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Demo News 127
.Start.of.DemoNews.127.........................................................
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DemoNews #127 - 23 Jul 1996
Subscribers : 2418
DemoNews is produced by Hornet. Change : +17
The Hornet Archive is at ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos Archive Size : 2834M
==[Contents]===================================================================
Calendar
Sites
Top Downloads
Uploads
Articles
Introduction................................Snowman
A Graphician's Tip Book - Part 4............Shaithis
Jim vs. Jim: Hardware Advances..............Rimbo & Trixter
NAID Log - Part 3/3.........................Trixter
A.C.E. CDROM Volume 3 Advertisement.........Gandalf
Closing
==[Calendar]===================================================================
Date Event Location Concact Points
--------- ----------- --------- ---------------------------------------------
28 Jun 96 Porno Finland suhonen@sci.fi
19 Jul 96 Flag Hungary tomcat2@ursus.bke.hu
* <-- YOU ARE HERE
25 Jul 96 Euskal Spain sabino@redestb.es
www.dit.upm.es/~alba/euskal
28 Jul 96 Summer Enc. Denmark rvc@vision.auc.dk
www.vision.auc.dk/diffusion/SE96
04 Aug 96 Summit Israel asafm@noam.co.il
www.noam.co.il/summit96
16 Aug 96 Assembly Finland assembly@assembly.org
www.assembly.org/asm96
22 Aug 96 TPTB France brunel@quaternet.fr
www.imaginet.fr/~dadu
30 Aug 96 AntIQ Hungary aboy@ttk.jpte.hu
www.jpte.hu/~aboy
21 Mar 97 Mekka Germany amable@aol.com
==[Sites]======================================================================
Category Location Contact Points
-------------- --------- ----------------------------------------------------
Hornet Archive USA ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos
HA Mirrors Sweden ftp.luth.se/pub/msdos/demos
S. Africa ftp.sun.ac.za/pub/msdos/demos
USA (FL) ftp.uwp.edu/pub/msdos/demos
USA (PA) ftp.co.iup.edu/code (from /demos/code)
Other Archives Belgium hagar.arts.kuleuven.ac.be/demos
Sweden ftp.arosnet.se/demo
Spain ftp.siapi.es/blastersound/demos/incoming
Finland ftp.fm.org
Web Sites Germany www.th-zwickau.de/~maz (MAZ Sound Tools)
Canada datex.ca/trax (images of #trax people)
USA www.jax-inter.net/users/mblocker/demos
Belgium hagar.arts.kuleuven.ac.be/~sdog/party.html
==[Downloads]==================================================================
Category Times File
-------- -- ----- -----------------------------------------------------------
Demos 01 00188 /demos/1995/a/animate.zip
02 00150 /demos/1993/s/symbolog.zip
03 00133 /demos/1995/n/nooon_st.zip
04 00112 /demos/1993/u/unreal11.zip
05 00101 /demos/1996/i/inside1.zip
Music 01 00061 /music/songs/1995/s3m/a/aryx.zip
02 00046 /music/disks/1996/f/fm-soul.zip
03 00044 /music/samples/sw-drums.zip
04 00039 /music/songs/1996/s3m/a/athought.zip
05 00038 /music/songs/1996/s3m/f/fm-mech8.zip
Graphics 01 00198 /graphics/images/1996/t/tigerkid.zip
02 00115 /graphics/images/1996/o/olivert.zip
03 00091 /graphics/images/1996/g/godsarmy.zip
04 00086 /graphics/images/1996/c/chantal.zip
05 00050 /graphics/images/1996/u/uf_man_m.zip
Code 01 00051 /code/tutorial/dn114_3d.zip
02 00048 /code/tutorial/dn116_3d.zip
03 00035 /code/tutorial/fh-3dtut.zip
04 00031 /code/graph/water/water.zip
05 00027 /code/tutorial/ctut2vla.zip
Incoming 01 00096 /incoming/mags/imphob12.zip
02 00084 /incoming/news/demonews.126
03 00074 /incoming/demos/campino.zip
04 00066 /incoming/demos/igloo_fl.zip
05 00062 /incoming/mags/imphob12.zip.good.good
06 00058 /incoming/news/demonews.125
07 00053 /incoming/MC4/news/mc4-news.003
08 00052 /incoming/demos/mir_nvas.zip
09 00050 /incoming/news/traxweek.063
10 00049 /incoming/demos/da_sleep.zip
Total number of files downloaded : 0055061
==[Uploads]====================================================================
All ratings are subjective.
=---------------------------------------------------------------------(alpha)-=
/pub/demos/alpha Size Rated Description
=-----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
/1994/p/przintro.zip 91 *+ First Intro by Pornorockerz
/1994/t/tlhxmas.zip 263 **+ Xmas 1994 by The Last Hackers
/1995/m/mzoom10a.zip 387 *** Mandelbrot zoomer by Borislav Deianov
/1996/c/campino.zip 872 *** Campino by Phoenix+Virtual Rage
/1996/d/dbwedtro.zip 495 ** Dubious Wedtro by Tonic+Cube+Sol+Teque
/1996/e/e_demov2.zip 152 [n/a] PRN96:demo:??: ?? by ??
/1996/e/exc01.zip 75 * First release pack by Exclusive
/1996/f/fd_rikki.zip 241 *** Sarki by Fobia Design
/1996/f/fimpact.zip 112 *+ First Impact by Helix
/1996/g/g-8hakka.zip 42 ** PRN96:in80:01: Hakkapeliitta 10 by Gender 8
/1996/h/hrm_dild.zip 766 + PRN96:demo:??: Dildah by Hirmu
/1996/h/hrm_tit.zip 580 *+ PRN96:demo:??: Tissi by Hirmu
/1996/i/io_hype.zip 307 **+ TS96:demo:06: Hype by Inner Option
/1996/m/mir_nvas.zip 1095 ***+ NAID96:demo:05: Never Assume by Miracle
/1996/p/paska1.zip 34 + PRN96:in80:02: Paska by Jallu Soft
/1996/p/paska3.zip 246 [n/a] PRN96:demo:??: ?? by ??
/1996/p/plug_ins.zip 224 ** Plug-Ins by YOE
/1996/p/psreal.zip 112 *+ Pseudoreality by Darkness
/1996/s/sen-isp.zip 177 *+ Interstellar Phenomenon by Sensorium
/1996/s/skr_cunt.zip 402 * PRN96:demo:??: Pillunvoittodemo by Skraappa
| Skruuppi
/1996/z/zorro200.zip 278 * PRN96:demo:??: ?? by ??
=---------------------------------------------------------------------(music)-=
/pub/demos/music Size Rated Description
=-----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
/disks/1996/0-9/6solluti.zip 1266 *** 6 Solutions by Scooba
/disks/1996/j/jt_mon.zip 970 **** Various Songs by Jeroen Tel
/disks/1996/p/ph-0696b.zip 1229 *** [2/2] pHluid #8 by Acid
/disks/1996/t/tf-chips.zip 74 *** Bag O' Chipz by Stalker
/disks/1996/t/tnv_0696.zip 1556 * June '96 Pack by Terra Nova
/songs/1994/s3m/c/cymind.zip 73 **+ Mind Controller by Cyclone
/songs/1995/s3m/c/cgs-gm.zip 166 *** Guitar Mania by Cygnes
/songs/1995/s3m/c/cgs-ode2.zip 364 *** Ode to Jodie Sweetin (part 2) by
| Cygnes
/songs/1995/s3m/c/cgs-sky.zip 264 *** Above the Sky by Cygnes
/songs/1995/s3m/c/china.zip 101 *** China by Renegade
/songs/1995/s3m/c/cnation.zip 66 **+ Cybernetic Nation by Cyclone
/songs/1995/s3m/c/cycages.zip 87 *** Crystal Cages by Cyclone
/songs/1995/s3m/c/cylife.zip 80 ***+ Life Force by Cyclone
/songs/1995/s3m/d/dance4me.zip 101 **+ Dance 4 Me by Renegade
/songs/1995/s3m/m/melody1.zip 145 **** Magic Melody One by Welti
/songs/1995/s3m/v/voyage.zip 151 **+ Voyage of Discovery by Zagiamor
| Spellweaver
/songs/1995/s3m/w/w-mff.zip 290 *** Magic Flowers Flight by Welti
/songs/1995/s3m/z/zense_2.zip 237 **+ Zensation II by Cayo
/songs/1995/xm/p/pb_witch.zip 244 *** Witch Doctor by Point Blank
/songs/1996/it/m/missufo.zip 229 ***+ Mission UFO by DrDoom
/songs/1996/it/n/nex-emer.zip 473 ***+ Emersion by Nexus
/songs/1996/it/o/orc-core.zip 1043 **+ The Core by Crimelord
/songs/1996/mod/i/it-where.zip 78 ** Where I Am by It-Alien
/songs/1996/mod/m/m_drift.zip 222 **+ Drift by Carebear
/songs/1996/mod/m/m_palel.zip 311 **+ Parallel by Substance
/songs/1996/mod/m/m_stra.zip 283 *** Strange Comings EP by Dreamfish
/songs/1996/s3m/c/caperain.zip 206 ** Cape Rain by Boydroid
/songs/1996/s3m/c/ccs-iner.zip 210 ***+ Inertia by Replay of Carcass
/songs/1996/s3m/c/ccs-mean.zip 223 ***+ Meaning by Dynamic Harmony of
| Carcass
/songs/1996/s3m/c/ccs-pov.zip 207 *** Point of View by Replay of Carcass
/songs/1996/s3m/c/ccs-worm.zip 187 ***+ Wormhole (radio edit) by Replay of
| Carcass
/songs/1996/s3m/c/cicatriz.zip 93 ***+ Cicatriz by Parity
/songs/1996/s3m/c/cityscap.zip 145 *** Cityscape by Cyclone
/songs/1996/s3m/c/cival.zip 161 *** The Forgotten Civilization by Bishop
/songs/1996/s3m/c/clunkscr.zip 48 + Clank (scrape remix) by Ensanguined
/songs/1996/s3m/c/continen.zip 156 **+ Continental Shifts by TNT
/songs/1996/s3m/c/culture.zip 156 *** Culture Clash by Fizz
/songs/1996/s3m/c/cy-csnap.zip 182 **+ Coldsnap by Cylus
/songs/1996/s3m/c/cyberott.zip 121 ** Cybernet in Rotterdam by Jester
/songs/1996/s3m/d/dancing.zip 288 **+ Dancing With You by Divilish
/songs/1996/s3m/d/dc5-bors.zip 140 **+ Borschtiibilitiitielilies by Necros
| of Dennis Courtney 5
/songs/1996/s3m/d/de-cact.zip 275 **** Cactus Plant by Dark Ember
/songs/1996/s3m/d/de-mix.zip 352 *** The Party Mix by Dark Ember
/songs/1996/s3m/d/deliverd.zip 48 * Deliverance of Death by Stratocaster
/songs/1996/s3m/d/dismalde.zip 110 * Dismal Decay by Stratocaster
/songs/1996/s3m/d/dmi-cnfm.zip 223 *** Conformity by Stavross of Damage
| Incorporated
/songs/1996/s3m/d/dmirecg.zip 268 *** Recognition by Stavross of Damage
| Incorporated
/songs/1996/s3m/d/dny-mind.zip 192 *** The Truth About the Mind by Paco of
| Dinasty
/songs/1996/s3m/d/dny-they.zip 205 *** They're Watchin' Me by Digital Pain
| of Dinasty
/songs/1996/s3m/d/dream.zip 285 ***+ Will I Dream by X-Prodica
/songs/1996/s3m/d/dscreams.zip 545 **+ Dancing Screams by Soundmaster
/songs/1996/s3m/d/dubu74.zip 213 ***+ Sky Skating by DJ Kike
/songs/1996/s3m/d/dubu77.zip 360 **+ Fast Dancing by DJ Kike
/songs/1996/s3m/d/dubu78.zip 141 *** Imagine by DJ Kike
/songs/1996/s3m/i/ifindyou.zip 136 *+ Eye Will Find U by Boydroid
/songs/1996/s3m/l/lords.zip 141 **+ Lords of the Sky by Araelien
/songs/1996/s3m/m/manual.zip 307 **+ Manual Override Disabled by TNT
/songs/1996/s3m/m/mdream.zip 277 **+ More Than a Dream by Araelien
/songs/1996/s3m/n/neverend.zip 258 *** Neverending Lies by TNT
/songs/1996/s3m/n/no-strik.zip 164 ***+ HammerStrike by Delta X
/songs/1996/s3m/o/oq-8q.zip 294 *** Rainbow People, 8q nite edit by
| Octoque
/songs/1996/s3m/o/oq-aes.zip 231 *** Afrika Aesthetics by Octoque
/songs/1996/s3m/o/oq-aura.zip 90 **+ Aurora Borealis by Octoque
/songs/1996/s3m/o/oq-crap.zip 108 **+ Extreme by Octoque
/songs/1996/s3m/o/oq-freq.zip 89 ***+ Afrika Frequency 9 by Octoque
/songs/1996/s3m/o/oq-matka.zip 175 ***+ Matkustaya by Octoque
/songs/1996/s3m/o/oq-panda.zip 57 **+ Save Pandas by Octoque
/songs/1996/s3m/o/oq-rainf.zip 210 *** Let the Rain Fall by Octoque
/songs/1996/s3m/o/oq-resta.zip 228 *** Restaurant by Octoque
/songs/1996/s3m/o/oq-silly.zip 64 ***+ It Was a Silly Day by Octoque
/songs/1996/s3m/u/ur-invas.zip 188 ** The Invasion by Uranium
/songs/1996/s3m/u/use-drgl.zip 6 *** Dragon's Lair Remix by Mix the Brain
| of USE
/songs/1996/s3m/u/use-ichi.zip 37 **+ Ichi Hori Shinjirarenai by Mix the
| Brain of USE
/songs/1996/s3m/u/use-tfxt.zip 20 **** TFx Theme by Mix the Brain of USE
/songs/1996/s3m/v/vi_metal.zip 111 * Metalmorphosis by Violator
/songs/1996/s3m/v/vmc1etlv.zip 181 ** Eternal Love by DJ Mind
/songs/1996/s3m/v/vmc1meip.zip 235 *+ Mega Infinity Power by DJ Mind
/songs/1996/s3m/v/vmc1moon.zip 220 *** Moondwinds by Garfield
/songs/1996/s3m/v/vmc1tosd.zip 321 ** The Other Side by DJ Mind
/songs/1996/s3m/w/webber.zip 84 *+ Webber Child by Boydroid
/songs/1996/s3m/w/white.zip 60 **+ Intense White by Dark Ember
/songs/1996/s3m/w/world.zip 60 ** World by Kaspar
/songs/1996/s3m/w/wppeals2.zip 24 ** West Point Peals by Paul Watkins
/songs/1996/s3m/w/wr-ssoul.zip 392 **+ Sacrifice Your Soul by Wraith
/songs/1996/s3m/x/x5.zip 11 *+ Catch that Skaven by Goblin
/songs/1996/s3m/x/xc-xenog.zip 236 ***+ Xenogenesis by Xenoc
/songs/1996/s3m/z/zn-micro.zip 3 *** Mike Rowchip by Zinc
/songs/1996/s3m/z/zn-trust.zip 113 **+ Trust (604 mix) by Zinc
/songs/1996/xm/e/ef-culle.zip 165 ** Cullerin Plain by El Futplex
/songs/1996/xm/e/enough.zip 487 *+ I Had Enough by Peals
/songs/1996/xm/e/ez-jaca.zip 230 ** Jacaranda by Erno Helen
/songs/1996/xm/e/ez-rcove.zip 328 **+ Recoverance by Erno Helen
/songs/1996/xm/f/float.zip 103 *+ Floating In The Space by Maza
/songs/1996/xm/f/flp-ac01.zip 186 ** Solo Flight by Archon
/songs/1996/xm/f/flp-dn01.zip 135 *+ New Life by Dangtrin
/songs/1996/xm/g/g_boes.zip 72 *** Boesendorfer P.S.S. by GBlues
/songs/1996/xm/g/gizzard.zip 60 * Gizzard by Maza
/songs/1996/xm/g/gti-jump.zip 591 **+ See You Jumping by The Borg
/songs/1996/xm/h/hnz-isth.zip 1666 ***+ Is There a God? by Hunz
/songs/1996/xm/n/no-davea.zip 461 *** Daveangelesque by Jimmy Redfern
/songs/1996/xm/n/no-jdawn.zip 77 ***+ Jungle Dawn by Jimmy Redfern
/songs/1996/xm/p/pandemon.zip 57 ** Pandemonium by Maza
/songs/1996/xm/p/partheno.zip 85 ** Parthenogenesis by Maza
/songs/1996/xm/p/pb_angel.zip 274 **+ Dark Angel by Point Blank
/songs/1996/xm/p/pb_love.zip 122 ***+ Lost Love by Point Blank
/songs/1996/xm/p/piano.zip 38 **+ The Piano Song by Decker
/songs/1996/xm/p/pt-night.zip 204 *** Nightwalker by P-Tec
==[Articles]===================================================================
=-----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
:: "Introduction"
:: Snowman / Hornet - r3cgm@cdrom.com
_____Introduction
Hello all, and welcome to DemoNews issue 127.
This is the 97th issue of DemoNews I've contributed to in some way. Just
over two and a half years have passed since I asked Dan Wright if I could
help further the "vision". One might think that by now I'd feel pretty
secure with my role in the scene. Nothing could be further from the truth.
A few weeks ago an advertisement was sent to include DemoNews; A.C.E. BBS was
releasing a new demo CDROM. My initial reaction was "I can't print that!
It's in competition with our Hornet Underground CD". So I didn't print it.
Two weeks passed and I received an inquiry... "why wasn't the advertisement
included in DemoNews?" A brief discussion followed, after which I resolved
something very important.
Walnut Creek CDROM is my job. The Demo Scene is my hobby. A fuzzy area
exists where the two meet (i.e. Hornet Underground). The goal in making HU
was twofold: give security to the growing archive on ftp.cdrom.com, and
provide a fairly inexpensive method of mass-data transfer to the scene.
I started thinking about A.C.E.'s project and my reasons for not printing
their ad. I realized that I can't, in good conscious, allow my employment to
cloud the "vision". The demo scene is (and should remain) a hobby free from
commercial pressures. Included in this issue of DemoNews you will find that
A.C.E. advertisement. Buy their CD and support the scene.
_____NAID (almost over)
NAID is finally wrapping up. Some of you may have been under the impression
that NAID finished two months ago. Not so. :) Trixter and I (and perhaps a
couple special guests) are going to be working heavily during this week to
finish up the NAID report and CD. If you have any comments, requests,
video/audio clips, pictures, pictures, or pictures, please do contact me as
soon as humanly possible. BTW: Did I mention we want more pictures?
_____Miscellany
/music has now officially entered the realm of HA4. Look for full searching
capability soon on our web pages.
A new link has been added to our main page... Demo Java! See your Pentium
Pro brought to its knees by effects that were done smoothly on a 386. If
nothing else, they're pretty nifty to look at.
Music Contest 4 judging has begun.
A new Imphobia was released. I'll have a review of it next issue.
_____Conclusion
We are up another 17 subscribers this week. That in itself is not impressive
or noteworthy. However, I'd like to single out one new subscriber in
particular. My dad. He might not hand-code optimized assembler, create
graphics in Deluxe Paint or tunes in Fast Tracker 2, but I'd pit him against
my DemoNews formatting skills any day. Who knows, we might even beat Trixter
(soon-to-be parent) in having the first father/son combo in the scene. :)
=-----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
:: "A Graphician's Tip Book - Part 4"
:: Shaithis / Psychic Monks, Immortal Coil - shaithis@dreamscape.com
_____Introduction
Well, it has come to my attention (actually I was pretty sure of this but it
is now confirmed), that DeluxePaint IIe is, sadly, out of print. However, I
am certain it can be picked up at a discount software warehouse, or through a
catalogue, or something. I have also sent a letter of query to Electronic
Arts (the publishers), to find out if there is any other way of acquiring it.
We shall see.
My thanks to Glenn Meader for confirming that suspicion.
Alright. On with Dpaint. For those of who who don't remember, I hadn't
finished talking about the gradient tool last time. Of course, I could
probably write a 300 page text on that particular tool, but I'll try to
finish up the important parts in this article.
_____Facts
*FACT* Using the base dpaint palette is not a good way to impress other
artists. ;) Alter it to produce the best looking picture possible.
*FACT* Working in grey-scale will give you the most shading versatility, as
you can designate color 1 as black, color 256 as white, and the other 254 as
shades of grey in between. However, grey-scale work (obviously) lacks color.
I personally would recommend that if you wish to use color, you have no more
than four 32-color gradients. This will allow you to use a palette trick
that I'll have time to explain in my next article (which will, in turn,
actually give you eight 32-color gradients).
*FACT* The gradients you produce do not necessarily have to be used in
conjunction with the methods allowed by the fill tool. This is something I
see often in new artists, a tendency to have straight-gradient fills. You
can create a much more stunning effect by using the gradients to define your
palette, and then laying down the colors pixel-by-pixel, or even using the
fill tool and then "tweaking" it by hand.
*FACT* The gradient tool has its flaws. Try making a gradient that runs from
purple to yellow without hitting brown somewhere along the line. Not
possible if you're simply "spreading" between the two initial colors. You
must do something similar to this:
Alter color one so it is canary yellow. Alter color seventeen so it is
lime green. Alter color Thirty three so it is Royal Blue, and make color
Forty nine your desired purple. Now spread yellow to green, green to
blue, and blue to purple.
Keep in mind that sometimes getting that brown in there can be useful. Often
you will find that anti-aliasing your edges requires colors you would not
have initially suspected (but more on that next time).
*FACT* The gradient tool is a great way to produce art work. It's also an
easy tool to get carried with, to the point where every object in your piece
contains a 32 color straight gradient, and when people look at it, it makes
them feel like their eyes are going to pop out of their heads.
There really isn't much more I can say about the gradient tool without going
way too in depth for this article. Experiment. Try new things. Don't be
afraid to play around with it. It's exceptionally useful.
_____The Rose Tool
The rose tool is fun. I like playing with it. I use it to make interesting
textures for backgrounds, or in conjunction with the smooth tool to simulate
texture mapping on objects (That'll come in the tips-n-trix section though).
When you use the rose tool, whatever you draw is automatically redrawn in six
other areas of the screen. Use it once or twice, especially with a red
brush, and you'll understand why I call it the rose tool. It can also be
used with other brushes, gradients, the smooth tool, the smear tool, and just
about anything else to create some very interesting effects. Much like the
pattern tool, however, most experienced artists rarely use the rose tool,
because its results are so distinct that everyone else knows how you achieved
the effect. :)
_____Conclusion
That's the column for this month. It's a little shorter than last month's,
but things have been extremely hectic around here, and I forgot to write it
until Snowman sent me a message going "Hey, stupid..."
Next time we'll discuss the various "finalizing" type affects available in
Dpaint, especially the anti-alias technique, and I'll finally get around to
explaining that palette-trick I've been hinting at. Promise.
=-----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
:: "Jim vs. Jim: Hardware Advances"
:: Trixter / Hornet - trixter@ftp.cdrom.com
:: Rimbo / Hornet - rimbo@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
_____Introduction
What direction should the demo scene go? Should the demo scene embrace new
technology, or will doing that end the art of using programming tricks?
Trixter (T) and Rimbo (R) disagree, in our first installment of:
Jim vs. Jim: Hardware Advances
_____The Debate
R: Right now, I think your criticism of the scene's direction is unfounded.
The PC is developing in a direction right now that it hasn't developed
since the PC demo scene really started having a chance to flourish. I see
three problems with hardware tweaking alone remaining the soul of the demo
scene: Most of the hardware that we define as "standard" hasn't changed in
the past few years, whereas standards changed a lot before that; most of
the standard hardware has already been tweaked to its potential by the
likes of Tran and Psi; and nobody wants to watch a demo that does
something new with ancient technology.
T: As usual, Jim, you've completely missed my point. The origin of the
scene, on all platforms, was not entirely based on what you call 'hardware
tweaking.' It was based on *tricks*, on coding secrets, techniques, and
shortcuts that you could use to achieve something not normally possible on
that class of computer. (And if it wasn't exactly what you were trying to
achieve, it looked real darn close.) While your argument of 'every
hardware tweak has been done' is about 90% true, that's not even close to
what I'm talking about.
R: But if not hardware tweaking, what? You can't possibly expect me to
believe that using X&7 instead of X MOD 8 is some secret coder's trick --
it's not obvious, but it's as close to being obvious as you can get.
There are only so many tricks of that nature that can be done. I think
what you're forgetting is that pipeline optimizations, for the Pentium and
Pentium Pro, blow open a whole new era of tricks for coders.
T: By tricks, I mean different methods of doing things. For example, using
lookup tables instead of calculating things with the FPU. From a larger
standpoint, emulating things that look correct without actually being
correct, like Dope / Complex (Dope was 100% environment mapping except for
the fractal landscape and "Larusse" clouds). These have nothing to do
with enhanced features like pipelining. I'm worried that people will
forget about tricks like that and blame it on the hardware if it's not
fast enough.
R: About those tricks: Most of the tricks that were used to get nice 3D
objects working on a 386 look nasty on a machine that can do the same
things without the tricks -- Amnesia's 3D vector world looks absolutely
horrible, and even Wildfire's plasma-cube and the objects in Crystal
Dreams 2 have visible flaws when the objects rotate.
T: That doesn't make any sense at all. They look the same on a Pentium as
they do on a 486 and 386. Faster hardware does not induce artifacts. Any
loss of coordinate resolution was the fault of the person coding his first
run of 3D coordinate systems (using 8.8 instead of 16.16, or something
similar).
In the old days (5-6 years ago) on the PC scene, hardware scrolling and
coppers were the rage. Today it's 3D effects because there's not much
more you can do with the hardware that is impressive. I'm not saying we
should go back to hardware effects -- I'm saying that we should go back to
the days of clever coding. It was never about hardware effects only.
So why bring that up? Because if people start coding demos for newer,
accelerated video cards, then the art of democoding is lost. Demos would
become the art of visions and 3D objects, not the art of coding. Sure,
you could write the keyframer and other parts, but over 90% of the time is
spent in the polyfiller, so where's the fun in that? And accelerated
cards do little to nothing for chunky effects like texture/plasma warping,
etc. And yes, this viewpoint extends to the Gravis Ultrasound. I'm not
saying that we should abandon it -- I'm just saying that more people
should support the Sound Blaster. It's a cool trick emulating Amiga/GUS
hardware in software.
R: I disagree that 3D effects are the only direction we can go to impress
with fancy hardware. I think that people in the demo scene have just got
into a rut with 3D because they haven't really thought about what they can
do and because they can get a good game-programming job doing it later.
They'd do sprites as well, except that sprites are less impressive.
I concur with you on the Sound Blaster, but for the same reason that I
think you're wrong about 3D cards. Unlike the C64, advances are
continually being made on the PC -- and unlike the Amiga, those advances
are only occasionally standardized. So we have, in the PC scene, two
types of advances: advances in hardware, and advances in standards.
When the Sound Blaster originally came out, it was a hardware advance. If
there was anything about it that was close to standard, it was the fact
that it was Adlib-compatible; but nobody would consider releasing
something that supported it alone. Most advances are like this. However,
Creative Labs was fortunate -- now, you have to make an effort to purchase
a new computer that lacks a Sound Blaster 16 or compatible sound card.
There is no question that it is a standard. This is a standard advance.
The PC demoscene is not like other demoscenes; nobody wants to see a demo
designed for yesteryear's equipment except for those who have it, and it
is wrong to discourage demo groups from trying to take advantage of things
which will obviously be next year's standards, such as the Pentium chip.
There are certain optimizations one can make on the Pentium which can't be
made on any other chip -- for example, its floating-point capabilities are
amazing. We can now not only show off the speed of our 3D worlds, but
also their accuracy.
T: We can *already* show off their accuracy. Have you ever programmed a 3D
system? In a demo, you only need 16.16 to show things accurately. A game
is different, but we're talking about demos, not games. Even if you
needed 32.32, who says you *need* an FPU for that? (Hint: You don't.)
R: What about the GUS? Clearly, within the demo scene, it is part of the
standard. There's nothing wrong with the PC demo scene having its own
standards -- imagine someone who was a game-player who didn't own any kind
of joystick, or someone in the business world without MS Excel. So you
can't criticize the GUS -- yes, we need to write software for the Sound
Bastard, it is a standard everywhere else; but the GUS is still a
demoscene standard. In many cases it is the only thing that allows some
demos to run at reasonable framerates on slower machines.
You say that the art of democoding will be lost if people start coding for
3D cards. There are several problems with this. First of all, as you
said, for texture-warping effects and the like, 3D cards will be useless.
Secondly, what about the art of demo design? Won't this give demo design
a chance to improve? Thirdly, there is no 3D hardware standard. There
won't ever be one. There is, however, a software standard -- the Windows
'95 API. Which brings me to something else.
Demo coders are going to have to learn how to deal with Windows 95,
because as much as we all despise it, it is a fact of life. (My favorite
method: BOOTGUI=0 in MSDOS.SYS.)
T: If you want to use accelerated hardware to make a 'demo', then use 3DSMax
on Windows NT to do it. If you want to make a *real* demo, then code it
yourself and don't rely on the hardware to do anything for you. You can't
'trick' a 3D accelerated video card.
=-----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
:: "NAID Log - Part 3/3"
:: Trixter / Hornet - trixter@ftp.cdrom.com
[... continued from DemoNews.126]
_____June 2nd
12:30pm:
Drove with Snowman to White Noise's house to take a shower. Snowman, being
as anal as he is, :-) takes the first shower while I sit in the reading room
awaiting my turn. White Noise's father, who I was told speaks no English at
all, sees me and says "salut". I respond with "salut", being as courteous as
I can.
He then says something that completely blows by me, so I respond with my best
attempt at "Je ne parle pas francais, parce que ma francais est tres mal,"
which was meant to be "I don't speak french, because my French is very bad."
He then responds in very good English, "No it's not! Your French is just
fine." I am so surprised that I stammer something unintelligible. He then
laughs and continues on his way.
Quebec is really cool. :-)
1:30pm:
Snowman and I return to the compo, only to hear that the demo compo has been
delayed a bit. I'm nervous. We go to Subway to get a bite to eat, and see
Snibble / DCB eating there already. He's not nervous at all. :-)
1:50pm:
The Wild compo has started, and is turning out to be a more fun than I
thought it would be. Some of the things that have happened are: Miss Saigon
sang a song; some guy rapped to an .IT module he wrote; a really cool
animation of a Star Wars sequence was played on the big screen; and one of
the NAID volunteers did a magic/comedy show. The magic show was a bit corny,
but better than I thought it would be.
2:30pm:
The demo compo has started. The organizers have gotten into a habit of
switching into the entries directory, then typing "CD " and then just
waiting. Many coders in the audience, myself included, wait for what seems
like an eternity for them to type the first letter of the directory they're
going to switch into, so they can see if it's their demo or not.
My demo is the 4th or 5th demo to play. All I can think while it's playing
is "Please don't bug, please don't bug, please don't bug..."
My demo ends, and the credits screen stays for a bit before exiting. *There
is absolute silence*, probably because people expect a little bit more. My
heart is stopped -- why isn't anyone making a sound? Do they hate it? A
moment later, when the DOS prompt appears, I hear the loudest applause I've
ever heard. All the people around me start shaking my hand. I am so happy!
I feel like it was all worth it, regardless of the final placement.
DCB is *NEXT* (dang! :-) and my feeling of being #1 quickly fades, since the
effects got the crowd speechless, and they deserved to. I especially liked
the robot walking in time to the excellent music. It is clear that this demo
is going to win if something equally impressive doesn't happen.
Craw Production's demo is next, "Into the Infinity", and it has (again) a
really great theme. Some of the code could be a little tighter, but the
effects are *seamless*, which is a coding nightmare and hard to perfect
(although LaKEE has a good handle on it). I am very pleasantly surprised to
see my name in the greets section at the end of the demo, although I can't
fathom why I'm greeted, since I've exchanged about one or two pieces of email
with them, tops. I can't say I object, though; they'll get a greet in my
final version.
5:00pm:
After the compo, I go with Craw productions and DCB (and others) to eat
dinner at Harvey's, a local fast food joint right across from the CEGEP. We
all sort-of know that we are going to be fighting for first place, but we
talk about much cooler stuff instead.
DCB and Force 10 sit in one area, making it a French-only section, and Craw
and I (and Kiwidog, Basehead, Skie and Diablo) sit in the other, making jokes
about demos and silly coding problems. They laugh at the
"freemem(palette,64000)" problem I had earlier, because they *understand*
what is funny about it, which made me feel good.
Basehead and Skie are publicly intimate for the first time during the party,
and I am reminded of Melissa. I miss her very much, and wish that someday I
can show her firsthand what this experience is like.
6:30pm:
It seems as if almost half the people left after the compo was over. Tran
had to leave right before the compo even started because otherwise his ride
would leave without him, which really sucked. I think he would've been
intrigued by the entries this year -- The DCB demo, for instance, was full of
fakes (just like every demo, actually), but the fakes were very clever, like
the lights coming out of the cube.
8:00pm:
The closing ceremonies are underway, and already I am pleasantly shocked:
PeriSoft won 2nd place in the graphics compo! Who would've thought? I will
stop making jokes at Peri's expense from now on. I had no idea he could draw
that well.
The person from ACiD wins 1st place in the graphics compo. Even though he
deserves it, the only people who are clapping are ACiD people because of the
previous music incident. After he goes up to accept his award, he makes this
completely retarded "homeboy" speech that is really dorky. At this point I
lean forward to Basehead and say, "I'm getting the feeling that the ACiD guys
act the same way in real life as they do online." He responds with, "The iCE
guys don't, but yeah, the ACiD guys do." I seriously hope ACiD works on this
-- they really do have talent buried somewhere underneath all that eLiTe
attitude crap.
The demo compo results are announced -- 3rd place is Hornet. I can't believe
it -- Phred and I did it! I am so happy that I don't stand up at first, and
someone has to give me a push. The entire 7 of us tee-shirted Hornet crew go
up, and I make a short goofy speech:
"I'm actually very very bad at giving speeches, so I'll just give you the
reason... [MED adjusts the microphone for Trixter, he says "MED to the
rescue as always"] give you the reason... I started demo coding in 1990,
simply because I found it amazing because of all the things you can do with
a computer, but I stay in it because of the people. And so that's really,
for the last two years, why I've stayed. So hopefully, we will take these
wonderful organizers lead and have our own parties in our own provinces and
states."
Yeah, it's a little goofy, but I didn't have a speech planned -- I thought
that the demo coded by Grimace, or the team #coders demo, or the Surrounders
demo would beat me, since they were longer than mine and had some nice code.
Craw Productions gets 2nd place; DCB gets 1st. No big surprise to me,
actually, since the Craw demo had great design, and the DCB demo had great
code. Instead of announcing the 1st place by speaking into the microphone,
they play the demo through again with all the lights turned out. It is still
a good demo. :)
9:00pm:
Everyone books to get their stuff packed up because NAID is being taken down
in a hurry and we'll all get thrown out at 10:30. Goodbyes are quick, as
everyone is harried to get everything out of CEGEP. I feel quite guilty at
this point, since I really wanted to help Struk, MEd, and Mr. Khan clean up.
I hope they understand...
While I pack up my stuff, I find myself trying to figure out why I placed
higher than Grimace's demo, the Surrounder's demo, and others; I finally tack
it up to a couple of things:
- Mine had a clean feel (no bugs--well, none that showed on-screen)
- Most effects (except transparency) ran at the full frame rate
- It was synced to the music more than most demos
- Had real big audience impact at the end. :)
The inverse of those can be said for the others that I was worried about:
some had bugs that showed up (pixel over/underflow on the poly rendering).
Some parts weren't synced to the music--in fact, I don't think any demos were
synced to the music at all except for me, Craw's, and DCB's. (Whoa, a
trend--all three of us placed in the top three. Something to note...) Some
demos went from effect to effect to effect so quickly that the audience
didn't have time to catch it.
But most importantly, never underestimate your audience. A good demo has new
effects that have never been seen before. The scene is at a loss for new
effects, and the audience only applauds for new effects. (Well, not always,
but my limited compo experience (two compos) has shown that.)
That last paragraph sounds a bit pretentious; I'm sorry. I'll move on.
11:00pm:
DCB, the organizers, Hornet, White Noise, Mellow-D, and other people are
hanging around outside, trying to figure out what to do. We can't all decide
on a place to go; the "natives" want to go to a local restaurant, but the
"outsiders" want to go to Draggy's house to go to an all-night restaurant in
Montreal.
Snowman comes up to me and says, quite matter-of-factly, "Mellow-D is now a
member of Hornet. He asked, I accepted." Now *that's* something I never
would have expected. Wow.
11:30pm:
We are still outside talking to everyone, trying to decide what to do.
I've learned from a demo judge (that will remain anonymous) that:
- My position in 3rd place was always a given; only the 1st and 2nd was a
debate.
- The debate for 1st and 2nd was the classic struggle between design and
code -- one had great design; the other had great code.
While it was wrong for someone to tell me this, I would be lying if this
particular piece of information didn't secretly make me very happy.
I also hear people talking about Mellow-D's song--it got 4th place.
12:00am:
After about an hour of debate as to where we should go to eat, we split for
the last time, and I say goodbye to Struk, having just met his girlfriend,
who I realize was the one helping him with the final ceremonies. After a
15-minute trek to Montreal, we find Draggy's house, and with DCB in tow, we
go to find a local restaurant.
12:30am:
I can describe this restaurant in one word: Dennys. ;-) (It's not Dennys,
of course, but it's very similar to it.) I am introduced to an item that
White Noise tells me the society of Quebec invented: Poutine. It's a made up
word that describes french fries covered in gravy and cheese. It sounds
gross, but at 12:30am when everyone is a little punchy, it's the *perfect*
food substance. Late-night food incarnate.
Aahz tags along with us, and I get my first indication of everyone else's
impression of him: All 19 of us sit down at three six-person tables, and
Aahz is the odd man out. He looks around solemnly, like the kid who didn't
get picked for the baseball team. Someone takes pity on him and makes room.
Like I wrote earlier, I wonder if he knows how he affects people.
1:00am:
We are getting very silly, probably from being so tired. Floss is helping me
recreate the scene from MAD TV about the hillbillies that help "fix" a
doctor's patients. ("He's a purty one!" "He sure is!" "We're gonna make you
alllll better!") Khyron is cracking us up with his impression of a honkey
black man, calling himself "Khyronella". ("Yo, take this dope tip from
Khyronella.") I haven't finished my Poutine because the serving is so big.
Snowman obliges me.
_____Conclusion
And so, here I am, getting ready for bed at GD's house and typing this up,
and wondering where to go next... Probably to sleep, actually, and then
driving home. I don't know what having a baby in January 1997 will do to my
involvement in the demo scene, but whatever happens, I'll always remember the
culture and friendship for the rest of my life.
Maybe I'll code a demo to be released just for fun, not at a compo or
anything... Maybe I'll lay low and do the dirty coding work for Hornet...
Maybe I'll start writing letters to people in the scene--real hand-written
letters--and sending disks through the mail, just like the best scene ever,
the C64 scene.
I don't really know. I don't have any role models to look at; most people my
age and experience have dropped out the scene by this point due to "real
life", which I'm about to enter.
Well, whatever happens, I'm sure I'll be the 40-year-old guy at some future
compo explaining to the new blood in some older, wiser voice that "in my day,
we didn't code everything in Java! We wrote programs in hand-optimized
assembler and reprogrammed the video card for speed -- and we *loved* it!"
Actually, that pertains to the entire demo scene and always will: The C64
people like to point out that they did 3D vectors in *assembler* on a *1 MHz*
machine with *64K* of RAM that *couldn't even divide.* And the scary part
is, they're telling the truth.
With apologies to Andy Warhol, I've had my 15 minutes of fame.
It felt damn good.
_____Epilogue
Since the three weeks I originally wrote this, I've coded and released an
intro just for fun, and I did some of the dirty coding work for Hornet, so I
guess I know what track I'm on. :-) I hope I can give my son/daughter some
of the same joy that I received at NAID being with several friends with
similar interests--although it might not be computers; it might be baseball
instead. :-) Also, since June 1st, Byterapers returned from the grave and
entered a PC demo that won a compo. Also, Vibrants are officially on the PC
now, and so is Oxygene, with their excellent demo Contrast. Maybe there's
room for old-timers like us after all. :)
Jim Leonard - 03 Jun 1996
=-----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
:: "A.C.E. CDROM Volume 3 Advertisement"
:: Gandalf - cdace@ace.epita.fr
The Demos Collection Volume #3 CDROM...
_____Introduction
Hi! I write for the first time in Demonews, even I read every issue ;), to
introduce you to our latest production (after 2 months of hard work on it).
One year has passed since #2, but we finally succeeded in completing the
third CD of our demos collection. This one is a dual CD, and we think it's
just great... hope you will enjoy it.
This CD includes almost all the demos on PC released between 06/95 and 06/96
We made this CD in order to spread the demos wider than through our board
because a lot of people still don't have any modem access (BBS and/or Inet).
and also to free some HDD space! :)
Its price is very low because we don't want to make any profit from the
scene. Of course, we *DO* make some profit but it is all re-invested in a
non-profit association controlled by french state, in order to pay the phone
lines and hardware upgrades of the BBS. It also allow us to offer free email
and news access to all french demo groups, and of course to pay next volumes.
:-)
That's why we consider this is NOT a commercial production, because none of
us make any personal profit: all the money is for the board, the best demo
scene support available in France since 1993. We are also giving several CDs
for different parties prices, like Saturne or Wired.
_____Sysops Warning
A.C.E CDs are *NOT* bbs ready. they are for individual use, all the demos are
unpacked, and so most of them can be run directly from the CD (unless they
must have write access, etc.) Of course, all the files (.nfo, .diz, ...) are
kept.
We are not like Walnut Creek CDROM, i.e. we're not a company that makes 1000s
of CDs. As a result, we are unable to give one free CD to every contributor,
even we would really love to do this.
But at least you can find a vote text on each CD and vote for the best
productions. All winners will receive a free CD of his choice (from ACE
productions).
_____Contents
A.C.E CD#3 includes:
+ 367 Demos
+ 338 Intros
+ 113 4kb intros
+ Disk Mags
+ Music Disks
+ 750+ modules (MOD, XM, S3M)
+ Trance Labels
+ Players & Trackers
+ Various utilities
+ Samples & GUS patches (about 120Mb)
+ Latest GUS drivers
+ Over 2000 files demo-coding oriented, including tutorials, docs, specs,
utilities, sources. All are classified per type.
+ Latest complete DJGPP (v2b4) with sources and lot of libs. DJGPP is a
GNU (free) 32 bit C/C++ compiler. It includes linker and debugger, and
produces a greatly optimized code (Quake is compiled with it).
+ Latest GPC, GNU 32 bit pascal compiler.
It includes a great VESA interface coded by Karl / NoooN. This will allow
you to easily navigate inside productions and install them if you wish on
your HD. Later updates of this interface will be released with more
features.
The full cover and package design was made by Zebig / Speed.
Grab the file cd3nfo10.zip on ftp.arosnet.se in \demo\textfile or on
ftp.cdrom.com in /pub/demos/incoming/demos to get more infos and see what
these CDs contain.
_____Pricing
Prices are:
A.C.E #1: 80FF
A.C.E #2: 80FF
A.C.E #3: 100FF (dual cd)
Add shipping costs. $1 = 5.3FF, depending on the market.
See inside cd3nfo10.zip to get the ordering address or bank account.
_____Contact Information
A.C.E BBS : +33-1-45887548 (v34) - Paris, France
Netmail : 2:320/305 (Fido) or 68:330/0 (DGi) or 868:33/0 (GSN)
email : cdace@ace.epita.fr
IRC : on #coders and #demofr under _GandalF_
==[Closing]====================================================================
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...........................................................End.of.DemoNews.127.
