[midwinter]

Hi all.

I need to take a picture of a screensaver in OS X, but when I hit the screengrab keys it kills the screensaver.

Any way to do this?

[gorickey]

Originally posted by midwinter:
Hi all.

I need to take a picture of a screensaver in OS X, but when I hit the screengrab keys it kills the screensaver.

Any way to do this?

An Apple screensaver? If so, which one? I may have another idea for you....

[midwinter]

Originally posted by gorickey:
An Apple screensaver? If so, which one? I may have another idea for you....

No. It's the Matrix code screensaver.

[gorickey]

Okay, I was just going to say in some screensavers you can simply open the package of the actualy .saver file and then get whatever .jpg image you want out of it. Maybe this "Matrix" one has that possibly?

[midwinter]

Originally posted by gorickey:
Okay, I was just going to say in some screensavers you can simply open the package of the actualy .saver file and then get whatever .jpg image you want out of it. Maybe this "Matrix" one has that possibly?

It does, but they're not usable.

[gorickey]

Darn, I tried.

[gorickey]

How about this?

http://www.versiontracker.com/morein...id=18886&db=VT

Worth a shot...

[moki]

Snapz Pro X will take pictures of screen savers:

http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/utilities/snapzprox/

also, there's a fully functioning demo time period, so if you want to just take a screenshot once or something, you can use it for that and don't need to pay for it.

Good luck.

[Richyfp]

It is possible to obtain a screen shot of a screen saver using Grab.app (included in Applcations>Utilties). While not ideal, the solution is as follows:

• Set a 'Hot corner' for activation of your screensaver
• Open Grab.app and start a Timed Screen grab (Shift-Command-Z)
• Move your mouse into the previously designated 'Hot Corner'
• Wait for the beep and then wait an extra couple of seconds

The resulting image (.tiff) will now be shown on screen. When I tried this, however, the screenshot had horizontal bands running across it... YMMV

[mrtew]

It's very easy. Download the free app SaverLab from VT and run the screensaver from there. You can pause it and then snap a perfect capture. SaverLab is the greatest!!!

[theory]

Yeah that is exactly what I was going to say. SaverLab
is what he needs.

[reddwarfsmeghead]

You can just enable password protect on the screen saver, then when move the password box out of the way and cmd+shift+3 away.

[MindFad]

Originally posted by reddwarfsmeghead:
You can just enable password protect on the screen saver, then when move the password box out of the way and cmd+shift+3 away.

-5 points for the rolleyes. Honestly, you're not cut out for this competition. [/simon cowell]

[WJMoore]

Here's a solution that doesn't require any additional software, just another computer Set the screen saver going and SSH in from another machine and type:
screencapture file.pdf
Instant picture... it has those horizontal artifacts Richyfp mentioned though. They can just be seen in the bottom right corner of this pic.

[xtal]

Originally posted by Richyfp:
It is possible to obtain a screen shot of a screen saver using Grab.app (included in Applcations>Utilties). While not ideal, the solution is as follows:

• Set a 'Hot corner' for activation of your screensaver
• Open Grab.app and start a Timed Screen grab (Shift-Command-Z)
• Move your mouse into the previously designated 'Hot Corner'
• Wait for the beep and then wait an extra couple of seconds

The resulting image (.tiff) will now be shown on screen. When I tried this, however, the screenshot had horizontal bands running across it... YMMV

I tried this with the screensaver in question, and it worked beautifully. No horizontal bands for me. Easier than installing new software for a function that Grab.app already has.

[eno]

Originally posted by WJMoore:
Here's a solution that doesn't require any additional software, just another computer Set the screen saver going and SSH in from another machine and type:
screencapture file.pdf

LOL

No need for a second computer:

sleep 10; screencapture file.pdf

Where the 10 means "wait 10 secs" before running screencapture command... Adjust to suit your tastes.

[Richyfp]

Since we're all getting fancy here I thought I'd write an AppleScript to do the job...

Code:
display dialog "How many seconds would you like the screensaver to run before taking a screenshot?" 
default answer "3" buttons {"OK", "Cancel"} default button 1
copy the result as list to {time_delay, button_pressed}
set the_file_path to (the path to "cusr") as string
choose file name with prompt "Save the screenshot as..." default name the_file_path & "Pictures:Screenshot.pdf"
copy the result as string to the_file_path
set the_file_name to POSIX path of the_file_path
if the button_pressed is "OK" then
	tell application "ScreenSaverEngine"
		activate
	end tell
	delay time_delay
	do shell script "screencapture " & the_file_name
	tell application "ScreenSaverEngine"
		quit
	end tell
end if

Have a nice day!