*** Macintosh Bug Reports *** - Page 3

mrtew · 07-25-2002, 06:33 PM

It's definitely better with the CPU and faster, but I still don't get the Shimmer thing??? What does the word mean in this context, and what is it supposed to do? Which setting does what, and why don't I notice any difference at all with any setting in either the image, or the CPUusage, or the FPS?

07-25-2002, 06:57 PM

BTW - My 30 FPS on my iBook is running in thousands of colors. I get about 9 FPS if I try and run in millions. Once again, though, neither Economize or Shimmer settings seem to do anything in millions of colors either.

JimO'Connor · 07-25-2002, 09:37 PM

* Economize Video Memory doesn't seem to do anything.

Since you have 30 fps you don't have the software renderer. It gives framerates of 10 and less (like .5). Economize video memory won't do anything for you. It may help those with iMac DV 400s.

* Turning Shimmer on and off doesn't seem to do anything either.

Shimmer is the lighting effect on the fish fins as they ripple. It is very subtle.

* I love the way that you can now turn on wireframe in just the fish. Fun!

We are glad you like it.

Thanks.

JimO'Connor · 07-25-2002, 09:48 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered
BTW - My 30 FPS on my iBook is running in thousands of colors. I get about 9 FPS if I try and run in millions. Once again, though, neither Economize or Shimmer settings seem to do anything in millions of colors either.

"Economize" means to skip the z-buffer. This saves VRAM and allows some computers to hardware render when they would otherwise get the software renderer. The software renderer USUALLY gives frame rates in the LOW single digits (to fractional digits), so I'd guess that you are getting the hardware renderer with the 9 fps, so economize won't help you. It primarily helps people with 8 Meg video cards in TiBooks and it should help iMac DV 400s. There may be other marginal conditions where it will help.

Turn shimmer on and watch the tail fins of some fish. See the shadow follow the ripple? Turn shimmer off and watch the tail fins. See that the shadow is stationary? Calculating the lighting effects in "shimmer" takes CPU time. It is a more signficant portion of the total frame time if the aquarium size is relatively small. At full screen it is a small percentage as the video card is the bottleneck. If you lock fps to a value less than the maximum your computer can achieve and turn shimmer off then your CPU utilization will be less than with it on.

I hope this helps.

ohairy1 · 07-26-2002, 04:09 AM

Decided to try v1.1 on my iMac 400 (2000) with OS 10.1.4, 1024 MB RAM, and QuickTime 5.

The prefs were set to Sound On when Active, and bubbles "Off" ie "column" was unchecked.

But, I get sound. When I shouldn't. Should get it when the column is active but I have it when it's not.

Oops. Works OK with QT 6 however on my iBook 700.

mrtew · 07-26-2002, 05:22 AM

I don't think the sound has anything to do with the bubble column. You can turn each one on or off independently. You can even turn the sound on and off with the 'B' key.

Thanks for the explanantion of 'Shimmer' Jim. NOW I see it!

JimO'Connor · 07-26-2002, 07:52 AM

The sound when active switch refers to when the program is active, ie the one with the menu bar. Initially, the button was labelled "Quiet in background".

mrtew has it right.

dhigbee · 07-26-2002, 08:30 AM

Will economize V-RAM do anything to help with the way the program slows down my CPU when it's running in the background? (I'm using a G-4 450 Mhz, with a Radeon 32 mb video card. Getting about 125 fps when in foreground, with setting at thousands of colors.) Would setting the program to run at 30 or 60 fps help the rest of my CPU to run faster?

One further question: In the beta version, if I was running the program, and my screen saver activated, I was running two copies of the program. Has this been fixed in the final version?

Thanks for your help.

JimO'Connor · 07-26-2002, 09:03 AM

Set your fps to 30 or 60 for general usage. At the 'max' setting the aquarium is using every cycle which it can find (hence the name 'max'). :^)

The application sniffs the running process list for the screen saver engine. When it finds that the screen saver is running, any module - ours or not, then it stops animating until it notices that the screen saver engine is no longer running. You still have two separate instances of the aquarium, but the application is more considerate so it doesn't affect the screen saver's render speed.

dhigbee · 07-27-2002, 12:51 PM

Thanks, Jim!

xslf · 11-19-2002, 10:30 AM

Originally posted by feldon23
If you signed up at my website, you'll get an e-mail as soon as this new beta is available.

Just attempted to, but got this error:
"Error: Bad/No Recipient
There was no recipient or an invalid recipient specified in the data sent to FormMail. Please make sure you have filled in the recipient form field with an e-mail address that has been configured in @recipients. More information on filling in recipient form fields and variables can be found in the README file."

feldon34 · 11-19-2002, 12:25 PM

xslf,

oops. There was a bug in my script. I have fixed it.

07-25-2002, 06:33 PM	#41
mrtew Registered Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: michigan Posts: 109	It's definitely better with the CPU and faster, but I still don't get the Shimmer thing??? What does the word mean in this context, and what is it supposed to do? Which setting does what, and why don't I notice any difference at all with any setting in either the image, or the CPUusage, or the FPS? mrtew

07-25-2002, 09:37 PM	#43
JimO'Connor Mac Development Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Kenai, Alaska Posts: 678	* Economize Video Memory doesn't seem to do anything. Since you have 30 fps you don't have the software renderer. It gives framerates of 10 and less (like .5). Economize video memory won't do anything for you. It may help those with iMac DV 400s. * Turning Shimmer on and off doesn't seem to do anything either. Shimmer is the lighting effect on the fish fins as they ripple. It is very subtle. * I love the way that you can now turn on wireframe in just the fish. Fun! We are glad you like it. Thanks. Jim O'Connor Order N Development

07-25-2002, 09:48 PM	#44
JimO'Connor Mac Development Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Kenai, Alaska Posts: 678	Originally posted by Unregistered BTW - My 30 FPS on my iBook is running in thousands of colors. I get about 9 FPS if I try and run in millions. Once again, though, neither Economize or Shimmer settings seem to do anything in millions of colors either. "Economize" means to skip the z-buffer. This saves VRAM and allows some computers to hardware render when they would otherwise get the software renderer. The software renderer USUALLY gives frame rates in the LOW single digits (to fractional digits), so I'd guess that you are getting the hardware renderer with the 9 fps, so economize won't help you. It primarily helps people with 8 Meg video cards in TiBooks and it should help iMac DV 400s. There may be other marginal conditions where it will help. Turn shimmer on and watch the tail fins of some fish. See the shadow follow the ripple? Turn shimmer off and watch the tail fins. See that the shadow is stationary? Calculating the lighting effects in "shimmer" takes CPU time. It is a more signficant portion of the total frame time if the aquarium size is relatively small. At full screen it is a small percentage as the video card is the bottleneck. If you lock fps to a value less than the maximum your computer can achieve and turn shimmer off then your CPU utilization will be less than with it on. I hope this helps. Jim O'Connor Order N Development

07-26-2002, 04:09 AM	#45
ohairy1 Registered Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: S.E. Florida Posts: 3	Ohoh... new sound issue? Decided to try v1.1 on my iMac 400 (2000) with OS 10.1.4, 1024 MB RAM, and QuickTime 5. The prefs were set to Sound On when Active, and bubbles "Off" ie "column" was unchecked. But, I get sound. When I shouldn't. Should get it when the column is active but I have it when it's not. Oops. Works OK with QT 6 however on my iBook 700.

07-26-2002, 05:22 AM	#46
mrtew Registered Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: michigan Posts: 109	I don't think the sound has anything to do with the bubble column. You can turn each one on or off independently. You can even turn the sound on and off with the 'B' key. Thanks for the explanantion of 'Shimmer' Jim. NOW I see it! mrtew

07-25-2002, 06:57 PM	#42
Unregistered Guest Posts: n/a	BTW - My 30 FPS on my iBook is running in thousands of colors. I get about 9 FPS if I try and run in millions. Once again, though, neither Economize or Shimmer settings seem to do anything in millions of colors either.

07-26-2002, 07:52 AM	#47
JimO'Connor Mac Development Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Kenai, Alaska Posts: 678	The sound when active switch refers to when the program is active, ie the one with the menu bar. Initially, the button was labelled "Quiet in background". mrtew has it right. Jim O'Connor Order N Development

07-26-2002, 08:30 AM	#48
dhigbee The Snorkeler Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 29	Will economize V-RAM do anything to help with the way the program slows down my CPU when it's running in the background? (I'm using a G-4 450 Mhz, with a Radeon 32 mb video card. Getting about 125 fps when in foreground, with setting at thousands of colors.) Would setting the program to run at 30 or 60 fps help the rest of my CPU to run faster? One further question: In the beta version, if I was running the program, and my screen saver activated, I was running two copies of the program. Has this been fixed in the final version? Thanks for your help. Last edited by dhigbee; 07-26-2002 at 08:32 AM.

07-26-2002, 09:03 AM	#49
JimO'Connor Mac Development Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Kenai, Alaska Posts: 678	Set your fps to 30 or 60 for general usage. At the 'max' setting the aquarium is using every cycle which it can find (hence the name 'max'). :^) The application sniffs the running process list for the screen saver engine. When it finds that the screen saver is running, any module - ours or not, then it stops animating until it notices that the screen saver engine is no longer running. You still have two separate instances of the aquarium, but the application is more considerate so it doesn't affect the screen saver's render speed. Jim O'Connor Order N Development

07-27-2002, 12:51 PM	#50
dhigbee The Snorkeler Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 29	Thanks, Jim!

11-19-2002, 10:30 AM	#51
xslf Registered Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Israel Posts: 3	Originally posted by feldon23 If you signed up at my website, you'll get an e-mail as soon as this new beta is available. Just attempted to, but got this error: "Error: Bad/No Recipient There was no recipient or an invalid recipient specified in the data sent to FormMail. Please make sure you have filled in the recipient form field with an e-mail address that has been configured in @recipients. More information on filling in recipient form fields and variables can be found in the README file." The News, uncensored

11-19-2002, 12:25 PM	#52
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,947	xslf, oops. There was a bug in my script. I have fixed it. "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