05-14-2007, 07:13 PM | #621 |
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Yep. It's like the Koi screensaver someone posted about a few weeks back. They added refraction to the water and it looked worse with it turned on but still was left in the final product becaus it was another feature...
Thanks to Morgan, Tiny Snapshots is up and running again with "Tiny Järvafält" as the latest addition – Go have a look and tell me what you think.
"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another." /Robert Oppenheimer on witnessing the first thermonuclear detonation in history. |
05-14-2007, 08:45 PM | #622 |
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Originally posted by feldon31:
Jim is writing Marine Aquarium 3 in DirectX 8 to run on millions of computers, not on a $400 DirectX 10 card. But maybe if Jim wants to play EQ2. I'd rather he play EQ2 after MA3 comes out.
Frank
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05-14-2007, 11:23 PM | #623 |
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Reflective scales - If I find any worthy saltwater species that need this effect, then I'll implement it. In the current version, the only critter that's shiny is the Copper-Banded Butterflyfish, and I've always been able to handle its shine using specular lighting. The simple fact is that nearly all the saltwater fish that people deem worthy of putting in an aquarium are as flat as velvet. No shine, no visible scales. In my Freshwater program, all the fish are shiny. In fact, the Cardinal Tetras have three types of shine - for the body, the red, and the blue-green stripe.
There are a couple of effects for which I do plan to use pixel shaders. I will be experimenting with motion-blur, especially for the bubbles. My current monitor is able to clearly freeze-frame the bubbles, which now rise much faster than they did in old version. This leads to a strobe-like impression, which detracts slightly from the overall realism. A small amount of motion-blur may be effective in curing this.
Jim Sachs
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05-15-2007, 06:49 AM | #624 |
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Originally posted by FishyBusiness:
Yeah, if he made a DX 10 aquarium, than only 0.1% of the world's population that has a computer would be able to buy Jim's aquarium.
Sorry, I'm tense...
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05-15-2007, 07:01 AM | #625 |
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Originally posted by Tiny Turtle:
Ok, but how come the screenshots in the links I posted have extremely boring appearances in the DX6 & DX7 versions?
I dunno about Alan's. Do they spend a lot of time writing software emulation to do effects that DX8 and DX9 can do on-the-card? There's a lot of variables in play, such as, if you try to guess what computer the typical user of a DX7 card will have and if it will be able to handle the native DX7 graphics plus some software emulation that tries to show some of the goodies provided by DX8 and DX9. In the case of Marine Aquarium, the concern is not overtaxing the CPU or video card in most cases, since it runs on some pretty low end hardware. The concern is whether people have DirectX 9 cards and DirectX 9 even installed. So I think it's a good fit for MA3 to do some of the graphical effects on DX8 that are freebies in DX9 and DX10 by writing some extra code. I'm glad to hear that Jim had gotten the Cardinal Tetras the proper reflection in FA. Most people either don't realize, or are daunted by the fact that Cardinal Tetras have 3 different types of reflective scales. Maybe some day I will get to see it in motion.
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05-15-2007, 09:22 AM | #626 |
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The main difference between DX8 and later versions is just more Vertex and Pixel Shader registers in the Video hardware. I doubt if I'll come anywhere near using all the available registers in DX8.
As I said, I'm totally open to incorporating advanced techniques, if they are actually needed (and assuming I can understand them). But so far it's kind of like telling Da Vinci, "Hey Leonardo, forget oils - today you could be painting with fluorescent glitter paint on velvet!"
Jim Sachs
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05-15-2007, 11:09 AM | #627 |
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Understood. I'll be good.
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05-15-2007, 01:48 PM | #628 |
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Morg,
Ok. And DA runs on DX8.1 according to Alan. Frank, 1. MA3 wouldn't be released today, but more likely in early 2008 - that allows for a lot better penetration of the market for DX10 capable systems. 2. The quoted percentage is not interesting as such a large share of the world's PCs aren't likely buyers of MA. Would you like to venture an estimate of how many of the potential MA3 buyers will have a DX10 capable system? 3. Nobody said anything about a DX10 only MA3. It was only talk about using features if they were available, just like if your card can't handle AA and/or a high resolution you won't be able to use it. Jim, A big ok on the reflections. Doc, So, what else is up? Thanks to Morgan, Tiny Snapshots is up and running again with "Tiny Järvafält" as the latest addition – Go have a look and tell me what you think.
"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another." /Robert Oppenheimer on witnessing the first thermonuclear detonation in history. |
05-15-2007, 05:28 PM | #629 |
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TT - All correct, except that MA3 will be released in 2007.
Jim Sachs
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05-15-2007, 05:41 PM | #630 |
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I *love* being wrong!
Thanks to Morgan, Tiny Snapshots is up and running again with "Tiny Järvafält" as the latest addition – Go have a look and tell me what you think.
"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another." /Robert Oppenheimer on witnessing the first thermonuclear detonation in history. |
05-15-2007, 06:11 PM | #631 |
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Originally posted by Jim Sachs:
TT - All correct, except that MA3 will be released in 2007.
Patrick
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05-15-2007, 07:59 PM | #632 |
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October, October, October!!!
I don't watch commercials.
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05-15-2007, 08:37 PM | #633 |
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Jim,
Are you considering incorporating something along the lines of Ronald's Fish Picker in MA3? Thanks to Morgan, Tiny Snapshots is up and running again with "Tiny Järvafält" as the latest addition – Go have a look and tell me what you think.
"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another." /Robert Oppenheimer on witnessing the first thermonuclear detonation in history. |
05-15-2007, 09:07 PM | #634 |
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I don't remember exactly what it looked like, but it seems like the current interface is fairly close. Drag and drop the desired fish in each slot. The main difference is the max number of fish will be greater.
Jim Sachs
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05-16-2007, 07:43 AM | #635 |
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The main feature of Ronald's fish picker, at least to my knowledge, was cycling the RANDOM fish on an interval. One of those features that Prolific was going to integrate into their unified Settings panel.
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05-17-2007, 09:55 AM | #636 |
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Sooner each day
"TT - All correct, except that MA3 will be released in 2007."
"The main difference is the max number of fish will be greater." Been a long time since a MA release has been in the foreseeable future. Me and my newer computer are really looking forward to it! |
05-17-2007, 10:48 AM | #637 |
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Definitely in 2007. This is 2005, right?
Jim Sachs
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05-17-2007, 11:05 AM | #638 |
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Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Michael
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05-17-2007, 11:10 AM | #639 |
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Originally posted by Jim Sachs:
Definitely in 2007. This is 2005, right?
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05-17-2007, 11:15 AM | #640 |
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Chorus:
Let's do the Time Warp again Let's do the Time Warp again |
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