																																			  	G-Force 
															   2.0B1
                                                             http://55ware.audiogalaxy.com/

     G-Force is a visual plugin fro several music players as well as a standalone sound-screensaver.  This file has vital info, so if you skip over it you'll miss out on some nice features of G-Force.  I dedicate G-Force to God and His uncanny patience:  "'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free'" (Jesus, John 8:31-32).
 

Instructions

1)  Move both items inside the "(into Visual Plug-ins)" into SoundJam's "Visual Plug-ins" folder.
2)  Run SoundJam and select WhiteCap from the Window menu.  
3)  To go into fullscreen mode, double click on the G-Force window.   Note: you mac will appear stop for a couple seconds while switching.


Notes

  G-Force needs at least PII or G3 systems to be worthwhile
  "Configs" are just text files that contain commands for G-Force, and they need to be in one of the G-Force folders in order for G-Force to "see" them. 
  Disable virtual memory and other programs & extensions to get higher frame rates.
  If you spend time learning about G-Force and WhiteCap, you'll also learn about some math and programming along the way.
  If you write in with a problem or question, please  be sure you've already read through all the documentation (including what's in the Extras folder) and be sure you include lots of details.  Getting an email that only says "it doesn't work" isn't helpful.
  G-Force and WhiteCap are strictly for non-commercial use only.  Use of G-Force or WhiteCap is intended only for non-profit and hobbyist use and explicit permission to either it otherwise is required.  I'm saddened to say that some have ignored this and have been caught charging for the use of G-Force or WhiteCap.  This is unacceptable, and I ask users to report sightings of this.  Until the final license agreement is released (in the release version), this software is not permitted to be used for large scale use (ie, greater than 50 people).


FAQ

Q:  How can I learn about G-Force config files so I can make my own?
A:  The config files "ColorWheel", "Linear Spread", "Rotating Corridor", "Spinners",  "Example Image", and "Example Text" are documented (try them out in that order).  Even before you start looking at configs, be familiar with the information inside the Extras folder because if you're not familiar with it, configs won't make much sense. 

Q:  How do I resize its window?
A:  Drag near the bottom right of the window.

Q:  What's in the Extras folder?
A:  Many things: 
      Standalone version that displays sound-input
      Info about fullscreen mode, screensaver mode, 'letterbox' modes, scripts, and text options
     Info about customizing G-Force
      User-contributed screenshots

Q:  Is there any way to get G-Force to execute user-definable scripts?
A:  Yes.  It's described in the 'Scripts' section of the Extras documentation.

Q:  How do I make G-Force into a screensaver?
A:  First become familiar with the "Customizing G-Force" section of the Extras documentation.  The parameter 'SSvr' allows you tell G-Force to go fullscreen after a given number of idle minutes, so proceed to edit your "G-Force Prefs" file. 

Q:  What will change in future G-Force versions?
A:  The best thing about future versions will be user-contributed configs, so try to make one and send it in (and everyone will know of your config!).  The first release of G-Force only had about 15 configs total--most of other configs added since then were made by fellow users of G-Force just like you.

Q:  Why should a person send in feedback, bug reports, or configs?
A:  G-Force can't improve unless you send me ideas, feedback, and bug reports!  Most of the features added to WhiteCap and G-Force in the last year started out as user comments.  When WhiteCap (my other plugin) was first released, it came with about 20 configs. Today, thanks to users who sent in configs they made, 130 configs now come with WhiteCap.  G-Force is the same way:  if you send in new configs to me, you'll make G-Force that much better for everyone else.  

Q:  What should I do with configs I've done on my own and want to be in the next release of G-Force?
A:  Please email your configs directly to me so I can check them for possible problems.  If you redistribute your own configs and do something improperly, you may cause other versions of G-Force to crash or exhibit problems.  Further, sending your configs to me centralizes the entire process, guaranteeing your work to appear as soon as possible.

Q:  Is there a way to define a palette by directly specifiying each of the 256 colors (vs. using HSV equations)?
A:  Yes: ".MAP" at the end of a file in the ColorMaps folder means it contains a sequence of 256 RGB triples (768 values total).  Each value is from 0 to 255 and is separated by one or more spaces, tabs, or returns.  MAP files are exported by many programs and are also straightforward to edit.  To see an example, open any MAP file in the ColorMaps folder with a text editor.  In the extras folder is an archive called "makemap.zip" that contains a Windows utility that allows you to create and edit MAP files and is a more convenient way to edit MAP files than editing RGB values using a text editor.

Q:  How do I get G-Force to stop stealing keystrokes that I want my mp3 player to get?
A:  See the 'KMap' parameter described in the Extras documentation.

Q:  Why am I having repeated crashes or freezes?
A:  Out of date video drivers (and Win95) are known to cause such problems, so check for updates.

Q:  An audio CD is playing, but why aren't I seeing any visual response?
A:  Your computer has to be set to play the CD digitally, not through the CD player's onboard analong player.  Many systems play an audio CD by passing the analog (ie, non-digital) output of the CD-ROM directly to your speakers, bypassing your main hardware.  So if you don't see any output, your system is playing the CD digitally but you're visualizing the CD-ROM's analong output, or your system is playing the CD analogly but you're visualizing  the CD-ROM's digital output.  Also see the following question.

Q:  Why isn't the standalone version isn't registering any sound?
A:  You may now have your default audio source set properly.  The standalone version uses your default recording source as audio input.  Go into your control panel and verify that your audio input/recording source is selected correctly.  It's also possible you're reading the source correctly but it's not powerful enough to see any activity.  Increase the signal scale scale 10 to 100 times to see if a signal is there (the '[' and ']' keys will scale the signal amplitude).  Be sure you've also read the Extras documentation.

Q:  When I edit the prefs file, my changes don't seem to have any effect.
A:  The prefs file is read when G-Force starts and written when G-Force exits, so make any changes when G-Force is not running or else your changes will be overwritten.

Q:  Why did you choose the name "G-Force"?
A:  Hint:  the "G" has something to do with who G-Force is dedicated to.

Q:  How do I control or remove the blank horizontal bands when the G-Force window gets large (ie, how do I control the 'letterbox mode' dimensions)?  
A:  The MaxX and MaxY prefs (covered in the Extras documentation) control the letterbox dimensions.   MaxY is set by default to keep G-Force from slowing down to a crawl if you happen to make the G-Force window very large  (ex, if G-Force went fullscreen at a resolution of 1024x768, it would only get a few frames per second).

Q:  Could G-Force benefit from MMX (for Pentiums) or Altivec (for G4s)?
A:  After analysis and with the help of others, the critical section of G-Force doesn't take the form MMX or Altivec is designed to compute.  I'd like to become experienced with these technologies to rewrite parts of G-Force that would allow such speedups, but that would be a time commitment I cannot presently support.

Q:  Can G-Force get 3D accelerated?
A:  No:  Zero percent of G-Force lends itself to 3D hardware accelleration. 

Q:  Why does G-Force say loading "<Factory Default>" instead  of loading my config?
A:  G-Force falls back to an internally stored 'factory' config if there's a problem loading a config.  Try double checking your config for missing/extra quotes, commas, and comments and make sure it's not open in another application.

Q:  What did you use to make G-Force and WhiteCap?
A:  Both are written in C++ and compiled using CodeWarrior (www.metrowerks.com), the best compiler to date.   Both have evolved over the course of a year and contain many intricate parts.



Andy "55" O'Meara
aco5@cornell.edu




Version History

1.0 - 9 Jan 00
- Macast, SoundJam: First public release
1.0.1 - 15 Jan 00
- Added waveshape and particle globals: MOUSEX, MOUSEY
- Added some requested key commands
- Macast, SoundJam:  G-Force was screwing up other windows from refreshing properly
- Macast, Standalone: DrawSprockets now used for fullscreen mode
1.1 - 28 Jan 00
- Track/song text, see Extras docs for how to customize track text
- On-screen console interface
- Letterbox mode available (see the MaxY pref)
- Gauss smoothing of waveshapes
- Added prefs: MaxY, FS_, TFnt, TSze, TPos, T?, TStr, WInt, CInt, DInt
1.1.1 - 2 Feb 00
- Fixed standalone version getting very low frame rates in fullscreen
- Made bands in letterbox mode the background color instead of the foreground color
- New sound input filter for better looking waves
1.1.2 - 8 Feb 00
- Improved track text drawing for better readability
- Added some command keys
- Added abiliy to store and recall config combos (see onscreen help)
1.1.5 - 7 Mar 00
- New prefs: KMap, CDur, CLin, TDur, FS_#, P_On
- Keys commands  now remappable
- New implementation of DeltaFields: better blur quality & more flexibility
- Track text didn't always display when it should have
- Track text appeared after each window resize
- Track text can now be centered in the screen
- Signal now flattened to zero at ends to look nicer (mag(s) approaches  0 as s approaches 0 or 1)
- Prefs WInt, DInt, and CInt can now be expressions
- ColorMaps now allow "A" variables
- Macast, Standalone:  Fixed fullscreen mode suddenly exiting or crashing
- Winamp:  Fixed diagonal/banding problem
- Winamp:  Fixed case where fullscreen wasn't working
1.1.6 - 15 Mar 00
- About 5% frame rate  (Thanks Hen!)
2.0 - ??
- Image particles and text particles added
- Access to frequency spectrum (and bass level)
- Supports *.MAP files in ColorMaps folder (see FAQ)
- Scripting ability (see Extras)
- Time-based script files (see Extras)
- New prefs  (see Extras)
- Morphing/Transition of DeltaFields
- Fixed screen saver bug causing freeze
- MacOS: MacOS sleep now prevented if in fullscreen mode
- Winamp:  Plugin window no longer gets minimized when Winamp gets minimized
- Although keys are remappable, moved the default DeltaField keys from the keys commonly used by Winamp
- Standalone version for PC included
- GF's config folders now located in a single master "G-Force Configs" folder
- Small fixes to problems not encountered by most users
- Winamp: Fixed bug that caused G-Force window to vanish
- Standalone yeilds cleaner sound input
- Macast version no longer supported


                                                                                             Copyright    1998-2000   Andrew O'Meara

