Thread: New Fish Models
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Old 08-05-2009, 06:00 PM   #68
Jim Sachs
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Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Southern Oregon
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I've got a rudimentary version of the new Yellow Tang model in the tank and have been doing a lot of experiments with it. There's no movement yet, but I can rotate the model. The first thing I found is that my new 256x256 texture is completely wasted on a fish this size. I resized the texture back to 128x128, and if anything, it actually seems to show MORE detail. No reason to have a 65k texture for any fish that can do just as well with a 17k pic.

As some have pointed out, the Yellow Tang was already probably the most realistic fish, so the differences in the new model are not dramatic. The shape is more accurate, with a thinning of the face between the eyes and the mouth. The spines in the fins show up better. The side fins are now attached to a mound on the body, and are not just "free-floating" as they were before. The "tang" (the sharp whte razor near the tail) now actually protrudes instead of just residing in the texture.

But on an object this size the visual changes are subtle, just setting the stage for the new movement algorithms. That's when the little guy should really come to life.
Jim Sachs
Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium
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