Alternate Windows Vista animation

Look what I found on MSDN! This neat animation comes from a technology demo made by Microsoft Japan. The particular demo (.NET 3.0 framework required) was produced to show off the functionality of Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) in a 3D interactive environment. Unexpectedly, it had this interesting splash animation for Windows Vista with flying colors that come together to form the Windows logo, along with an unique soundtrack.

[QUICKTIME http://istartedsomething.com/uploads/vistaanim.mov http://istartedsomething.com/uploads/vistaanim_poster.mov 600 410 true false]

The interaction of colors and sound feels almost like a mix between the Sony PSP and Nintendo Wii start-up animation which both share a similar style. Maybe even the music in the background was an ‘alternative’ start-up sound? Certainly something as cool as this could have been used as the animation during boot to replace the pearl, but at around 8 seconds long, it might have been somewhat obtrusive.

I apologize for the jerky video capture. The real animation is actually very smooth, however, any screen capture softwares I tried couldn’t keep up, so here’s the best I could do.But please check out the video in the demo for yourself! Besides this cool animation, the demo also showcases the wacky and weird world of Japanese creativity.

Update: Thanks John for pointing out where to get the video! It looks like the original video file was cached was available right under my nose the whole time, now I feel stupid.

Update 2: It looks like this animation and soundtrack was not produced internally by Microsoft. Most probably by the same developers who made the technology demo, Bascule.

30 insightful thoughts

  1. That would be cool to have at startup!
    Though, the sound, seems abit “tinny”, and “high-pitched”.

    It would be better if it was a softer sound. 🙂 In my opinion.

  2. I love it! – Why can’t Microsoft put any decent animations in their OS. Lets hope the next version is a complete change to what we are used to!

  3. For me it didnt rock my boat… and neither for that matter does the current jingle. I’m thinking on the lines of a slightly beaty type of intro to vista.

    Something that follows on from windows 98 intro

    Kind Regards

    Rob F.

  4. MS should hire Japanese visual designers for the next Windows – the jingle does sound Japanese!

  5. Now why can’t we have that as the bootup animation for Windows Vista rather than some sucky looking progress bar…

  6. @ Liyster

    It would not be possible to do this type of animation during the progress bar. During that time the video drivers haven’t been loaded yet and the system is using very low fidelity graphics. The reason they removed any sort of picture during the loading bar is because it increases boot time by quite a bit.

  7. FYI

    If you want to grab the WMV it should be cached on your machine somewhere in your profile \Local Settings\Apps\2.0\.

  8. @ishan: For me, it was under “C:\Documents and Settings\~username~\Local Settings\Apps\2.0\~random~\~random~\domi..\”. There are two directories which are made up of random letters and numbers generated by the framework. It will be unique for every computer.

    The file is called “vista_comp11_audio-1.wmv”.

  9. @Chad when the explorer is open press ALT that will give you the tools option.

    @Long I found those random folders but could not find the vid. i even tried searching for the file name but no results.
    Is it possible you could upload it?

  10. Love your blog! Super anime, though you didn’t make it 😉 As a macfan i must admit there is something good from Vista, and yes this is it, the animation they did not use.

  11. That is soo bad! Microsoft had it right when the hired STARDUST 2 years ago! the Campaign was current and full of life! if they are smart they will go back to stardust again to save them.
    http://www.stardust.tv/

  12. Looks good, its a shame they didnt put it as the animation just before the welcome screen in Windows Vista instead of the orb one that is currently there which just looks rubbish, although I don’t see the point in that, it is just adding to startup time.

  13. can some one tell us all how to put this has a start up?! give us those little detials for ppl who dont know please! i mean u give a post telling ppl about it but then almost no way of making it there start up animation. now if u cant make it a start up animation u should say that in ur posts ppl.

  14. If you want to save the video.

    GO TO:

    1. QuickTime Preferences
    2. Browser > disable kiosk mode
    3. Wait till the video is fully loaded > then right
    > small windows will popup > Save as source or Save as Quicktime movie

    PS: You most own a legal copy of Quicktime to be able to save the video.

  15. The funny thing is, I actually use this animation as a gameboot video for my PSP!

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