Ahhhh, the NDA, gotta love and hate it. Oh well, it was worth a try. :)

By the way Jim, I posted a question to you a while ago over at -

https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...7584#post17584

but you never replied to it. So if you have a spare moment, I would appreciate your feedback.

Thanks!

Jim, I'm reluctant to ask, but dying at the same time. Some details on your current progress would be great. Or, a progress report on any of your other projects would be nice also. What is done so far and what still needs work? Thank you, and keep up the great work!!

Currently I'm in a dry spell, or artist's block trying to get the background right in the freshwater tank. I've got a fairly large tank sitting next to my computer desk, and I keep re-positioning everything in it, but haven't gotten it right yet.

Have you created any fish?

A neon tetra. The irridescent blue-green actually works pretty well, but those guys are really SMALL. My plan is to allow a pair of the smaller fish to count as one. Even so, the wide variation in the size of freshwater fish is proving to be a major problem.

Which is where you turn over the collision detection algorithyms to Prolific. It is, in my opinion, grunt work. The animation will always be Jim Sachs animation. But collision detection, it's time better spent on other things, in my opinion.

If you have a fish with a texture on it, in a "finished" state, you can imagine that a picture of it would be appreciated. :)

Just a snip of a screenshot containing a finished fish would be very cool. Sounds like you have a long road ahead. Thanks for the update. As feldon mentioned, is it possible for Prolific to tackle the collision detection so you can harness your energy elsewhere?

It's like we're a pack of hungry dogs out here awaiting a big meal from Jim. Some crumbs here and there is all we need in the meantime.

Hmmmm, I'm not sure if a few crumbs will satisfy a pack of hungry dogs. Seems like it would provoke a feeding frenzy.

Not sure how we got onto collision detection, but I'm not working on that. Prolific has been working on it for some time.

I interpreted this as you having to worry about the size of the fish.

NO!!! Please Jim, do not give us any pictures of your new challange, i would like to have an awesome moment, when i will see the COMPLETE version of the new SS the first time.

Thank you!

How about 2 freshwater aquariums, one with many small species(like tetras, swordfish ...) and another with big ones (like angelfish).

I would love to see at least a picture of your *real* fresh water tank, Jim :)

IMHO we all would be satisfied with a picture or a few words about what you're doing from time to time. A picture of your tank (even if you're changing it very often) or a screenshot of that finished fish or... well, anything :)

Size of the fish - What I meant was the little ones just don't show up very well. In the saltwater aquarium, some people complain about the Royal Gramma and Clownfish being rather small. Well, the Neon Tetra is about 1/4 that size, yet has a lot of detail. Very frustrating to put all that effort into something that only shows up as a few pixels on the screen.

I had wondered how you were going to deal with size issues. A small school of the little guys treated as one individual would be nice. And please, don't give in to pressures of the fans. We are all very excited about your new release, and we're behaving like children on Christmas morning. Good luck getting through this background problem. I'm sure it will be great.

hi jim,
you said you have artist's block on background of freshwater aquarium. does that mean you will do 3-d background on freshwater before saltwater ? you might have mentioned this before, but i missed it.
thanks

Quite quiet at the moment here in this forum?

Ok, we all know, it's done when it's done. But when is that?

Any progress news, everything ok Jim?

Yes, I've been making good progress on the Freshwater Aquarium lately. The treasure chest is done, and bubbling happily away. The Cardinal Tetras are glowing nicely. Working on the gravel today.

Woohoo! :D

OK, now I can get a little more excited. :)

The treasure chest and bubbles I've seen :D, the cardinal tetra, I haven't. :(

Jim, if you get a chance, hit PrintScrn on that thing. :D


My reactions when Frank (FishyBusiness) and I first saw the Freshwater, in sequence:

1st bubble
That looks pretty cool.

2nd bubble
Wait, the bubbles look completely different.

3rd bubble
Ok, this is serious. :)

4th bubble
Hey, are those pearls 3D modeled?

5th bubble
The lighting under the lid is so perfect as the lid opens and closes.

6th bubble
Ok, I can't tell how the bubbles are being done, I've got to find out.

7th bubble
Wow, the bubbles are coming out from under the lid perfectly. I am totally believing this.

The Cardinal Tetra will be quite the fish to see, IMO. Jim and I talked at length about specular lighting and pondering why no-one has used it to the same effect as Jim has.

The Goldfish would benefit massively if the scales were reflective.