Introduction:

Butterflies3D is a 3D screensaver designed to work on specific PC/clone hardware. Once installed it is activated using Windows built in screensaver system.

Butterflies3D is a pleasant and serene look at an arboretum setting. It is the end of summer, or just heading into autumn. Some trees are just beginning to turn color and lose their leaves. Butterflies are out in the meadow and hummingbirds are servicing the flowers. In the distance there is a waterfall and pond, and almost out of site is a distant lake. Watch a slice of peaceful life and let your stress melt away like the leaves falling from the trees.

Enjoy your peaceful interlude.

Table of Contents:

Compatibility:
Installation:
Getting Started:
Butterflies3D Setup screens:
Creatures Panel:
Settings Panel:
Scene Panel:
Keyboard Adjustments/Options:
Uninstall:
Contact Information:
 

Compatibility

Butterflies3D is most certainly not compatible with all PC/clone systems. Because of the high end nature of our 3D environment you must have both a fairly fast computer (CPU) and a good 3D graphics card that is DirectX 8 compatible. Older 3D cards may be able to run the program, but with reduced features and slower speeds. Newer cards will see Butterflies3D in all of its spectacular glory.
 

Minimum system requirements:

• Operating system: Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP, DirectX 8 installed

• CPU: 300 MHz (or equivalent)

• System RAM: 64 megabytes

• Hard Drive: 200 megabyte (with 20 megs free for Butterflies3D)

• Video card: 3D accelerated with at least 16 megabytes of onboard RAM (examples: Nvidia TNT2, GeForce 1-2 mx or ATI 128 Rage or Voodoo 3-5.).

Recommended system

• Operating System: Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP, with DirectX 8 installed

• CPU: 1.0 GHz

• System Ram: 256 megabytes

• Hard Drive: 2 gigabyte+

• Video card: 3D accelerated with at least 64 megabytes of onboard RAM (Nvidia GeForce TI 3-5 or ATI 8500/9000/9700 or Matrox Parhelia™)

 

Not all system will see the same features in Butterflies3D. The limitation is due to your video cards capabilities, not all are equal. The primary features that vary from card to card are detailed below. Please note that your frame rate will also increase the further down the list your card is located. (your CPU speed can also help or hurt the frame rate).
 

Installation:

Upon downloading the software you will have one file called B3D_Install_demo_v10.exe or B3D_Install_v10.exe. (Depending of whether this is the demo version or the full version).

Before starting the installation, please close all other programs and make sure your virus protection software is momentarily disabled.

Double click the appropriate B3D_Install file to start the installation.

Follow the onscreen instructions, either taking the default file location or choosing your own location.

In some Windows® operating systems you may need to reboot after installation. If in doubt, just reboot to be sure.

Getting Started:

After installation is complete you can change settings or preview the screensaver by going to your desktop setup area in Windows®. Here is how to accomplish this:

Right-click on your desktop (avoiding any icons or open windows).

From the pop-up menu, select ‘Properties’ and left-click.

Select the ‘Screen Saver’ tab at the top.

If not already selected, use the drop down list to select your Butterflies3D screensaver.

You can now adjust the default screensaver settings by left-clicking on the ‘Settings’ button.

Here you may choose to turn on or off various options including certain creatures, sound, caustic lighting, bump maps and shadows. A check mark in the box means that this feature is active.

Butterflies3D Setup screens

At the bottom of each setup panel there are three buttons: ‘OK’, ‘CANCEL’ and ‘APPLY’.

OK: Applies your changes and closes the Butterflies3D Settings.

CANCEL: Disregards and any changes you may have made to this panel and closes the Butterflies3D Settings
.
APPLY: Applies your changes and reloads the current panel to reflect those changes.

Creatures Panel:

Default / Custom check boxes
If you check ‘Default’ you will get the original selection of creatures that came with the screensaver. If you choose the ‘Custom’ selection you can change the mix to whatever you wish.

Available creatures
This panel shows you the creatures you can select to see in the scene when you run Butterflies3D. When one of the creatures is selected in the Creature Selection area, it will have a highlight around the edge. Not all creatures can be selected in the Demo version, you’ll need to register the full version to get access to all the 3D critters.

Creature Selections
If you wish to change the distribution of creatures in the scene, all you have to do is use the up and down arrows in the Creature Selection area to scroll through your available choices. Whatever you see in each of the twelve boxes is what you get in the screensaver.

Settings Panel:

Sound:

Sound effects volume: This is the first box and it contains a slider to adjust the volume of sound effects. If you move the slider all the way to the left you will turn them off completely. All the way to the right sets them to the maximum volume that you have set in you Windows® sound options. Selecting the Default radio button will return the volume of the sound effects to their original level.

Music volume: This is the second box and it contains a slider to adjust the volume of the selected music. If you move the slider all the way to the left you will turn off the music completely. All the way to the right sets them to the maximum volume that you have set in you Windows® sound options. Selecting the Default radio button will return the volume of the selected music to the original level.

Music selection: The third box in ‘Sound’ is the Music selection box. Here you can select any piece of music that you have saved in the .WAV format. You can play music you downloaded or converted yourself as a .WAV file. To select a piece of music that is on your computer, just hit the Browse button and then navigate to the selected piece of music. The path and music piece you selected will appear in the text entry box to the left of the Browse button.

Note: You can purchase and download your favorite MP3 music and use it, but after downloading you will need to convert the MP3 to a .WAV format. You can get converter software at places like Download.com and Tucows.com. Just search on ‘MP3 converter’.

Visual:

Fog Level:
The first box in the Visual area is called Fog Level. Here you can set the level of ‘fog’ seen in the scene. By moving this slider toward low you can make the air very clear, or as you move it toward ‘High’ you can increase the amount of fog, therefore reducing visibility. Of course we have set the fog effect to a default value that we like, but you can change it however you wish. To return to the default fog level setting, just select the Default radio button at any time.

Ambient Light:
The second box in the Visual area is called Ambient Light. This setting changes the amount of unidirectional light. Going toward Low reduces light, and High increases light. This setting is often used in concert with the Fog Level adjustment to get a pleasing looking scene. To return to the default ambient light settings just select the Default radio button at any time.

Bumpmapping:
This is a feature that uses a special ‘bumpmap’ texture to make a smooth looking surface look rough and more realistic. Example: the ridges of the wood planks of the ship will catch the light with bumpmaps on. Bumpmaps should be left on whatever is currently set by default during installation. Only turn Bumpmaps off if your system is running at a slow frame. To turn them off remove the check mark, to turn them on check the box. If you have an old video card that cannot support bump maps the option may not be available.

Falling leaves:
By turning off the falling leaves you can improve the frame rate if you have a slower system or video card.

Waterfall Mist:
By turning off the Waterfall Mist leaves you can improve the frame rate if you have a slower system or video card.

Waterfall water:
Turn off the waterfall if you don’t want to see it. This won’t improve your frame rate much, but we put it in just so you can choose.

Clouds:
Turn off the clouds if you don’t want to see them. This won’t improve your frame rate much, but we put it in just so you can choose.

Particle Culling:
This option should only be used if you have a very low end 3D card like the ATI Rage 128 and you see lines across the screen. This means that you card doesn’t support clipping. In that case turn on the Particle Culling. This will fix the bug, but particles will tend to disappear when they get near the edge of the screen.

Scene Panel:

Selecting your scene:
To select your scene just check mark scenes you wish to see in the rotation (Yosemite Falls, LA Arboretum or Rain Forest). The screensaver will automatically switch between the scenes you have selected. There is a ‘Scene Timer’ below the check box selections. Use the UP and DOWN arrows to adjust the time anywhere between 0:03 and 20:00. That’s how long each selected scene will play before fading to black and back in to the next scene. If you only select one scene the screensaver will still fade in and out, but it will just return back to the same scene. This is to make sure scenes work as an actual screensaver (blanking all pixels briefly every so often to protect your monitor from burn in). It is important to note that most modern monitor will not ‘burn in’ in any case. However a small percentage still has this possibility.

Preview Scene:
You can preview your scene in the Scene Selection area by selecting it by name.

Important note: Any other key or mouse not listed below will deactivate the screen saver when pressed or moved.

F1: Shows this information listed below.

F2: Shoots a screenshot of the current screen, saved as FB_SS_000.bmp - (thru 002) in your Butterflies3D installation directory. Only three screen shots are allowed until the old ones are deleted or moved out of Butterflies3D.

F3: Toggle on or off the frame counter in the upper left corner of the screen.

F4: Toggle on or off the wireframe rendering.

‘S’ key: toggles the sound on or off.

Uninstall:

If you wish to remove Butterflies3D from your computer completely, just go to your Windows Add/Remove programs area in Control Panel. There you can select and remove the installed Butterflies3D files and directories. We have also included an Uninstall option in the menu reached from your desktop Start button.
 

Contact Information:

If you should experience any difficulties with Butterflies3D you can contact us for help in three different ways. We suggest the first two choices prior to contacting us via email.

1) Go to our Web site and check the online Support for our FAQ which answers commonly asked questions.
www.atlantis.com/support/faq.php

2) Go to our Web site forums and search for an answer to your question, or leave a question to be answered.
http://www.atlantis3d.com/phpBB2/index.php

3) Contact us directly by sending email to
Support@Atlantis3D.com

Thanks!