It is possible to use a program like Flash Forge to create screensavers instead of searching for and downloading them on the Internet. Flash Forge can turn Flash files, those with the swf extension, into screensavers with just a few mouse clicks.

The program will convert the flash file that is being supplied by the user into an executable that will install the screensaver when executed. The user has the option to add multiple files to the screensaver, e.g. to add multiple movies that are played after each other. The installation program can be compressed to reduce the size of it which is useful if web distribution or network distribution is an issue.

Actions after the installation can be defined to show a readme file, open the display properties or start the screensaver automatically. Many users might probably want to turn Flash videos that they have downloaded from Youtube or other video sites into screensavers. These files cannot be loaded into the program right away. Conversion services, like the free Media Convert, can turn the flv files into swf format so that they can be loaded into Flash Forge.

The output quality depends largely on the input file. The screensaver creator has been primarily designed with non-interactive content in mind (movies or images) and won’t work that well with interactive Flash files like games. Interested users can download Flash Forge from the developer’s website. It should be compatible with most versions of Microsoft Windows. It was tested on Windows XP.

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And so the idea was born to create a screensaver from a Youtube video. I really like the Amiga Longplay series at Youtube, where guys play old Amiga classic games. The videos show all of the game and have a playtime of many hours sometimes. I decided to download several of those videos, namely King of Chicago, Moonstone, Indiana Jones IV and Day of the Tentacle (PC) and create screensavers from them.

I’m using the Firefox Download Helper extension to download the videos from Youtube. You could also use Grab++ from Orbit Downloader or any other means of downloading the videos from Youtube. The videos are still in flv format and we need to use a converter to convert them to swf format.

I have been using a website called Media Convert to convert flv to swf files. It supports files with a size of up to 150 Megabyte.

If you prefer a offline application or have flv files with a size larger than 150 Megabyte you could use Super instead. Super is a media converter supporting most media file formats. It’s also a better idea if your upload speed is rather low.

Once the swf file has been created you can load Instant Storm and the creation of the screensaver from that Youtube video begins. The process is actually pretty straightforward. I have been using the Project Wizard which guides you to three steps.

The steps are to (1) name the screensaver, (2) select the swf file for it, (3) add a preview image if you like and (4) convert the swf file to the screensaver. A .exe file will be created which, when double-clicked, becomes the new screensaver for the system.

What I like about this solution is that you create a screensaver with video and sound. The process is really easy to follow through and you get some very nice results. It’s actually fun watching the screensaver for some time.

This technique is not limited to Youtube videos. You can basically convert any video files to swf files and create a screensaver from them using this method.

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