Architect Archive
Thread: Help needed. Stones for fishtank
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Henpojk
Wed Oct 20, 2004 2:09 am
#1
Hello. Im building a fishtank in our guild cantina, and i wanted to build a pile of rocks in the aquarium to make it look more realistic.
As it is now, grey headwraps are used as stones. Sure it looks good, but they are so small in perspective to the volume of the tank.
So my question is: Does anyone have any tip on what to use as stones? Any clothing/furniture/etc?
So my question is: Does anyone have any tip on what to use as stones? Any clothing/furniture/etc?
Will post pictures of the aquarium when its done.
Cheers all.
chhenni
Wed Oct 20, 2004 3:08 am
#2
Henpojk wrote:
Hello. Im building a fishtank in our guild cantina, and i wanted to build a pile of rocks in the aquarium to make it look more realistic.
As it is now, grey headwraps are used as stones. Sure it looks good, but they are so small in perspective to the volume of the tank.
So my question is: Does anyone have any tip on what to use as stones? Any clothing/furniture/etc?
Will post pictures of the aquarium when its done.
Cheers all.
Have you tried with the ball things that can be looted in geo cave?
I have not tried to use them as furniture, and only got a glimps of them on a friend's screen before he deleted it.. But they might work(not compleetly sure tho)
Henpojk
Wed Oct 20, 2004 4:24 am
#3
chhenni wrote:
Henpojk wrote:
Hello. Im building a fishtank in our guild cantina, and i wanted to build a pile of rocks in the aquarium to make it look more realistic.
As it is now, grey headwraps are used as stones. Sure it looks good, but they are so small in perspective to the volume of the tank.
So my question is: Does anyone have any tip on what to use as stones? Any clothing/furniture/etc?
Will post pictures of the aquarium when its done.
Cheers all.
Have you tried with the ball things that can be looted in geo cave?
I have not tried to use them as furniture, and only got a glimps of them on a friend's screen before he deleted it.. But they might work(not compleetly sure tho)
Yep, tried those.. and wasent satesfied with the way they looked 
But thx for the advice anyway.
Pawlin
Wed Oct 20, 2004 9:50 am
#4
Have you seenthe site swg-decor.com? The site has a lot of pictures of loot items, etc. Might be something there that would work.
Salporin_Wookie
Wed Oct 20, 2004 3:14 pm
#5
I've built a lot of tanks, and been paid as much as 200k (offered price, not asked price) I've also spent as much as 3 full days building especially intricate ones. They're alot of fun to do. Heres a few tips.
For large rocks, I've used tool chests turned into the wall or paired with another one to hide the chest drawers. The large ones look like alge covered rocks anyway.3 or 4 stacked together make a nice cave for fish to peek out of. Never leave them at natural 90 degree angles though. I use macros like "/turn right 1" and "/turn right 5" and rotate them by degrees until they look right. Assorted plants help to soften the corners.
For a nice rolling gravel bottom I use the ugly round cafe tables. They are grey-brown and look just like gravel. The trick is to place a row near the front, drop another row and raise them a few clicks. They are fairly thick, so you can raise them 3-4 above the one next to it without seeing a gap. Keep dropping them in overlapping layers and raise them however much you need to get the rolling bottom gravel you want.
Aquarium tops... I've made them with couches and chests and damn near everything, but the best item is architect's structural blocks. Reason being they are the only thing I know of with a rendered bottom. If you raise a chest over your head, you can see right through it, which kinda breaks the illusion.
Edges and corners... the old method was metal or wood staffs, which still works well, but something new that works are paintings turned backwards! Yeah, sounds wierd, but paintings are rendered from the front and the sides of the frame, but not behind. If you place 2 paintings, facing INTO your tank, the corner where the two meet looks just like the corner of the glass tank! This won't work in all situations, since you might see the painting through one side or the other, but you can fall back on the staffs if you prefer.
Background... most people don't bother with this, but have you ever seen an aquarium in a pet store that didn't have that picture of a reef or whatever taped to the back? Paper the wall behind your tank with paintings! The large blue one from the bestine election makes a good backdrop. The endor landscape is pushing it a bit, but it's better than a bare wall. Golden petals paintings work too if youre just after some kind of geometric pattern.
Don't forget the airator! Your fish need oxygen! In one corner of yoru tank, place a large rock arrangement... made from tool chests or whatever... inside that drop a torch. Make sure the rock is high enough to cover the flame. The smoke rising looks like bubbles from a hidden tank filter.
finishing touches...
>on the wall next to the tank place one of the round computer terminals. Get it made with the name "Aquarium Life Support Console".
>In front of the aquarium or nearby place a table with some foraged bug bait to feed your fish, and a friendly kitty (I used a BE Jax) to stare longingly at the fish. >Treasures on the seafloor! I used an "Decorative basket" which looks like a brown basket with the lid slightly off. Inside move a few lightsaber crystals so they are JUST visible through the opening. If you like you can add a candle inside too which would make the gems sparkle. Other things to try...
>A krayt skull, over grown with plants with fish hiding in it's jaws...
>Acklay bones look just like a skeleton of some unfortunate sailor...
>A BE kaadu! Thats right! Kaadu are aquatic! And they move! Added some life to an aquarium I did once.
Thoughts on fish!
Important point! Lots of big fish = cluttered... schools or small fish = natural looking.
>Laa =Avoid Laas like the plague! Stupid looking fish with eyelashes???
>Faa = Faas look like grumpy catfish... bottom feeders. They look best prowling the bottom or peeking out of a cave.
>Ray = Rays are more of a top of the food chain fish. Have them prowling the top of the tank.
>NEVER have more than 1 of each big fish in a tank. (2 if the tank is very large) They look crowded if you have more than a couple.
>Striped fish = Excelent for color! and the only fish that looks completely different from planet to planet. But I recommend no more than 4-5 of these in a large tank. Pretty fish, but too much of a good thing is just tacky.
>Blue fish and Black fish = one word... SCHOOLS! Small fish group together for safety... especially with that mean ole Ray swimmin around! In a good sized tank you can easily have 2 large schools without looking crowded. Schools can be as many as 10 fish. Get crazy! Pose your Ray charging into your school of blackfish and have the school scatter in panic!
Just a few ideas... Have fun with it!
FreebiEaway
Fri Oct 22, 2004 8:47 am
#6
Aquarium tops... I've made them with couches and chests and damn near everything, but the best item is architect's structural blocks. Reason being they are the only thing I know of with a rendered bottom. If you raise a chest over your head, you can see right through it, which kinda breaks the illusion.
metal chairs (high-back ones, not the square metal ones) have rendered bottoms. they have 4 tiny feet on them so they're slightly above the floor. one wonders why they did this at all, but their bottoms are black.
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