Q. StarfishX seems to generate a pattern, but it doesn't appear on my desktop. What's wrong?
A. If you have your Desktop system preferences set to "Change picture: every...", the patterns generated by StarfishX won't be shown on your desktop. Just disable this option and you should see the pattern last generated by StarfishX.
Q. How do I remove a pattern installed by StarfishX?
A. Simply open System Preferences, select the "Desktop" pane, and select a new pattern/picture. You may also want to delete the image file(s) generated by StarfishX. These are stored in your Home directory, in the Library/Desktop Pictures folder.
Q. How do I remove StarfishX from my system?
A. Simply drag the application to the Trash. If you also want to remove the pattern installed by StarfishX, follow the instructions above.
Q. How come it's so slow? I thought Altivec was screaming fast?
A. Altivec can be screaming fast, and using Altivec to generate patterns is 4-5 times faster than not using it. However, each pattern StarfishX generates is random, and some patterns are much more complicated that others. Also, if you're using the random size option, a larger pattern will take longer to generate than a smaller pattern (that's one of the reasons for the "Random (no full-screen)" size option--full-screen patterns can take a very long time to generate).
Also, since Mac OS X is a multi-tasking operating system, any other processes you have running at the same time will slow down StarfishX. This means that using StarfishX at login time with a bunch of other login items will slow StarfishX down (and StarfishX will slow the other processes down, too).
Bottom line: you should expect a fairly wide range of pattern generation times when using StarfishX (especially if you're using random pattern sizes).
Q. Why can't I use both the "Quit when pattern complete" and "Generate new pattern every n minutes/hours/days/weeks" options at the same time?
A. Because StarfishX can't automatically generate new patterns are specified intervals unless it's left running. You can use the "Minimize while waiting" option to make StarfishX be as unobtrusive as possible while it's waiting to generate the next pattern.
Q. What happens if I quit StarfishX while it's waiting to generate a new pattern?
A. StarfishX will remember the time the next new pattern is supposed to be generated and will resume waiting until this time the next time you launch StarfishX. If that time has passed when you next launch StarfishX, it will create a new pattern immediately upon launch.
Q. StarfishX recently generated a pattern which I think is really cool. I want to try using a different palette (and/or pattern size). How do I find the seed value for that pattern so I can set StarfishX to use this seed value again?
A. Select the pattern you like in the recent patterns drawer. The seed value used for this pattern is the first number in the pattern's file name, and when you select a pattern, the seed value is the last part of the information displayed under the large preview. To set the seed value StarfishX will use for the next pattern created, make sure the controls drawer is open and enter this seed value in the "Next seed:" field. As a shortcut, you can simply drag the pattern from the recent list to the "Next seed:" field. (See the FAQ item below about random palettes/sizes with constant seed values.)
Q. When I select the "Use constant seed value" for the Random Seed option, the pattern created is exactly the same each time, even though I've selected to use a random size/palette.
A. Yes, this is exactly right. This is what it means to use a constant random seed--you get the exact same random numbers (and therefore random size/palette) each time. You can manually change the size and/or palette popups to generate the same basic pattern at a different size or with a different set of colors. But the "random" options will always be the same for the same seed value.
Q. I don't see any seed value listed for some of the patterns in my recent list. Why?
A. Two possible reasons: 1) The window may just be too small to display all the informational text about the selected pattern. To solve this, just drag the window bigger. 2) Patterns created with versions of StarfishX prior to 1.5 did not record the seed value used. Therefore, these patterns have unknown seed values. Unfortunately, there is no way to re-create patterns created by versions of StarfishX earlier than version 1.5. Fortunately, StarfishX will undoubtedly create more cool patterns in the future. :-)
Q. I gave a friend the seed value for a really cool pattern StarfishX created for me, but when he tried it he got a different pattern. Why?
A. There are several possible reasons for this. First, if you are using different versions of StarfishX, it's likely the seeds aren't compatible between the different versions. (StarfishX 2.0 uses an entierly different pattern generator than StarfishX 1.x, and so will generate completely different patterns for the same seed values.)
If you are both using StarfishX 2.0, you should check to make sure your friend is using the same "Arrange" setting as you used. (Tiled patterns will be very different from patterns which are not tiled.)
Another possible reason is because you each have different palettes defined. If either of you have added or removed palettes (or edited any of the initial palettes), you may get different results even though you both use the same seed value. You should also tell your friend which palette you used and have him specifically select that palette before having StarfishX create the pattern. If your friend doesn't have that palette, he won't be able to create the exact same pattern (although he should get something similar).
The final possibility is that you two are running different versions of OS X. It is possible that Apple might change the implementation of the random number generator that StarfishX uses, leading to different random numbers and therefore different patterns for the same seed value. This is probably not very likely, but it IS possible if you are not using the same exact version of OS X.
(We're well aware that random seeds are a very "fragile" way of specifying a pattern and we're working on a way of improving this in the future.)
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