Logos for Marine Aquarium 3 and 3.1
 

MESSAGE FOR Feldon, re the items under ' Logo '
Question I ask is " Does the Logo now work properly on MA 3 ?"
Long while ago I was asked by someone if they could help and make my Logo for the Crystal come out properly. I put a hold on this as I thought I should get it right myself.

I only had and still have an old version of 'Paint Shop Pro ' and the Logo I made was done on one of the downloadable base items that you kindly supplied on Your Logo pages,
Since now after all these many years I would like to clean up my effort, my eyesight and age are combining to thawt my efforts so I am asking for some HELP.
The base file I had was the "Smily Face " and I wrote over that " PAULS PICS ". it has worked Ok on Mat and now on Beta 3 -- BUT I was never able to get it properly transparent. and it has dark lines all across it. See screen grab attached ?? ---- wont upload.

I have been reading all the info on your Logo pages but just realised that all the posts are over a year old. so placeing this on the latest post I can find.
Basicly all I need is a clear Crystal with the Etched Smiley face and "PAULS PICS' written above that or if it would fit " PAULS PICS AUST " Can you or someone who is more expert offer to do this for me and send over a .PNG file or whatever file is needed these days and I will place it in the correct folder for MA Beta 3. excuse my awful typing, these days I do need to use Large fonts on my mails.
best wishes from Sydney
Paul

Paul,

Making PNG logos for Marine Aquarium hasn't changed since Marine Aquarium Time days.

It's the same instructions, the same steps, only the logo fits slightly differently on the crystal. And you don't have to move the PNG files to a special folder. Just use the Logo Picker to find each logo you want to add. Plus, now you can add multiple logos using the Logo Picker and they will alternate.

So I understand you are asking for a smiley face with PAULS PICS AUST over top.

Here you go.

I'm surprised at how small the actual image within the PNG must be to fit within the confines of the crystal.

CLOCK AND LOGO
 

That was quick , many thanks Feldon.

Its up and running , looking good thanks for the tip that one can have several Logos up and running at the same time. So have left my own rahter messy one up for a few secs. just for old times sake. The nice clear one you have done is up for 120 secs.

The logo is clear and the image and name is etched, But although I have tried to change the Clock from the blue/ aqua colour to etched, it remains the same, can one use the etched look in the clock face and calendar ?

Maybe I am a bit slow in the uptake these days, if there is a solution, can you advise me --- step by step -- on the actions on the Picker.
Thanks mate
Paul

Paul, - click on the 'Etched Font' box under 'Digital Clock/Calendar Options'. The colour will auto-change to white, as there is no option to have etched colours.

Hope that does the trick! :)

@ Paul -

You have downloaded and installed the new version 3.1, haven't you?

Hello Cliff, and JohnWho , Feldon and of course Jim S

Yes I tried all that out with No go.

BUT then I saw the post below by John Who ? Although I had thought I had downloaded version 3.1, I had not activated it and was using Beta 3 11e somehow.
"Old & Confused" So I downloaded 3.1 again and ensured that I got it right.
As Inspetor Frost would say " IT'S PERFET " Or was that David Jason as Pop Larkin in The Darling Buds of May.
Many Thanks to Feldon, Cliff and now John Who.
and not overlooking the originator of all this Jim, who still has to sign his piece of Art although I would still love to see that 'Banded Shrimp ' in that cave.Hows that Creature pack shaping up Jim ? seems we (this forum) keep sidetracking you. Just that one creature would be absolutely Stunning !!!!!!

Hey, PaulsPics -

Ain't it grand when a plan comes together?

Your posts sounded like you weren't running 3.1 and that's why I asked.

Glad we could help.

logos
 

I make logo's for a living on the side and my question is will there ever be an update to be able to use better quality logo's in MA3? Also, I make really cool animated logos and will there also be an update to be able to use those as well?

Animated logos? I don't think so. Is there a transparent animated image format?

Marine Aquarium 3.0/3.1 accepts full color 256x256 PNG logos with 8-bit transparency. And you can place as many logos as you like in a sequence and set the number of seconds to display each one in a playlist.

That actually sounds almost better than the idea of a smoothly animated image. Although don't forget that one will fade out before the next fades in, so it might appear like a ghostly moving image which only moves when it's invisible. A bit like the Dr Who episode 'Blink' - but, you know, not! :)

OK, I can understand about the animated logo's but what I am really interested in is if other formats other then PNG will be available to use in MA in the future. I have MA3 on a wall screen in my office and I constantly get asked if I am able to put kid pictures in it and PNG is not really good for that kind of thing as the quality is not high enough @ 8-bit trans.

PNG is about the best format out there. Unlike JPEG, It is lossless, so all the pixels in the original pic will still be there.

MA3 actually does support other formats. They don't show up in the LOAD requester filter, because I discourage their use. They all take longer to load than PNGs, so there could be a noticeable hesitation each time that picture comes up.

I appreciate the information and you have a great program as I have used it since the original came out.

Are you saving as a 24-bit PNG (with 8-bit transparency) with millions of colors? It should have the same fidelity as a JPEG at 100% quality.

Except JPEGs can't do transparency.

I always use 24bit but from what I understood of MA3 you could only use 8bit across the board so I have been reducing the logo's to 8bit but now I know I can use 24 bit I am alittle happier about the quality. I attached a sample of what I do and I used a black background so it would show up better since the dragon and the forums background are very similar in color but it doesnt use a background normally.

Though the aspect ratio is not ideal for displaying in the crystal (the image is mostly horzontal), the colors and clarity should be exactly the same as what you've posted. If you're using the black rectangle, then you'd only need 1 bit of transparency (either on or off) as a border around the logo.

Don't forget that MA3.1 allows you to use any background color you wish, so the blue parts could fade nicely into a contrasting background, using differnt levels of transparency.

That black background is a soft background, so the 8-bit transparency should make it look great. :) I'm guessing that logo looks very nice in MA3.

This was just a small sample of some of the logo's I do. This logo was not made for MA but now that I know more about the settings available in MA I will definitely will be making more logo's for it. If anybody needs logo's I offer my service's for a limited time as a way of saying thanks for all the help. :cool: