iGoom 2k4
© 2001/2005 iOS-Software

iGoom is a wonderful visual effect plug-in for iTunes for Mac OS X. A mac standalone version is now also available. This is the Mac version of Goom, originally written by Jean-Christophe Hoelt "jeko" (jeko@ios-software.com) and ported to iTunes by Guillaume Borios "gyom" (gyom@ios-software.com).

Check for informations or updates at http://www.ios-software.com/?page=projet&quoi=1.

License and Warranty

The iTunes plug-in and the StandAlone application are distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
See http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html.

How to install

iTunes:
Use the included install script
OR
Quit iTunes and drag the iGoom.bundle file into your "~/Library/iTunes/iTunes Plug-ins" folder. (the "~" means your home folder, the one with your user name). If any previous version of iGoom was already there, you MUST overwrite it or put it away, don't just rename.

Standalone:
Drag and drop the application anywhere you want on your hard drive.

How to use the iTunes plugin
Launch iTunes, then select iGoom in the iTunes "Visual" menu, enable the visual effects (⌘+T) and play your favorite songs.

When iGoom is activated you can click the option button in the iTunes window to get the Preference panel.

The preferences can also be set 'live' by simply hitting the following keys :

* Pixel doubling (Key : Q): when activated, iGoom calculates a half sized image and artificially doubles its size when rendering.
* Sensitivity (Keys : < to decrease and > to increase) : Use this to make iGoom match the music YOU hear.
* Presets (Keys : 0 to 9) : Presets selection (0 Blocks the current effect).
* Framerate (Key : F) : Display the frame rate.
* Information display (Key : T) : Toggle information display when iTunes is Idle.

Performance tips
To accelerate iGoom, try these tips :
• Quit all other applications you don't need
• Enable the Quick Mode (Lower quality)
• Prefer the full screen mode to large windows in iTunes (full screen mode switches the resolution)
• Reduce the render size in iTunes (select medium size or low size in the visual menu).
• Buy a new Machine ;-)

For full screen playback, I recommend at least a G4@800 (better with G4 or G5 and higher clock rates of course). Please note that iGoom can't use a lot of 3D acceleration and is not easily optimizable with Velocity Engine. A fast CPU with lots of cache is the key.

Known bugs / Things to do
Try to make it even faster (But don't expect too much now...),
Add new effects,
Finish the scripting system,
Enhance the functionalities of the standalone application.

Version history

2k4 ~ January 2005
• In sync with the final Goom 2k4
• The StandAlone version is available.
• The source tree is back to the sourceforge cvs and mac compatible.

2k4 dev 14 ~ March 2004
• Added the scripting system into the core (not yet scriptable without recompilation).

2k4 dev 8 ~ February 2004
• Added G5 optimizations.
• Caught a crashing bug in the PowerPC render.
• Added luminosity post-processing.
• Rewrote the transformation computation to make it independent from the resolution.
• A new fireworks effect.
• Lots of internal modifications to prepare future features.
• Many little optimizations.

1.99.5 ~ January 7th 2003
• Information display can now be set on and off using the key T or the preference panel. Since many users seem to find it annoying, this feature is off by default.

1.99.4 ~ January 6th 2003
• Not faster but does more than before.
• Smoother animations.
• Nice text display with cool font and effect.
• New "tentacle" line effect.
• New zooms.
• Resize crashing bug hopefully  corrected.
• Tuned many effects.
• Preferences window modified.
• iGoom now uses its own preference file instead of parasiting the iTune's one. 

1.9Dev5 ~ July 21st 2002
• Dynamic transitions between transforms.
• Dynamic lines effects transitions with new colors.
• 1 new transform.
• Assembly routines rewritten but G4 optimisations disabled.
• Tuned many effects.

1.7.8 ~ April 12th 2002
• Added a tuned version of the fabulous ifs effect.
(Copyright (c) 1997 by Massimino Pascal <Pascal.Massimon@ens.fr>).

1.7.7 ~ April 5th 2002
• Little speed bump (+8%) on G3
(Improved the G3 assembly code, lend me a G4 and I'll do it for Altivec too!)
• Finally caught the crashing lines bug.
• Enabled the original lines effects again.

1.7.6 ~ March 15th 2002
• In sync with goom 1.7.6,
• Now retains the quality mode.

1.7.5a3 ~ Not released
• Big speed bump on Smooth Mode (full quality) of about 30%.
• Little speed bump on Quick Mode (doubled pixels) of about 5%.
• Minor speed bump for G3 users.
• Added graphic visualization of setup (not available on fullscreen smooth mode).
• Added sensitivity setup.
• Tuned the moving pixels filter.

1.7.4 ~ November 8th 2001
• Pixel doubling mode is now the default.
• Better default parameters.
• Accelerated the full quality mode by about 8%
• Added that nice (?) purple circle in the centre.
• Code clean-up (1.7.0 - 180kb -> 1.7.4 - 72kb)
• Version number corrected again (should be good this time)
• The random resizing crashes seem to be corrected by the code clean up.

1.7.3 ~ July 26th 2001
• The 1.7.2 archive was broken for G3, corrected the archive

1.7.2 ~ July 26th 2001
• Now detects if Altivec (Velocity Engine) is present or not and enables a new G4 assembly zoom routine whenever possible. This makes it about 30% faster than before on G4 CPUs.
• Corrected a bug that would make the render go weird with odd horizontal resolutions and pixel doubling enabled.
• G3 Assembly acceleration rewritten for easier Altivec integration (No speed loss).
• Core goom code cleaned up to make possible Altivec accelerations (better data alignment and misc details). This make the G3 version a bit faster too and should accelerate future releases for other platforms.
• Corrected the bundle version number

1.7.1 ~ July 19th 2001
• Added a PowerPC assembly routine instead of pure C to execute the critical part of the zoom (just like on MMX processors). We gain about 50% more Frame Per Second !

1.7.0 ~ July 17th 2001
• In sync with Goom 1.7 (with some new effects available).
• Code clean up.
• Rendering functions (both normal and pixel doubling) rewritten  for speed concerns.

1.6.1 ~ July 14th 2001
• Pixel doubling bug corrected.

1.6.0 ~ July 11th 2001
• Initial release, in sync with Goom 1.6 for XMMS.