Free JewelCase plugin shows photo-realistic 3D cases for you...

[MacBytes]

Category: 3rd Party Software
Link: Free JewelCase plugin shows photo-realistic 3D cases for your iTunes songs (http://www.macbytes.com/link.php?sid=20050126103529)
Posted on MacBytes.com (http://www.macbytes.com)

Approved by Mudbug

[dfa4]

I am not easily impressed with the plethora of freeware and shareware out there for iTunes. This gem of software, however, is am obvious exception. I am thoroughly enjoying this plugin and look forward to my first house-party where I can show the cool visualizations off to my boys!

I am Duane Andrews (unaffiliated with the producers of this software) and I approved this message :D

[iKwick7]

I downloaded that 2 days ago. It really is a nice little addon. Inever liked the visualization that comes with iTunes.

[crazedbytheheat]

Sorry about the thread jack, but I'm looking into hooking a mini up to my TV. I don't have DVI on my TV, so I was thinking about getting the adapter that Apple sells and just going the component or S-Video route. Is this the approach you used? Does it look good enough for games/video/etc.?

Oh, yeah - this is a really cool plug in. I'm not usually a plug-in kind of guy, but this one I like. Makes for a great contest to see who can spin it the fastest.

[jsw]

Fantastic free software - I just realized you can grab the jewel case and spin it - cool!

[jsw]

Sorry about the thread jack, but I'm looking into hooking a mini up to my TV. I don't have DVI on my TV, so I was thinking about getting the adapter that Apple sells and just going the component or S-Video route. Is this the approach you used? Does it look good enough for games/video/etc.?

Oh, yeah - this is a really cool plug in. I'm not usually a plug-in kind of guy, but this one I like. Makes for a great contest to see who can spin it the fastest.I've seen the adapter used - it looks good enough for games (sort of) and video (definitely), not really useful for anything else.

[iKwick7]

Sorry about the thread jack, but I'm looking into hooking a mini up to my TV. I don't have DVI on my TV, so I was thinking about getting the adapter that Apple sells and just going the component or S-Video route. Is this the approach you used? Does it look good enough for games/video/etc.?

Oh, yeah - this is a really cool plug in. I'm not usually a plug-in kind of guy, but this one I like. Makes for a great contest to see who can spin it the fastest.


http://notebookforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3995

thats pretty much what I did. I sent you a pm.

[mainstreetmark]

Too bad it doesn't run out to Amazon and fetch your album art. :(

But, I do dig how it attempts to recreate the back cover.

[nagromme]

This is the coolest thing... pretty much ever! I was waiting for version 1.6 before trying it, and it's great. I'd buy it if it wasn't free.

It's like having my physical CD collection handy again instead of in storage. Believe it or not, I can see this pushing some Windows-using music-lovers I know into making the switch. It's one of those silly cool things you just have to have when you see it.

Did you notice how good the 3D is? Anti-aliased, and the printing is actually UNDER a thick clear layer of plastic! Look at the edges as it spins. Superbly done.

And it's really cool on TV! Drag the size to the biggest possible: even poor-quality album art will look nice. For the back cover, try Medium Blur and Zoom--it makes the back look different from the front, but still "match."

I'm glad I obtained all my album art for my ripped CDs :) I used Clutter to do it.

Some tips/shortcuts:

* If you choose to hide the JewelCase menu, you can get to it by ctrl-clicking in non-fullscreen mode. Or click the Options button for most of the same settings in a window.

* Hold ctrl and move the mouse side-to-side to change the size (no need to hold the mouse button).

* Right-click to pause the spin.

* Double-left-click to view the CD straight on, and again to toggle to the back.

* Left drag (even if pointer is hidden) to change spin speed/direction.

* While the CD is straight on (even in mid-spin if you're quick), SHIFT-drag the top or bottom edge to make the CD spin vertically. You'll see the CD even has detail on the top and bottom.

http://www.opticalalchemy.com/images/fiona_cd.jpg


Does it look good enough for games/video/etc.?
It looks great! As good as your TV allows! But TVs are NOT as good as computer displays.. they're just big, which can be fun. Everything is blurry on a TV--just like TV shows are--and for games, if you can increase the font size and run 640x480, that softness actually is a very slick and console-like look. You can get away with turning detail levels down for speed, and never even notice a difference on TV. But don't expect to view small text and details on a TV.

And Mac OS X System Preferences has some very cool options for controlling the picture on the TV. You can expand the image to extend just off the edges with no black border (good for movies) and you can toggle a "Best for Video" mode which I always turn on. You can even set a different color profile, resolution, and desktop picture used JUST for TV! When you plug into TV and choose Detect Displays from the menu icon (or just sleep and wake), your desktop changes automatically. Very slick.

EDIT: I see you have a PowerBook. That has TV-out built-in. Plug it in and try it--the Mini should look the same. (S-video is better than composite if you have the choice.)

[mainstreetmark]

Lots of good tips, Nagromme, but I was able to get the thing to vertically spin without the SHIFT modifier. I think you just have to have it lined up on the axis or something. Too bad you can't get it to spin on both axises (yes, axises)

[vollspacken]

I always wonder wether people actually use visual plugins with iTunes :confused:

hmm, I (almost) never turn them on, and I like to keep the "minimized" player "floating" on top...

vSpacken

[crazedbytheheat]

It looks great! As good as your TV allows! But TVs are NOT as good as computer displays.. they're just big, which can be fun. Everything is blurry on a TV--just like TV shows are--and for games, if you can increase the font size and run 640x480, that softness actually is a very slick and console-like look. You can get away with turning detail levels down for speed, and never even notice a difference on TV. But don't expect to view small text and details on a TV.

And Mac OS X System Preferences has some very cool options for controlling the picture on the TV. You can expand the image to extend just off the edges with no black border (good for movies) and you can toggle a "Best for Video" mode which I always turn on. You can even set a different color profile, resolution, and desktop picture used JUST for TV! When you plug into TV and choose Detect Displays from the menu icon (or just sleep and wake), your desktop changes automatically. Very slick.

EDIT: I see you have a PowerBook. That has TV-out built-in. Plug it in and try it--the Mini should look the same. (S-video is better than composite if you have the choice.)

Thanks for the feedback. I've got it running right now over S-VIDEO. DVDs look good as you might expect, but it's pretty much useless for web browsing - on of my biggest goals. In order to even read the text I had to set the display really small and then increase the font on the pages. I think I'll try to find a DVI/I to HDTV cable and see how that looks. Too bad they cost so much just to see if it works. I'd really like to be able to have the TV running on one side of the split screen and have the web on the other side (I have a really big TV).

[nagromme]

I always wonder wether people actually use visual plugins with iTunes :confused:
Everyone I know does. I like the built-in one because it has great motion AND album art combined. But I have about a dozen other visualizers installed too, and about half see regular use.

Not, of course, WHILE I am working :)


I think I'll try to find a DVI/I to HDTV cable and see how that looks.

That would be better--how much, I can't say... I've never tried it.

Browsing on TV is seldom a good thing. Witness the relative failure of WebTV. I use TV for purely graphical things: movies, certain games, iPhoto slideshows, business presentations, and iTunes visualizers.

[nagromme]

Deleted double-post.

Click a banner, buy MacRumors an Xserve!

[backspinner]

It even hardly uses more processing power!

[hob]

Browsing on TV is seldom a good thing. Witness the relative failure of WebTV. I use TV for purely graphical things: movies, certain games, iPhoto slideshows, business presentations, and iTunes visualizers.

Agreed. Most TV's - and I dare say even HDTV's aren't designed for tasks like web browsing. I can't read small text off my tv screen with my pb hooked up, can you?

Hob

[neoelectronaut]

When my display was set to 1280x960, the animation chops up every now and then, mostly during the turning when it switches sides...

How can I take the menu for this out of the iTunes menu bar? It's already cluttered as it is and it's starting to intrude into my stuff on the right of the menu bar.

[crazedbytheheat]

When my display was set to 1280x960, the animation chops up every now and then, mostly during the turning when it switches sides...

How can I take the menu for this out of the iTunes menu bar? It's already cluttered as it is and it's starting to intrude into my stuff on the right of the menu bar.

Per the handy Read Me file:

Uninstalling JewelCase

1. From the JewelCase menu select JewelCase > Preferences.
2. Click the triangle in the lower-left corner of the window, and click the Un-Install button.

[nagromme]

Go to JewelCase Preferences in the menu, and at the bottom of the Prefs window is a triangle to show more options--including one that turns off the JewelCase menu.

The menu is still available by right-clicking in non-full-screen mode.

(He didn't want to uninstall, he wanted the extra menu gone.)

[MontanaMacster]

Brings back the old "don't make changes to the song you are currently listening to" freeze ups and crashes that Itunes had its earlier versions. I think for the most part its more me just being impatient and changing songs while Jewel case was still trying to configure itself for the pervious song that does it.
Without the bugs, A great looking plug in.
I want a plugin that will let you assign(find) multiple pieces of artwork as well as movies to a specific song.

[bigandy]

ooooh sounds cool. now i just have to wait for my powerbook to come back from the surgery...

[neoelectronaut]

I also noticed that if the album art is really big or high-resolution, the program borks and the front of the jewelcase that shows up is simply a bunch of messed up graphics.

[nagromme]

No problems here--are you using 1.6?

I have a PowerBook 1.25, and my art is mainly from iTMS or Amazon.

Look in prefs for options that help lower-end systems, though: you can turn off AA, change the text, etc.

PS, There's an iTunes visualizer that DOES scour the web for images relating to the current song (not movies AFAIK)... not sure of the name.

For auto-loading art into songs, FetchArt works OK although sometimes I've had to run it more than once. And it still misses things--so then I move to Clutter, which is less automatic but finds art for nearly everything!

[neoelectronaut]

I finally found that preferences menu and was able to disable the menu that was on my menu bar.

Still trying to find out what the hell B&W Text & MipMapping does though.

[munkle]

*double post*




I'm with Nagromme on this one, lets click on some links and help MR get an xserve!

[munkle]

The link isn't working for me...




Now I really want it!

Edit: double post and it's working fine now! :o :o

[srobert]

Agreed. Most TV's - and I dare say even HDTV's aren't designed for tasks like web browsing. I can't read small text off my tv screen with my pb hooked up, can you?

Hob

Before I sold it, I had an extra G4 tower hooked to my TV. I created a different login called "TV". I maxed the OS font size (16 pt), enlarged the icons, removed un-necessary stuff from the dock and enlarged the default type size in my browser. I also adjusted the display calibration so it looked nicer on the TV (A MUST DO!). Change the color Display Profile to NTSC (PAL if you live in europe). It wasn't perfect but it was definitly better than the default configuration. YOu might also want to adjust options for each game on your TV account to use the lowest screen resolution configuration available so it's easy to read the menus and displayed type.

[markoibook]

I've only been using this software for the past week, but it is absolutley brill. Just can't wait to get a Mac mini now, and then hook it up to the TV for parties!

[maya]

Apple iTunes DEV Team, and Steve Jobs listen up, buy this plugin and implement it into iTunes 5.0 :)


I love this plugin. :)

Now if this effect can be placed in the smaller CD Cover window on the main iTunes window and also a Bezel Option, this is 100% there. :)

Come on iTunes 5.0 :D

[acedickson]

Great plugin. It's exactly what I've been looking for!