# AquaSketch



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

Hi,

Just wanted to share with you my last project - *AquaSketch*
It's a nice tool designed to help you with your aquascaping - by making a *sketch* of your plans.

It's only the first version and it's going to improve, so please tell me what you think and make any comments or suggestions.


----------



## Berkley (Jul 2, 2007)

its really nice!
maybe you could use real photos of the plants.
or add a few hardscape things.
regards timo


----------



## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

Just had a play and it's very good. I like the ability to reduce the size of the plants when you add them and the ease of use. Some way of undoing after adding each plant might be good as when I went wrong I had to clear it all and start again - not too much of a hassle on a little tank but could be a pain on a large one!!! (maybe I missed that function!)

Like Berkley said hardscape would be good and it'd be nice if you could add plants right up to edges of the glass. I just tried to replicate my nano tank and there was this big gap all the way round! I don't suppose it'd be such an issue on a larger tank though.

Good job.


----------



## AMP (Nov 11, 2006)

Love the idea, Possibly have a feature to adjust the placement , other than to remove and replace. Great work may I add as well


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

Thanks for the quick reply!



Berkley said:


> maybe you could use real photos of the plants.
> or add a few hardscape things.


I don't think real photos will look good.
I am thinking of adding rocks, roots and maybe filter-pipes and air-stone.



ed seeley said:


> Some way of undoing after adding each plant might be good
> it'd be nice if you could add plants right up to edges of the glass.


To remove a pot - ctrl+click on the pot in the map.
As for the edges - I'm aware of that problem, the idea was to prevent plants from poping out the sides of the aquarium.
If you use a smaller plant you can add pots more close to the edges.



AMP said:


> Possibly have a feature to adjust the placement , other than to remove and replace.


Good idea....It requires a 'Select' mechanism - I'll think about it in the next version.

Thanks for all the compliments


----------



## EcoGeek (Jun 26, 2007)

I can't thank you enough! This will be a tremendous help for me in figuring out how to plant my new tank. 

EcoGeek


----------



## zQ. (Dec 15, 2006)

If there are some layout material it will be complete ! 
Thank for sharing.


----------



## JeremyAZ (Feb 16, 2007)

Wow. Very nice tool. With rocks and wood it will be perfect.


----------



## Mellonman (Nov 2, 2005)

Interesting...


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

Wow, I wasn't expecting such great replies - It's nice to hear you like it.

zQ. I'm not sure I understand you. What do you mean by 'layout material'?

As for rocks and wood - I'm having some trouble finding the right images.
Any help with that will be great (preferably paintings - not photos).


----------



## FelixAvery (Mar 29, 2007)

just give us the ability to draw rocks?


----------



## pisces (Apr 6, 2007)

I love it!


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

FelixAvery said:


> just give us the ability to draw rocks?


  
Well, there are some rocks with riccia on them... but, as I said I will add rocks and wood in the next version.

BTW, I'm also planing to add some sort of saving ability.


----------



## UG Dude! (Apr 12, 2007)

Great... Can't wait for the next version...


----------



## Anti-Pjerrot (Mar 12, 2006)

Nice tool.

You might want to write that the plantpaintings are copyrighted by Tropica


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

Anti-Pjerrot said:


> Nice tool.
> 
> You might want to write that the plantpaintings are copyrighted by Tropica


You are absolutely right! I will do that.


----------



## Anti-Pjerrot (Mar 12, 2006)

I seem to have a problem when you add lots of plants... the site runs really slow then - just beware and dont stress the mousebottom.


----------



## Anti-Pjerrot (Mar 12, 2006)

Is it stricted to 2d or can you add plants in 3d as well - i mean as it is you can only add plants to the base of the tank, and it would be really important to have the posibilty to position them in different layers.


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

Copyrights to tropica - Done 

What do you mean by adding plants in 3d? do you mean like floating in the middle? why would you want that?


----------



## rahamen (May 6, 2006)

Great job ofridagan, it's a good help


----------



## K20A2 (Aug 12, 2006)

This is really cool man. Than You. 

I agree with everyone that if it had the ability to add wood and rocks it would be awesome.

I'm going to use this to plan my new tank. Thanks again.


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

K20A2 said:


> This is really cool man. Than You.
> 
> I agree with everyone that if it had the ability to add wood and rocks it would be awesome.
> 
> I'm going to use this to plan my new tank. Thanks again.


Anyone got any links to good images of rocks and wood?


----------



## Anti-Pjerrot (Mar 12, 2006)

> What do you mean by adding plants in 3d? do you mean like floating in the middle? why would you want that?


Well - if you want to have a way to put plants on rocks and driftwood or add height to the scape - like anubias on wood/rock and plants planted heigher than others - then you need to have that function - and in order to create debth you need height - also you might want to have a substrate that has some slooping...


----------



## KnaveTO (Jul 4, 2007)

this is a great planning tool!!


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

Anti-Pjerrot said:


> Well - if you want to have a way to put plants on rocks and driftwood or add height to the scape - like anubias on wood/rock and plants planted heigher than others - then you need to have that function - and in order to create debth you need height - also you might want to have a substrate that has some slooping...


It would be great if we could plant on rocks or have slooping. Unfortunetly, I think it's too complicated for that simple tool.
Maybe in the version after the next one


----------



## neonfish3 (Feb 12, 2004)

I agree with everyone 
This tool is awesome, USEFULL and FUN!!!


----------



## freshreef (May 14, 2004)

great job ofir


----------



## mhoy (Jun 12, 2007)

Nifty tool.

How about some texture maps of simple substrates? 
-sand (white, black, tan)
-Flourite
-bare glass


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

Thanks for all the nice comments.
Your comments got me start working on the next version!


----------



## mellowvision (Jun 18, 2007)

really awesome. you might consider lighting too, using tints to go from dark tanks to lighter.


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

Hello,

Due to popular demand I decided to make a little update - Rocks and Woods!
(version 2.0 is comming soon...)

AquaSketch


----------



## UG Dude! (Apr 12, 2007)

Excellent... Will version 2.0 include substrates?


----------



## Rift2Reef (Aug 3, 2007)

How about some more plants such as Tiger Lotus and Crypt Balansae. Those I noticed weren't there when I attempted my sketch yesterday.


----------



## skewlboy (Jun 9, 2006)

how do you post the picture?


----------



## tutquarium (May 27, 2005)

I knew that someone would do that one day.
It will be a very very useful tool in the later versions I believe.
Do you want some pics to add into your database?
If so, please PM to me the resolution, size, type of plants or any other feature of the pictures which are required and/or missing.
Rotala macrandra, Ammania gracilis, for example, are the ones that I could not have found in the list.

By the way, not for the plants maybe, but it is very important for the rock and driftwood composition to make them turn around itself, and even to sketch them by the help of a few click. I believe that the width of the tank is not perceived correctly at some points of the perspective while orbiting. Is it due to the location of focal point of the perspective? What do you think?

Thank you for your great effort and sharing with us! Very good tool for aquascaping planning. Looking forward to using the later versions.


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

Anubias said:


> I knew that someone would do that one day.
> It will be a very very useful tool in the later versions I believe.
> Do you want some pics to add into your database?
> If so, please PM to me the resolution, size, type of plants or any other feature of the pictures which are required and/or missing.
> ...


Thanks alot for your comments!

Any help with pictures will be great! I'll PM you later (when I get home... probably in the weekend). I think I mostly need more rocks and driftwood.

Rotating the rocks... how didn't I think of it? That's a good idea (and not so difficult to implement).
I'm not sure I understand what you mean by sketching the rocks...

There is no perspective. maybe that's the problem... I don't really see what you mean. Anyone else noticed that?


----------



## Alex Ribeiro (Nov 25, 2004)

> and even to sketch them by the help of a few click.


Rock design by yourself?

I wonder to put in a substrate layer. 
With many colours, please.

Plants like:
Eleocharis sp. (E. vivipara, E. acicularis, E. minima)
Blyxa sp. (B. japonica, B. echinosperma)
Ludwigia inclinata (not var. verticilata)
Some mosses

Tks!


----------



## tutquarium (May 27, 2005)

Alex Ribeiro said:


> Rock design by yourself? ...


Yes, that's right. But I really don't have any idea whether the implementation of the third dimension would be easy or not. It may not be so easy to design an interface for the user to make him enable to draw, either.

Let's see what ofridagan will tell us.


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

Letting the user to sketch the rocks sounds very complicated and not that necessary.
My goal was to develop a small and simple tool.
There is still some work to be done but I don't think I'm going to add more and more features that are not essential to the aquascape (for example, someone suggested me to provide more information about the plants... nice idea but I decided not to add it.

Version 2.0 will mostly include:

* A way to share your designs with your friends on the forum.
* Substrate.
* Hopefully, a more user-friendly inteface.
* more plants, rocks and wood.
* Fish???


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

I have just released version 2.0 of my little flash tool - AquaSketch

Well, it doesn't include all that I hoped (and promised), but it does include one important feature: *You can now share your aquascape plannings!*
I also added a few more plants, rocks and woods - which I'm going to continue.

Here are two examples of my first tries with the new saving feature:
Aquascape #1 - my small tank
Aquascape #2 - my big tank

Go ahead! experiment your aquascapes and... *share*.
Enjoy, ...and Let me know if you have any problems...


----------



## echappee (Sep 15, 2007)

Awesome, cool tool! Great job!


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

Hello,

The second version of the AquaSketch is released for about ten days, and already people are making great designs.

Here are some of my favorites:
http://www.gorillot.com/aquatools/php/index.php?select=9&num=10026
http://www.gorillot.com/aquatools/php/index.php?select=9&num=10046
http://www.gorillot.com/aquatools/php/index.php?select=9&num=10051
http://www.gorillot.com/aquatools/php/index.php?select=9&num=10074
http://www.gorillot.com/aquatools/php/index.php?select=9&num=10080
http://www.gorillot.com/aquatools/php/index.php?select=9&num=10004
http://www.gorillot.com/aquatools/php/index.php?select=9&num=10007
http://www.gorillot.com/aquatools/php/index.php?select=9&num=10019

Enjoy


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

AquaSketcher now has a new home on TheAquaTools.com


----------



## kjaer (Feb 4, 2008)

Wow, this is a great tool! 
Mini M: http://www.gorillot.com/aquatools/php/index.php?select=9&num=10690


----------



## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

That was fun! I made the "MonkeyShuffle". (Sorry, I forgot to copy the link to it, so you'll just have to imagine how it looked.) :


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

Here is your link:
http://www.theaquatools.com/content/view-your-sketch&num=10638
Nice sketch


----------



## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

This is so COOL! I love how you can turn the entire tank around to view it from different sides! For a voyer prospective would it be difficult for the name of the plant to show up if we dragged our mouse over it or right clicked on the plant while looking at someone's design?


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

Tex Gal said:


> would it be difficult for the name of the plant to show up if we dragged our mouse over it or right clicked on the plant while looking at someone's design?


That's a good idea! I will look into it. Thank you Tex Gal.


----------



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

here is my ten gallon cypto: http://www.gorillot.com/aquatools/php/index.php?select=9&num=10694

and another: http://www.gorillot.com/aquatools/php/index.php?select=9&num=10703


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

That's great kakoii :thumbsup:
But the whole point of my last post was that people will start using the new place - AquaTools.com
I'm about to shut down the old one.


----------



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

Yes, i know i just wanted to demonstrate my work. I love the website!


----------



## zer0zax (Mar 25, 2007)

Awesome tool! Check out my sketch, I used rocks to make a background, a little unique! I bet my scape is close to the top... think YOU can do better? Share your skills!

http://www.theaquatools.com/content/view-your-sketch&num=10640

I'm a digital plant pimp! :rofl:


----------



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

http://www.theaquatools.com/content/view-your-sketch&num=10641


----------



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

http://www.theaquatools.com/content/view-your-sketch&num=10642
http://www.theaquatools.com/content/view-your-sketch&num=10643


----------



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

probably my best yet!: http://www.theaquatools.com/content/view-your-sketch&num=10645


----------



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

Another it is so fun! http://www.theaquatools.com/content/view-your-sketch&num=10646


----------



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

http://www.theaquatools.com/content/view-your-sketch&num=10648


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

Wow, I love seeing you are having fun... it makes me feel so good 
Nice work kakkoii. I think I like your last one best - it's going to the "Sketch Of The Day" (the front page).


----------



## foofooree (Mar 11, 2007)

hey, I had one on the old site called mountains, how can i see it again?


----------



## iek (Feb 7, 2007)

Lowtech: http://www.theaquatools.com/content/view-your-sketch&num=10649


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

Hi, foofooree I can't find your sketch... are you sure it was "mountains"?
Anyway, you gave me an idea - I should create a list of all sketchs, so that people could find a sketch by name...


----------



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

http://www.theaquatools.com/content/view-your-sketch&num=10650


----------



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

http://www.theaquatools.com/content/view-your-sketch&num=10651


----------



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

ofridagan said:


> Wow, I love seeing you are having fun... it makes me feel so good
> Nice work kakkoii. I think I like your last one best - it's going to the "Sketch Of The Day" (the front page).


thanks!


----------



## foofooree (Mar 11, 2007)

it was either called mountains or mountain, and it was on the old site


----------



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

http://www.theaquatools.com/content/view-your-sketch&num=10656
http://www.theaquatools.com/content/view-your-sketch&num=10657


----------



## foofooree (Mar 11, 2007)

http://www.theaquatools.com/content/view-your-sketch&num=10661


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

Hi,

Check out the new article about the AquaSketcher on the Aquascaping World Magazine


----------



## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

I love Aqua Tools, definitely a good read in the ASW magazine..


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

*A new tool on TheAquaTools.com*

Hello,

I just added a new tool to TheAquaTools.com - The Water Changes Calculator.
I created this tool to help me figure out the best water changes regimen for my tank. I believe this can help other people too.

Tell me what you think.


----------



## ofridagan (May 23, 2006)

Hello fish lovers,

Just want to update you on a new, *major* addition to TheAquaTools.com - the AquaRank.
It's a place to create your own personal page to share your aquarium creations with the world. People can watch, comment and rate your aquariums.
Check out my AquaRank page: http://www.theaquatools.com/aquarank/Ofri-Dagan

The AquaRank is a new "tool" in TheAquaTools.com and it's still improving.
I hope you'll find it useful, post your aquarium and help the AquaRank in becoming a big source of aquarium pictures.
(you need to register to post your aquariums)
Have fun!

Tell me what think.


----------

