Great Pink Sea Snail
 

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.

Bump Mapping on fish
 

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.

3d depth and one more
 

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 ;)

Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST
 

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

Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST
 

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.

Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST
 

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

Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST
 

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 .

Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST
 

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

Stalking Hawkfish would look cool
 

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

Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST
 

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

Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST
 

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.

Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST
 

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

Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST
 

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.

Aquarium wishlist
 

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..

Re: Aquarium wishlist
 

nockmeister,

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

Sachs Aquarium Wishlist
 

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.

Can you get the coral to move?
 

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.

Re: Aquarium wishlist
 

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

Re: Aquarium wishlist
 

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.

Lighting
 

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

Re: Lighting
 

I have considered this, but it would mean an entire second set of bitmaps, which are already the biggest part of the file.

--- Jim Sachs

Keyboard activation
 

When used as a screen saver, the kids always touch the keyboard which stops the saver. There is a definate need for a 'hot key' (preferably on the upper part of the keyboard) to go into the settings mode.

Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST
 

Hey Jim,

Would you consider creating a "presets" function within the screensaver's settings? In other words, you select all the fish you want to show up each time you load the screensaver as usual, then you go down and have the option to save that selection as a preset which you can use now or later. This way you can have multiple presets. What you do think?

- DL

Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST
 

Maybe.

RE: Lighting
 

I'm not sure how they are stored, but you could only store the delta of the difference between the bitmaps. Not much would change, only a few corals. The delta would actually be very small.

Just a thought. Keep up the good work.

Sharkfood

Random Option
 

For the random option, how about this – Each fish would have an option box so you add or remove the fish you’d like to see for each fish. For example; Fish column #1, if you don’t want any fish for this one, then don’t add any to the column. If you want one specific fish every time, you add only that fish to the #1 slot column. If you want a random of only a few fish, then you add just the few fish that you want it to randomly pick. If you want it to randomly pick any fish, then add all fish. And the same would go for fish’s #2-7 columns. This would give you more options with the random. If you don’t like a certain fish, but still want to do it random, then don’t select that fish in any of the 7 columns. If you really like a certain fish and wouldn’t mind it coming up more then once when picking random, then have it in more then one column. I’m not sure how to explain this well. Did this make sense?

The Aquarium & Requests
 

1.How about a fog/dirty water type effect. Perhaps this can also be added to the suggetion of when a fish digs in the sand or touches some plant then it would throw dirt up in the water in that small spot. Someone suggested ink from the octopus -- this would be nice too.
2.How about particles floating in the water. This could also be used with the feeding suggetion or when a fish digs up the sand or something.
3.How about an eel that stayes in little holes in the rocks.
4.Living and moving plants and animals in the coral. (I know some of this is planned)
5.Special random events. Some one else suggested it, but I wanted to put my vote for it too -- for things really special but that occur very rarely. Perhaps a creature that is hidden in the sand almost the whole time but briefly comes out. An eel swimming to another hole? The octopus realeasing ink?
Someone suggested a Yellowheaded Jawfish. Perhaps this could be a random/rare event when it comes out.

Frame in Windowed mode
 

Another suggestion....
In the windowed mode of the aquarium, how about if the window had some kind of frame to make it appear as if the aquarium is actually in something when you are running the screensaver in windowed mode.
I not sure what kind of frame or effect would be best. Any ideas?

Wish List
 

I love the aquarium and would like to see the anemoni waive like they do in the sea. I would like it but still love the aquarium without it.

Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST
 

Fish requests for future version:

==
Blue Damsel, aka. Devilfish
Abudefduf cyaneus
exotictropicals.com/encyc...ilfish.htm

Little fish. BIG Attitude. And they are the most unbeliveable electric/neon blue color.

==
Yellow-Tail Damsel
Chromis xanthurus
exotictropicals.com/encyc...owtail.htm

Almost as pretty as the Blue Damsel
==
Domino Damsel, Three-spot Damsel
Dascyllus trimaclatus
exotictropicals.com/encyc...domino.htm

Looks like a cross between a fish and a domino.
==
Lion Fish
Pterois volitans
exotictropicals.com/encyc.../lions.htm

The last fish many fish ever see.
==
Purple Tang
Zebrasoma xanthurus
exotictropicals.com/encyc...letang.htm

Another blue/purple fish
==
Bannerfish, aka. Black and White Heniochus
Heniochus acuminatus
exotictropicals.com/encyc...niocbw.htm

I love the long flowing dorsal fins on these. I think is has more character than the Whimplefish.
==
Catalina Goby, aka. Blue-banded Goby
Lythrypnus dalli
exotictropicals.com/encyc...talina.htm

You want colorful? This is the fish! Red and Neon blue!
==
Porcupine Puffer
Diodon nicthemerus
exotictropicals.com/encyc...cupine.htm

I call him "Spike".
==
Yellow Boxfish
Ostracion cubicus
exotictropicals.com/encyc...dotbox.htm

Ugly, but cute at the same time.

==
A "Blue Sky" request would be for "live" Anemones so the clownfish and others could have symbiosis.
==

I just found the screensaver last night and I'm in AWE. I'm telling all my friends. You have created the ultimate screensaver. Many thanks and keep up the good work!

bd

Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST
 

Blue Damsels will be coming soon.

The Bannerfish is just another name for Wimplefish. The Wimplefish in the Aquarium is a young one whose "banner" hasn't grown to full length yet.

Some of these, like the Blue-Banded Goby have an entirely different behavior and will require a different movement algorithm (this one usually sits on the bottom for a long time, then moves in short bursts). Fish with this type of movement will be added after all the "normal" fish.

--- Jim Sachs

Sachs Aquarium Wishlist
 

Dear Jim
As a former hobbyist who had a salt water thank you so much for an incredible job. The realism is mind bending. Its also great for me - no more hours of cleaning and dead $50. fish. My recommendation for the tank is a Cleaner Wrasse. The colour is not spetacular but the relationship with the other tank inhabitants is fascinating. This species of Wrasse will remove parasites and so on from the bodies, gills and even mouths of other members of its community. The fish in the aquarium will actually present themselves for inspection in order to encourage the Wrasse to do its job. I have even seen a Cleaner Wrasse working on the mouth of a Moray eel. I had this Wrasse in my old tank and watching the relationships between it and others was endlessly fascinating. My knowledge of programming and so on your part is limited but I really feel that this would be a solid contribution. In the meantime thanks for a fabulous piece of work. By the way my cats also thank you. They think dinner is served when the monitor is on!!
Jim Harris
Toronto, Canada

Re: Sachs Aquarium Wishlist
 

You know something, most of the time I think people (myself included) look for the real colorful fish, but your idea of a Cleaner Wrasse really does sound interesting.

If Jim gets the images he needs to make this fish, then it would only be a matter of the final AI tweaks to give it the unique "cleaning" behavior. This of course would be later on since the AI is not the primary focus of Jim's efforts at this time.

Great idea, hopefully we'll eventually see this realized.

- DL

Re: Sachs Aquarium Wishlist
 

A cleaner wrasse and cleaner shrimp are definite possibilities.

--- Jim Sachs

Getting too realistic?
 

I don't know if this has come up yet, but how about having the fish actually grow? Have the selected fish start at a young age, and watch as they mature. This could be done at a selectable time scale. Maybe even have the fish lay eggs? Mating? NAH! That's getting a bit too real!!

And if the option to feed them is there, then how about the fish dying off? Nothing morbid, maybe just fade away, and now a fish is missing?"Hey! Where'd my favorite Powder Blue Tang go? Uh oh, I forgot to feed them..."

I remember a program on my old Apple IIe called "Little Computer People" or something like that. You needed to have a daily interaction with this program or the little guy would get ticked off. And this was about 15 years ago!

oooh! what wonderful fish!
 

i just love the clownfish! his banded colors are just mezmerizing!

i have only ever had a freshwater aquarium... and i have always loved the Chinese Algae Eater (Gyrinocheilus aymonieri) ... i think that this is the proper name of the fish. is there a saltwater variant of this one? or one that looks like/serves the same role in a saltwater aquarium?

thanks!

rexifelis
--i am rather feline like... i love watching fish!

Re: oooh! what wonderful fish!
 

rexifelis,

All of the Tangs (Purple, Regal, Yellow, Powder Blue) are algae eaters.

Re: Getting too realistic?
 

Shinsa,

The fish in the Aquarium are all juveniles. If they were allowed to grow up, Jim would have to produce 2-3 more versions of each fish, and as one fish got larger, the number of fish in the tank would have to be limited to fewer than 7. And frankly, most of the adults aren't very attractive in my opinion.

Second, the fish in Jim Sachs' aquarium will NEVER die and NEVER attack/kill each other.

If you want realistic drama like this, check out Aquazone. It's a saltwater aquarium simulator that I hear is very frustrating and stressful to maintain (much like saltwater aquariums used to be even 5 years ago).

The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST (3D Background)
 

Jim,

During the creation of the 3D background, have you given any thought to making use of paralax scrolling? You know, something akin to Shadow Of The Beast on the Amiga, ahhh the good ol' days. :)

For those of you who were not around back then and would like to know what "paralax scrolling" is, just play any Street Fighter game or even some of the newest next gen titles like Tekken Tag on the PS2 (although the paralax in that game is a VERY bad example).

While playing one of these games, move left to right on screen and watch either the floor or the 3D backgrounds. You'll notice multiple layers are being used and each one is moving independant of the other. Basically this helps to increase the feeling of depth perception. This technique has been in use a VERY long time, it's pretty amazing to know that it was originaly used in 2D games almost 20 years ago and yet it's still in use in some of the world's most advanced 3D games today.

- DL

P.S.
Think I'll go play me some Shadow Of The Beast on my Atari Lynx. ;)

Re: The Sachs Aquarium WISHLIST (3D Background)
 

The new background won't need parallax scrolling - it will be true 3D.