Jim, - Not a lot.... but here's a screen-grab...

Thanks, that helps. I can probably tighten that up a little.

I know this is a nit pick, but right away when I saw the cyst. analog, it seemed to be to low on the crystal. My change might have gone to far up, but also might look more centered.

http://i47.tinypic.com/14dnkh5.gif

Adjusted.

Jim, - I'm not sure you should adjust that clock. - Its apparent position on the crystal will depend on the viewpoint. - On my normal static viewing position it looks just about perfect, and its centring on the crystal will depend on its position as seen in (and from), during the scroll across the screen or screens.

Others may disagree. - But at its mid-scroll point, mine looks like this....

Hmm...

with the etched analog clock displayed, scroll all the way to the right. You'll see the clock well to the left of the crystal.

Now scroll to the left. As you do, you'll see the clock position move on the face of the crystal, but it never gets as much to the right.

So, moving the position a bit to the right would seem to make sense.

Moving it up just a little appears OK, too, since it does seem a little low.

Will have to see how the new positioning looks.

Now that JohnWho pointed it out, I see that the etched clock, digital clock, and calendar all appear to move across the face of the crystal. To me, it looks like the etched letters are nearer than the crystal - that is, above the face of the crystal.

Am I seeing things? In any case, should they move?

That's only when scrolling across one screen. It's different again when scrolling across two screens.
It's not going to look centred in all conditions, so I suggest it should look centred when in a central position.... which it does now.
So I say, leave well alone...... If it ain't broke, don't fix it.


It's perfect, Jim, don't move it.... ;)

The "movement" across the crystal is less obvious at slower panning speeds and most noticeable when manually scrolling, from what I see. When manual scrolling, what Dale describes is arguably visible.

This is one of those "observational" things that we might not ever all agree on.

Other than the slight up and to the right placement of the analog etched clock, I'm not sure how much this perception is worth changing.

Just my 2 cents.

All the single monitor folks will experience what is described regarding the farthest right/farthest left view, so I would think that once corrected for the "extremes", it is the best it can be for everyone.

Not so. - It will be too far over if it is moved from its present position.

Also, everything 'on' the crystal has always appeared to 'move' relative to the whole, it's a 3D object!

The clock and logo graphics are only about 1/1000 of an inch above the face of the crystal. What you are seeing is part of the back and sides of the crystal, which change as you change your viewpoint. The crystal is fairly thick, and you are seeing the sides appear to move right or left as you view them through the transparent face. Also, the crystal is tilted back to catch some lightplay, which causes anything on the face to get skewed when viewed from far right or left. At first, I had embedded the graphics deep within the crystal, but the murky look was not pleasing.

Whoa!

That just, like, totally amazes me that you can place objects in the virtual tank with that much precision.


http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/9918/bowingn.gif

I can design it even closer that that (down to 8 decimal places), but at a camera distance of 10 feet, DirectX sometimes gets confused as to which object is in front (floating-point precision errors).

First pic:- Farthest left on single monitor....... Second pic:- Farthest right on dual-monitors.

Wherever they are positioned is going to be a compromise for all items displayed on the crystal. - They are fine as they are now, IMO.

Yeah, I like the placement of the "non-etched" analog clock, too.

Cliff's two shots illustrate how closely the clock image is attached to the crystal surface. Look at the "2", which is very close to a chip in the edge of the face. Whether viewed from extreme right or left, it's still about the same distance from that chip.

Thanks for the detailed explanation, Jim. When I look at it that way, it looks right.

Having some serious computer problems. Keeps rebooting. I may be off for a while.

Edit: Could be the power supply - I've got another one temporarily piggybacked onto the computer, and it seems to be working so far.

Edit2: Nope - after 3 hours without any trouble, I did the full power-supply transplant and buttoned up the case. After startup it began giving me trouble again, with graphics anomolies all over the screen, and lockups.

Could be a failing video card that's taking out the PS.

Hope you have good backups. Wouldn't want it to take out the HD too.