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+--- Thread: XBMC Screensaver Competition (/showthread.php?tid=8113)
- Gamester17 - 2004-12-10
xbmc screensaver competition
neoya inc. (makers of the best vga-adapter for the xbox) has kindly donated 5 x2vga+ adapters to the xboxmediacenter project for us to run this screen-saver development competition. the purpose of this contest is to develop new screensaver plugins for xbox media center (and extend xbmc's screensaver interface api if necessary), hopefully it will also encourage more programmers to join in xbmc development. the contest starts of right away and will end three months from now. all valid entries not infringing any copyrights (winners or not) can be integrated in xbmc, however the top-5 entries (decided by team-xbmc) will each win one x2vga+, the top-of-the-line xbox vga-adapter courtesy of neoya, (thanks neoya inc!
non-developers please make a paypal donation for the winners adapter shipping cost to help
xbmc screensaver competition code requirements:
- full source must be submitted as open source (l/gpl)
- must be in c/c++ or assembly and compile under msvs
(embedded assembler is permitted only if really needed)
- the plugin must use xbmc screensaver plugin interface,
(exception will be made for picture or video screen-saver)
- must be compatible with 576i/p, 480i/p, 720p and 1080i
xbmc screensaver suggestions (not requirements):
- port open source screensaver or code it from scratch
- improvements on xbmc screensaver plugin interface
(example; add configurations options to xbmc gui)
- recommend program in direct3d as it is xbox native
(wrapping opengl possible but not recommended)
xbmc screensaver competition rules and conditions:
- all the requirements for the competition must be met
- all code must be submitted under lgpl or gpl license
- can't have illegally acquired or non open-source code
- no illegally acquired or copyrighted pics can be used
- code can be based upon other open source projects
- no existing xbmc (or xbmp) team-members may join
- your xbs saver can't 'simply' be a mod of others xbs
- the full source must be submitted before contest end
- the last competition submission date is 28/02-2005
- code judged on look, quality, functions and cleanness
- if equal function & look code will be chosen on quality
- winner will be decided by the xboxmediacenter-team
- the winners should be announced before 13/03-2005
- one person or team may submit more than one entry,
(as long as both the code and look significantly differ)
- each winning entry can and will only win one adapter
- if a team wins a prize they have to split it themselves
- all winners pay s&h if the donations do not cover it
- we reserve the right to cancel this contest if needed
- we reserve the right to change all this without notice
source code can be submitted here (link), make sure you select "screensaver competition" as category in order to join this competition. we recommend you register a sourceforge.net account and login before you submit a patch as you then can update or change the entry as you progress. note that sourceforge has a 256kb upload limited per file, though you can attach more than one file if you need more space you can upload the file/s here (link) after you submitted the entry on sourceforge to get a "patch entry id #". ps! please zip or rar everything before you upload it, and make sure you include contact information.
note! development and technical questions for this is better discussed here (link), will also easier catch other devs eyes in there (than here).
(ex. the interface api can be extended but first discuss with the official devs so keep implementation consistent and available for everyone).
neoya would like to inform everyone that x2vga adapters are available for worldwide shipping from www.x2vga.com right now!
- Gamester17 - 2004-12-10
@non-developers, you can help developers by finding (portable) open source screensavers and giving contructive suggestions/ideas;
(good guide when looking for portable code is it should be c or c++ source code plus preferable win32 and directx/direct3d based):
i've found these possible project as exampels:
- calum robinson's flurry screen saver, (c/c++ win32 port)
- sirenic, (not a screensaver but a flexible screensaver/visualization library which can be used to make screensavers)
- skullydoo c++ for win32 - 3d architechture & visualization)
other suggestions/requests for screensavers (with no complete open source project to base the whole code on?):
- fire / fireplace screensaver
- swf (macromedia flash) loop player, which a user could use anyone of their compatible non-interactive swf files with.
- aquarium / fish-tank screensaver
- port opengl screensavers from reallyslick.com
- stars (like the old windows screensaver, flying through starts, eg the star trek warp effect)
- 3d flying objects, (waving flag/logo from picture, like windows opengl saver, but reversed-engineered and direct3d instead)
- 3d text and/or clock, (again, like one of the windows opengl saver, but reversed-engineered + direct3d instead (source code))
- 3d maze, (again, like one of the windows opengl saver, but reversed-engineered and direct3d instead)
- 3d pipes, (again, like one of the windows opengl saver, but reversed-engineered and direct3d instead)
two other ideas that previous been discussed (that's not directly related to the xbmc's screensaver interface):
- picture-slideshow playlist screensaver (with optional m3u music playlist) (sf.net rfe), have also been mentioned here (link)
- video loop/playlist screensaver (sf.net rfe), have also been mentioned here (link)
note! for the above picture/video savers to work "separate location for music/video/picture playlists" must be coded first.
finally here is another idea that's not for this contest but if someone would like to code it anyway that would be great:
- use the audio visualizations as screensavers, without audio just feed it a fake signal
you can of course also recommend progamming books and/or online documentations and samples, example:
- "the direct3d graphics pipeline" by rich thomson
- "real-time rendering" by tomas akenine-möller and eric haines
- flipcode's online guide to directx 8 - using 2d graphics in a 3d environment (link)
ps! many tips and tricks on xbox/xbmc programming plus suggested resources you should use can be found here (link)
- jb_here - 2004-12-11
crash course to 3d programing
http://www.rookscape.com/vbgaming/tutorials.php
mostly in vb but easily converted to c :thumbsup:
- lozcs - 2004-12-13
my only downside of having my xbox's on 24/7 (since finding xbmc!!!
is all those wasted cpu cycles that could be put to good use via some form of distributed computing project.since the xbox's limitations of single thread processing stops integrating something to run at the same time as xbmc - a screensaver option would be ideal.
my idea would be, have distributed computing projects coded as xbmc screensavers.
the user simply picks the project they wanted to participate in - and the project is worked on when the xbox is 'idle'
there are a lot of distributed computing projects around <clicky>, i have been running prime95 <clicky> for a few years now and would love to see a screensaver integrated version for xbmc.
i believe, some projects offer cash per work done (maybe a way to pay xbmc developers?) some offer an individual prize (eg. $50,000 prize for finding 10 million digit prime number with prime95). it would be great to see some xbmc teams rise up the tables of the projects.
lawrence......
<my post on the mersenne forum>
- thafenix - 2004-12-17
one of my favorite plugins is called katafx3, it was originally a winamp plugin, but i would love to see something similar to it for xbmc. it had great reactive abilities, better than i’ve seen in most plugins. here's a link.katafx3
thanks.
thafenix
- Warren - 2004-12-18
i just finished porting flurry32 (which i must say was a mess to udnerstand and it seems like one of the components of it isn't even rendered - sparks) and am just wrestling with some compile problems atm. hopefully i'll have a preview for people sometime tonight.
- Warren - 2004-12-18
hrm, it seems all i've succeeded in doing is locking up the xbox. would it be easy to write a test harness for windows for the screensavers or would it be best to try and debug on the xbox? also if i'm using time functions do i have to link to any additional xbox libs?
also, is there a way to put msgs in the xbmc log from within a screensaver?
- darkie - 2004-12-18
Quote:also, is there a way to put msgs in the xbmc log from within a screensaver?printf should do that if your debug level is set high enough
- Warren - 2004-12-19
ok so the screensaver should be functional, only thing is i need someone to look over my directx mode stuff and tell me what i've done wrong. i think i have the right equivalents for the opengl calls but i am still flying blind here since i really don't know directx.
would anyone who knows directx be willing to look over the code for me?
- Warren - 2005-01-09
i have just posted two files to the 3rd party upload site (they're currently awaiting approval). one of them is a windows dx8 based test harness for xbmc screensaver plugins and the other is a new version of forza's templatexbs which includes a test build target that allows you to make use of testxbs without making any changes to your code.
hopefully this will enable more people to compete in the competition as you now don't need an xbox (or at least one next to your computer) to develop screensavers.
- jmarshall - 2005-01-09
thanks warren! that'll be a great help to others.
cheers,
jonathan
- Hullebulle - 2005-01-09
(warren @ jan. 09 2005,10:06 Wrote:i have just posted two files to the 3rd party upload site (they're currently awaiting approval). one of them is a windows dx8 based test harness for xbmc screensaver plugins and the other is a new version of forza's templatexbs which includes a test build target that allows you to make use of testxbs without making any changes to your code.published the files here.
hopefully this will enable more people to compete in the competition as you now don't need an xbox (or at least one next to your computer) to develop screensavers.
- malloc - 2005-01-11
warren,
this is a great tool. there are a few bugs, however. i fixed a problem with the speed, but i can't figure out how to get initdx8 to work so that it emulates xbmc properly. if you or any of the developers would help, that would be greatly appreciated. atm it doesn't work correctly with pyro, and simply trying to display a rectangle doesn't work either.
alright, i got it to work well enough. it still isn't exactly as xbmc is, but at least pyro works now. rather then upload it to the site and wait for approval i just put it up on my personal website.
http://www.seansoria.com/testxbs.zip
- Warren - 2005-01-11
thanks malloc!
i forgot to fix the speed issue, but i thought i had the clean exit fixed (error before was due to a double free of directx stuff). it's interesting to know that changing to hw vertex processing fixed some stuff, i threw this together based on some dx8 demos i found on the net.
as for the rectangle thing, i'd been having that problem for days know and just thought it was due to my dx ineptitude - good to hear that its not. i'll try running my demos on the xbox to see if the actually work now
could one of the devs please throw malloc's version of testxbs up on the 3rd party upload site as a new version?
- malloc - 2005-01-12
so i've gotten some code to work on my pc using the test harness, but when i go to compile it for the xbox i get linking errors. it appears to have to do with the fact that it is being linked against xbox_dx8.lib instead of a real library. i'm pretty sure the funtion it's complaining about exists, i just don't know how to get it to link properly. any help is appreciated.