Virtual Aquariums (big pictures)

[Skybird]

Just felt like wanting to share these.

The software is "Dream Aquarium" with both available fish packs. The native tank content (rocks and green in the foreground) is truly 3-dimensional, fishes swim behind and around it,
but the 2D backgrounds have been added manually. Just any high resolution photography serves the purpose, but this can only by default menu options been done with the tank
with that rock in the centre (never understood why thisoption was not made available for the other two tanks as well). The fishes can be individually or by school altered in size via a
separate tool.


I know such software has no functional purpose. Nevertheless it pleases my visual sense for beauty, and I never regretted to have spent a little money for the full version some
years ago. I have never seen another virtual aquarium of such quality. I know there are many others, and I have had two others before. But this one by far is the best, imo.


The huge size of the screenshots is intentional, my native screen resolution, but jpg (some artifacts). Run on a screen 53x30 cm.

[August]

Those look nice! Think it could do a 3840 by 1024 pixel screen?

[ReallyDedPoet]

Nice

[Skybird]

3840 by 1024 pixel screen?

Well, see/read yourself:

http://www.dreamaquarium.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2227


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Do not be fooled by videos on youtube abvout DA, for some reaosn unknown to me they all are more or less stuttering. I can assure that in reality the fishes move smooth as silk, with varying speeds, and quite natural movements. The general "pace" of a tank can be set on a scale of 5 or 6 settings. Several other things can be tuned or randomised, too: Auto-rotation for tank been shown in sequence, where the blubbering air bubbles show up, sound composition of air bubbles, feeding fishes, different camera angles including "follow fish", designing own tanks with 2D photos as background, and no foreground 3D objects...

And since the latest update even - fish poo.

[Skybird]

This is a display of all fishes that are available. 2x5 of these, to the right, must be separately bought in two available additional packs.



The Mollies are unique in that they allow full skin pattern randomization. That, in combination with altering their sizes, gives each fish a completely individual look then.

The tool that is needed to download to alter fish sizes in tanks, is available from forum posts.

The forum alos offers two or three collections of Highres background images that can be used for 2D backgrounds. However, you can use just any photo you like, but it should be Highres for sure, and not showing grains. Use Google Picture search for "landscape aquarium", and equivalent search terms.

[August]

[QUOTE=Skybird;2278092]3840 by 1024 pixel screen?

Well, see/read yourself:

http://www.dreamaquarium.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2227


Thanks Skybird!

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Skybird

This is a display of all fishes that are available. 2x5 of these, to the right, must be separately bought in two available additional packs.



The Mollies are unique in that they allow full skin pattern randomization. That, in combination with altering their sizes, gives each fish a completely individual look then.

The tool that is needed to download to alter fish sizes in tanks, is available from forum posts.

The forum alos offers two or three collections of Highres background images that can be used for 2D backgrounds. However, you can use just any photo you like, but it should be Highres for sure, and not showing grains. Use Google Picture search for "landscape aquarium", and equivalent search terms.

I see a couple of mBuna (cichlids endemic to Lake Malawi) that I used to breed years back after having converted my garage into a twenty aquarium capacity fish house)

[Skybird]

The pics I posted were done with the tanks not yet rescaled. Meanwhile I have resized the fishes. Some species are so big that the software does not allow to depict them in their real size, maybe that differs with changing resolutions and screen sizes available, but the factory settings for fish sizes can be increased by 100% via an external tool (factory settings also can be reduced, to decrease sizes). That way, you can try to display the relative sizes of species. For example much bigger Angelfishes and discus fishes, and smaller Cardinals. That way, the sometimes wonderful artwork and reflection magic on the textures used for fish skins is more visible to the eye as well, and the fragile animations of fins and body movements.

Some days ago I saw in an electronics market a wall of TV display for sale, all running a demo of this software. That looked stunning! People stopped and watched, just because of this.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Just read the part regarding sound being there at appropriate times and also fish poop . No questioning this striving to be virtual.

[Skybird]

Some years ago the maker wanted to do even an octopus. But that then showed to be too complex a task.

However, one can dream. An octopus, if realistically animated. That would have been something...

[ReallyDedPoet]

Yeah, an octopus would be neat. Maybe in the future. On a related not my wife's grandmother when alive used to watch the aquarium channel on TV. She passed a lot of time doing this and loved it.

[Skybird]

I downloaded the test version of Maritime Aquarium 3, which is the other quite popular aquarium software out there.

While the tank looks okay, the fishes are not so much, imo, and then their animations: robot fishes with jerky robot-like behaviour and movement patterns that are monotone, computer-like, and anything but giving a natural appearance.

Considering the fame this software seems to have, disappointing.