Jim ...3D background ?
 

Jim ,
do you have some news about the 3D background for us?

Thank you.

Website update is coming soon.

3D background has been pushed onto the back burner by the Freshwater Aquarium.

Maybe I can get the website update up tonight.

" 3D background has been pushed onto the back burner by the Freshwater Aquarium. "


Although I totally understand - I still say........bummer.

;)

After careful consideration ....past the 15 minute editing window of my last post - I've decided the freshwater version, with it's 'moving plants' and an entire new list of fish....might be pretty darn exciting. Yep - I'm looking forward to it. So....I;m not really 'bummed' about the 3d background getting delayed.......it's for a good cause. Glad to hear Jim has his 'meltdown' issues resolved.

Don't feel alone. There ARE a lot of people who were nonplussed about the Freshwater announcement.

But it makes financial sense. SereneScreen can't get into major retailers until they have two products. I guess these retailers got burned in contracts with a company for a single product that became unpopular?

The freshwateraquarium will be really cool I think :D

While slightly disappointed over the delay on the 3D background, I am really excited over the freshwater aquarium.

(I'm really looking forward to the moving plants)

So what started out as a dream screen saver created by a talented artist, with a promise of a 3D background for several months (can't remember how many times I checked back to see if it finally happened) is now a money issue?!! Is that what I'm hearing from this thread?

It's beginning to sound like other forums where promises are made, everyone drools for weeks or months about the promise, and then SNAP! it gets yanked out from underneath us! 99.9% of the time it has to do with profitability calculations of the "bean-counters" driving the good intentioned inventor.

I have absolutely no problems with paying for this cutting edge product, just don't say one thing, leave me hanging and then song and dance me with why it suddenly isn't going to happen.

I truly miss the early days of this fantastic product when it was all about a great product and the selfless generosity of the creator.

The Aquarium is a money-making operation, not a charity.

Jim is prevented from selling the Aquarium at Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-Mart, and Target until SereneScreen has TWO products. So the Freshwater Aquarium is being produced so that this requirement can be fulfilled. Then he will return to work on the saltwater version.

After 21 months of sales, 80,000 copies of the Aquarium have been sold. Since Microsoft wasted 2 months of Jim's time with the Plus pack, which failed to generate any significant sales numbers, now Jim has to look at alternatives to make up for it. This includes taking steps to make the Aquarium available at Best Buy, Circuit City, and other retailers.

I think if you check around, you'll find that there has never been a promised release date for the 3D background.

You know, because of these types of entitled attitudes, I wish Jim had made the 3D background a separate add-on.

I'd be curious to hear your reaction about the fact that Jim spent several weeks designing the SereneScreen logo and artwork for the carton and jewel case for the CD-ROM version of the Aquarium?

How do you feel about the fact that Jim is considering working on animation and special effects shots for feature films?

I bet techmaster though Jim would work all his life improving the screensaver he just bought for $20.... hey, $20 is not the price for a life, and I think Jim has done already enough for that $20 spent. You should thank him for the 3d background whenever it comes instead of getting upset just beacuse is not there when you wanted it. After all, in this world you need money for everything, and Jim's not an exception. If he needs to have 2 products in order to see his screensavers being distributed on other retailers, or decide to work making animations for films to earn a bit more... it's up to him, and what the ****, I would do the same, and everybody would do the same too.
Just be patient, and everything will come, sooner or later, but for the $20 you spent, what were you waiting for? maybe a free freshwater aquarium once it's finished? Never forget Jim's working hard to make such great pieces of art, so let him work. You can't hurry an artist ;)

I'd gladly pay for the 3D background if it was offered as an add-on! I signed onboard this venture BEFORE it skyrocketed...

You're reading me wrong...I've got nothing against Jim..I respect his phenominal talents...It's just that I've heard talk about a butterflies screen saver, and a terrarium screen saver and this and that....for a while the fish were happening quite frequently and changes were fairly common. Maybe I was fooled into thinking that all of this stuff was going to happen in a reasonably steady manner...apparently not... especially if the marketing aspects of this venture are taking away time for the further expansion of his ideas.

Several weeks to design a box logo and CD jewel case artwork is just what I'm trying to point out... maybe the 3D background could have been finalized instead...

It just seems to me that the business end of things is starting to steer the course of this wonderful product. I just hope that the creator's focus isn't dulled by the business money machine and it's relentless requirement for a constantly increasing profit margin.

I'm a loyal believer in Jim's talents and I'll check back from time to time to see if any progress has been made and PAY for whatever is being offered beyond the initial fee. Maybe once the business issues are worked out, all of those great ideas of his will become reality... however, I'll believe it when I see it...

RE: techmaster's comment

(glad to see me back adminions?)

Thank you techmaster!

Techmaster is TOTALLY correct. I couldn't have said it any better myself.



I have more to say but at the risk of offending the adminions and getting this post removed, I'll keep my OPINIONS to myself.

i go with techmater
 

I think Techmater has a point ... in the beginning there was a lot of talking about 3D background new fish updates etc ... for the aquarium.

Now ... the aquarium seems not so important anymore .. the guys who sell this nice work must have 2 titles (dont know why). Did you not know about this in the first place ?

I will pay for every update that comes out ( its not difficult to get it 4 free...) the only problem is that i payed for more then 3 programs like this one (not only screensavers ) and 2 of them are down with programming or updates so whats the point buying or support this programs?

i know Jim is very good in what he is doing ( i played games on my commodore 64 and atari st 12 years ago like defender of the crown) and i hope the aquarium will be a big succes 4 him but dont let the big company's take the lead.

(sorry for my bad english)

I won't argue that things aren't going very slowly.

But it's odd to say that Jim has somehow lost his integrity.

It's still Jim doing all the 3D models, textures, and behavior himself. And I think it's the fact that Jim wants to remain a one-man band that is the problem. I also realize that what Jim planned and hoped seems to take 4 times as long as he thought it would.

Probably rightfully so, Jim does not trust other people to work with him because he has been burned so many times in the past. Jim has even hinted that the Butterfly Garden may be the last project. I started using the words "Jim has plans to" or "Jim plans to" a long time ago to protect him and myself.


It is a difficult balance to strike. I really think it's possible to express yourself without offending Jim and being insulting, and I'd like to see you try.

I would hope people would state their true feelings, but I know we've been running a tight ship.

Pipbal - No, we did not know that there was a 2-product requirement requirement until we started trying to get the Aquarium into store chains.

Techmater - The Aquarium is not the product of selfeless generosity. As stated from the beginning, the primary purpose of the SereneScreen projects is to raise money to do a movie. I am delighted that people enjoy the Aquarium, but at best it could only be expected to bring joy to a few million people for a few years. Compare that with a series like Star Wars, which has had a major influence over at least a billion people for 3 generations (so far).

What's been holding things up for the past several weeks is the Catastrophic Hardware and Software Meltdon that I've been going through. It started with trying to eradicate a virus, then installing XP, then building a whole new machine since the old one kept locking up with XP, and ended with total loss of just about everything. About once a year I seem to go through this period where everything I touch stops working / falls apart / explodes. For example, I couldn't get the new motherboard to recognize one of my RAM sticks, so I opened my desk drawer to search for the manual. The left drawer track gave way, spilling 10 years of accumulation onto the floor. EVERYTHING has been going like that.

I have rebuilt and reinstalled most of what I need to work now, and should soon be back to forward progress.

LOL
You crack me up feldon.

At no time have I ever been offensive or abusive to you or any other member.
At no time did I break any forum rules.


YOU offended, but we won't go into the reasons why, shall we? I don't think so. That's why I stayed away and that's why something I thought was a fun diversion became a pain in the backside because someone with a different view gets shut down by the admin.

buh bye

3D BACKGROUND
 

Just remember that anything worthwhile takes time and even JIM would agree that its taken more time than he thought it would. The fustration of not getting things sooner is probably doubled for JIM. I hope the freshwater aquarium works out because once the product gets to retail stores sales should take off and JIM can then start to see the fruits of his labor. You can count me in on the freshwater aquarium, if its aything like this one, it will be awesome! If I had to choose to buy the Aquarium or Star Wars I would buy the Aquarium, Ive watched Star wars 5 times and im allready tired of it, Ive had the Aqurium on every day and i'm still not tired of it. As for Jim wasting time on the plus pack for microshaft I would disagree, most of the people that I know saw the aquarium first running on some computer in some major retail store with the plus pack running on it, including me! Take your time Jim and do things right and most of us will be here to the end.:D

techmaTer
 

...pbal got it, I didn't

There is no "s" in his name...

I've been a long time user of the aquarium and have always found Jim more than willing to take a direct interest in his customer's needs. For instance, he personally helped me regain my password that was lost during relocation from Saudi Arabia to Canada some time ago.

I feel that the average customer may fail to realize the complexity involved in programming 3D graphics and the magnitude of the efforts required to complete the 3D background.

We all have bought into an ongoing creative effort and must exercise some degree of patience. Does it really matter if the background is available next week or next month? It gives us a little something to look forward to and anticipation is much of the reward.

I'm sure Jim is very aware of our desire to see this next step. If I have one suggestion, it is that I would like to see a "work in progress screen shot".

so this is a one man show? my hats off to jim then :)

i would be willing to donate what free time i have to help with the 3d background. for free of course. ive already got a version of my own thats pretty close to the current version now - the fish movements still need a lot of tweaking though. i dont see how jim did it - he must have spent hours doing nothing but looking at real fish!