MTM2.com

Hi guys,

Looking for someone to make models for a new aquarium circuit. I need stuff such as: tropical fish(animated)
filter
strip light for top of tank
water plants(make them bigger than a truck and I'll resize them if needed)

Hope for some input soon.

I think I still have a few fish models I made years ago by request, for a track that never materialized (that's happened more than once..lol).

Let me see if I can find a copy....gotta dig through my old CD archives....

If I find them, then I'll need a better idea of what you mean by ANIMATED.....like what path (circle, oval, back and forth, etc....)

No guarentees.....this one sounds tricky...

<i>What the little fishies saying</i> on this page?

http://malibu350.com/scraps/LifeForms.htm

This is the sort of fish I'm looking for.



Animated to move tail left and right and swim in a loop(circle).This is the filter:



I guess you guys know the kind of strip light I'm thinking of. You can always go here for photos:http://freshaquarium.about.com/library/profiles/blfishlibrary.htm

I need platies, angelfish, mollies, tetras, plecostomus catfish, flying foxes & red tailed shark. Plus, if you can find it, a Siamese Fighting Fish would do nicely. Find them under 'anabantoids, bettas'. Those last 3 might be hard to find photos of but they should be on the site above.Make one and I'll copy and resize if neccesary. Thanks for your time.

Sorry, the Siamese Fighter is called a male betta on that site.

Hey, why you no reply? Come ON! I need models! Oops, I'm getting like SIG. I must be patient. Missed my anger management class last night. Sorry 'bout that. Right, I have Alpha 1 but I want to know how to put it into my next post. Phin, can you help me out?

Btw, is it possible to make a model of a tank that has water in when made in BinEdit? If you want to know why Alpha 1 is done, it's because the models are stock resized.

Surely you can make the filter model, BigDOGGe. How about I set you a challenge. If you can make the filter in under 5 hours, you can have your name on the side. No, seriously, I'm not joking. No cheating or you'll stay in the back yard for the night.

Now, back to the fishies. One of each please. I've been round the site and only the first 4 and the betta are there. D'you mind if I make the platies and others into other colours as well as the originals?

Nearly forgot. I need flat transparant glass slabs. These will form the sides and front. Btw, I have a repainted Pepsi can in the colours of TetraRuby fish food. It's on the top of the tank.

Any ideas for wher to drive in the tank? What I mean is whether or not to put model boxes floating in the tank for the trucks to drive on. I could always put floating plants and weeds to drive on. Then it would look more natural.

In case it wasn't obvious what sort of strip light I meant, here's a photo:

That without the light's casing would do nicely. Thanks for your time and effort.

P.S. Is the picture of the fish on my second post still showing. It's disappeared on my computer.

> Is the picture of the fish on my second post still showing. It's disappeared on my computer.

I see a gold fish and a filter.

Please understand that the things you're asking for are "very" hard to do. So hard, in fact, that even TRI, a professional company, does them sparingly.

I haven't replied again yet because I've been so busy administratiing 2 forums, rebuilding my scrapyard, fullfilling requests from my ZO teammates, dealing with the real world, etc....And your requests have pretty strict requirements...Phin took the words right out of my mouth.

The fish I made were generic models.....no specific species...I still haven't relocated them , yet I'm pretty sure they are around here somewhere....

I haven't tried animating something like a swimming fish....If I can find my old models, then I will try some experments with applying motion to them....that will take a some more time and experiments, and I have to do it when I have time itself to spare.

Also, if I DO find them, I will try to map that goldfish pic to one to see if it would look adequate.

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I can make semi-transparent slabs for the tank sides, no problem....examine the cups I made for ZOON and see if they would be too "smokey" or foggy for tank glass....Also, I need rough dimensions for the front & sides (height and width).

One problem I have to investigate...will BIN models show from behind the glass? That has been an ongoing problem with transparent truck windows...I had to remove the transparent windows from one of my EXPO entries for that very same reason.

Water in the tank? I don't think so....maybe a transparent face on top simulating the water surface, as done on the racetracks (again, will the fish show from behind it?.....the water effect in MTM2 is probably useless to you, as the water would be on the outside too.

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The filter pump will not be hard, but do you have more than one view? IF not, will a somewhat generic pump do?

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Obviously, some tests will be necessary to see if such a track is even possible.....

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I will let you know the results from some of these tests...you really picked a tough project...please have patience with us.....

I found my "fish", including an unfinished shark...I will use one of these for my testing.






It's a shame we can't remove the fish models from the XP fishtank screensaver....

Sorry guys. My bad. I forgot how advanced this stuff is. BigDOGGe, Those tropical/marine fish (the coloured ones) would do fine. If you could just raise the texture quality a bit that'd be great. I see what you mean about the fish being generic lol.

Again, I'm sorry for rushing you. These models are exceptionally good. I never took into account the fact that DOGGe PARTS is moving. The glass in Zoon Kitchen 2 looks fine. Rough dimensions for the glass are: Sides: Height - 256 Width - 448
Front: Height - 256 Width - 864

I'm having to use the water level from Traxx because a transparent layer wouldn't look that real if you know what I mean.

Here's another angle of the filter: front

back

The other side is the same as the one I showed before.

WOW! BigDOGGe that fish is great! If you could just speed up the tail movement and the fish moving in the circle it'd be perfect. I'd like that one and the yellow one with higher quality textures. If you make 2 more in that style but different colours I can duplicate them and put them in the tank.

I'll put Alpha 1 on the track page labelled Alpha but type set to Beta so that you can test it.

Edit: On second thoughts, I'll skip the Alpha and when its done I'll post the Beta.

I'll see if I can find some real textures to map on them....

As far as speed goes this one was done with 16 frames (16 bin models) at 1 frame per second, each frame being 1/2 sweep of the tail (right-to-left or left-to-right)

I'll provide samples at 2 frames per sec, so you can compare,...it may double the total speed....

OK....glass sizes documented....I hope you don't get the same problem ZOON has with extremely large models suffering disappearing faces at certain distance...

The glass is fine BigDOGGe. Bit foggy but the models can be seen through it. (The trucks will be inside the tank anyway, so you don't need to see out)

I noticed something strange about the fish. It was fine when I tried your test track but as soon as I put it in the water of my tank, the textures, instead of being silver & white, turned blue & green. Does this happen only with animated models because my logs and rocks have kept their colour when put underwater.

One more model. Should be nice and easy. It's a flat, transparent model textured with an animation of bubbles moving right-to-left.

I've never placed an animated model underwater....do not know.

Someone else will have to tackle the bubbles...I can't take on any more projects right now...the tank glass, filter, and 4 fish will be consuming any free time I have...

Let me see if I can make the glass look any better....let you know tommorrow.

Here's my first fish......my favorite tropical aquarium salty...the Clown Trigger.....I was able to find a great shot to map with:





I sped up the motion to 2 FPS. I also took some liberty with the fins to save some work....not perfect, but it should do.


http://mtm2.com/~bigdogge/download/ani_ ... rigger.ZIP

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I thought I'd have a Yellow-Tail Damsel finished, but I have a face vanishing on one fin, so I have to rebuild it.

BigDOGGe, the Trigger is amazing. This one has kept its colour when put in the tank. Just a suggestion: how about a Yellow Sailfin Tang?

As I said, the glass is okay. That, however, was before I put on the front. Whenever I drive up to the corners where the panes of glass meet, the front pane disappears. You're redoing the glass are you?

I'llmake the tang only if I can find a clear and bright side-view of one....it took me awhile to find the ones I have now.

these are in the works:

Yellow-tail Damsel



Flame Angel



I have a blue tang pic, but it's poor quality, can you find a better photo?

Special delivery....

http://mtm2.com/~bigdogge/download/ani_ ... damsel.ZIP

Heres a testtrack with both fish installed for inspection.
http://mtm2.com/~bigdogge/download/test ... h_fish.ZIP

Let me know if you get any errors....I believe all the files are there...



NOTE: these 2 fish require 32 BIN models.....I wouldn't put too may like this on your track.

If I don't animate the tailfin, I can do each with 5 BIN models instead of 16.

I recommend just placing these two 16-bin animated fish close to the race course, where their movement can be seen, and I make a few 5-bin fish from the other textures that don't have a moving tailfin but still circle about.....those would be better animated models to duplicate about the track (tank)
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..in a nutshell;

16-bin fish means it has a moving tailfin and circles about, and uses 16 models
5-bin fish means it is rigid and circles about, and only uses 5 models
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6 16-bin fish = 96 bin models

2 16-bin fish + 4 5-bin fish = 47 models

6 5-bin fish = 25 models

I don't know the bin model limits for tracks, but I think is needs serious thought.....how bad do you want those fins to move?

Any thoughts or comments from veteran track-makers on this situation? Your opinions are welcome...and sorely needed...

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UPDATE:
try these glass sides for the fishtank....I placed faces on the inside, and game it a lighter bluish tint..

transparent_fishtank_slabs.ZIP

Thanks DOGGe. I'm downloading the fish right now. The zip on the bottom of your last post isn't a link.

Is this a good enough tang picture?

Yeah, the fish look good. Clown Trigger is the same as when I last saw it. The Damsel could have benefitted from a higher quality pic because the scales' reflections have merged their light blue colour, giving a blotchy appearance in-game.

Were you meaning to send the Flame Angel or is it still under construction?

flame coming...I was waiting to see if you wanted it in 16-bin or 5-bin form...I will make it same as the last two fish then.

The trigger was sharp because I think it was painted, and not a photograph....If you can find sharp pictures, then the fish will look better....These are the best I can find so far.


The flame angel is nearly done....I will try that tang pic you displayed.


Sorry for the link slip-up:
http://mtm2.com/~bigdogge/download/tran ... _slabs.ZIP

The pump is half-done....I visited several sites, and could not find another view of it, so it's slow-going...the second pump picture you displayed was not a Fluval Plus model...is that a clip on the far side?

I will guess on the back and the flugal logo on top....does it need the extension cord?