Marine Aquarium 3 Rumors and Speculation

[Jim Sachs]

The fish haven't changed yet. They appear slightly smaller, because the camera is farther away, and there's no lighting in the scene, so they look "smoother" than they should.

[chimmy]

Glad to hear that development is going well. I haven't seen any posts on how to sign up for beta testing. I'm a tester by nature and by profession. I'd love to give the beta a few turns on WinXP x64. 2.6 works pretty good.

I'll keep watching for the forums. Let me know if there is any testing I can help out with.

And of course, Keep up the great work!

Thanks,

Chimmy

[Jav400]

We already have a set group of testers that have been working with us for a long time. I doubt that any new ones will be added, but thanks for the interest.

[Jim Sachs]

Chimmy - We'll let you know. I think we may already have some 64-bit XP users out there. What we could probably use is a 64-bit Vista user with patience and communication skills. So far, most of those who have written to us seem to have serious mental problems. (This isn't meant to be a statement about Vista64 users in general, just the ones who have written to us )

[jleslie]

As a throw-back to an earlier part of the discussion... Jim have you every played with ZBrush and exporting normals from there? I ask as I just, purely coincidentally, ran across someone talking about that today. I have no idea if it'd be relevant to you (they were using a tool called zmapper with zbrush), but it is designed to export stuff for games, presumably meaning direct-x?
John

[Jim Sachs]

No, I haven't heard of it, but I'll take a look.

[chimmy]

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

Chimmy - We'll let you know. I think we may already have some 64-bit XP users out there. What we could probably use is a 64-bit Vista user with patience and communication skills. So far, most of those who have written to us seem to have serious mental problems. (This isn't meant to be a statement about Vista64 users in general, just the ones who have written to us )  

I have an extra HD I can pop in and get a Vista x64 w/SLI install going. I'm in the software development field so I fully understand the time it takes investigating issues and clearly communicating them.

Even if you don't have anything specific I'm sure I can come up with a few good ideas that might break it

Thanks,

Chimmy

[jleslie]

Still no idea if any use, but:

http://www.highend3d.com/news/software/56.html - zmapper

http://amber.rc.arizona.edu/lw/plugins/NormalMaps.zip - lightwave plugins

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/sho...5&page=3&pp=15

http://amber.rc.arizona.edu/lw/normalmaps.html

http://www.pixologic.com/docs/index.php/ZMapper

http://www.ca3d-engine.de/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15

http://www.evasion3d.com/mw_lw_intro.html

[Highlander]

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

Chimmy - We'll let you know. I think we may already have some 64-bit XP users out there. What we could probably use is a 64-bit Vista user with patience and communication skills. So far, most of those who have written to us seem to have serious mental problems. (This isn't meant to be a statement about Vista64 users in general, just the ones who have written to us )  

I have a new quad Vista x64 machine geforce 8800 gtx

[Jim Sachs]

I'll be off the grid for a week starting Monday. Going down to Belize...to do research for new programs. Yeah, that's it, research.

[johnblommers]

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

....What we could probably use is a 64-bit Vista user with patience and communication skills. So far, most of those who have written to us seem to have serious mental problems. (This isn't meant to be a statement about Vista64 users in general, just the ones who have written to us )  

I was going to say, where can you find a Vista user anywhere on the planet that still has any patience left? I know four guys who have tried Vista and only one of them is too stubborn to go back to XP.

Fortunately the experience has not effected their communications skills and they are recovering nicely. They are now able to receive short visits from friends and family.

[bugsymcd24]

Hey now, wait a minute... I am using Vista here at home and at work, i am a network admin.. i love Vista, there are a few querky things about it but I think it is a great operating system... really.

[Tiny Turtle]

No worries, Bugsy. It wouldn't matter if Vista was twice as good and cost half - it would still be considered the definition of evil to Blommers.

[feldon34]

I bought an HP laptop in October, wiped it, and put XP. It's heaven.

[Edgar]

I have Vista and I also don't like it. For testing purposes, I am keeping it as Vista but I turned off all the annoying supposedly automatic protection to make it simpler on me.
I also turned off all the graphic bells and whistles that slows down my computing experience. It still have some annoying features left that are difficult to control and I can't turn off.
Nothing is simple with Vista in my experience so far.

[Jav400]

Edgar thats sounds pretty much like every report I hear about Vista. For every one that says they think its ok, there are 100 that feel the same way you do. Personally I haven't actually sat down and tried it yet, but with all those comments I'm not in a hurry to either.

[vochore]

Originally posted by Edgar:

I have Vista and I also don't like it. For testing purposes, I am keeping it as Vista but I turned off all the annoying supposedly automatic protection to make it simpler on me.
I also turned off all the graphic bells and whistles that slows down my computing experience. It still have some annoying features left that are difficult to control and I can't turn off.
Nothing is simple with Vista in my experience so far.  

edgar....if your looking at turning off the junk in vista that slows things down you might want to check out this website...iv used his info on xp for several years now and its a big help on speeding things up.

http://www.blackviper.com/

[johnblommers]

Originally posted by Tiny Turtle:

No worries, Bugsy. It wouldn't matter if Vista was twice as good and cost half - it would still be considered the definition of evil to Blommers.  

Tiny Turtle, you wound me! Vista could be 10x better and cost 1/10 and I'd still define it as evil

However the chorus of posts here suggests that the Vista we have is pretty much a disappointment. Just ask a Vista user to indicate JUST ONE compelling benefit of Vista and they will be stumped. After a minute they will parrot back some marketing talking point (no doubt "security") and then retract it hastily.

The great crime here is that Vista puts developers at risk. Develop for Vista or for XP? I hate to think that Jim Sachs wastes valuable resources developing for Vista if he could put out MA 4.0 a year sooner. Given the serious application compatibility problems with Vista, this is a big issue.

This goes way beyond johnblommers hating Microsoft. Vista is hurting people and giving computing a bad name. And that's a problem.

[johnblommers]

Originally posted by bugsymcd24:

Hey now, wait a minute... I am using Vista here at home and at work, i am a network admin.. i love Vista, there are a few querky things about it but I think it is a great operating system... really.  

Hey Bugsy , thanks for your positive post. So, seriously, what is it about Vista that works for you? What are the #1, #2, #3 and #4 great things that should compel a Windows XP user to upgrade to Vista?

For Mac OS X Leopard it's really easy:
#1 is Time Machine.
#2 is Spaces.
#3 is QuickLook
#4 is compatibility (no radical user interface changes, speed is the same as Tiger, and general application compatibility)

[Wizwad]

JB: would that be compelling reasons for an XP/W2K user to upgrade to Leopard? 'Cos all I heard was babble, babble, babble...
(Sorry JB, couldn't resist, this is the response I get from my first ex girlfriend whenever I talk IT in any way, shape or form!)
(Oh, and Tiny - in this case there are *other* reasons why she is Ex. Still friends, though!)