Windows Gadget is a new feature of Windows Vista and 7. The Vista version has a "Sidebar" which contains mini-applications (called "Gadgets")
which are based on a combination of Script and HTML. They may be used to display information such as the system time, CPU/RAM usage and
Internet-powered features such as RSS feeds, and to control external applications such as Windows Media Player. Gadgets can run "docked" in the
sidebar or they can "float" anywhere on the desktop. On Windows 7, gadgets are all placed on the desktop without a sidebar, and arranged in a
slightly different way.
Here we have several original Anime-style gadgets for your desktop. Feel free to download them!
Check out especially System Animator, which is our featured gadget!
This is an analog clock with CUSTOMIZABLE clock background and various settings! We have included several Anime-style backgrounds, but you can use your own
images as background as well! You can choose a folder with images of any kind, and a random (or sequential) image will be picked and cropped automatically to fit
the clock background, and the background image can be set to change at regular interval.
Simply click on the unzipped ".gadget" file. Yeah it's that simple!
Gadgets on Windows 7
Windows gadgets work directly on Windows 7, just like Vista. However, the concept of "Sidebar" is gone so basically you just
put the gadgets on your deskop and arrange them in the ways you like.
By default, a gadget is shown as "docked" on the sidebar. You can drag it onto the desktop to "undock" it, which will usually be shown in a bigger size.
You can open as many instances of the same gadget as you want. For example, you can open several docked "System Animator" gadgets on the sidebar,
as well as some undocked ones on the desktop, with all of them working independently.
By default, Windows Vista sidebar will only appear when all opened windows are minimized or when you view the desktop. If your screen
resolution is high (above 1024 x 768), you may consider allowing the sidebar to always appear.
Click on "Control Panel".
Choose "Sidebar Properties" icon.
Enable "Keep the sidebar on top of other Windows".
Don't forget to hit the "Apply" button.
Anime PC Meter
Finding a PC meter/monitoring tool that actually "looks different"? This may be what you are looking for! "Anime PC Meter" is a fully functional CPU/RAM/Drive/Network meter,
with a cute and interesting Anime-style appearance and animated effects. So, when you see the CPU lady glowing in red, you know the CPU is busy :P
FEATURES:
CPU/RAM/Drive/Network meter presented in a cute, Anime-like style!
Multi-core CPU supported
Advanced monitoring details, such as virtual memory/network usage and disk activity (as flashing of bars), through the use of WMI
Interactable interface with extra info and actions available when you place your mouse pointer over or click on various parts of the gadget
This is a cute, Anime-style calendar with all months and dates represented by different Anime gals! You can double-click on it to view the
full calendar.
"System Animator" is a system monitor with CUSTOMIZABLE animation! How about a cute Anime gal who dances according to
the CPU usage? An animated flag which waves faster when your drive is busy? The famous Matrix digital rain effect with scroll speed corresponding
to your network traffic? It's up to your imagination!
FEATURES:
PC activity monitor with focus on visuals, animated effects, and FUN!
Supporting the monitoring of "Sound output" to become a customizable music visualizer! (*)
Supporting various animation styles with full customization! Several default animations are included, and hundreds more for download!
NEW (v5.0): Supporting running the gadget in the new HTA/XUL mode, which provides MORE features!
(video demo)
Confused? Check out our Video Demo section and watch this gadget in ACTION!
A: Yes. Windows gadgets work directly on Windows 7. However, the concept of "Sidebar" is gone so basically you just
put the gadgets on your deskop and arrange them in the ways you like.
Q:Does it work on Windows XP?
A: Yes, but you need to install a Sidebar program for XP.
Check out the Installation and Info section.
Q:I have problems installing / setting up the gadget.
2. Make sure there is NO parenthesis (bracket) in the path of the folder you keep the animation in.
3. Put animations in your own Windows user folder (or any subfolder within).
Q:64-bit Windows - The Silverlight option is grayed out and I can't use it.
A: By default, 64-bit Windows always loads the 64-bit version of sidebar, but there is currently NO 64-bit version of
Silverlight plugin that it can use. A workaround here is to load the 32-bit version of sidebar instead.
Check out this article for details (use method 2).
Q:Windows XP - Spectrum Analyser can't find any sound device on my system.
Here is a collection of animations (mostly made by myself) for use with System Animator.
To use these animations, download any animation set below, unzip it somewhere, and drop the unzipped animation folder to the gadget.
If you still don't understand, check out this video tutorial.
Some of the files in the section are in RAR format. Download this program
if you can't uncompress them. Also note that you need to download ALL parts of the same RAR archive before you can uncompress them.
Don't miss the Animated Picture section, with MORE animations of a very different
style!
"Animated Picture" is a new type of System Animator animations supported since version 3.3.0. Basically, they look like static
pictures while idle, with various parts changing color/effect/shape/etc based on the system activity monitored.
Check out these YouTube videos for demonstration.
Click any item with the ▶ sign to expand the list. Click any link to preview and download.
(sorting: default by date)
(*) denotes the support of video playback (MP4, WMV) directly inside the animation. Just drag and drop a video file to the animation,
and it will play with mixed visuals. The "Silverlight" option of System Animator needs to be enabled
(supported since version 4.2.1). Check out this video for demonstration.
Since System Animator version 5.1.0, this feature has been extended to allow the display of random pictures inside the animation from any folder you selected.
This makes it possible to use any Animated Picture, supporting video playback with either Silverlight or "HTML5 Canvas" (HTA/XUL) option enabled,
as a desktop image viewer/slideshow. Check out this video for demonstration.
(**) denotes the support of WMP (Windows Media Player), which means you can play any music files (MP3, WMA, etc) directly inside the animation.
Just drag and drop a music file to the animation, and it will play with mixed visuals from WMP built-in visualization. The "Silverlight" option of
System Animator needs to be enabled, and your System Animator version must be 4.5.0 or higher.
Check out this video for demonstration.
【BG】 denotes a special variation of "Animated Picture" animation supported since version 3.5.2. These animations were generated
from two or even just one static image. They are intended to be simple and and easy to make, easy enough for an average person to create their
own animation in just a few minutes! Check out the Make Your Animation section for more info.
Most of the animations are resizable. Resizable animations are displayed at a smaller size when
docked to the Sidebar. The display size can be changed manually by double-clicking on the animation, or the top-left and bottom-right corners
of most Silverlight animations (resizable down to 1/4 of the normal size).
Wanna make your own "Animated Picture" animation? All you need are one picture, some image editing skills, and IMAGINATION! Check out the
Make Your Animation section for more info.
System Animator supports the use of user-made "Face Pattern" skins for MacFace and VistaFace. You can download them
here.
Uncompress any skin you downloaded, and make sure the name of the final folder ends with ".mcface". Then you can go the Settings panel of the gadget and
point to that folder.
"Renders" are normal PNG images that are carefully cut-out/masked. System Animator can be used to display renders on your desktop.
The latest System Animator 5.0 even allows you enable ANIMATED effects (video demo)
on these static renders in HTA/XUL mode. Check out our Renders Gallery, and start decorating your desktop in the simplest way!
System Animator supports the monitoring of sound output of your computer. Imagine a cute Anime gal dancing to the beats
when you play a MP3 song... pretty cool, right? ^_^
In order to let System Animator monitor sound output, you must install the "Spectrum Analyser" gadget (by
Jon Abbott). The version of Spectrum Analyser required by System
Animator is a modified version, which can be downloaded below. After installing this gadget, you can then choose to monitor sound output in the
settings panel of System Animator.
To achieve the best results, you may want to adjust the "Update interval" of System Animator to 0.1 second. You can also try changing
the "Monitor sensitivity" setting on System Animator and the "Gain" setting on Spectrum Analyser to fine tune the effects.
For existing users, to know the version and revision number of the "Spectrum Analyser" gadget you are using, open the Gadgets window,
choose "Spectrum Analyser" and click "Show details" at the bottom.
The latest version includes a special Anime-themed skin (credits go to sun)
with many Anime pictures as background (you can use your own pictures) and various customizable bars and options.
These YouTube videos show System Animator in ACTION! They demonstrate System Animator as a multi-purpose PC activity monitor, as well as a
music visualizer, with interesting and fully CUSTOMIZABLE animation!
For existing users, you may want to check out the following video demos to know more about what's NEW in the recent updates.
Version 5.5(advanced usage of video with System Animator)
Version 5.1(using System Animator as a fancy image viewer/slideshow!)
Version 5.0(added HTA/XUL mode support with many NEW features and major performance improvement)
Can't find what you want in the Extra Downloads section? Why not make your own
animation? Check out the following video tutorials for making your own animation for System Animator.
You are also recommended to take a look at those animations I made as examples.
The latest version of System Animator allows you to simply drop an image or video file and use it directly as desktop animation! Yeah, it is
just that SIMPLE! Check out the following video tutorials for details.
Apart from using System Animator as a normal video player (with EQ-bar effect) as demonstrated above, there are other advanced uses of video,
such as chroma key (video demo - 01 | 02),
shuffle play of video segments with varying playback speed (SEQ mode) (video demo - 01 | 02),
and playing MP3 on a video with playback speed being in sync with the tempo of the music (BPM mode) (video demo - 01 | 02).
Check out the following YouTube video for a tutorial of how you can apply these effects on your video with System Animator.
System Animator 5 introduces a new HTA/XUL mode to run System Animator as a standalone application, WITHOUT the sidebar/gadget platform. Running System Animator in
this mode has many advantages, such as major performance improvement, child animation support, wallpaper mask and various new features UNIQUE to this mode.
To run System Animator in HTA mode, you need to have Internet Explorer 9 installed.
To run System Animator in XUL mode, you need to have either Firefox (version 4 or above) or XULRunner (version 2 or above) installed.
Check out the above YouTube video for info on how you can run System Animator in HTA/XUL mode.
Extra Animations
Make Your Animation
Using your image and video files directly
MacFace's "Face Pattern" Support
