Marine Aquarium 3 Comments & Appreciation

[PaulsPics]

Hi Jim,
Although your post is dated as yesterday, I suppose that because I am in Sydney in Aussie land that I have just seen Beta 10B, downloaded and seems to be working fine , Dusting away and ducking out of sight when approached.
had a delay before I could find it -- I thought you might have placed it further away on its own in an uncluttered area not so close to that magnificent large Coral that was so appreciated in your very first versions of SS.
anyhow just reporting that it all loded up Ok and working and I would add that my underwater Music still is working splendidly.
Now all I want is that Banded Shrimp we spoke of back in 2001, but still waiting patently, hope I can last the distance !!!
Many Thanks once again.
pAUL

[Jim Sachs]

The dark area where I put the Feather Duster was always intended for it. Even the original picture that I took of that pink overhanging coral had one there. I had to remove it when making the textures.

[enigma63941]

Whats on tap for the next visual treat for the aquarium?

[Jim Sachs]

Now comes the long process of creating new fish models and movement.

[rctneil]

Which is first:

- The new movement

OR

- New fish models

?

[Jav400]

I'm just guessing here, but I am going to say that each fish will probably have a slightly different movement model instead of each one using exactly the same. So my guess is that Jim will redo a fish, and the movement that goes with that particular fish, and release each new fish and movement one at a time.

[rctneil]

That would be awesome. I take it the new movement will also include:

Pecking at corals
Schooling
Darting
and a more realistic swimming movement?

[Jav400]

Depends on the fish and their natural behavior. If that particular species pecks at the coral, then I would say yep.

As for the rest - to some extent I would expect each fish to exhibit some of that behavior. It's up to Jim on how much his interpretation of the actions each fish would show.

Remember, I am just guessing at this point though, Jim hasn't told me specifically what he plans to implement.

[Jim Sachs]

Yes to all that.

[Xylem]

10b working fine on my machine; vista 64 and all. Is that by any chance the new 'installed' version?

But actually I was waiting for conversation to move to 'fish movement' because I think I noticed a small anomaly, and would appreciate anyone confirming it so we'll know whether it's just my machine or a generall problem:

I notice that the fish exhibit a strange 'staccato' up-and-down movement at times. Usually (I think) it's when it is near the bottom, and especially when another fish swims directly over it. It's as if the fish is bouncing rapidly (almost vibrating) between the bottomg and the other fish.

Is this just me?

[Jav400]

What you may be seeing is a hitch in the current routines, which I think, is one of the things Jim wants to work on. Basically when fish get to close or get hemmed in where there is no place for them to go or a clear direction for them to turn without doing flips or some unnatural movement, that's when you will see that.

[Jim Sachs]

Yes, that's one of the reasons for re-writing the routines.

[Xylem]

Thanks guys. Glad to know it'll be resolved. What a great screensaver, Jim.

[pogona]

the best is not that you have created an awesome screensaver; the best is that you are still working on it, and you want to recreate an almost real marine habitat.

[feldon34]

I'm sensing some impatience here, or maybe it's just excitement. This next phase in the development of MA3 will not be a fast one.

[Jim Sachs]

True

[Jav400]

Go to our arcade - play some games - steal some high scores - have a few tournaments.

[Xylem]

OMG. No impatience here. Just wanted to check in with a lingering concern. Didn't mean to pressure you, Jim. In fact, why don't you take the rest of the week off? You deserve it

-Tom

[Dabombguyman]

I'm lookin' at the lion fish and the movement looks very robotic, like there's no gradiation between movements, it just starts moving up or down without accelerating, it just goes.
It only happens with the lion fish and it happens amost every time it moves.

Is anyone else seeing this? And if the are, Is this going to be refined in the "Alpha" version?

[Jav400]

To the best of my knowledge, Jim is going to redo the textures of every fish, redo and probably add some vertices to each fish, and take time to refine the movement of each fish, and probably refine - or maybe even have to reinvent - the collision avoidance routines for every creature in the tank. Which is where the "going to take some time" factor is involved.