How do you PRIMARILY use the Aquarium?

feldon34 · 08-06-2001, 10:45 PM

Well, the previous poll was a mess.

So I'm going to ask FrogMastr's question in a different way.
Just to clarify, as a Program means you double-click the icon on your desktop and run the Aquarium. as a Screen Saver means you have your computer set to automatically trigger the Aquarium after a certain period of inactivity. So without further ado:

How do you use the Aquarium?

<table bgcolor=#FFFFFF border=0 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=0 width="75%">
<tr><td bgcolor="#000000" colspan=3 height=1></tr><TR BGCOLOR=#0011BB><TD NOWRAP>
primarily in a Window (as a Program)&nbsp</td>
<td height>15 / 3.7%&nbsp</td><td><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/bar.gif width=11 height=10 hspace=3> </td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#000000" colspan=3 height=1></tr><TR BGCOLOR=#0011BB><TD NOWRAP>
primarily Full Screen (as a Program)&nbsp</td>
<td height>121 / 29.9%&nbsp</td><td><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/bar.gif width=89 height=10 hspace=3> </td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#000000" colspan=3 height=1></tr><TR BGCOLOR=#0011BB><TD NOWRAP>
equally in a Window or Full Screen (as a Program)&nbsp</td>
<td height>21 / 5.2%&nbsp</td><td><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/bar.gif width=15 height=10 hspace=3> </td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#000000" colspan=3 height=1></tr><TR BGCOLOR=#0011BB><TD NOWRAP>
equally a Screen Saver and a Program&nbsp</td>
<td height>57 / 14.1%&nbsp</td><td><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/bar.gif width=42 height=10 hspace=3> </td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#000000" colspan=3 height=1></tr><TR BGCOLOR=#0011BB><TD NOWRAP>
primarily a Screen Saver&nbsp</td>
<td height>191 / 47.2%&nbsp</td><td><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/bar.gif width=141 height=10 hspace=3> </td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#000000" colspan=3 height=1></tr>
</table>

feldon34 · 08-07-2001, 12:40 PM

ARRGH! STUPID EZBOARD!

It keeps resurrecting the other poll. I've deleted it 4 times now!

Shinsa · 08-07-2001, 01:00 PM

ROFLOL

08-07-2001, 03:59 PM

I usually start up the aquarium (as a program) press f, then stretch the window to fill the screen. It then runs almost like a desktop with anything else running on top. The soothing sound of the bubbles & the fish popping out from behind my applications keeps me chilled for the day!!

08-11-2001, 07:15 PM

I have found a way to use the aquarium as the desktop background.

if you want to see a larger picture use:
http://www.geocities.com/rickw512/fishlarge.txt

what I did was start the screensaver in window mode and resize the windows so it was the enire size of the screen, except for the taskbar. This created the problem of covering the desktop icons, so i created the desktop toolbar (on the left side) that will give me full access to the desktop, and will auto hide when not in use.

Since the screensaver runs in idle priority none of my other apps are effected, i can run any program with the screensaver running and not notice any slowdown, and if i should have a problem with an app, all i would have to do is minimize the saver, which effectivly shuts it down

[edit]I guess i should have read the post above this, it looks like i'm not the only one with this idea, but my post has pics

[/edit]

08-11-2001, 11:43 PM

At www.geisswerks.com/drempels/ there is a screensaver that uses colour palette cycling which turns the screensaver into a moving desktop background using different pictures.

If this guy can make his screensaver appear as desktop wallpaper, can Jim do this with his?

Jim Sachs · 08-12-2001, 01:12 AM

Is it Direct3D?

FrogMastr · 08-12-2001, 02:08 AM

Yes this one is using a technique calle Overlay...

The CPU calculate a Small Res ... ex: 320x200

then using direct X , it uses the Overlay capability of the new video card GPU to Resample the image full screen, ( using
almost the same technmique as DVD player )

Drawing a Pink MASK spot and telling to the video card to change every pixelss that ares "pink" to the resampled image

But doing so you have a lots of quality lost... to acheive a viable frame rate... and doing so you will need to use Software calculation , wich will be too slow...

This thecnique is not applicable *i think* to the Screen saver!

08-12-2001, 08:04 AM

This is not only palette cycling, it's some 2d transformation (remember all those old demos plasma effects?). Palette cycling won't be possible in 16- or 32-bit colour depth if there was no "fixed palette emulation". The overlay technique is the same as used in WinAMP's AVS visual plug-in.
It would be great if there was a way to render the aquarium screen and then putting it into overlay.

Shinsa · 08-14-2001, 02:52 AM

The closest thing to that was what I did a few months back. I "recorded" the aquarium as an AVI file. I then saved it in the WINAMP AVS directory (somewhere in there) and was able to put it in as a background for AVS. It works pretty good, and you can even have the effects do various things to the "Aquarium". Of course, this is now an AVI being looped in the background, and not the "LIVE" aquarium. But the effect is pretty cool. You can have WINAMP effect it while playing music. The water ripple effect, beating with the music was great!

almark · 08-22-2001, 05:54 AM

When I run the scr as a program, filling my screen (except the taskbar) I notice that programs like IE6 are a bit jerky.

FishyBusiness · 08-23-2001, 10:47 AM

Uh Oh. It looks as if more people are using it as a Screen Saver rather than a program.

I personally love using it as a program. Whenever I want to relax, I start up the aquarium and watch it. Of course, I only do this when I am not in the chat!

hpman77 · 08-30-2001, 01:10 PM

What about capturing a loop (like automatic lights, and capture it 2 or 3 cycles), then compressing the AVI in DIVX (really small, good quality), and adding the AVI embedded inside an html page, just with that embedded, and load that page as active desktop?

...hmmm.... I'll try...

problem is: I don't know how to capture that in AVI.... any help?

feldon34 · 08-30-2001, 01:59 PM

You could just run in Windowed mode and make it full screen and have all your desktop icons you need in a separate palette.

I've never really understood this desire for the Aquarium as a desktop.

I have about 15 windows, all maximized 100% of the time. I NEVER have a clear view of my desktop. If you asked me, i couldn't tell you what my wallpaper is right now, and that's sad since i have a folder of about ~100 beautiful images I downloaded from visualparadox.com and cognitivedistortion.com.

lancensign · 08-31-2001, 05:45 PM

I use the aquarium as a program, although I'm really using it as a screensaver at the same time. What I mean is, I'm not accessing the aquarium as one would access a screensaver, and I don't have it set up that way. I have an application icon on my desktop, and whenever I walk away from my computer I double-click the icon and activate the program. I also quite often activate the program simply so I can sit and watch it for a while. At night I double-click the icon before I go to bed, dim the background and foreground lights, lower the sound of the bubbles slightly, and use the aquarium to soothe myself to sleep.

I did try running the aquarium as my desktop 'background' all the time, but I also noticed that when I'm using the computer most of my windows are full-screen and I can't see the aquarium anyway. Also, my other applications seem to run a little less smoothly if I have the aquarium running in the background. But why run it that way if you can't even see it most of the time anyway? I prefer to just run it when I'm not using any other application, so that I can enjoy it more fully.

08-31-2001, 09:10 PM

Screensaver on my laptop.

The laptop has a TV out connection which I leave connected to our large TV.
Really a nice looking Aquarium

Not as sharp as the laptop display though.

09-11-2001, 02:07 AM

Can anyone explain in plain english how to make the program/screensaver into a moving desktop wallpaper..???
be kind to me, Im just a simple New Zealander....................
...(but nuclear free)..lol

Jim Sachs · 09-12-2001, 08:25 AM

Direct3D applications cannot be made into moving wallpaper.

09-13-2001, 04:07 PM

Question for everyone...
Couldn't you make the Aquarium into a Webpage and then utulize Active Web Page on your desktop and maximize the webpage...?
Maybe I am just stupid....

I use Webpages on my desktop that I created and store on my hard-drive, this gives me the ability to run all sorts of things through HTML.
For instance I have more links on my desktop without having a dang Icon clutter up the screen...
Just create a table in html and populate it with text links to programs you use or files you access and voila...

Just a thought...and more...
(don't blink)

<a href=http://http://pub95.ezboard.com/bcodesmithguild>The Code Smiths Guild</a>

Jim Sachs · 09-13-2001, 09:47 PM

Which of these keys do I press to make the Aquarium into a web page?

08-06-2001, 10:45 PM	#1
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,947	How do you PRIMARILY use the Aquarium? Well, the previous poll was a mess. So I'm going to ask FrogMastr's question in a different way. Just to clarify, as a Program means you double-click the icon on your desktop and run the Aquarium. as a Screen Saver means you have your computer set to automatically trigger the Aquarium after a certain period of inactivity. So without further ado: How do you use the Aquarium? <table bgcolor=#FFFFFF border=0 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=0 width="75%"> <tr><td bgcolor="#000000" colspan=3 height=1></tr><TR BGCOLOR=#0011BB><TD NOWRAP> <FONT FACE="Verdana,Arial" SIZE=2>primarily in a Window (as a Program)</FONT>&nbsp</td> <td height><FONT FACE="Verdana,Arial" SIZE=2>15 / 3.7%</FONT>&nbsp</td><td><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/bar.gif width=11 height=10 hspace=3> </td></tr> <tr><td bgcolor="#000000" colspan=3 height=1></tr><TR BGCOLOR=#0011BB><TD NOWRAP> <FONT FACE="Verdana,Arial" SIZE=2>primarily Full Screen (as a Program)</FONT>&nbsp</td> <td height><FONT FACE="Verdana,Arial" SIZE=2>121 / 29.9%</FONT>&nbsp</td><td><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/bar.gif width=89 height=10 hspace=3> </td></tr> <tr><td bgcolor="#000000" colspan=3 height=1></tr><TR BGCOLOR=#0011BB><TD NOWRAP> <FONT FACE="Verdana,Arial" SIZE=2>equally in a Window or Full Screen (as a Program)</FONT>&nbsp</td> <td height><FONT FACE="Verdana,Arial" SIZE=2>21 / 5.2%</FONT>&nbsp</td><td><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/bar.gif width=15 height=10 hspace=3> </td></tr> <tr><td bgcolor="#000000" colspan=3 height=1></tr><TR BGCOLOR=#0011BB><TD NOWRAP> <FONT FACE="Verdana,Arial" SIZE=2>equally a Screen Saver and a Program</FONT>&nbsp</td> <td height><FONT FACE="Verdana,Arial" SIZE=2>57 / 14.1%</FONT>&nbsp</td><td><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/bar.gif width=42 height=10 hspace=3> </td></tr> <tr><td bgcolor="#000000" colspan=3 height=1></tr><TR BGCOLOR=#0011BB><TD NOWRAP> <FONT FACE="Verdana,Arial" SIZE=2>primarily a Screen Saver</FONT>&nbsp</td> <td height><FONT FACE="Verdana,Arial" SIZE=2>191 / 47.2%</FONT>&nbsp</td><td><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/bar.gif width=141 height=10 hspace=3> </td></tr> <tr><td bgcolor="#000000" colspan=3 height=1></tr> </table> "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman Last edited by feldon34; 11-01-2001 at 01:44 AM.

08-07-2001, 12:40 PM	#2
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,947	Re: How do you PRIMARILY use the Aquarium? ARRGH! STUPID EZBOARD! It keeps resurrecting the other poll. I've deleted it 4 times now! "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman

08-07-2001, 01:00 PM	#3
Shinsa Registered Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Fayetteville, NC Posts: 407	Re: How do you PRIMARILY use the Aquarium? ROFLOL Bob "When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." _______________________________________________

08-07-2001, 03:59 PM	#4
Guest Posts: n/a	Re: How do you PRIMARILY use the Aquarium? I usually start up the aquarium (as a program) press f, then stretch the window to fill the screen. It then runs almost like a desktop with anything else running on top. The soothing sound of the bubbles & the fish popping out from behind my applications keeps me chilled for the day!!

08-11-2001, 07:15 PM	#5
Guest Posts: n/a	Re: How do you PRIMARILY use the Aquarium? I have found a way to use the aquarium as the desktop background. if you want to see a larger picture use: http://www.geocities.com/rickw512/fishlarge.txt what I did was start the screensaver in window mode and resize the windows so it was the enire size of the screen, except for the taskbar. This created the problem of covering the desktop icons, so i created the desktop toolbar (on the left side) that will give me full access to the desktop, and will auto hide when not in use. Since the screensaver runs in idle priority none of my other apps are effected, i can run any program with the screensaver running and not notice any slowdown, and if i should have a problem with an app, all i would have to do is minimize the saver, which effectivly shuts it down [edit]I guess i should have read the post above this, it looks like i'm not the only one with this idea, but my post has pics [/edit]

08-11-2001, 11:43 PM	#6
Guest Posts: n/a	Re: How do you PRIMARILY use the Aquarium? At www.geisswerks.com/drempels/ there is a screensaver that uses colour palette cycling which turns the screensaver into a moving desktop background using different pictures. If this guy can make his screensaver appear as desktop wallpaper, can Jim do this with his?

08-12-2001, 01:12 AM	#7
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,816	Re: How do you PRIMARILY use the Aquarium? Is it Direct3D? Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

08-12-2001, 02:08 AM	#8
FrogMastr Agalychnis callidryas Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Val-d'Or, Quebec, CANADA Posts: 71	Re: How do you PRIMARILY use the Aquarium? Yes this one is using a technique calle Overlay... The CPU calculate a Small Res ... ex: 320x200 then using direct X , it uses the Overlay capability of the new video card GPU to Resample the image full screen, ( using almost the same technmique as DVD player ) Drawing a Pink MASK spot and telling to the video card to change every pixelss that ares "pink" to the resampled image But doing so you have a lots of quality lost... to acheive a viable frame rate... and doing so you will need to use Software calculation , wich will be too slow... This thecnique is not applicable i think to the Screen saver! ---- FrogMastr

08-12-2001, 08:04 AM	#9
Guest Posts: n/a	Re: How do you PRIMARILY use the Aquarium? This is not only palette cycling, it's some 2d transformation (remember all those old demos plasma effects?). Palette cycling won't be possible in 16- or 32-bit colour depth if there was no "fixed palette emulation". The overlay technique is the same as used in WinAMP's AVS visual plug-in. It would be great if there was a way to render the aquarium screen and then putting it into overlay.

08-14-2001, 02:52 AM	#10
Shinsa Registered Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Fayetteville, NC Posts: 407	Re: How do you PRIMARILY use the Aquarium? The closest thing to that was what I did a few months back. I "recorded" the aquarium as an AVI file. I then saved it in the WINAMP AVS directory (somewhere in there) and was able to put it in as a background for AVS. It works pretty good, and you can even have the effects do various things to the "Aquarium". Of course, this is now an AVI being looped in the background, and not the "LIVE" aquarium. But the effect is pretty cool. You can have WINAMP effect it while playing music. The water ripple effect, beating with the music was great! Bob "When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." _______________________________________________

08-22-2001, 05:54 AM	#11
almark Registered Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Belfast, Ireland Posts: 37	Re: How do you PRIMARILY use the Aquarium? When I run the scr as a program, filling my screen (except the taskbar) I notice that programs like IE6 are a bit jerky. best regards, A l m a r k

08-23-2001, 10:47 AM	#12
FishyBusiness Registered Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 2,206	Re: How do you PRIMARILY use the Aquarium? Uh Oh. It looks as if more people are using it as a Screen Saver rather than a program. I personally love using it as a program. Whenever I want to relax, I start up the aquarium and watch it. Of course, I only do this when I am not in the chat! Frank

08-30-2001, 01:10 PM	#13
hpman77 Blue Angel Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Santander (Spain) Posts: 285	About capturing it in avi... What about capturing a loop (like automatic lights, and capture it 2 or 3 cycles), then compressing the AVI in DIVX (really small, good quality), and adding the AVI embedded inside an html page, just with that embedded, and load that page as active desktop? ...hmmm.... I'll try... problem is: I don't know how to capture that in AVI.... any help? .:: AMD Athlon XP 1700+ :: 512MB SDRAM :: Windows XP SP1 :: shappire ATI radeon 9600 PRO :: Soundblaster Live Player 5.1 :: Directx 9.0 :: (Always latest drivers for everything) ::.

08-30-2001, 01:59 PM	#14
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,947	Re: About capturing it in avi... You could just run in Windowed mode and make it full screen and have all your desktop icons you need in a separate palette. I've never really understood this desire for the Aquarium as a desktop. I have about 15 windows, all maximized 100% of the time. I NEVER have a clear view of my desktop. If you asked me, i couldn't tell you what my wallpaper is right now, and that's sad since i have a folder of about ~100 beautiful images I downloaded from visualparadox.com and cognitivedistortion.com. "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman

08-31-2001, 05:45 PM	#15
lancensign Yellow Tang Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Florida Posts: 16	Re: About capturing it in avi... I use the aquarium as a program, although I'm really using it as a screensaver at the same time. What I mean is, I'm not accessing the aquarium as one would access a screensaver, and I don't have it set up that way. I have an application icon on my desktop, and whenever I walk away from my computer I double-click the icon and activate the program. I also quite often activate the program simply so I can sit and watch it for a while. At night I double-click the icon before I go to bed, dim the background and foreground lights, lower the sound of the bubbles slightly, and use the aquarium to soothe myself to sleep. I did try running the aquarium as my desktop 'background' all the time, but I also noticed that when I'm using the computer most of my windows are full-screen and I can't see the aquarium anyway. Also, my other applications seem to run a little less smoothly if I have the aquarium running in the background. But why run it that way if you can't even see it most of the time anyway? I prefer to just run it when I'm not using any other application, so that I can enjoy it more fully.

08-31-2001, 09:10 PM	#16
Guest Posts: n/a	Re: How do you PRIMARILY use the Aquarium? Screensaver on my laptop. The laptop has a TV out connection which I leave connected to our large TV. Really a nice looking Aquarium Not as sharp as the laptop display though.

09-11-2001, 02:07 AM	#17
Guest Posts: n/a	Re: How do you PRIMARILY use the Aquarium? Can anyone explain in plain english how to make the program/screensaver into a moving desktop wallpaper..??? be kind to me, Im just a simple New Zealander.................... ...(but nuclear free)..lol

09-12-2001, 08:25 AM	#18
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,816	Re: How do you PRIMARILY use the Aquarium? Direct3D applications cannot be made into moving wallpaper. Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

09-13-2001, 04:07 PM	#19
Guest Posts: n/a	Re: How do you PRIMARILY use the Aquarium? Question for everyone... Couldn't you make the Aquarium into a Webpage and then utulize Active Web Page on your desktop and maximize the webpage...? Maybe I am just stupid.... I use Webpages on my desktop that I created and store on my hard-drive, this gives me the ability to run all sorts of things through HTML. For instance I have more links on my desktop without having a dang Icon clutter up the screen... Just create a table in html and populate it with text links to programs you use or files you access and voila... Just a thought...and more... (don't blink) <p align="center"><a href=http://http://pub95.ezboard.com/bcodesmithguild>The Code Smiths Guild</a></p>

09-13-2001, 09:47 PM	#20
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,816	Re: How do you PRIMARILY use the Aquarium? Which of these keys do I press to make the Aquarium into a web page? Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium