Screen Saver Exporter
  • Hi,

    I'm testing the trial version. It worked fine, but there's something that doesn't fit my needs. I need the screensaver to fit in squares screens, panoramic screens and two square screens. My solution is to work in the larger res and keep the content centered so the sides will be cropped if needed. The problem is that none of the "stretch" "fit" or "crop" modes work like that, stretch and crop deform the video file, and the fit mode just scales the video so I have black bars.

    Is there a way to make the screensaver crop the width?

    Thanks.
    No. Sorry. You would have to export a different version of the screen saver for each aspect ratio to get what you want.
  • Hi,

    I'm testing the trial version. It worked fine, but there's something that doesn't fit my needs. I need the screensaver to fit in squares screens, panoramic screens and two square screens. My solution is to work in the larger res and keep the content centered so the sides will be cropped if needed. The problem is that none of the "stretch" "fit" or "crop" modes work like that, stretch and crop deform the video file, and the fit mode just scales the video so I have black bars.

    Is there a way to make the screensaver crop the width?

    Thanks.
    No. Sorry. You would have to export a different version of the screen saver for each aspect ratio to get what you want.
    Oouch, Thanks anyway!
  • Hi there,
    Is there any way to make the screensaver let the monitors timeout and go to sleep. We have rolled a screensaver out in a huge office and the monitors continue to run with the screensaver on. We'd like the monitor to turn off after a certain time period. We are using windows machines.

    Can you let me know if this is possible?

    Many thanks in advance

  • Hi there,
    Is there any way to make the screensaver let the monitors timeout and go to sleep. We have rolled a screensaver out in a huge office and the monitors continue to run with the screensaver on. We'd like the monitor to turn off after a certain time period. We are using windows machines.

    Can you let me know if this is possible?

    Many thanks in advance

    Hello,
    That's not possible out of the box, so I wrote a little program that will patch the screen saver, and make it so that the monitors will turn off.
    • You can download it here 
    • Then double click the file ScreenSaverExporterPowerOptions.cmd, which will be in your Downloads folder
    • Click on the "Power Options will turn off the display" button
    • Done
    Just so you know, the power options will take affect after the screen saver has already started. So, if you set the screen saver to start after 5 minutes, and you set the monitors to turn off after 10 minutes, the monitors will turn off 10 minutes after the screen saver started (15 minutes after someone last interacted with the computer)

  • Hi there,
    Is there any way to make the screensaver let the monitors timeout and go to sleep. We have rolled a screensaver out in a huge office and the monitors continue to run with the screensaver on. We'd like the monitor to turn off after a certain time period. We are using windows machines.

    Can you let me know if this is possible?

    Many thanks in advance

    Hello,
    That's not possible out of the box, so I wrote a little program that will patch the screen saver, and make it so that the monitors will turn off.
    • You can download it here 
    • Then double click the file ScreenSaverExporterPowerOptions.cmd, which will be in your Downloads folder
    • Click on the "Power Options will turn off the display" button
    • Done
    Just so you know, the power options will take affect after the screen saver has already started. So, if you set the screen saver to start after 5 minutes, and you set the monitors to turn off after 10 minutes, the monitors will turn off 10 minutes after the screen saver started (15 minutes after someone last interacted with the computer)

    Hello,
    I remembered that you mentioned that you rolled out the screensaver in a huge office. The other program I gave you has a user friendly GUI, but I thought you might want a more automatic way, since you are changing a large number of computers. So, here is a new version of the program that will make the changes automatically, without any input. You can download it here
  • Brilliant, this looks like it should work. Thank you so much for replying so quickly!
  • I seem to have to activate with my license every time I want to render. Is there a way that I can avoid this? 
  • I seem to have to activate with my license every time I want to render. Is there a way that I can avoid this? 
    That's strange I'll look into it. In the meanwhile, use the manager app to license the software https://aescripts.com/learn/aescripts-aeplugins-manager-app/ 
  • How does one export a windows screensaver from a mac? What/where are the instructions for this? Thanks!
  • How does one export a windows screensaver from a mac? What/where are the instructions for this? Thanks!
    In the export settings , go to the Windows tab (usually the order is Effects, Video, Audio, macOS, windows).
    Then click the checkbox for Output windows (.scr) output.
    Instructions are also on on page 4 of the User's Guide.
  • I seem to have to activate with my license every time I want to render. Is there a way that I can avoid this? 
    That's strange I'll look into it. In the meanwhile, use the manager app to license the software https://aescripts.com/learn/aescripts-aeplugins-manager-app/ Tried the app. Very cool, but the problem still occurs. Would you suggest uninstalling and reregistering?

  • I seem to have to activate with my license every time I want to render. Is there a way that I can avoid this? 
    That's strange I'll look into it. In the meanwhile, use the manager app to license the software https://aescripts.com/learn/aescripts-aeplugins-manager-app/ Tried the app. Very cool, but the problem still occurs. Would you suggest uninstalling and reregistering?

    Yeah, I would try uninstalling and re-registering, try registering through the manager app.
  • I re-installed this plugin after a long time, but I'm having trouble registering it on export. It freezes and I have to force quit. Windows 10, Adobe Premiere 2018. Any tips?
  • I re-installed this plugin after a long time, but I'm having trouble registering it on export. It freezes and I have to force quit. Windows 10, Adobe Premiere 2018. Any tips?
    Uninstall the plugin, and register through the manager app https://aescripts.com/learn/aescripts-aeplugins-manager-app/. Also, the program is compatible with Adobe 2018, I've updated the compatibility section of the store page.
  • Are you able to export a mac screensaver from a PC? Currently working off a mac, but want to transfer license over to a PC. I need to still be able to export for both mac and PC if I do transfer.
  • Are you able to export a mac screensaver from a PC? Currently working off a mac, but want to transfer license over to a PC. I need to still be able to export for both mac and PC if I do transfer.
    Sorry, but due to technical limitations we can't support exporting a mac screensaver from a PC.
  • Hello!

    I would be very thankful if I could get some help with exporting my screensaver.

    The results I'm getting is unfortunately not of high quality. When I've exported and installed the file on both PC and Mac, there's flickering in the screensaver video. On PC (Windows 8, with the .msi file) the screensaver shuts down half way, and then some flicker, and the screensaver starts playing again unevenly fast/slow/lagging. 

    I've tried exporting from a lossless and H264 codec video file from Media Encoder, straight from After Effect to Media Encoder with Dynamic Link, from Premier Pro.. still getting the same bad result.

    - I'm working from a Macbook Pro 15" (late 2013), Mac 10.12.6.
    - My video file is 01:52 (1 min 52 sec) long, 24 FPS, 1920x1080p resolution. 
    - The video content is solid colors and vector graphics. 
    - In the codec settings I'm following the User's Guide, With 2-pass and Constant Quality.

    Update:
    Now the .dmg file works fine. The Constant Quality setting was by default 90, and I turned it up to 100. 
    The .msi file isn't flickering anymore, but it's a bit slow/lagging. 
    I tried to install the 32 bit .scr file according to the User's Guide, but the screensaver only turns out black when starting. 

    Whats the recommended settings? Is there anything I can do in the settings to improve my result?

    Thank you in advance!

  • Hello Loix, 
    You are doing everything correctly something must be going wrong during the export. Open up a support ticket and send the exported screensavers (the .scr, the msi, and the .dmg) to me, and I will diagnose the problem. 
    Sorry for the trouble, but we will get everything working soon
    Michael
  • Hello!

    I would be very thankful if I could get some help with exporting my screensaver.

    The results I'm getting is unfortunately not of high quality. When I've exported and installed the file on both PC and Mac, there's flickering in the screensaver video. On PC (Windows 8, with the .msi file) the screensaver shuts down half way, and then some flicker, and the screensaver starts playing again unevenly fast/slow/lagging. 

    I've tried exporting from a lossless and H264 codec video file from Media Encoder, straight from After Effect to Media Encoder with Dynamic Link, from Premier Pro.. still getting the same bad result.

    - I'm working from a Macbook Pro 15" (late 2013), Mac 10.12.6.
    - My video file is 01:52 (1 min 52 sec) long, 24 FPS, 1920x1080p resolution. 
    - The video content is solid colors and vector graphics. 
    - In the codec settings I'm following the User's Guide, With 2-pass and Constant Quality.

    Update:
    Now the .dmg file works fine. The Constant Quality setting was by default 90, and I turned it up to 100. 
    The .msi file isn't flickering anymore, but it's a bit slow/lagging. 
    I tried to install the 32 bit .scr file according to the User's Guide, but the screensaver only turns out black when starting. 

    Whats the recommended settings? Is there anything I can do in the settings to improve my result?

    Thank you in advance!

    For anyone else readings these comments. It turned out the issue was running the program in a virtual machine. If you need to support running the screen savers in a virtual machine, please open up a support ticket and we'll see what we can do.
  • Hi there,
    Is there any way to make the screensaver let the monitors timeout and go to sleep. We have rolled a screensaver out in a huge office and the monitors continue to run with the screensaver on. We'd like the monitor to turn off after a certain time period. We are using windows machines.

    Can you let me know if this is possible?

    Many thanks in advance

    Hello,
    That's not possible out of the box, so I wrote a little program that will patch the screen saver, and make it so that the monitors will turn off.
    • You can download it here 
    • Then double click the file ScreenSaverExporterPowerOptions.cmd, which will be in your Downloads folder
    • Click on the "Power Options will turn off the display" button
    • Done
    Just so you know, the power options will take affect after the screen saver has already started. So, if you set the screen saver to start after 5 minutes, and you set the monitors to turn off after 10 minutes, the monitors will turn off 10 minutes after the screen saver started (15 minutes after someone last interacted with the computer)

    Just an update! This is now available out of the box! Version 1.18 fixes this issue. There is no need to download the additional program.
  • Hi,
    I have prepared screensaven on trial version (with watermark) and hand over to client to check compability. He has installed in on his Mac using option "for all users". As I provided him a final version without watermark (with registred plugin) he is unable to deinstall previous version nad use the new one. Would you be so kind to provide me an instruction how to deal in that situation (how to deinstall it completely firm system)? I am not a power user of Mac, as I use Windows most of my time, unfortunatelly.
    Thank you in advance.
  • Hi,
    I have prepared screensaven on trial version (with watermark) and hand over to client to check compability. He has installed in on his Mac using option "for all users". As I provided him a final version without watermark (with registred plugin) he is unable to deinstall previous version nad use the new one. Would you be so kind to provide me an instruction how to deal in that situation (how to deinstall it completely firm system)? I am not a power user of Mac, as I use Windows most of my time, unfortunatelly.
    Thank you in advance.
    Hello!
    You can uninstall individual screen savers like any other program:
    1. Go to the Applications folder
    2. Find the folder of the screen saver you want to delete
    3. Drag the folder to the trash
    Note:
    • If you installed the screen saver "for everyone" then the screen saver will be located in /Applications
    • If you installed the screen saver "for this user only" then the screen saver will be located in ~/Applications (also known as /Users/Your username here/Applications
    • If you can't find the screen saver you are looking for, try checking both locations

  • Hi,

    I have tried a trial script, made mac app but it doesn't work on Sierra. 
     Sierra asked to get a newer version of screensaver.

    Best


  • Evgeny Bo said:
    Hi,

    I have tried a trial script, made mac app but it doesn't work on Sierra. 
     Sierra asked to get a newer version of screensaver.

    Best


    Hello!
    We'll look into this right away.

  • Evgeny Bo said:
    Hi,

    I have tried a trial script, made mac app but it doesn't work on Sierra. 
     Sierra asked to get a newer version of screensaver.

    Best


    Hello!
    We'll look into this right away.

    Hello again!
    We think we found the issue, we are working on a fix now.
  • Evgeny Bo said:
    Hi,

    I have tried a trial script, made mac app but it doesn't work on Sierra. 
     Sierra asked to get a newer version of screensaver.

    Best


    Hello! This is fixed now! You can download the latest version of the plugin from aescripts! Thanks for your interest in Screen Saver Exporter, let us know if you need anything else!
  • Hi.  Does the PC version not support Mac export?  I can only seem to export to an .msi in AE for Windows.
  • Hi.  Does the PC version not support Mac export?  I can only seem to export to an .msi in AE for Windows.
    Sorry, for technical reasons, we can't support exporting a Mac screen saver from Windows. 
    We can export it for you from our Mac if you would like:
    1. Open a support ticket
    2. Attach the video file you would like as mac screen saver
    3. We'll attach the exported screen saver
    Cheers
  • Hi, are the PC version screen saver installers compatible with windows 7 and 10?
    Thanks
  • Hi, are the PC version screen saver installers compatible with windows 7 and 10?
    Thanks
    Hi!.
    Yes, they are. PC version screen savers support Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10.
  • Hi!.
    Yes, they are. PC version screen savers support Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10.
    That is sweet! Thanks for the quick reply. I haven't seen this info in the manual, perhaps my bad, but if not present you should include it...
    By the way, tutorial didn't play the gif's - i'm on macos 10.12

    cheers
  • Hi!.
    Yes, they are. PC version screen savers support Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10.
    That is sweet! Thanks for the quick reply. I haven't seen this info in the manual, perhaps my bad, but if not present you should include it...
    By the way, tutorial didn't play the gif's - i'm on macos 10.12

    cheers
    Thanks! The info, is in the plugin's description, but I'll make it clearer in the manual. I will also look into the tutorial GIFs.

    Cheers
  • Hi!.
    Yes, they are. PC version screen savers support Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10.
    That is sweet! Thanks for the quick reply. I haven't seen this info in the manual, perhaps my bad, but if not present you should include it...
    By the way, tutorial didn't play the gif's - i'm on macos 10.12

    cheers
    Version 1.22 fixes the GIFs and adds the windows and macOS support info to the manual.
  • I was wondering if you have a solution for screensaver file compression. While we love most of the features this has, one of our clients has a 20mb limit for their screen savers. Once we begin to mess with settings in media encoder the files won't work or they look very pixelated.
  • I was wondering if you have a solution for screensaver file compression. While we love most of the features this has, one of our clients has a 20mb limit for their screen savers. Once we begin to mess with settings in media encoder the files won't work or they look very pixelated.
    About file size: 
    The screen saver program itself is about 2MB, the rest of the size is the compressed video/audio. The size of the video/audio is controlled by the video and audio encoder (vp8 and opus respectively), and we can't control the size much beyond the settings we expose in the plugin. My go-to setting is the variable bit rate encoding setting (leaving 2-pass unchecked) at about 2000 Mbps. If it's still too large, you could try lowering the frame rate or resolution if your requirements allow.

  • I was wondering if you have a solution for screensaver file compression. While we love most of the features this has, one of our clients has a 20mb limit for their screen savers. Once we begin to mess with settings in media encoder the files won't work or they look very pixelated.
    About file size: 
    The screen saver program itself is about 2MB, the rest of the size is the compressed video/audio. The size of the video/audio is controlled by the video and audio encoder (vp8 and opus respectively), and we can't control the size much beyond the settings we expose in the plugin. My go-to setting is the variable bit rate encoding setting (leaving 2-pass unchecked) at about 2000 Mbps. If it's still too large, you could try lowering the frame rate or resolution if your requirements allow.
    Thank you for the response. Yes those were settings we had already tried, The most we could get around was 40mb while still retaining quality.
  • Is there a way to change the name that appears in the Mac screen saver list from MovieSaver to something else?
  • Is there a way to change the name that appears in the Mac screen saver list from MovieSaver to something else?
    Yes. But I have to change it from my end. I see that you already opened a support ticket, we can continue our correspondence in the ticket system. 
  • I exported a screensaver last week for a client (both Mac and PC). I work on a Mac. Test it and looks good. The client tested the PC version I created and said the resolution is low (1000 x 562) even though I know I made it at 1920x1080 and confirmed with the Mac version I created. Any ideas?
  • I exported a screensaver last week for a client (both Mac and PC). I work on a Mac. Test it and looks good. The client tested the PC version I created and said the resolution is low (1000 x 562) even though I know I made it at 1920x1080 and confirmed with the Mac version I created. Any ideas?
    Open a support ticket and send me the screen saver. I'll verify the resolution and we can troubleshoot from there.
  • I exported a screensaver last week for a client (both Mac and PC). I work on a Mac. Test it and looks good. The client tested the PC version I created and said the resolution is low (1000 x 562) even though I know I made it at 1920x1080 and confirmed with the Mac version I created. Any ideas?
    Open a support ticket and send me the screen saver. I'll verify the resolution and we can troubleshoot from there.
    I opened a ticket right after I commented. I just followed up with an attachment with the SCR files.
  • If I export a scr with audio unchecked, the scr shows only black when testing. Adding audio makes the scr much bigger. Is this a bug or per design?
  • If I export a scr with audio unchecked, the scr shows only black when testing. Adding audio makes the scr much bigger. Is this a bug or per design?
    Most likely, the size you see with the audio checked, is the actual size of the screen saver. This sounds like a bug, what version of the plugin are you using, what OS is your computer (not necessarily the OS you are exporting a screen saver for), and what version of AE or Pr are you using?. If you don't feel like sharing in the comment section, you can open a support ticket and we can take care of the bug there.
  • Hello, I downloaded the trial version to test this program and I'm running into difficulties testing the .scr file out. Whenever I export the .scr file there is no picture. It is just a black screen. Any ideas?

    Specs: 
    rendering out file on MacOS Mojave version 10.14.6
    Viewing File on a Windows 10
    After effects version: 2020
    Media Encoder: 2020

    Thanks for your help!

  • Hello, I downloaded the trial version to test this program and I'm running into difficulties testing the .scr file out. Whenever I export the .scr file there is no picture. It is just a black screen. Any ideas?

    Specs: 
    rendering out file on MacOS Mojave version 10.14.6
    Viewing File on a Windows 10
    After effects version: 2020
    Media Encoder: 2020

    Thanks for your help!

    Open up a support ticket and we can troubleshoot this issue.
  • Hello!
    I am trying to export an .scr file for a PC running Windows 10 from a Mac (using your after effects plugin). When I the export .scr file and put it on the PC, it says that Windows 10 does not support flash and will not run the file.  Is there a way for me to create the .scr file without it requiring the PC to use flash?

    Thanks!
  • Hello!
    I am trying to export an .scr file for a PC running Windows 10 from a Mac (using your after effects plugin). When I the export .scr file and put it on the PC, it says that Windows 10 does not support flash and will not run the file.  Is there a way for me to create the .scr file without it requiring the PC to use flash?

    Thanks!
    Hello! 
    Screen Saver Exporter does not use flash in any way, so it certainly doesn't need flash to run. 
    My best guess is that your PC has a program installed to handle all .scr files as flash files (perhaps an old screen saver).
    We can test this pretty easily, you just need to change the file extension from .scr, to something else, like .sCr and see if it still runs.
    Here is a https://www.wikihow.com/Change-a-File-Extension wiki how page on changing a file extension, but if it's too much trouble, you can open up a support ticket, and I can change it for you. 
    And, as I am typing this, I see that you already opened a support ticket, so I will see you there.
  • Hello,
    It's mentioned before - I also can't export a scr with the audio unchecked. Is there a workaround? (As customers ask small filesizes, this would really help...)
  • Hello,
    It's mentioned before - I also can't export a scr with the audio unchecked. Is there a workaround? (As customers ask small filesizes, this would really help...)
    Hmmm, on our test machines, the latest version of Adobe Media Encoder fixed this issue, so try updating if you haven't already. If that doesn't work, we can build a workaround into the plugin, basically we can add an option to blank the audio, even if the export audio checkbox is already checked.This way it avoids the bug in media encoder, and keeps your file size small, all without you having to change your composition.
    Let me know,
    Michael
  • Trying to test this out before I buy it but the "Try" feature doesn't seem to instal on cc 2021...