Section 38. Use the iTunes Visualizer


38. Use the iTunes Visualizer

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

33 Find and Play Music


SEE ALSO

76 Add a Third-Party Visualizer


The idea certainly wasn't pioneered by iTunes, but it's where the art has really matured: the Visualizer , a program within iTunes that shows colorful graphical shapes swimming across the screen that jerk and jiggle and dance in response to the music that's playing, gives your music a whole new dimension in which you can enjoy it.

NOTE

The Visualizer built into iTunes is based on G-Force by SoundSpectrum. G-Force itself has continued to develop independently and can be added to iTunes as a third-party visualizer. See 76 Add a Third-Party Visualizer for more information.


It's difficult to describe what the Visualizer doesit's easier just to see it demonstrated. Fortunately, this is no more complex a task than clicking a button.

KEY TERM

Visualizer A program within iTunes that displays colorful patterns in a window or the full screen. The Visualizer responds visually to the playing music by creating agitated wave shapes in many different constantly changing forms.


1.
Turn On the Visualizer

As you're playing your music (or while it's stopped ), click the Visualizer button in the lower-right corner of the iTunes' window or choose Visualizer, Turn Visualizer On . The contents of the entire iTunes' window are replaced by the swirling, colorful shapes of the Visualizer, shifting and reforming in response to the music.

NOTE

The Visualizer responds to the waveform of the audio signal while music is playing by creating agitated wave shapes, and traces out smooth shapes when the music is paused . The amplitude of the wave shapes you see doesn't depend on the volume level of iTunes and won't get more spectacular if you crank the sound up all the way.

2.
Switch to Full Screen Mode

To get the full psychedelic effect of the Visualizer, you really should run it in Full Screen mode ( especially if you have a large monitor). Choose Visualizer, Full Screen , then turn on the Visualizer; the screen fades out and is replaced by the full- size Visualizer mode. Now you can turn off the lights and let your current playlist carry you away.

When the Full Screen option is enabled in the Visualizer menu, the computer switches to the Full Screen Visualizer mode whenever you invoke it; the Visualizer button in the lower-right corner of the iTunes window shows the Visualizer icon within a "TV screen" to indicate that it's in this mode. Choose Visualizer, Full Screen again to disable Full Screen mode and ensure that turning on the Visualizer won't take over your whole screen.

To exit the Full Screen Visualizer and return to your music listing, press Esc . Alternatively, press Ctrl+F (in Windows) or " +F (on the Mac) to switch out of Full Screen mode but keep the Visualizer running within the iTunes' window.

3.
Adjust Visualizer Options for Better Performance

The Visualizer is a fairly processor- intensive feature, and the smoothness of its appearance depends a lot on how fast your computer is. If it looks choppy to you, there are a few things you can do to improve it.

38. Use the iTunes Visualizer


First, try choosing Medium or Small from the Visualizer menu; these options shrink the image area of the Visualizer within the iTunes' window, reducing the amount of work the computer has to do.

If this doesn't help, or you don't like the smaller appearance, try reducing the resolution but not the size. Click the Options button in the upper-right corner of the iTunes window. In the dialog box that appears, enable the Faster but rougher display check box. The visual performance of the Visualizer should be greatly enhanced by this option, although the individual shapes look blockier. Also, on the Mac, make sure that the Use OpenGL option is selected if your computer has a video card capable of OpenGL instructions.

TIP

The iTunes Visualizer can be a handy way to benchmark your computer's performance. Enable the Display frame rate option to see how many frames per second the Visualizer can draw, reflected in the upper-left corner of the display window. At 50 to 60 frames per secondfaster than the human eye can effectively discernyour computer's pretty muscular indeed.

4.
Use Key Commands with the Visualizer

For experts who really want to tweak their Visualizer experience, there are a number of keyboard commands available within the Visualizer. Press ? while the Visualizer is running to see a list of basic key commands; press ? again to see the second page of commands. Among the available commands are R to start a new visual style (or "config") at random, C to show the name of the current config, through 9 to choose from among 10 popular configs , and I to show the current song information and album art. There are also key commands to turn on and off the frame rate display ( F ) and rate capping at 30 frames per second ( T ).



iPod + iTunes for Windows and Mac in a Snap
iPod + iTunes for Windows and Mac in a Snap (2nd Edition)
ISBN: 0672328992
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 152
Authors: Brian Tiemann

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