Wishlist for Marine Aquarium 3 and Future

I imagine a colorful snail moving over all available surfaces including the inside of the monitor glass.
Something moving very slowly and showing up in a different place every time the program starts suggests
that the program is still alive while you're not looking at it.
In my personal opinion, random fish setting kills
the realism. I add or remove fish types with a virtual net every few days.And most greatful that I can.

I thinks that adding bump mapping to a fish would make it look TOO REAL. This would only work for newer cards but I have looked at some demos for the geforce 2 cards with bump mapping and it is way too cool.

[hpman77]

Well, these are my 2 suggestions (so far)

1- More Depth: With 3d glasses you can notice the depth, and it would be great if the fishes could swin farther, because, although the 3d feel right now is noticeable, it would be greater to see more depth in the tank. Notice now fishes can't swim but a bit forward or backward. Most time they swim in the x and y axis, but very few time in the z axis (depth) In 2d mode (with shutter 3d glasses) you would see it just the same as now, but in 3d mode (with glasses) you would be astonished I'ts a suggestion, though)

2- To make this topic be more easy to find in the topic list, why not move this topic (wishlist) to a separate forum? We can post there only suggestion, and even comment each one Leave this one for questions, problems... whatever, and create another one ony for wishlist

[Digital Lungfish]

Jim,

I've checked the wish list and don't recall this question having been asked previously, so I thought I would give it a shot.

Regarding camera placement, have you considered alternate stationary views as a user definable option in settings?

Examples:

-> Front (stationary)
-> Front (panning L/R) - already been mentioned I know
-> Side (stationary)
-> Corner 3/4 (stationary)

I suggest a view from the side looking into the tank length wise because it might satisfy those looking for more overall tank depth. I suggest a corner cam (one that is positioned in the upper front left corner and faces downward towards the lower right rear corner) because it would lend a sort of psuedo 3/4 overhead view to the tank and again might give more feeling of tank depth.

I know that it's possible these may be shot down due to the fact that this could expose the back side of the soon to be created 3D corals (which might not have a back to them), but you never know until you ask.

- DL

[feldon34]

Digital,

Actually I'm anxious to hear Jim's response with this (although he's probably too busy wrestling the DirectX 8 monster to read this) but once the background goes 3D, there's no reason (except for asthetics) that the camera couldn't be moved. Of course if the camera is moved to certain places, Jim feels that without reflections, it's no longer realistic. So it might get shot down on that accord. Front Left-Right panning is already planned.

[Jim Sachs]

Yes, I am busy wrestling with DX8, but I had a real breakthrough today, and am back to forward progress.

Regarding all these camera angle suggestions:
Digital Lungfish is right, the objects which will make up the 3D background will have no backs. If there is one underlying principal which makes the Aquarium possible it is limited scope. When you write a 3D program, you must create an entire universe. By limiting the size of that universe, it is (just barely) possible for one person to create the illusion of reality, but it is EXTREMELY difficult. The camera angle and viewport, size of the objects, size of the bitmaps used for textures, distance from the camera, lighting, colors, and many other things must be exactly right, or the illusion is broken.

How many 3D programs have you seen where the camera is allowed to get too close to something, and the object gets blurry, or the camera passes right through it? That is the type of problem that I avoid by maintaining a tight control over a limited environment.

Patient: "Doctor, it hurts when I do this."
Doctor: "Then don't do that."

--- Jim Sachs

[hooters]

yep blured is right, just play tiger woods 99-2001 in 3D. difrent camera angles that are close to objects like trees and houses look way distorted(blured) not pleasing to look at whatsover .

[FishyBusiness]

Jim,

I know you don't need my comfirmation to know that you are right.

When I play 3D games or walk around in a 3D environment that my friend has made, the camera definitly goes through the walls, ground and any other obect in the way. At that point I can see all of the planes that make up the 3D environment. I can also see the objects that I am controlling go through walls, cars, and the like.

Take Care,

Frank

Being a big marine fish nut i would love to see a hawkfish sitting on the corals and turning it's head about following the movements of the other fish....Hawkfish are a very funny fish to watch as they perch in some silly positons.......

And some flowing movement from some of the corals would also look very nice

[Digital Lungfish]

Jim,

I had a feeling you might come back with those very reasons and you're right of course. You know I'm not trying to break the illusion, if anything I'm just trying to stretch the boundaries a little. In my line of work I'm known for pushing the boundaries to see what's on the other side, unfortunately in this case it happens to be a backless reef.

But seriously, since you're our sole source of information with regards to the development of this project, our questions help us to better understand what's possible, what's not, and what you're willing to do.

- DL

Still hopeful a Rock Beauty makes the finals and I prefer the larger Queen Angel idea too! Would be nice to be able to have them all and a Save Aquarium feature, so one could have multi Aquariums. This screensaver to me, is more of an actual Salt Water - sim and a program. Screensaver some how does not do it justice.

How about this:

Allow a video cam to give input into the aquarium.

This was mentioned by someone on another topic but I don't think people read it. At first is sounds crazy but there are already a few screen savers written doing it. They came with my video cam! The API is called Reality Fusion. Imagin the fish swimming up to the top of the screen when you walk in. This would be great!


Info from Intel:
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp ftp://download.intel.com/software/id..._Libraries.pdf

Info about the SDK:
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp www.seesaw.com/corp/Products/sdk

This is an example of a program written by a kid:
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp www.ews.uiuc.edu/~awu/pix...light.html

-Bill

[feldon34]

It all depends how Jim implements the 'tapping on the glass' feature. Hopefully we'll be allowed to not just trigger it with a keyboard command but actually use the mouse to click on a certain part of the glass. I guess Jim will need a Fish mouse cursor too

A touch screen would seamlessly integrate with the mouse-click on certain parts of the tank. And the webcam, there is already software (as you linked to) which measures the changes between the last picture taken and the next and if it more than 5%, then it is assumed that someone has walked into the room. This has also been used for security purposes as you can imagine.

To be able to keep the background as black and have the rest of the scene/fish, cycle through light/dark.
Alot of marine tanks have just black backgrounds, to show the fish in their best light..

[feldon34]

nockmeister,

I too would like that feature. Ability to lock one or the other or both.

I am as addicted to this thing as most people who have seen it. I have a couple things that would be nice to have added to the wish list. Some ideas are admittedly better then others.

Random events that occur *rarely*. Just something for people to say "did I just see that?"

Fishing line and hook that floats across the screen.

Diver that swims in the background.

Shark that swims through the background.

Octopus tentacle that moves behind the rocks. (I noticed you had an octopus in your wish list but it would appear too small compared to the fish)
etc etc.

Timed events based on the internal calendar. example, something for each major holiday.

A togle to disable "random events"

I can see these being in addition to the 7 fish visible at a time. I wouldn't expect them to occur very often, just something to add a little extra to the whole thing.

Thanks, Great site!

-Chris P.

AMAZING screensaver! WOW! I am a reef aquarium buff and I love the screen saver. My only wish is that in addition to picking fish, you could select the corals that were in your tank.

More importantly, the corals should move with the currents. The mushrooms on the right should undulate with the waves. I know it may be alot to ask, but this would make it just amazingly real. Just a thought.

[Jim Sachs]

Regarding the lighting - It is already possible to lock both the foreground and background lights at a particular setting. Just turn off automatic lights, and use either the sliders in the settings screen or the arrow keys in the main screen to set the lights where you want, then hit Save Settings.

I can't lock one at a time because people might set that one to full off, and when the other one cycled there would be periods when the screen was completely black.

--- Jim Sachs

[feldon34]

Jim,

I already experience times when the screen is ALMOST black. I wouldn't mind too terribly much. Having the background always black and the front cycle from light to dark (even if that's black) is something I've wanted since day 1. Just a thought.

How about some actinic lighting effects?? Could you fade in a new bitmap for the background corals based on an actinic blue light and show them flourescing at night? That would be amazing!!

Sharkfood