The animation when you drag off the Dock

[Doctor Q]

When you drag an item off the Dock, or you drag a bookmark off the Safari Bookmarks Bar, you see a little disappearing cloud and hear a "poof" sound.

What other actions in Mac OS X or Apple programs produce it?

Is that animation in a disk file somewhere within Mac OS X?

Has anybody used it for other purposes?

Has anybody created replacements?

If this has already been discussed, where is the thread?

 

[PlaceofDis]

dragging things out of the Finder's sidebar does the same thing

over on Resexcellence, they have replacements and a how to replace guide, although all the replacements suck the last time i looked

 

[Doctor Q]

over on Resexcellence, they have replacements and a how to replace guide, although all the replacements suck the last time i looked

Hey, you're right!

They call them Dock Poofs.

Install method for Mac OS X 10.2 and 10.3.
As the root user replace the original poof.png in this folder
/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/poof.png

 

[rainman::|:|]

It seems like they're the OS X version of the Newton clouds, which if you'll remember were little dust poofs that came up when you erased a bit of text or drawing (not the crumpling-up animation, which was for erasing a whole note). The only difference is that the OS X ones are smaller, color, and disappear more fluidly.

I always wondered if someone over at Apple was conscious of this, or if it's just a coincidence.

 

[Mechcozmo]

MacAddict went over how to replace those poofs a while ago... I can't remember the steps however.

 

[PlaceofDis]

i would love a new Dock Poof if it were worth changing, but all the replacement ones i have seen suck, and i by no means have any clue how to go about creating one myself

 

[jmsait19]

does anyone think the poof is a little cartoony and seems out of theme with the rest of osx? it almost feels charlie brownish.

im not saying that a poof effect is bad, but maybe a better looking poof that fit more with the aqua interface.

or am i alone on this

 

[Doctor Q]

It's interesting that the poof image is a PNG file, since animation isn't a feature of PNG files. A MNG file would have been more appropriate.

The file appears to consist of a single image, 128x640, meant to be used as five separate 128x128 images in sequence. So apparently the single image contains five square areas arranged vertically, and the programs pick out the five images and "play" them in sequence.

I tried creating my own such file and saving it in place of the system's poof.png, but the Finder and Safari continue to use the original version. Perhaps I have to restart the Finder or Safari or reboot for them to take effect.

File /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/poof.png:

 

[wrldwzrd89]

does anyone think the poof is a little cartoony and seems out of theme with the rest of osx? it almost feels charlie brownish.

im not saying that a poof effect is bad, but maybe a better looking poof that fit more with the aqua interface.

or am i alone on this

It doesn't seem out of place to me. The sound is unobtrusive and serves its purpose well. The graphic uses the same whites and grays of Aqua, so it fits in just fine, IMO.

 

[PlaceofDis]

I tried creating my own such file and saving it in place of the system's poof.png, but the Finder and Safari continue to use the original version. Perhaps I have to restart the Finder or Safari or reboot for them to take effect.

i would assume that you would have to at least restart the finder for the new file to be picked up, if not log out, i am certainly interested if you get it to work, maybe i will like your Poof a bit more hehe

 

[GodBless]

i would assume that you would have to at least restart the finder for the new file to be picked up, if not log out, i am certainly interested if you get it to work, maybe i will like your Poof a bit more hehe

I have a book that tells the steps to make this happen and at the very end of the steps it states "Save, quit and then restart" so yes after you save the new "poof" design you quit out of Photoshop (or out of whatever graphic application you are working in) and then you restart -- I don't know... your system? Since it is a systemwide effect and is used in both the sidebar and the dock I am assuming that it is not as simple as restarting Finder. You can try but I'd rather restart my system than experiment with random activities in Activity Monitor.

 

[Doctor Q]

MacRumors Dock Poof - free while supplies last!

I created a MacRumors-themed Dock Poof. PlaceofDis and others are welcome to try it out.

Disclaimer: Tinkering with Mac OS X is not always safe. If you are uncomfortable about changing files inside the /System folder (where Mac OS X lives) or don't have sufficient backups of your system, this procedure may not be for you. Proceed at your own risk.

To install the MacRumors Doc Poof

1. Download the attached zip file and open it to find image file MRpoof.png.

2. Put file MRpoof.png in the Pictures folder of your home folder. You can throw away the zip file.

3. In the Terminal application, do these two sudo commands, entering your Administrative password when prompted and replacing yourname with your Mac OS X user name:

sudo cp "/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/poof.png" "/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/poof.original.png"

sudo cp "/Users/yourname/Pictures/MRpoof.png" "/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/poof.png"

Note: The two sudo commands above probably display as two lines each in your forum window. Be sure to type or copy the whole command as shown, including quote marks, with a space between the lines you see here. It should come out looking like this:
sudo cp "/System/.../poof.png" "/System/.../poof.original.png"
sudo cp "/Users/john/Pictures/MRpoof.png" "/System/.../poof.png"

The first command saves the original poof.png file under the name "poof.original.png" so you can undo this hack if and when you like. The second command installs the MacRumors version in its place.​

4. Make the Dock notice the change:

4a. Remove the Dock's icon cache by navigating in the Finder to folder /Library/Caches (note: not /System/Library/Caches) and deleting all files whose names start with "com.apple.dock.iconcache". You will again be prompted for your administrative password.

4b. Restart the Finder by pressing Command-Option-escape, selecting Finder, and clicking Relaunch. Or simply restart your Mac.​

The MacRumors Dock Poof should be installed. When you remove an item from the dock, it should produce a tiny MacRumors logo instead of the cloud!

If you want to tinker with the sound you hear, it is in this file:

"/System/Library/Components/CoreAudio.component/Contents/Resources/SystemSounds/dock/poof item off dock.aif"

I don't have a replacement AIFF file to offer. Come to think of it, I'm not sure what MacRumors sounds like!​

To uninstall the MacRumors Dock Poof

1. In the Terminal application, do this sudo command:

sudo mv -f "/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/poof.original.png" "/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/poof.png"​

2. Make the Dock notice the change:

2a. Navigate in the Finder to folder /Library/Caches and delete all files whose names start with "com.apple.dock.iconcache".

2b. Restart the Finder by pressing Command-Option-escape, selecting Finder, and clicking Relaunch. Or simply restart your Mac.​

If anybody tries my MacRumors Dock Poof, please tell me if it worked and whether you like it.

 

[Applespider]

Come to think of it, I'm not sure what MacRumors sounds like!

Any pictures? Does the MR logo dissolve or just appear and disappear swiftly. Curious to know before I go playing around...

I've always thought Macrumors would sound like a good pub. A rumble of varied conversations with lots of different voices and excited shouting on occasion!

 

[redeye be]

Any pictures?

you can download the zip and look at the .png

nice job Q, and as for

Come to think of it, I'm not sure what MacRumors sounds like!

Maybe like biting a juicy red apple ?

cheers

 

[Applespider]

you can download the zip and look at the .png

Doh! Too much wine tonight I think. Looks good...

 

[Doctor Q]

Any pictures? Does the MR logo dissolve or just appear and disappear swiftly. Curious to know before I go playing around...

Here are what the five frames have in them. If you have an image editor, you can play with the png file and make your own. Just keep each frame within its 128x128 area and use a transparent background.

 

[Doctor Q]

I had a crazy idea. What if the png file wasn't 128x640 (like the one that comes with Mac OS X), but the width and height were some other multiples of 128? I tried one of size 128x1280 but it doesn't seem to play 10 frames in sequence. More experimenting is needed!

 

[Demon Hunter]

I thought I was the only one who noticed!

It just seems like Apple got lazy. But it's probably CPU friendly so they chose it over some fancy, 3D effect (though I would still prefer the latter).

 

[yellow]

Hey Doc, you should submit this as a hint on Mac OS X Hints. It's a pretty neat trick.

EDIT: Fixed incorrect URL

 

[Doctor Q]

Hey Doc, you should submit this as a hint on Mac OS X Hints.

Whatayaknow - looks like somebody beat me to it a couple years ago!

 

[yellow]

Son of a diddly.. well cool none-the-less.

 

[PlaceofDis]

could always submit your poof to Res excellence for everyone out there to enjoy, even if they wont understand it

 

[Doctor Q]

I figured all the artists here could invent much better poofs than I did. I stole the MR logo for my experiments since I'm no good at original art and thought a MacRumors-themed one would be fun to have.

 

[auxplage]

Well, I could not get the poof to work, but after restarting the computer for the 10.3.9 update, I now have the beautiful "MacRumors poof".