The Psychedelic Screen Saver - Version 3.0
Copyright (C) 1995-1996
All Rights Reserved
http://www.halcyon.com/pixel/psych.htm


This file contains the following information:

OVERVIEW ..............: What is The Psychedelic Screen Saver?
CD/SPECTRUM PRO........: What is it and why do you mention it?
RELEASE NOTES..........: What should I know about version 3.0?	
BACKGROUND ............: Where did it come from?
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ...: What do I need in order to run it?
INSTALLATION ..........: How do I install it? / How do I get rid of it?
REGISTRATION ..........: Where can I find info on how to register it?
QUESTIONS/SUPPORT .....: Where can I get help with problems?
UPDATES................: When is the next version due?


                               OVERVIEW

  The Psychedelic Screen Saver generates an endless variety of mesmerizing 
patterns. As the patterns materialize on your screen, the colors will shift, 
undulate, and generally speaking, look cool. Whether you're into abstract 
art, mathematics, or just have a history of mental illness, you'll love 
this screen saver.  
  
  Version 3.0 of The Psychedelic Screen Saver has been designed to work in 
conjunction with CD/Spectrum Pro in order to provide stunning visual 
effects that synchronize with the sounds from an audio device (like the CD 
player in your computer). With many of the module controls you can now 
associate a sound frequency, a range of effect, and a sensitivity.  
Fluctuations in the amplitude of the frequency will oscillate the control 
values within the range of effect. 


                            CD/SPECTRUM PRO

  CD/Spectrum Pro is a 32 bit shareware CD-Audio Player with a Graphical 
Spectrum Analyzer for Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0.  It can be used in 
conjunction with The Psychedelic Screen Saver in order to allow the patterns 
and the colors generated by the screen saver to be synchronized with sound.  

  CD/Spectrum Pro has almost every feature you can find on any software CD 
player.  It supports programmed mode, intro mode, optional taskbar icon 
operation, auto-play, auto-exit, auto-eject, artist/track/title database, 
etc. It also recognizes CDP files which can save you from typing in all the 
track/title information for your CDs. The spectrum analyzer graphically 
depicts the frequency spectra of the CD music in real time. 

  CD/Spectrum Pro is not a part of The Psychedelic Screen Saver, it is a 
separate product and must be registered.   However, if you register both 
CD/Spectrum Pro and The Psychedelic Screen Saver at the same time you can 
do it at a reduced price.  

See the file "OrderFrm.TXT" for complete information on registration.



                       PSYCH V3.0 RELEASE NOTES	

* The Psychedelic Screen Saver v3.0 is available to users who have registered a 
  previous version of The Psychedelic Screen Saver as a $10 upgrade. This 
  fee licenses you for Psych 3.0 but not for CD Spectrum Pro. CD Spectrum Pro 
  is a separate product made by another ShareWare developer.

* Registering Psych v3.0 gives you a license to use all updates of 
  The Psychedelic Screen Saver prior to version 4.0 and *ALL* previous 
  versions.

* You must have a sound card installed (and properly configured) in your system 
  in order for Psych 3.0 to sync with sound.

* CD Spectrum Pro must be running in order for Psych v3.0 to sync with sound.

* Questions regarding the screen saver should be sent to pixel@halcyon.com and 
  questions about the CD player should be sent to gator@halcyon.com.



                              BACKGROUND

  The algorithms I used in these screen savers were originally conceived as 
part of an art project I worked on in my senior year at the Evergreen State 
College.   I implemented the algorithms in about 70,000 lines of Borlands'
Turbo Pascal for MS-DOS and included a "User Interface From Hell" that 
provided access to the hundreds of parameters used to customize the image 
generation process.  After I graduated, I attempted to make a living as an 
artist by selling the images I produced to various galleries around the 
country.   I quickly discovered that being an artist requires not only a 
healthy dose of creativity, but also a boatload of marketing savvy (which I
was lacking).  Since I was having a hard time making ends meet, I decided I'd
have to find another way to make a living (besides, another month of macaroni
and cheese would probably have killed me).  After kicking around the idea of
putting together a company to do the video/effects for raves, I decided that 
I'd be better off getting a programming position with a company that wouldn't
require me to wear a suit.  In order to prove I'd done some programming, I 
ported some of my Pascal code for MS-DOS into C for MS Windows and sent it 
out with my resume.   The result was the beginning of The Psychedelic Screen
Saver.




                           SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Suggested:
*  The Psychedelic Screen Saver v3.0 runs quite nicely on a 80486 DX2-66 
   system.  However, if it is being used in conjunction with CD Spectrum Pro 
   then you'll probably want at least Pentium 90 (or better <g>)

*  Microsoft Windows NT or Windows 95

*  256 color display card - While the screen savers should still work in 
   high/true color modes, you won't get palette animation. 

   In order to get some of the effects that they use, the screen savers use 
   a palettized video mode. This means that colors are referenced by index 
   rather than by RGB value. By using a palettized video mode, the screen 
   savers can change the RGB value that corresponds to a particular palette 
   index and the result is that all of the colors on the screen that use 
   that index are immediately updated. Neither high or true color modes use 
   a palette, so it is not possible to achieve the effects without manually 
   updating the entire display. Since updating the entire display is far 
   too slow, I didn't code the screen savers to do it. 
   On the bright side, Windows 95 supports dynamic video mode switching 
   which means that the display mode can be changed without rebooting the 
   system.  Unfortunately, most of the drivers that are available now will
   force you to reboot your system when you change color depths .  This will 
   be changing in the near future and once it does, I'll setup the screen 
   saver to change to a palette based video mode when it starts up and then 
   change back when it's done.  However, until then, we're stuck with the 
   limitation :-(



                         INSTALLATION / REMOVAL

To install the Psychedelic Screen Saver, run the setup program (INSTALL.EXE) 
and then follow the directions.  If you later decide that you would like to
remove the software from your system, run the un-install program 
(UNINSTALL.EXE) that's in the directory you installed to. 


                              REGISTRATION

Registration is easy!  The file "ORDERFRM.TXT" contains all the information 
you need on how to register "The Psychedelic Screen Saver"

Please refer to LICENSE.TXT for information on the license agreement. 



                            QUESTIONS/SUPPORT

If you have access to the World Wide Web, check out the home page for the
Psychedelic Screen Saver at:

http://www.halcyon.com/pixel/psych.htm

I maintain a "Frequently Asked Questions" page similar to the FAQ.TXT that 
we've included here with the screen saver (but more up to date).  The FAQ 
provides answers to the vast majority of the questions I get via email. 

If you can't find the information you need in the FAQ.TXT or in the FAQ on 
the web, send me (Mike Irvine) email at pixel@halcyon.com

If you are experiencing a problem, check to see if the problem exists in 
the latest version of the software which can be found on my WWW site.  
If you are still experiencing the problem, email me with a description of 
the behavior and information on your hardware configuration and operating 
system.  Please be sure to indicate which version of the the screen saver
and which version of the operating system you are running.




                                 UPDATES

I post updates to the software on my web site fairly often.  When I'm feeling
particularly creative I may post updates as many as 2 or 3 times a week :-)
