What's in store for 2004
 

Happy Holidays all! With 2003 coming to a fast close, I was wondering if all of us ma2 users could get some idea(s) as to what 2004 holds in store for any new stuff. Maybe Santa will be good to us?

Well, we don't want to make a big deal out of it, but there's a minor update in the works in which I'm replacing the 5 fish which I didn't create. They will be the same species, since they are already on the box, but rebuilt from the ground up. I think Prolific might be adding a couple of interface improvements, too.

This should be available in January.

nonono work on Freshwater instead :-)

You don't want a free update to MA?

I would love a free update! I have customers coming into the store on a weekly basis looking for news and updates for MA. (I can't understand why they can't just come to the forum. It's the best forum on the net in my humble opinion.)

As much as I would love to see FA, it will be nice to give them something new on the existing product.

I'd certainly like an update on those 5 MA2 fish - they may be very nice 'n' all, but they're just not as good as yours Jim. It's probably the way Prolific modelled the eyes. Nice try, but no cigar. I'm really looking forward to the remodelled versions. :TU:

I'd rather see a new product and then updates on old stuff . . . com'on so close with the Freshwater and prolific's version just made me drool for yours!

will the update have the widescreen built in?

i never really asked about it widescreen befor but for xmas i getting/got a nice screen

Widescreen is in Prolific's hands, where it has remained since October 2002. :eek:

I'll happily accept five fish by the master. But what I'm really waiting for is a tank of mini-dinosaurs. ;)
Seriously, with the animations already existing (as per the Jurassic Park series), I'm curious why someone hasn't come up with such a thing. Or is it there and I just don't know about it?
Anyway, anything you do, Jim, is fine by me. I'm just glad you didn't give up and chuck it all after all the problems you've had these past few months.

Thats great news Jim,thank you.

There are such screensaver out there I beleive, I once encounter it when I'm search other aquarium SS, and I remember the one I found is just layers of BMP fish drag across the screen with ugly bubble, then I found a link to other screensaver created by the same company and that one is a dinosaurs one, I also remeber if u r paid customer, u can activate the T-Rex and other cool feature....

I'll try to find out the website for u.....

Thx Doc, that's the one I'm talking about!!!

drfish and James,
Thanks for the tip. I checked out the Dino screensaver. There is definitely potential there, but unfortunately it is not nearly realistic enough to satisfy me. Maybe in a few years an acceptable one will come out, when someone with Jim's skill, and who really loves dinosaurs develops it.

Yeah, I checked that screensaver out just for fun. They must have given up on it.

What they should do is a virtual lizrd pet like a Bearded Dragon where you feed it. Something realistic and not cheesy looking like the tarantulas screensaver I've seen

James, have you downloaded and tested any really good non-aquarium screensavers out there recently. If so, send me the links.

Clint,
I just re-read your post above about the animations already existing so why can't they make a SS out of it. Well, the greatness of Mr. Sachs' work isn't so much how realistic the fish appear, but more that they can look like that on your or mine computer. Compared to 3D objects in movies, the SS fish are mede up of amazingly few polygons (cue for Morgan to post the polygon count again) and still manage to look like the real thing.
Now a dinosaur is just so much more complex an object which might explain why Spielberg & Co didn't port their T-Rex to a ScreenSaver...

/Tiny Polygon Count

Imagine a "Steven Spielberg Screen Saver Studio", – Logical acronym SSSSS ;)

The fish are 270 polygons.

Sounds good. Seems like I'll turn 50 before we get the 3d background though, doesn't it?

Jim, how long did it take you to get the original MA up and running? It seemed to just appear overnight. And now everything takes years, I trust you have other things to do (that movie you were working on etc.). But does seem that everything aquarium related has slowed to an absolute crawl.