xfce-wallpaper-transition

Use random images from a directory as your wallpaper(s) with a transition in XFCE.

This was made because I couldn't get other programs like variety to work under Arch Linux + XFCE or they didn't fit my needs.

Requirements

The following python-packages are required:

• pillow (or PIL)
• python-xlib

You can install them by using this command:

# pip install -U pillow python-xlib

(or, and this is preferred, use your package manager and install a distribution-specific-version)

Installation

This is just a simple script, put it anywhere and run it.

Usage

There are several ways you can use this script.

If you want to use the default options, you'll only need to cd to your image-directory and run the script from there, like so:

$ cd ~/pictures
$ python ~/scripts/wallpaper.py

If you'd like to give it some arguments instead, you can also do that:

-d ImageDir, --dir ImageDir
                    The directory of the backgrounds you want to loop
                    through
-t SECONDS, --timeout SECONDS
                    How many seconds to wait before the next transition
-s DURATION FPS DURATION FPS, --transition DURATION FPS DURATION FPS
                    Defines how long a transition is and with how much FPS
                    it shall be done
-b BackupPicture, --backup BackupPicture
                    If the program crashes, shall there be a backup
                    picture to revert to?

So, a full-blown call would look like this:

$ python wallpaper.py -d ~/pictures -t 300 -s 2 50 -b ~/background.jpg

Warnings:

• The script will currently crash, if it chooses a non-image-file.
• It will pre-render the image-transition as JPGs to /tmp/ and then display it. If you're on a slow machine (or just don't have a SSD), I wouldn't recommend a high FPS count.
• In my experience, xfdesktop couldn't handle (DURATION / FPS) <= 0.025. I tested with a GTX 1080.

Current TODO

• Make it use only picture files, not random ones
• Also use different workspaces, not just screens
• Check if file paths really exist
• General exception handling

Future Prospects

This script may or may not work with other desktop environments after one changes the command called by it. If someone volunteers or I find myself with a big amount of freetime, the functionality might find its way into the repository. ;)

Hint: I'm talking about something like this here.