Simple additions - Page 2

Jim Sachs · 03-03-2010, 09:40 PM

Remote would probably be the equivalent of Borderline(---).

Dale - regarding your post #7, are we sure that bug wasn't fixed already? My notes include the line "Beta10c - fixed default music write-path problem"

feldon34 · 03-04-2010, 01:28 AM

Originally posted by patscarr:

I know it says "remote," but I hope you can put "Borderline(+)" after "Starfish on glass."

The issue with the starfish on the glass, as you know, was in the past it happened in the dark.

What has occurred to me (which I've posted before) is that one animation could be built of the starfish climbing up onto the glass. That's not the hard part. The hard part is you never know what angle the starfish will be rotated when it wants to climb up onto the glass.

My thought for this was that the animation would start with the starfish at a specific position and rotation.

Before the starfish can climb up, one of the 5 arms has to be touching the glass. Then there would be a "morph" to get the arms to line up with the starting point of the 'climb' animation. Then invisibly, the starfish would rotate around so that it lines up with the correct rotation that it needs to be to match the animation.

It might look a little clunky before it's received some tuning, but having the starfish slowly climb would be very cool.

Jav400 · 03-04-2010, 06:11 AM

Jim it might be a interim solution, but just to get the starfish on the glass to satisfy users until you do the actual work where people can see it get there - make it go on the glass while the aquarium is dollied to the other side of the aquarium.

Rick Simon · 03-04-2010, 06:49 AM

Originally posted by Jav400:

make it go on the glass while the aquarium is dollied to the other side of the aquarium.

Unfortunately, that wouldn't work for windowed or multi-monitor layouts where there is no scrolling.

feldon34 · 03-04-2010, 07:44 AM

Previously, getting the starfish onto the glass didn't work for folks who had automatic lighting disabled.

Jav400 · 03-04-2010, 08:22 AM

Rick,

Somehow it sounded better in my head.

Of course I only use one monitor as well.

Dale · 03-04-2010, 08:57 AM

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

Dale - regarding your post #7, are we sure that bug wasn't fixed already? My notes include the line "Beta10c - fixed default music write-path problem"

Yes, we are sure.

A. The thread referenced in Post #7 was started December 2009. Well after 10c and 10d.

B. See (for a start) post #20 in the referenced thread. Summary: modal differences in behavior between simulation mode and screensaver preview mode.

cjmaddy · 03-04-2010, 09:40 AM

Until the adjustable background lighting/colouring can be implemented, the registry hack that Jim gave us some time ago is relatively simple to make, assuming you don't mind monkeying around in the registry.

However, for those who prefer the simple life

, download and run the following little script and it will do this for you... BackgroundColor.reg
Using the function keys F1 to F4 will simply return the colours back to the current MA3 defaults.

The BackgroundBottomColor ff113111 and BackgroundTopColor ff000040 in the script can be changed to whatever you want.
But those two values give a rather nice effect, IMHO. (See below...)

Rick Simon · 03-04-2010, 01:10 PM

Originally posted by Jav400:

Somehow it sounded better in my head. Of course I only use one monitor as well.

No problem! After giving it some thought, it's a bit thornier an issue than I at first thought. You could possibly only have the starfish move onto/off of the glass while not within the visible area, but that might create some jarring visuals. Consider a scenario like this... user is running a dual monitor setup which still allows for panning but the panning just barely hides the lefthand area where the starfish lives before it returns. At the rate of movement the starfish normally moves at, for it to move completely onto the glass in the relatively few seconds that the area would be hidden, would not be life-like at all.

In order for this to qualify as a "simple" thing to do, I think Jim only has one of two options...

1) place a user option in the settings to allow for always showing the starfish either on the glass, or off of the glass. That way the end user could select where they want the starfish to appear. Not a very good solution, but probably the easiest since it avoids the entire transition problem.

2) work out a light cycling solution and transition the starfish in the same way as in v2.

Of course, both of these depend on the routines for displaying the starfish on the glass already being in place. If Jim has to do more work to add that in, then I doubt the starfish on glass CAN be added in as a "simple" addition.

Dale · 03-04-2010, 01:31 PM

3) When MA3 starts, starfish is (randomly? alternately?) in one of the two modes, and stays in that mode.

Rick Simon · 03-04-2010, 04:17 PM

Originally posted by Rick Simon:

1) place a user option in the settings to allow for always showing the starfish either on the glass, or off of the glass. That way the end user could select where they want the starfish to appear. Not a very good solution, but probably the easiest since it avoids the entire transition problem.

Originally posted by Dale:

3) When MA3 starts, starfish is (randomly? alternately?) in one of the two modes, and stays in that mode.

OK! How about we compromise and say that the starfish can be set to a)floor b)glass or c)random in the settings?

Dale · 03-04-2010, 04:27 PM

Originally posted by Rick Simon:

OK! How about we compromise and say that the starfish can be set to a)floor b)glass or c)random in the settings?

I think that would be excellent, and probably acceptable to almost everybody. And it "solves" a particularly tough animation, too. It can't be easy to smoothly transition from the sand to the glass (even if you're a starfish).

Ralph · 03-04-2010, 06:22 PM

What if there was some turbulence when the starfish wanted to climb up the glass..Perhaps a release of bubbles that would make a temporary local cloud. when it dissolved the starfish is on the glass, same routine when it wants to come off.

Jim Sachs · 03-04-2010, 08:08 PM

Wow - which button do I press to make all that happen?

Dale · 03-04-2010, 08:24 PM

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

Wow - which button do I press to make all that happen?

It's called the "Any" key.

JohnWho · 03-04-2010, 08:57 PM

Originally posted by Ralph:

What if there was some turbulence when the starfish wanted to climb up the glass..Perhaps a release of bubbles that would make a temporary local cloud. when it dissolved the starfish is on the glass, same routine when it wants to come off.

Ah, you are talking about the

"wishing star" fish!

flip · 03-05-2010, 02:55 AM

A desk top short cut

In one of the settings columns could you add a icon (for a better word) so that a desk to short cut can be made.

As you might know I lost my Desk top Icon how??? It took me a long while to find a link program hidden in my C:\ windows etc plus I was getting very frustrated.

Even if the Short Cut is removed it can be easily replaced

I hope this is one worth considering.

Secondly a quick and easy method of selecting your own music.

Flip/Keith

feldon34 · 03-05-2010, 03:40 AM

Originally posted by flip:

Secondly a quick and easy method of selecting your own music.

The Aquarium has a music playlist feature.

clifdene · 03-05-2010, 04:21 AM

Cliff.
I like your choice of the background top colour and would want to replicate it.
My registry shows the following which does not seem to fully relate to your suggested entries.
"BackgroundTopColor Reg_DWORD 0xff5599ff(4283800063)"
I opened your script with WordPad. I could not find Jim's registry hack.

cjmaddy · 03-05-2010, 05:08 AM

clifdene,
You are quite correct!... that is what the entry looks like in the registry, but you only need to change the hexadecimal number.

If you make the change in the registry itself....
Change only the six digit number after the ff, to the hexadecimal number for the colour you want. DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING ELSE. (And don't forget the ff)
And if you use or change the script, it MUST be in the style shown in that script, ie... "BackgroundTopColor"=dword:ff000040

For the record... here's - Jim's registry hack!

03-03-2010, 09:40 PM	#21
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,788	Remote would probably be the equivalent of Borderline(---). Dale - regarding your post #7, are we sure that bug wasn't fixed already? My notes include the line "Beta10c - fixed default music write-path problem" Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium Last edited by Jim Sachs; 03-03-2010 at 11:05 PM.

03-04-2010, 01:28 AM	#22
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,939	Originally posted by patscarr: I know it says "remote," but I hope you can put "Borderline(+)" after "Starfish on glass." The issue with the starfish on the glass, as you know, was in the past it happened in the dark. What has occurred to me (which I've posted before) is that one animation could be built of the starfish climbing up onto the glass. That's not the hard part. The hard part is you never know what angle the starfish will be rotated when it wants to climb up onto the glass. My thought for this was that the animation would start with the starfish at a specific position and rotation. Before the starfish can climb up, one of the 5 arms has to be touching the glass. Then there would be a "morph" to get the arms to line up with the starting point of the 'climb' animation. Then invisibly, the starfish would rotate around so that it lines up with the correct rotation that it needs to be to match the animation. It might look a little clunky before it's received some tuning, but having the starfish slowly climb would be very cool. "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman

03-04-2010, 06:11 AM	#23
Jav400 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Tennessee Posts: 9,725	Jim it might be a interim solution, but just to get the starfish on the glass to satisfy users until you do the actual work where people can see it get there - make it go on the glass while the aquarium is dollied to the other side of the aquarium. Michael Administrator of Inside:SereneScreen Aquarium Forum, Chatroom, Fan Site & *Gallery* DVD Collection

03-04-2010, 07:44 AM	#25
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,939	Previously, getting the starfish onto the glass didn't work for folks who had automatic lighting disabled. "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman

03-04-2010, 08:22 AM	#26
Jav400 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Tennessee Posts: 9,725	Rick, Somehow it sounded better in my head. Of course I only use one monitor as well. Michael Administrator of Inside:SereneScreen Aquarium Forum, Chatroom, Fan Site & *Gallery* DVD Collection

03-04-2010, 06:49 AM	#24
Rick Simon Registered Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Michigan Posts: 93	Originally posted by Jav400: make it go on the glass while the aquarium is dollied to the other side of the aquarium. Unfortunately, that wouldn't work for windowed or multi-monitor layouts where there is no scrolling.

03-04-2010, 08:57 AM	#27
Dale Banned Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Western Missouri Posts: 960	Originally posted by Jim Sachs: Dale - regarding your post #7, are we sure that bug wasn't fixed already? My notes include the line "Beta10c - fixed default music write-path problem" Yes, we are sure. A. The thread referenced in Post #7 was started December 2009. Well after 10c and 10d. B. See (for a start) post #20 in the referenced thread. Summary: modal differences in behavior between simulation mode and screensaver preview mode.

03-04-2010, 01:10 PM	#29
Rick Simon Registered Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Michigan Posts: 93	Originally posted by Jav400: Somehow it sounded better in my head. Of course I only use one monitor as well. No problem! After giving it some thought, it's a bit thornier an issue than I at first thought. You could possibly only have the starfish move onto/off of the glass while not within the visible area, but that might create some jarring visuals. Consider a scenario like this... user is running a dual monitor setup which still allows for panning but the panning just barely hides the lefthand area where the starfish lives before it returns. At the rate of movement the starfish normally moves at, for it to move completely onto the glass in the relatively few seconds that the area would be hidden, would not be life-like at all. In order for this to qualify as a "simple" thing to do, I think Jim only has one of two options... 1) place a user option in the settings to allow for always showing the starfish either on the glass, or off of the glass. That way the end user could select where they want the starfish to appear. Not a very good solution, but probably the easiest since it avoids the entire transition problem. 2) work out a light cycling solution and transition the starfish in the same way as in v2. Of course, both of these depend on the routines for displaying the starfish on the glass already being in place. If Jim has to do more work to add that in, then I doubt the starfish on glass CAN be added in as a "simple" addition.

03-04-2010, 01:31 PM	#30
Dale Banned Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Western Missouri Posts: 960	3) When MA3 starts, starfish is (randomly? alternately?) in one of the two modes, and stays in that mode.

03-04-2010, 04:17 PM	#31
Rick Simon Registered Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Michigan Posts: 93	Originally posted by Rick Simon: 1) place a user option in the settings to allow for always showing the starfish either on the glass, or off of the glass. That way the end user could select where they want the starfish to appear. Not a very good solution, but probably the easiest since it avoids the entire transition problem. Originally posted by Dale: 3) When MA3 starts, starfish is (randomly? alternately?) in one of the two modes, and stays in that mode. OK! How about we compromise and say that the starfish can be set to a)floor b)glass or c)random in the settings?

03-04-2010, 04:27 PM	#32
Dale Banned Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Western Missouri Posts: 960	Originally posted by Rick Simon: OK! How about we compromise and say that the starfish can be set to a)floor b)glass or c)random in the settings? I think that would be excellent, and probably acceptable to almost everybody. And it "solves" a particularly tough animation, too. It can't be easy to smoothly transition from the sand to the glass (even if you're a starfish).

03-04-2010, 06:22 PM	#33
Ralph Retired Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Edmonton Alberta Ca Posts: 2,441	What if there was some turbulence when the starfish wanted to climb up the glass..Perhaps a release of bubbles that would make a temporary local cloud. when it dissolved the starfish is on the glass, same routine when it wants to come off.

03-04-2010, 08:08 PM	#34
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,788	Wow - which button do I press to make all that happen? Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

03-04-2010, 08:24 PM	#35
Dale Banned Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Western Missouri Posts: 960	Originally posted by Jim Sachs: Wow - which button do I press to make all that happen? It's called the "Any" key.

03-04-2010, 08:57 PM	#36
JohnWho Registered Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Tampa Bay Area, Florida Posts: 486	Originally posted by Ralph: What if there was some turbulence when the starfish wanted to climb up the glass..Perhaps a release of bubbles that would make a temporary local cloud. when it dissolved the starfish is on the glass, same routine when it wants to come off. Ah, you are talking about the "wishing star" fish!

03-05-2010, 02:55 AM	#37
flip Registered Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Victoria Australia Posts: 155	A desk top short cut In one of the settings columns could you add a icon (for a better word) so that a desk to short cut can be made. As you might know I lost my Desk top Icon how??? It took me a long while to find a link program hidden in my C:\ windows etc plus I was getting very frustrated. Even if the Short Cut is removed it can be easily replaced I hope this is one worth considering. Secondly a quick and easy method of selecting your own music. Flip/Keith

03-05-2010, 03:40 AM	#38
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,939	Originally posted by flip: Secondly a quick and easy method of selecting your own music. The Aquarium has a music playlist feature. "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman

03-05-2010, 04:21 AM	#39
clifdene Registered Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: UK Posts: 168	A really simple addition Cliff. I like your choice of the background top colour and would want to replicate it. My registry shows the following which does not seem to fully relate to your suggested entries. "BackgroundTopColor Reg_DWORD 0xff5599ff(4283800063)" I opened your script with WordPad. I could not find Jim's registry hack.

03-05-2010, 05:08 AM	#40
cjmaddy Registered Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Lancashire, UK Posts: 7,854	A really simple addition... clifdene, You are quite correct!... that is what the entry looks like in the registry, but you only need to change the hexadecimal number. If you make the change in the registry itself.... Change only the six digit number after the ff, to the hexadecimal number for the colour you want. DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING ELSE. (And don't forget the ff) And if you use or change the script, it MUST be in the style shown in that script, ie... "BackgroundTopColor"=dword:ff000040 For the record... here's - Jim's registry hack!