Undocumented Keys
 

Beta5a

F5 - Short Press = Pause / Unpause the whole animation
F6 - Short Press = Pause / Unpause in short steps
F5 - Hold down = Slow motion
F6 - Hold down = Fast motion

These should be added to the About Dialog

They are just for testing, and won't be in the real product.

Nooo leave them in please, they are really good for getting a good look at a particular fish at a certain angle. you can speed it up till you get close then slow it down and pause it.

Yes, - they're also great for getting screen shots of critical moments. :)

The problem with Freeze functions is that little hands in computer stores tend to seek out every possible key combination. If the possibility of freezing the screen exists, then somewhere there will be 1000 people passing what looks like a locked-up program, saying "I guess I'll wait 'till they work out the bugs before I buy it."

True! ..... Just as a point of interest, (I don't think you've been asked this before), but how far from the scene is the camera? - My guess is it's fairly close, - maybe only 10 inches?
I know that is not an ideal viewing distance, but the perspective does look even more convincing, the closer you move in from say the normal two feet or so. - Of course, the screen size will also have an effect.

in regard to the pause button why don't you make it so that if you press and release the pause button the tank will pause for something like 10 seconds and then unfreeze but if the user wants to pause it constantly or more than 10 seconds then they must press and hold the pause button for 5 to 10 seconds making the fingers in the pc store issue fixed!

Thanks

Regards,
Neil

What's to keep these little hands from keeping it pressed ten seconds then? Why would anyone want a permanent pause button on a screensaver anyway?

Btw, if you want a static image from MA3 there is actually a documented key which will help you out...

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/8...tscreendt2.gif

Cliff - The camera is about 10 feet from the tank, then zoomed in to fill the screen. Any closer and parallax becomes a problem, with too much of the objects' sides (and holes) showing when they get near the edges of the screen.

How about adding a registry key to turn the keys off / on?

Wow! - 10 feet, you say! - Still, it's all about viewpoint, isn't it? - That begs the question then, of how large the "real life-size" tank would be?

What I didn't get was. - With 19" monitors viewed from more than say 2 to 2.5 ft away, I thought there was something not-quite-right. - But as the viewpoint got closer, I found the perspective became much more believable.

I think, that for the perspective as presented to look its best, would you agree that the tank needs to be viewed from a point at a distance about equal to the width of one monitor?

The real tank would be about 10 feet across. The camera distance and zoom amount are the result of weeks of experimentation. The tolerances in the Aquarium are exceedingly close - a 1% change in many of the parameters would result in a scene which would not be at all convincing. I guess I should be flattered that people see these lighted pixels as something in the real world which would follow the same laws of physics and optics that govern real objects, but it's really all smoke and mirrors.

From the beginning, I've considered developing the Aquarium as Walking the Razor's Edge - a millimeter to the left and the whole illusion evaporates, a millimeter to the right and I'd spend a lifetime creating the environment. But if the camera angle and factor are just right, and enough of the object surfaces are done to cover the gaps, then it's just BARELY possible to create this thing in a reasonable number of years. I hope.

Yeh! - 10 feet across fits perfectly with my suggestion of the ideal viewpoint being approx equal to the monitor's width! :TU:

Believable perspective does matter! - Keep up the good work with the smoke and mirrors! :)