App that will automatically dim/sleep display after 5-20 Seconds?

[daikw]

Hi,

I work as a music producer and I constantly find myself distracted by my display while i'm working: Using my eyes instead of my ears!

Is there an app out there that can automatically gradually darken or grey-out the display if the cursor stops moving for, say, 5-20 seconds.

I am aware of the cntrl-shift-eject shortcut, but I am looking for something that will work automatically for the time parameters I choose.

Thanks in advance.

 

[waynep]

You can set the screen saver to go that quickly. Or you can set a "hot corner". Move the mouse pointer to a certain corner and it will blank out your screen. Both are in System preferences.

 

[daikw]

actually, what would be even better is a key command that I can set to instantly switch on and off (or grey out) the display.

Something like cntrl-shift-eject, but that doesn't 'wake up' when I move the mouse, only when the keys is pressed again - that way I could continue to make adjustments to my mix without having to worry about accidentally hitting a key or moving the mouse and waking up the display. SURELY something this simple must already exist?

 

[daikw]

I managed to get something close using the screen brightness app Nocturne,
I played with the hue/brightness and saturation for the shadows and highlights until they were as close as possible (the app will not let you set them exactly the same) then used Spark to set up a keyboard shortcut to toggle it on off. What I ended up with was a bright blue screen! Still pretty distracting! I think being able to set it black would be much better.

 

[2manyg]

I have used the hot corner in my studio since switching from tape, watching the screen whilst listening back or recording is distracting for me, but even more so for the performers I find!

 

[daikw]

To 2manyg and those who are interested:

I've found a way of setting up an easier shortcut to sleep display. ( I was finding cntl-shift-eject and hot corners too unwieldy!)

First I downloaded Dockables, which has a widget that sleeps display, then, using Spark I created a shortcut ( I used CMD-3 ) to launch it.
Now all I have to fo to sleep my display is hit CMD-3. I would still prefer sone thing that doesn't switch back on when I move the cursor - but this is better than before