Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST
 

Very few fish really need bump mapping.

And Jim has his sights set on a few more fish, the rest will be invertebrates. However over the next years, Jim has said that he sees doing a fish as "relaxing" in comparison with the other tasks, so he'll probably do one every once in a while.

Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST
 

offsetwiz,

Jim has always made the claim that he is an artist first and a programmer second. But since Jim is the only man who has been able to give people an aquarium with this amount of realism, after viewing his work, I don't think that anyone has the right to doubt his skills in the programming department. Makes you wonder just how great his artwork is then doesn't it? Nah, I guess that shows in the aquarium also. :)

Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST
 

Jim doesn't consider himself a programmer. Yet he does things that me, as a strong mathematical and logically-minded person, can only dream about.

Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST
 

Coelacanth,

I finally heard back from my friend Jerome over at dinofish.com with regards to the question of whether or not the Coelacanths change over the course of their lives from fry to adult.

According to him, it's actually a hot topic right now and there's much debate as to what the answer is. Not only that, but apparently there's a major search going on for the fry popluation in general because no one has ever actually seen one alive, only fry pulled from the belly of dead pregnant females have been photographed. However, according to his and my observations, we both agree that the fry look virtually identical to the adults in every way, including the trademark sports on the sides. Here's yet another image of one:

http://www.dinofish.com/cimages/coel01b.jpg

- DL

Here we go again
 

Why does Jim worry about file size, so much?

Other SS are easily 3 times as big and 5 times worse.He should be working on detail and A.I., and not wory about file size. Heck, he talks about making his SS compatible for all computers. Nowadays allmost everyone has in his possesion a brand new computer. 90% of people are saying, they have easily 87 FPS count.
For who are you making this screensaver. It`s nice to be compatible, but not for the price of quality!!!!!

Re: Here we go again
 

I have yet to see the quality of Jim's product suffer due to his concern that everyone can enjoy his rare talent, (which I might add this aquarium is only one example of it.) not just the majority of people with fast machines. Or any other reason for that matter.

Re: Here we go again -Keyword is "again"
 

Re: Here we go again -Keyword is "again"
 

Offsetwiz,

There is no excuse for bloatware, for software that is 10 times as big as it should be. Why is Microsoft Word 200MB? It's a word processor!

Some might complain that Jim is working slowly. At my last count, Jim has, in the last year, put more saltwater fish into his Aquarium than any of the other screen savers that use flat photos or a 3D animated fish loop.

I'm sure glad Renoir and Monet didn't have someone looking over their shoulder telling them what to do.

Suggestions are one thing, and highly encouraged. Telling someone they should make their software a certain size, shape, color, or with certain features or that they "must" hire another programmer to help is rude.

You might want Jim's aquarium to "be like everyone else's".
It's the fact that Jim's aquarium is NOTHING like anything else anyone has ever done before that makes it so appealing.

Have you EVER seen such a fan following for a screen saver? I know I haven't.


And finally, I can't think of any fish in the Aquarium that really need bump mapping. Jim has been able to create a sheen and mesh-like appearance on the side of certain fish as needed. This is evidenced by the Copper-banded Butterfly, Royal Gramma, and to a lesser extent the Yellow Tang and Wimplefish.

Re: Here we go again -Keyword is "again"
 

Without wishing to start a long discussion on the topic, I feel that some people are being a bit harsh with Offsetwiz, with regard to his comments.

Although he is bringing up previously discussed issues, he is not simply asking a question that could have been answered by checking older posts. Rather, he is adding his own opinion to a topic of discussion. I thought that was what forums such as this were all about.

O.k. so it might sound a bit demanding of Jim, but then half the posts on this forum are requesting some feature or another. Nobody expects Jim to implement everything that is suggested, but that shouldn't prevent discussion of the pros and cons.

My personal opinion is, that while I think that the size of any program should be kept to a miminum, I don't think some arbitrary limit should be imposed. Especially for a program that is continually evolving like this one.

Re: Here we go again -Keyword is "again"
 

Well, sorry, but I can't let one part of offsetwiz's comments go without a reply.

So everyone buys a PC every 6 months do they ? Don't think so. Not even every year, or even every two years. So if 90% of users are saying they have 87 FPS or more, most of the users of THIS FORUM have new PCs. Not the general public, and it's the general public Jim is developing this screensaver for, as that's where most of the market is.

Re: Here we go again -Keyword is "again"
 

Decaf anyone? ;)

- DL

Re: Here we go again -Keyword is "again"
 

I get 42fps on my TnT Riva 1 on my Pentium II 450. Am I a second-class citizen?

Re: Here we go again -Keyword is "again"
 

No Morgan, you're not a second class citizen by any means, you're third glass.....errr, that's class. I just demoted you...

;)

- DL

Steve
Perpetual thorn in Morgan's side at Inside the Tank: Sachs Aquarium website

Re: Here we go again -Keyword is "again"
 

A third glass of whine? Is it white or claret?

My 2 cents worth
 

I just downloaded the latest aquarium. Top stuff Sach! Like others have already mentioned, I'd love to see the fish interacting with their environment. You know, like nibbling on the coral, picking up gravel and spitting it out, harassing the starfish. As for the Butterfly garden, hmmm, sounds a bit girly, but I'll wait till it comes out before I make any comments.

Thanks Sach for some impressive work. Best money I ever spent.

Manfred

Re: My 2 cents worth
 

Manfred,

It's not necessary to make comments like "sounds a bit girly" to express yourself. I see that you are new to the group, but let's not be demeaning to 52% of the population. It's also not necessary to knock one of Jim's ideas for a ss (screen saver).

Arnold

P.S. As to destroying the coral by nibbling it and harassing the starfish, that is not the direction Jim is going in. That is why he uses the name, "SereneScreen Aquarium" for this ss. While I know it is a Herculean task to read all the past messages, that would be a good way to get up to speed.

Re: My 2 cents worth
 

A demo of about two thousand butterflies flying around in a garden and forming the letters X B O X was used to sell the X-Box to developers.

Do you feel the X-Box is girly?

Re: My 2 cents worth
 

I guess I need to get in touch with my feminine side.:) Sorry if I offended anyone.

As for the coral, I did say nibble. That is what fish do. If you simulate the aquarium, why not simulate the fish's behavior.
Don't get me wrong. I think Sach has done a top job of the aquarium. I loved it as soon as I saw it in a department store.

Could we at least have a praying mantis in the butterfly ss?:lol:

By the way I was talking about Australian cents, so that's abut half a US cent:)

Re: My 2 cents worth
 

mknorr,

You may see some nibbling action from the fish in the future, at least as it would pertain to the coral. Of course, there will never be anything in Jim's aquarium that is damaged or hurt, including the coral.

feeding
 

I wish we could feed the fish! It would be very good to see the fish feeding on something...

btw, since Jim is a C programmer, i would like to ask one question: How are C programmers suppose to define the objects that are moving around ? Actionscript would be much easier...