arc, or a straight line, or a single stationary location, depending on the options: Elevation is how high the moon is above the horizon. Here, you can set the horizon and maximum elevation on your screen using the two sliders "Horizon vertical position" and "Max moon elevation".
    The red dotted line is the horizon, the blue dotted line the maximum elevation. The black solid line is the Moon trajectory, between horizon and max elevation. The same lines will be (temporarily) shown on your desktop.

    Stationary moon (drag with mouse): If you prefer the Moon to not move but stay in one spot on your desktop then select this option. You can drag the little Moon in the box, the Moon on your desktop will follow. (Sorry, you cannot drag the Moon on the desktop itself with the mouse, as it is behind everything.)

    Moon phase

    As the Moon rotates around the Earth during 29.53 days the illumination by the sun changes from full moon to almost dark, and back.

    Moon size

    Set the Moon size with the slider. Default it is set to 0.5, so you can have a far bigger or a much smaller Moon on your desktop.

    Huge full moon: tick this checkbox if you want a very large full moon. (This size Moon cannot spin.)

    Moon color

    If you are craving for a Blood Moon, for example, then have a go with the Color sliders. Values are RGB and α, α for transparency.
    Brightness, contrast and saturation can be changed with the Brightness sliders.

    Current moon data

    Displays the current calculated data on the Moon.

    No Moon

    Oh..
    (The moon does not use use any significant CPU, but the when the moon is "just spinning" some meory is used)

    Moon defaults

    Click this button to reset all settings to the default values.

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    Sun

    The Earth rotates around the Sun in 365 days, and rotates around its own axis in 1 day. So, we see the Sun traverse the sky, travelling an arc from sunrise in the east, and sunset in the west. The Sun moves over your desktop, between the actual rise and set times for your geolocation on Earth. This is the default behaviour, shown when you have this option selected (see image below): With these options selected the sun travels slowly over your desktop, as in the sky.

    To change the Sun's behaviour select the options below.

    Note on Location Services

    This tells whether location services are available to iSnow or now, or if a geolocation was determined before.

    Sun trajectory - timing and visibility

    Sun trajectory - shape of the path

    The Sun path is either an arc, or a straight line, or a single stationary location, depending on the options: Elevation is how high the sun is above the horizon. Here, you can set the horizon and maximum elevation on your screen using the two sliders "Horizon vertical position" and "Max sun elevation".
    The red dotted line is the horizon, the blue dotted line the maximum elevation. The black solid line is the Sun trajectory, between horizon and max elevation. The same lines will be (temporarily) shown on your desktop.

    Stationary sun (drag with mouse): If you prefer the Sun to not move but stay in one spot on your desktop then select this option. You can drag the little Sun in the box, the Sun on your desktop will follow. (Sorry, you cannot drag the Sun on the desktop itself with the mouse, as it is behind everything.)

    Sun size

    Set the Sun size with the slider. Default it is set to 0.5, so you can have a far bigger or a much smaller Sun on your desktop.

    Sun color

    If you are craving for a differently colored Sun, then have a go with the Color sliders. Values are RGB and α, α for transparency.
    Brightness, contrast and saturation can be changed with the Brightness sliders.

    Current sun data

    Displays the current calculated data on the Sun.

    No Sun

    Oh..
    The Sun does not use use any significant CPU or memory.

    Sun defaults

    Click this button to reset all settings to the default values.

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    Earth

    Even though the Earth is not visible in our sky you can have it on your desktop. Default it is stationary, in a location you can drag it to, but it can move, too, like the Moon or the Sun, timing is with the slider.

    Earth view

  • Select a view on Earth using the slider.

    Earth size

  • Select a size using the slider.

    No Earth

  • Oh..
    The Earth does not use use any significant CPU or memory.

    Earth defaults

  • Click this button to reset all settings to the default values.

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    Aurora settings

    The Aurora you see on screen is basically a collection of thick wiggly colored lines that you can change. It will be slowly evolving. The controls here change the shape and colors of the Aurora.

    Aurora shape

    Fuzz / Rays

  • You can choose between two basic Aurora shapers: "Fuzz" or "Rays". Fuzz will generate a wide Aurora, Rays gives an Aurora emanating from a distant point.

    Distortion

  • Distortion makes the Aurora change shape, slowly.

    Glow

  • Glow changes colors in a subtle way.

    Color

  • Brightness, contrast and saturation can be changed with the Brightness sliders.

  • Have a go with the Color sliders. Values are RGB and α, α for transparency. Transparency is nice to make a faint Aurora. Use with caution, un-Auroralike, but psychedelic-like, effects can easily be achieved.

    Change speed

  • The Aurora slowly changes shape. You can slow that down (less often), or speed it up.
  • If you don't want the Aurora to change at all uncheck "Aurora changes automatically". (NB: if the Aurora does not change it will not use any CPU)

    Click the Edit button, and the following screen appears:

  • The Aurora you see on screen is basically a collection of thick wiggly colored lines that you can change.
  • You can draw a simple straight line with one begin- and one end-point, but you can make far more complex lines, like zig-zag, wavy, circles, ...
  • Each Aurora line can have up to 7 bands, each with it's own color, pattern, width, and distance to the next band.
  • You can set the number of bands with the up/down control,or by typing a number in the box next to that.
  • You can change the name of an Aurora, and (temporarily) activate or deactivate it.
  • The different line patterns make different Auroras: solid lines, dots, fine dashes, and finest dashes. Try them out!
  • The [+|-] button below the table lets you add and delete Auroras.
  • The "OK" button confirms your changes, the button "Discard changes" throws away all changes. (There is NO Redo!)
    Tip: use "Save" or "Save as" in the File menu to save your current setup, so you can restore your Aurora if you have made changes you regret.

    Change an Aurora

  • Select an Aurora by clicking it in the table, the screen shows a schematic version of the Aurora, as in above picture.
  • The simplest Aurora is a straight line, with a begin and an end. It will not be a totally straight Aurora though, it gets wiggly automatically.
  • You can add and delete points: click (select) the point of the line where you want to add a new point, the circle will show red (selected)
  • Right-click the circle will show a menu, where you can choose "Delete", "Add before" or "Add after"
  • The size of the circles varies: the Aurora is dynamic, the circle denotes how much that point may drift (changeable in a next version).

    No Aurora

  • Oh..
    Aurora does not use use any significant CPU or memory.

    Aurora defaults

  • Click this button to reset all settings to the default values.

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    Snowdrops

    Fill your screen with snowdrops, when winter is almost finished and you feel like a sign of spring!

    Have as many snowdrops as you like, they don't take any CPU or memory.

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    Displays

    iSnow supports multi-monitor systems. Choose: After changing this you needs to restart iSnow.

    Note

    For multi-monitor setups all monitors are added into an encompassing rectangle, where it will snow.
    "Displays have separate spaces" currently is not supported. This is a setting in your System Preferences:

        -> System Preferences -> Mission Control -> Displays have separate spaces (checkbox): OFF

    You need to logout or restart your Mac for this change to have effect.

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    Geolocation

    The moon and sun trajectories, moon phase, rise and set times can be automatically computed, provided your location on Earth is known.

    You can choose your location by selecting country and a nearby city, manually enter latitude and longitude, or use you Mac's Location Services.

    Location Services requires that your Mac has location services enabled, and that you allow iSnow to access that location, as it is privacy sensitive information.
    Note that iSnow does not collect any data from you, nothing is shared, and your location neither.

    To enable Location Services click the  menu top left in your screen, in the menu bar:

        -> System Preferences -> Security&Privacy -> Privacy (tab) -> Location Services -> Enable

    Then, in the list of Apps below that, tick the iSnow checkbox.

    It may also be necessary to switch on WiFi, for your location to be determined.

    Again, your location is ONLY used for trajectory calculations, your location is not shared! Once a location is found the location detection is switched OFF.

    You can allow iSnow to access your location just once: if a location is established that location is stored, and used from now on, so you can even disable Location Services.

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    © 1984, 1988, 1990, 1993-1997, 2002-2007, 2012, 2017-2021 by Rick Jansen, all rights reserved
    [Home page] [iSnow for macOS] Other products: [AutumnLeaves for macOS] [Hanami for macOS] [Xsnow]
    Rick Jansen, rick.jansen@xs4all.nl