CompuServe Thread

#Public Demo Team

11 messages in this thread
#294From: Geoffrey S. KaneNov 2, 1994 2:33 PM
Fred, > Maybe if there's several people who want to get some demos together, we should > form more than one demo team or sub-teams or whatever. Why not, let's go for it. Just one thing though, I'm stuck with '286 code and Turbo Pascal is my only "real" compiler (I've got a crippled form of TC that came with a book, so I can do some C debugging, but no major compiling, project building, etc.). I don't think that would be a problem though since you X-mode library is in Pascal/In-Line-Asm already. I've been think of doing some demo coding, I just really haven't decided on what to do. I figure we can do this by posting our ideas in the public forum, and swap code via e-mail. That way anyone can get involved but we won't clutter up the LIB until we have something final. Jeff P.S. —->Anyone reading this who has any interest, please respond. P.P.S. BTW, I'm NOT trying to take charge here, I just wanted to announce my interest, and see what kind of response it got.
#304From: Brian Weiss/Demo TeamNov 2, 1994 5:54 PM
Jeff- Sorry for butting in but I think you've got something going here. I'm sure you could pull something off….just get some artists and some musicians plus your code and you've got yourself a pretty good team. Just my $.02 worth!
#308From: Lily OwensNov 2, 1994 5:56 PM
Hi Geoffrey, I'll ask around and see if you guys can use this library to trade/exchange code in. I don't see why it wouldn't be allowed! *Lily* Graphics Forums staff
#313From: Geoffrey S. KaneNov 2, 1994 6:25 PM
Lily, We (who ever we end up being) would make our finished code public, but I would think that partial code would just clutter things up and I wouldn't want people to DL code that doesn't work. It just seemed that there are a lot of us who want to swap ideas and try and put something together, and then make it available to all once its finished. However, I don't want to start any division here in this forum (maybe a little healthy competition <g>). Jeff
#334From: Lily OwensNov 3, 1994 8:33 AM
Speaking on behalf of my fellow Demo Team members, we are not threatened by a little competition. In fact, we would REALLY like to make something good enough to go into international competition. This IS the main reason for the secret library. So our really great ideas can stay under cover until the big release. But we are at the building up stage. We need to get the fundamentals of 3D space manipulation and texture mapping and height fields down. Then we have to perfect it. Once we get all those things under our belts THEN we can really start making the final show. What kind of program do you have? If you're sending it out via email, send me a copy!!!! hugs *Lily *
#351From: Geoffrey S. KaneNov 3, 1994 11:35 AM
Hi Lily, Well right now, there is NOTHING!!! It just seemed that there were some people interested in coding demos who couldn't get into the "Official" team, so I thought –why put all of this talent to waste. Due to my inherent hardware limitations (a <gasp> '286/87 12 MHz) don't expect too much in the form of texture mapping, etc. but you never know. Right now I'm still waiting for people to reply to my request/announcement for volunteers who want to hack out some demo-code (it hasn't been twenty-four hours since the initial message so, I'm not quite sure about what all will happen). Then we'll decide on what to do –and prbably keep it simple at the start. We shall see what happens…Oh and by the way, I intend to keep all correspondence public so if you here about something you like, let us (me right now) know. Jeff
#401From: Rob McGregorNov 4, 1994 4:29 PM
>>We need to get the fundamentals of 3D space manipulation and texture mapping and height fields down…Once we get all those things under our belts THEN we can really start making the final show.<< Hi Lily. Just what kind of "final show" are you talking about here?
#400From: Rob McGregorNov 4, 1994 4:27 PM
>>It just seemed that there are a lot of us who want to swap ideas and try and put something together<< Hey, I just stumbled in here (since they moved all this stuff around on me!) and I must've missed something, but *I'm* interested in swapping some code and learning some new tricks! I use Turbo Pascal, Turbo C, and Visual C…What's the full scoop?? >> I'm sure you could pull something off….just get some artists and some musicians plus your code and you've got yourself a pretty good team<< BTW, I'm a musician/composer also…Author of the on-going multimedia guitar series "Guitar Mentor" for "Synapse" >Rob<
#560From: Geoffrey S. KaneNov 7, 1994 10:53 PM
Rob, Well, more or less, after hearing from all of these people asking to join the "official" demo team, I just though that it'd be a waste of their talent for them to be doing nothing. Since there was a general interest to just swap ideas, code, etc. and see what we could come up with, I figured why not do this on our own. Right now, there are no rules, and I'm NOT the group leader. I did start this thread, but for now I don't want to restrain free thought by forcing my views on anyone. So if you have any ideas, speak up. If you want to focus on music, be my guest. My limitations are quite extensive (sorry, but there's only so much I can do with a '286). Demos are pretty much limited to DOS (that seems to be a unwritten rule –although what's the point of writing compact Asm code that needs a cumbersome OS/GUI to run <g>). I also am pretty much stuck with Pascal/In-line Asm, although I'm sure C code can be linked into it. Suggested reading/DLing: PC Graphics Programming Encylopedia — a treasure trove of hardware info, file formats, and basic algorithms. Denthor's tutorial's (note–TUTs 1-9 are included in PCGPE) I think there are 16 of these altogether. Fred Trafton's XUNIT.PAS — included in his PCX library. If you have any other suggestions, please let me know. Remember, this is YOUR Demo team, so do what you want with it. Jeff P.S. Sorry about being late with my reply, I was out for the weekend.
#372From: Fred TraftonNov 3, 1994 9:06 PM
I've got no problem with that, in fact, it would be sorta neat to try to do a "parallel" demo that uses Pascal/ASM instead of the Team's C/ASM. What a challenge! But I really would rather do things in full public view. I already told Lily I'd upload a micro-demo and source for it "when it's good enough". This could be a portion of a joint demo if you'd like. You don't have to post your sections public if you'd rather not, but I intend to. So think of a cool special effect or some other "demo-like" thingy and send it to me. If all the sections are TP/ASM, then we should have no trouble integrating them into a "big" demo later. Especially not if you're using the X-Mode ASM lib I uploaded.
#374From: Geoffrey S. KaneNov 3, 1994 11:02 PM
Fred, Like you, I WILL upload my code "when it's good enough", but say I get a stack overflow error, or my BSP tree isn't efficent, and I need a hand, I would rather post a note to that says: "Help me PLEASE!!" and mail it to the next "volunteer", rather than UL it for some poor sap to DL and then complain because it doesn't work. It does seem to me that most demo-coders make their source public, and since my best source of high-speed graphics came from PCGPE and other PD sources, I feel that I have to follow suite, I'll just wait until my code is "worthy" of public viewing. Would you (or anyone else reading this who wants to contribute) rather independantly assemble a "library" of effects, routines, tools, etc.? –or would you rather coordinate a group effort towards a common goal?