Introduction:

Fairies3D™ Screen saver

Fairies3D is a true 3D Screen saver designed to work on specific PC hardware. Once installed it is activated using Windows® built in Screen saver system.

Fairies3D is a fantasy world where numerous woodland fairies have come out under the cover of night to play in the dark forest. The magical sword, Excalibur, is sheathed in stone waiting for the rightful king to pull it forth. The fairies are attacked to an ancient tree by the magic of Excalibur. In the distance is the mountain fortress of Merlin. Ever playful, the fairies use the old tree for their games as they fly, dive, spin and dance for the sheer joy of living. They cavort to the music of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Dance of the Sugar Plum fairies’.

Please enjoy our fantasy visions of this magical place and time.

Table of Contents:
Compatibility…………………….. 2
Installation……………………….. 3
Getting Started………………….... 3
Fairies3D Setup screens……… 4
Fairies Panel…………………. 4
Settings Panel……………………. 4
Keyboard Adjustments/Options….. 7
Uninstall …………………………. 7
Contact Information……………… 7

Compatibility

Fairies3D 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 8.1 (or newer) compatible. Older 3D cards may be able to run the program, but with reduced features and slower speeds. Newer cards will see Fairies3D in all of its spectacular glory.

Minimum system requirements: (may have reduced features, but still look good!)
Operating system: Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP with DirectX 8 installed.
CPU: 300 MHz (or equivalent)
System RAM: 64 megabytes
Hard Drive: 200 megabyte (with 20 megs free for Fairies3D)
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 (will probably run perfectly with all features)
Operating System: Windows® XP with DirectX 9.0c (or greater) installed.
CPU: 1.0 GHz
System Ram: 256 megabytes
Hard Drive: 2 gigabyte+
DirectX 9 compatible Video card: 3D accelerated with at least 64 megabytes of onboard RAM

Not all system will see the same features in Fairies3D. The limitation is due to your video cards capabilities, not all are equal. 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).
Bump maps Point Lights Glow Trail
Rage 128 No No No No
TNT2 No No No No
Voodoo 3-5 No No No No
GeForce 1 Yes No No No
GeForce 2 MX Yes No No No
GeForce 2 Yes No No Yes
GeForce 3 Yes Yes Yes Yes
GeForce 4 MX Yes Yes Yes Yes
ATI 8500 Yes Yes Yes Yes
ATI 9000-9200 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Matrox Parhelia Yes Yes Yes Yes
GeForce 4 Yes Yes Yes Yes
GeForceFX (5) Yes Yes Yes Yes
ATI 9500-9800 Yes Yes Yes Yes
GeForce6 Yes Yes Yes Yes
ATI x600-800 Yes Yes Yes Yes

Installation:

Upon downloading the software you will have one file called F3D_install_demo_v10.exe or F3D_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 F3D_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 Screen saver 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 Fairies3D Screen saver.

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

Here you may choose to adjust or turn on or off various options, select your mix of butterflies, adjust sound effect or music volume, or change to your favorite music.

Fairies3D Setup screens
Once you have selected ‘Setup’ (see Getting Started above), you will see the Fairies Panel displayed and two tabs along the top where you can choose to view either of the two setup panels.

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

OK: Applies your changes and closes the Fairies3D Settings.

CANCEL: Disregards and any changes you may have made to this panel and closes the Fairies3D Settings
.
APPLY: Applies your changes and reloads the current panel to reflect those changes.

Fairies 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 Fairies3D. When one of the fairies is selected in the Fairy Selection area, it will have a highlight around the edge. Not all fairies can be selected in the Demo version; you’ll need to register the full version to get access to all the magical fairies.

Creature Selections
If you wish to change the distribution of fairies in the scene, all you have to do is use the up and down arrows in the Fairy Selection area to scroll through your available choices. Whatever you see in each of the boxes is what you get in the screensaver.
Settings Panel:
This is where we allow you to change various audible and visual settings for Fairies3D.

Sound:

Sound effects volume: This is the first box and it contains a slider to adjust the volume of dark forest 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 a piece of music that you have saved in the .WAV format. You can play music the included music from Tchaikovsky or 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. To return to the included ‘Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies’ just use the Default radio button.

There are two limitations on the .wav file that you wish to play. The entire path (including the name of the .wav file) cannot exceed 127 characters. Example: C:\Mywavefiles\music.wav would be a legal length path (it is 24 characters long). The second limitation is the size of the .wav file, it cannot exceed 70,000 kb. If you attempt to play a .wav that is larger than that the screensaver will refuse to accept that .wav when you browse to find it.

Note: You can purchase and download your favorite MP3 music and use it, but after downloading you will need to convert the MP3 to the .WAV format. You can get converter software at places like Download.com and Tucows.com. Just search on ‘MP3 to WAV converter’. We use a free one called ‘River Past Wave@MP3 Free’, which you can probably download here (as long as the link is still up):
http://www.download.com/River-Past-Wave-MP3/3000-2170_4-10268345.html?tag=lst-0-1
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.

Sun Light (or Moon in this case):
The third box in the Visual area is called Sun Light. This setting changes the amount of directional sun light coming from the moon. Going toward Low reduces light, and High increases light. This setting is often used in concert with the Ambient and Fog adjustments to get a pleasing looking scene. To return to the default sun light settings just select the Default radio button at any time.

Movement speed
The fourth and final slider in the Visual area adjust the speed that the camera and Fairies move within the world.

Misc.:

Screen Resolution:
This is the most useful tool in increasing the frame rate (how smooth the screensaver runs). By lowing the resolution of the scene the program has a better ‘fill’ rate and will run faster and smoother. If your screensaver looks fine, then leave this alone, however, if it is ‘stuttering’ or ‘surging’ along, then try reducing down to 800x600. You will notice a big change in smoothness and hardly any less in quality. The Default button returns you to the recommended setting for your video card chip set, but each computer is different, so the default setting is only a ‘best guess’. Change it if you see a need for better performance. Also, if you have a very fast card, feel free to go up to 1280x960 and see if it still has a good frame rate.

Excalibur or extra foliage
Turning either or both of these off removes these models from the scene and will help to increase you frame rate if your screensaver runs too slow.

Bumpmapping:
This is a feature that uses a special ‘bumpmap’ texture to make a smooth looking surface look rough and more realistic. Bumpmaps should be left on whatever is currently set by default during installation. Only uncheck Bumpmaps if your system is running at a slow frame rate. If you have an old video card that cannot support bump maps the option may not be available.

Fairy Dust trails, glow and/or light:
By turning off the fairy magic trails, glow and/or lights you can improve the frame rate if you have a slower system or video card.

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.

Keyboard Adjustments/Options:
Anytime that Fairies3D screen saver is running you can do a few things using the keyboard. None of these keyboard adjustments change the default settings; they only affect this instance of the screen saver.

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 Fairies3D installation directory. Only three screen shots are allowed until the old ones are deleted or moved out of Fairies3D.

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 all sound on or off.
Uninstall:
If you wish to remove Fairies3D from your computer completely, just go to your Windows® Add/Remove programs area in Control Panel. There you can select and remove the installed Fairies3D 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 Fairies3D 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.atlantis3d.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.
www.atlantis3d.com/phpBB2/index.php

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

Thanks!