Could you send an URL of a 3D Utube video that works ok?

I may can mimic the codec, etc.

I just got off the phone with Will and Edgar from Prolific. They will modify a version of MA3 to save left-eye, right-eye streams with no missed frames.

Way to go!
 

Lots better than patching and you should also be able to post a working trailer on Utube.

And do let us know how you capture and build the DVD.

Will do. I found a free 3D Blu-Ray encoder (MVC) from Nokia. It runs from a Command Line Interface only, with MANY variables and no instructions, but the price is right.

At the moment, Edgar and Will are modifying the MA3 code to allow me to set a frame rate and left-right eyepoint offset. When Capture is activated, the program will save a series of raw, bmp, or tga frames to a file. The frame rate will be allowed to go as low as 24, but I'll run it at 3 or 4 times that, then combine the stills to simulate motion blur at 24fps, just like movies do.

Update: Edgar has completed the frame-capture utility for MA3. There are still several things I need to change in the source code, but it DOES work. I can set the desired frame rate and output sequential BMP pictures to a hard drive. The utility stops the clock as it switches the viewpoint and saves the file, so no frames are lost. Of course, as uncompressed bitmaps, these files are huge. Each frame (left-eye / right-eye pair) is 10 megs. So, I went to Costco and bought a 2-terabyte external hard drive to hold all those bytes (only $99).

Jim, are your spirits not bouyed up at all by Verizons announcement? You know analysts predict sales this year of 13 million new IPhone users.

It couldn't hurt. We've tuned up the Aquarium to look very good on the hi-def iPhone4 screen, plus we've got Japanese and German menus, in addition to English. The majority of our sales are coming from Japan. Germany seems not to have noticed our efforts on their behalf.

Personally, I've been very happy with my AT&T iPhone. Signal strength is great here, which was never the case with other carriers.

I'd love to see some choice in creatres. Jellyfish, sharks, sea turtles, moving anenomes, a diver and castle, and a treasure chest that opens and closes with bubbles would be great.

Spottedfeather,
You'd have to go to LifeGlobe for sharks. The treasure chest may make an appearance should Jim ever bring his Freshwater Aquarium to completion. For turtles, divers and castles, I'm afraid you'll have to look elsewhere. If you check out the Off Topic section of the forum, under the Other Screensavers subforum, you'll find a number there which should address your needs. Just not all wrapped up in a tidy package.

For what it's worth, Jim, I've been a *huge* fan of your work for years. I support the drive towards packaging a 3D version of your aquarium with the new screens. Makes sense to me. Best of luck!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, a convincing virtual marine aquarium will be one of the *best* tools for solving the problem of commercial reef depopulation. Go JIM! Maybe someday we'll even be able to place our coral and critters wherever we like. Just like a real tank, except even larger than life, because we'll have it on our 50"+ 3D-TVs!

We've been looking into the idea of donating 10% of sales to reef-preservation causes.

Sounds like a plan.

Not sure if this link will work.. but if it does, an alternative to 3D without glasses.
http://windowssecrets.com/2011/02/03..._campaign=2578

I am pretty sure it would give me a headache though:)

To miss-quote John McEnroe.... 'He cannot be serious' ... :)

Can anybody say "Mad scientist"? :eek::eek::eek:

Nintendo may nail it:Nintendo Introduces Glasses-Free 3D Gaming

That was one of the dumbest things I have ever seen. As for the 3ds, I plan on getting it when it gets out. A friend of mine was at E3 and saw it in person and said it was great. Small but great.

i nearly falloff my chair laughing when i saw the guy eye's blinking at that fast rate. hmm...wonder any side effect eg nerves system breakdown if using it too long.

The video is very well-done. It must have taken forever to get all those eye-blinks drawn in. They even follow the head movements perfectly.

I was thinking of doing a similar spoof with "face-computing" - using eye-tracking and facial movements to replace the mouse. Since there is already software that can track your eye movements and position the cursor to where you were looking on the screen, I thought it would be funny to carry things a step further, adding left eye-blink for left mouse-button, two left-blinks to double-click, wiggle nose for mouse-wheel, etc. In the animation, I would be on one side of the screen, dead-panning the narration while my face would be going through hilarious rapid contortions. On the other side of the screen, the resulting computer input would be shown - button-clicking, cut, paste, delete, moving icons around, etc. I ended up realizing it would be too much work to produce.

After Effects has movement tracking built-in. I can replace the side of a building in a shaky camera shot even if it's changing perspective. Locking the movement of added CGI to existing footage is getting very easy now.

And when you do tracking, you can redirect the output of the tracking data into the position, rotation, and size of any other layer or object.

I suggest looking at FreddieW's videos on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/freddiew

Some good ones:





His Behind-the-Scenes channel is here:
http://www.youtube.com/freddiew2

This is a guy doing this stuff out of his garage in a weekend.

The best website I've seen for learning After Effects is VideoCopilot.net. If you watch Fringe, the opening title sequence is by that guy (Andrew Kramer) who has also done a ton of other TV effects. His basic training is what I suggest.

Neat! Maybe someday I'll be able to afford After Effects.

You can download it from Adobe and play with it for 30 days.

I would suggest watching some of the tutorials at VideoCopilot.net and see what you think. The 10 part Basic Training is absolutely the way to go to initially learn it, but it's a bit boring as just something to watch, so I'd watch the bigger tutorials and see if the program looks like something you might fall in love with first. It is really astounding how much information is available for free at his website, and then the plugins, clip audio, clip explosions, etc. they offer are top-notch. He has explosions, dust clouds, puffs of smoke, blood splatter all shot in front of green screen and fully keyed so you can use it for anything.

You might be surprised to know that After Effects has a bit of scripting built into it allowing you to not only add random effects to any layer, but scale that effect or tie that effect to the effect of another layer.

The tutorial that blew my mind was adding a moving object to a shaky camera shot and it looks great. First, he stabilized the video, then he cut and paste the tracking data out of the video stabilization into a "tracking object". Now, the video was shaky again, but he had an object that moves and rotates to match the footage, giving you a key point you can then tie anything to.

After Effects turns tilting and panning a camera from the ground up to a mound of dirt and adding a castle to it into a 10 minute task.

Thanks. Those were cool.

Thanks for all the info, Morgan.

One more... ;)

That was good.

Well, half of the upcoming features has been implemented for some time. The background lighting has a multitude of options.. not sure if one could call it automatic, as it does require one to make choices. Still...

What's coming soon:

* Automatic lights. There will soon be a greatly expanded interface for customizing the background colors.
* New realistic fish behavior, including schooling, chasing, and pecking at corals.

PS to Jim.. you need to update the linked page and move item one to the what's new part

I doubt we ever see this. I'd be happy if we just get the starfish acting the way it used to in MA2.6

I'd be happier with just a starfish (like the old one) and a moray eel (even if it doesn't move) in the cave.

Hmmm, that may not be a bad idea. I hadn't really considered a partly-animated Moray Eel, which just hangs out in the cave. Might be doable.

Thank you for your consideration. On my second introductry SCUBA dive in Hawaii, I had a one on one experience with my instructor and she allowed me to take down a camera. I will never forget being close enough to a Moray eel (4 feet) to take a picture of it with just his head sticking out of a cave.

If anybody can do it, will be you. Besides, I have not seen very many eels in very many pc aquariums so it seems to me yours would be one of the rare ones, and knowing you, one of the best ones too.:TU:

The only one that I saw that has one in is DiveVisions by Atlantis 3D. So yes I agree Jim can and should do it.

Definitely do-able, but probably wont get done. If we were to wager and put odds on it today, I would put it at a 1000 to 1 underdog over the next year. :) I'm very pessimistic that we see any improvements to MA3 ever again.

God I hope your wrong. I love how the tank and fish look now. But it's not done. I would hate to see it stop now. We have been waiting 10 years for this too happen. I can wait a little more. :)

As long as the Moray Eel is selectable, like the Starfish, what's the harm?

Those sound like reasonable odds. - So, if I take you up on that, and place a £1 bet. - If Jim produces an MA3 improvement in the next 12 months, then you owe me £1000 ? ..... You're on! :)

I'm in for a dollar too!! Don't want to take too big an advantage of Pat. :D