Do not read this textfile unless you are eager to know how the demo MOTION by ZEALOTS was made. ******************************************************************* * T H E M A K I N G O F M O T I O N B Y Z E A L O T S * ******************************************************************* 1) Introduction The demo "MOTION" can easily be seen as a kind of "Recycling-Product", in other words, there is nothing really new in it. Nevertheless "MOTION" might interest you mainly because of the nice connective effects, which in my eyes make this demo different from others of a similar data-size. So if you have not seen the demo yet stop reading this boring text file and enjoy "MOTION". 2) General information "MOTION" has been coded in TP 7.0. 85 % of the code is pure Pascal. This might be the reason for the choice of effects, e.g. there are no vector graphics at all. Consequently we were forced to code in Pascal on a very high level in order to get satisfactory results. That is why we spent so much time optimizing effects and excluding possible bugs. (Of course we are still not sure if there are any bugs left.) Finally the result is quite satisfying especially regarding the optimization. This demo requires only a 386DX for maximum speed. As far as I can remember, our demo belongs, if you just take the optimized speed into account, to a very few number of demos which have similar opportunities. The main reason for the speed arrangement was that I, SDM, have only got a 386DX40. VOXEL has got a 486DX33, so he had to adapt to my speed level. 3) Additional information concerning the effects The following information is given mainly because of the efforts we made to create this "masterpiece". In fact the whole demo group consists of two people only, so do not focus on the columns 'Main Code' and 'Graphics' too much. Effect (in order) Data Main Code Graphics -------------------------------------------------------------------- plasma picture 2.1 sec realtime calc. VOXEL - (64000 dots) on 486DX33 magnifying glass 3674 dots SDM - 'ZEALOTS' picture - - SDM 'PRESENT' crossfade - SDM SDM 'MOTION' wobble 18834 dots VOXEL SDM blue carpet - SDM - landscape 777 dots VOXEL - 'PART' pictures - - VOXEL starsky 300 dots (Not our limit!) VOXEL - chaos dots 2 x 300 dots SDM - rotating pixelball 2 x 300 dots SDM/VOXEL - tube 1633 dots SDM - 'SPACE STATION' picture 320x400 resolution - SDM colour worm - SDM - shadebobs 800/392 dots per frame SDM/VOXEL - shadelines - VOXEL - shadechaos 3703 dots per frame SDM - plasma 3600 dots SDM/VOXEL - sinus fractal 4 x 15741 dots SDM - realtime background calc. 6.8 sec 386DX40 font double fade - SDM VOXEL 'THE END' picture handwriting build up SDM SDM Is it not a boring list ? Please do not answer ! As a professional demo coder you might think that all the listed data are no reason to show off. You are right, but consider that most of the effects have been coded in pure Pascal ! There is still another list to follow ;-): idea of 'MOTION' VOXEL/SDM (What did you expect?) assembler code VOXEL main data management VOXEL final code decrease SDM/VOXEL background song SDM Finally we would like to thank the following people for their active or at least passive support: Bresenham, Zwerg Zwack, Chicken, Element, Ion THIS IS THE VERY END OF THIS TEXTFILE .... signed, SDM PS: Do not hesitate to watch the demo once more, because all the random effects will change their pattern (e.g. plasma picture, chaos shades, landscape, starsky, chaos dots, pixelball, the sinus plasma fade out effect and even the colour worm palette). BTW, you have probably noticed that some effects jerk a bit. The sound might be the reason for this. So press 'N' for 'no sound' this time , you will not miss anything special, anyway. Do not forget : By pressing the "SPACE" key you can easyly skip parts you do not like.