Inside: SereneScreen Fan Forum - View Single Post - Wishlist for Marine Aquarium 3 and Future

nick c · 05-24-2004, 01:05 PM

Someone mentioned a brittle star, I'd put a vote in for that. I like how animated they are more than their looks.

Someone else mentioned that the 3D background will be 2X as wide. I don't see how that is possible unless you make the fish smaller, will they be? Or did they mean the back will be 2X farther away? I would vote for the back being farther away, and also change the vantage point to a little above horizontal. I think changing the vantage point would make it seem a lot more 3D as you could see over objects to other objects behind them and fish swimming behind them, that sort of thing. Having the fish swimming farther away and back again would greatly add to the sense of depth, and make a much more interesting and 3D looking terrain. Also, if you watch someone keenly looking into an aquarium, this is the vantage point they choose, whether they need to stand on tip-toes or stoop. Taking into account that most monitors are angled up slightly and people are looking down at them, a higher than horizontal vantage would make the tank seem to fit in with real space, i.e. the bottom of the tank would look level with the desk the monitor is on. A while ago there was a post that said you might be able to change the camera angle and pan around the tank in the 3D version, that would be wicked, but I haven't heard any more on that...

I am also still unclear (although I still have not read all the posts) why the number of creatures needs to be limited by the program. It has been explained as a collision detection problem. It has also been stated that the new 3D background version might be able to 'fit' 10 fish because it is bigger. I don't understand why the tank size matters. If you have 7 fish all in one corner, isn't that like cramming them into a smaller tank? Originally I thought that collision detection calculations increases exponentially as you increase fish and therefore it would be a CPU limitation, but then you still would only be able to have 7 fish in the 3D version...so now I'm confused. But the ability to have more fish would be on my wish-list. If someone could either respond or provide a link to another area it is explained that would be great.

Also, I don't know if collision detection matters as much for the inverts on the bottom (I would think it would, but from what I have read it sounds like this might not be the case, depending on the creature). However, because they tend to have complex surfaces it becomes a CPU limitation. In which case, why can't people just put in the number of inverts that still let them have a decent frame rate? I think lots of inverts really liven up a tank, they are like icing. I like lots of icing!

I know this post is getting long already, but did you know fish can be spelled "phot"? "ph" = "f" as is physics, "o" = "i" as in women, and "t" = "sh" as in fiction.

05-24-2004, 01:05 PM	#1077
nick c Registered Join Date: May 2004 Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada Posts: 18	Someone mentioned a brittle star, I'd put a vote in for that. I like how animated they are more than their looks. Someone else mentioned that the 3D background will be 2X as wide. I don't see how that is possible unless you make the fish smaller, will they be? Or did they mean the back will be 2X farther away? I would vote for the back being farther away, and also change the vantage point to a little above horizontal. I think changing the vantage point would make it seem a lot more 3D as you could see over objects to other objects behind them and fish swimming behind them, that sort of thing. Having the fish swimming farther away and back again would greatly add to the sense of depth, and make a much more interesting and 3D looking terrain. Also, if you watch someone keenly looking into an aquarium, this is the vantage point they choose, whether they need to stand on tip-toes or stoop. Taking into account that most monitors are angled up slightly and people are looking down at them, a higher than horizontal vantage would make the tank seem to fit in with real space, i.e. the bottom of the tank would look level with the desk the monitor is on. A while ago there was a post that said you might be able to change the camera angle and pan around the tank in the 3D version, that would be wicked, but I haven't heard any more on that... I am also still unclear (although I still have not read all the posts) why the number of creatures needs to be limited by the program. It has been explained as a collision detection problem. It has also been stated that the new 3D background version might be able to 'fit' 10 fish because it is bigger. I don't understand why the tank size matters. If you have 7 fish all in one corner, isn't that like cramming them into a smaller tank? Originally I thought that collision detection calculations increases exponentially as you increase fish and therefore it would be a CPU limitation, but then you still would only be able to have 7 fish in the 3D version...so now I'm confused. But the ability to have more fish would be on my wish-list. If someone could either respond or provide a link to another area it is explained that would be great. Also, I don't know if collision detection matters as much for the inverts on the bottom (I would think it would, but from what I have read it sounds like this might not be the case, depending on the creature). However, because they tend to have complex surfaces it becomes a CPU limitation. In which case, why can't people just put in the number of inverts that still let them have a decent frame rate? I think lots of inverts really liven up a tank, they are like icing. I like lots of icing! I know this post is getting long already, but did you know fish can be spelled "phot"? "ph" = "f" as is physics, "o" = "i" as in women, and "t" = "sh" as in fiction.