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Convection 1.0.2

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(2) 1.75

Particles screen saver. Free

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Edward Chew

This screen saver simulates the convection of free-flowing particles enclosed in a cube that is being heated from the bottom.

What's New

Version 1.0.2:

Added more elaborate perspective effects which view the cube at various angles and distances.
Improved particle rendering is activated when a faster CPU is detected.
Added a high frequency noise filter on the motion of the particles to reduce the excessive jitter. This makes it easier to follow the circulation patterns, especially on faster computers.
Fixed a bug which caused the calculation thread to continue running in System Preferences even when you selected a different screen saver. (Thank you anonymous tipster!)
Minor fix to the random number generator.

Version 1.0.2:

Added more elaborate perspective effects which view the cube at various angles and distances.
Improved particle rendering is activated when a faster CPU is detected.
Added a high frequency noise filter on the motion of the particles to reduce the excessive jitter. This makes it easier to follow the circulation patterns, especially on faster computers.
Fixed a bug more...

Requirements
PPC, Mac OS X, OpenGL 1.1 or later.

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Convection User Discussion (Write a Review)

ver. 1.x:

(2)

Your rating: Now say why...

Overall:

(2)

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Anonymous reviewed on 26 Apr 2004

Awful.

To developer: why would you release this?

[Version 1.0.2]

1 Reply

-Ted (developer) replied on 27 Apr 2004

Could you perhaps be a bit more specific? I do not mind constructive criticism -- indeed, I welcome it. However, blanket statements such as "I hate it" or "It's awful" do not help me improve anything. What would you do to make it better?

Are you referring to changes in 1.0.2 or the whole concept in general? In the former case, which change bothers you the most and why? I will probably add some preferences options at some point, and it would help me to know what you would like to be able to turn on and off.

I may be too busy for the next week or two to work on Convection, but I will continue to read all comments and take them into consideration.

Anonymous reviewed on 21 Apr 2004

Yea.. Major problem w/ that new thread.. it keeps running when you select a different screen saver and sucks CPU cycles until you close the system prefs app (parent task).

[Version 1.0.1]

1 Reply

Ted (developer) replied on 23 Apr 2004

Hey, thanks for the heads-up on that threading problem! I think I have it fixed in an internal build, but I am adding some perspective effects to the screen saver and am not quite ready to post an update yet. It should be ready soon.

Anonymous reviewed on 21 Apr 2004

Version 1.0.1 is much better, but still slow and jerky.

[Version 1.0.1]

1 Reply

Ted (developer) replied on 21 Apr 2004

Hi, it's the author again.

Are you referring to the jerkiness you see in Test mode when you run it straight out of the Screen Savers panel in System Preferences? I am not sure what is causing this, but the screen saver sometimes receives redraw events only sporadically in this mode. In 1.0.1, I moved the model computation into its own pre-emptive thread so that it is no longer affected by this sort of thing, but I am still at the mercy of the system as to when it lets me draw. I request 18 frames per second, but if I don't get them, I don't get them.

In my experience, when I run the screen saver for real, I notice it sometimes stalls for a moment within the first second or so, but then it carries on pretty smoothely. I have tested it on a 400 MHz iMac, an 867 MHz PowerBook G4, and a 1.8 GHz dual processor G5. If anything, I find it runs way too fast on the G5. It looks like I turned on a blender! Maybe I will add some logic to lower the time step on faster machines. The particles should then move about the same speed but flow more smoothely on the G5...in theory, at least. :-)

Anonymous reviewed on 20 Apr 2004

Nice idea, but my G5 just spins up and shows a lot of white bouncing balls. Not as advertised.

[Version 1.0]

1 Reply

Ted (developer) replied on 20 Apr 2004

Hi, this is the author.

Indeed, there is a definite problem when you run the screen saver in Test mode straight out of System Preferences. Everything turns white and the movement gets jerky. I have a theory about what is causing the former but not the latter. I plan to add some multi-threading to the model calculation once I figure out how to use NSThread. That may or may not help.

In the meantime, try running the screen saver the normal way (i.e. activate it with a hot corner or after a period of inactivity). I have run this on everything from a 400 MHz iMac to a G5 DP 1.8 GHz and it seems to work under regular usage.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback!

Anonymous reviewed on 20 Apr 2004

Slow and jerky...

[Version 1.0]

2 Replies

Anonymous commented on 20 Apr 2004

And I'm betting you have a slow Mac. Had you bothered to check the developer's site, one click, and you'd be able to red that the developer states this is a CPU hog and not meant for slower Macs.

So you rate it poorly because your have a slow Mac? Yeah, that's fair, yeah right. Sheesh.