15-Minute Reviews :: 3D Titanic Screensaver

Hello all and welcome to today’s Screensaver 15-Minute Review! Today’s screensaver is 3D Titanic Screensaver by Astro Gemini Software – A now-and-then screensaver featuring the famous Titanic.

Software Description

As Giveaway of the Day states:

“She was the biggest and the most luxurious liner of her time. But the maiden voyage of the “ship of dreams” ended as a nightmare. Dive into the depths of the Atlantic and explore the mysterious world of the Titanic imbued with the spirit of the past. See flashbacks of this beautiful vessel sailing across the ocean. This truly realistic setting will bring memories of the Titanic back to life. The story lives on…”

Quick Pros

• Modelling of the Titanic looks great
• Anti-aliasing does make a difference in appearance
• Soundtrack (And its differential from now and then) nice

Quick Cons

• Poor quality ‘growths’ on ship – Ocean life & sea bottom lacking
• Could really benefit from bump-mapping or pixel-shading
• 3 desktop icons needed? – One folder out of designated location

Expansion

So many screensavers out there this day and age, you have to do something unique to really stand out it seems. This screensaver, featuring the Titanic now and then, attempts to fit that market by featuring a part of our history in a unique way.

A few things really caught my eye with this screensaver. Not only are the transitions from now and then and back are inspiring, the models they flip to and from are very well done. While there is not a lot of minuscule details, there is enough to make it feel like the real thing (minus the people, of course.) Some screensavers I’ve done in the past with anti-aliasing support didn’t seem to do a great job of anti-aliasing for some reason. This isn’t the case. 4x anti-aliasing ends up turning out really smooth – No jagged edges could really be seen. The sound track was nice and calming as well, and the differential in music from now and then is not huge, but detectable. The little underwater explorer unit is interesting too.

A few things that could really use improvement is the atmosphere around the Titanic and the use of some more advanced features. In the ‘now’ (Underwater) portion, the ‘growths’ on the Titanic are a straight line of ‘growth’ – Does not look realistic at all, especially on the side of the Titanic. As well, the sea bottom lacks any real definition – Just a texture slapped on a somewhat-uneven surface. The sea life is a little quiet too and not much variety.

The screensaver could really benefit from a light amount of bump-mapping and possibly pixel-shading for sure. The rust on the ship in ‘now’ would look phenomenal with bump-mapping for example. The rust looks ‘flat’ as you drift by, giving no ‘definition’ of how deep the rust may be, just that it is there. It is amazing that screensavers for the most part don’t use bump-mapping or other technologies to try to give more ‘depth’ to their screensavers, to give the true ‘wow’ factor.

Final Verdict

All-in-all, besides my complaints, this screensaver (and specifically the Titanic) looks good. If you love the Titanic and its history, or even just love a little variety in your screensavers, this may suit you nice. For free, it is a great find for those interested. As for paying $19.95, the detail on the Titanic is good, however without top-notch features such as bump-mapping and well laid out environment around the ship, I couldn’t warrant spending $19.95 for it – Some may however find the value in this screensaver however.

Posted by BladedThoth on Sunday, June 03, 2007