X-PERIENCE ~ATARI.FIL~ =============================== ~FALCON.BLK~ THE X-PERIENCE DEMO BY ABSTRACT =============================== review by Slimer INTRODUCTION Oh goody goody, another demo to review and it's again French ! I'm surprised by the tidal wave of demo's coming from the French region these days. Nice to have an active Falcon scene, especially now they learn to use the DSP chip more. This demo features lots of effects in which the DSP is used frequently, so lets cut the crap and dance ! STOP, HAMMER TIME The demo starts with an info screen about PDL's and stuff. The screen fades to black and gets replaced by a pic with the name of the group on it. At the same time a nice module tune kicks in, which will escort the show for the time being. A second pic follows and then the demo really takes off. A big 3D X shows up, moves around and takes it's place at the left side of the screen. The credits get projected at the right side, there is no doubt about who did what in this production. A blue gourad shaded object comes flying over. An almost classic example of a DSP type of effect is next, 4096 morphing dots ... It's nice and certainly is fast. Nice touch is the DSP inside logo in the upper right corner. The gap between this effect and the next is filled with a picture of a corridor in a spaceship. 3D cubes are next and they morph and rotate around the screen. So far we have seen nothing new although it is all quite impressive stuff. ~MIDI.BLK~ The greetings part of this demo is done with vector graphics. They transform into group names and objects. An abstract world is next, it is made up by several 3D objects. We slowly zoom in on it as it rotates on the screen. Most of the objects move or spin while this happens. Next on the list are 3D objects that flow through each-other while they move or rotate on the screen. This effect is introduced by 'EKO' if I'm correct. 'Abstract's' routines are good but not as solid as that from the previous mentioned group. At the end of this particular part are 2 objects with 26 polygons flowing and rotating in each-other. Well, quite nice, so far ... Next is the start of a more spectacular session in this demo. Although it's based on another 'classic' effect, it is never done this good before. I'm talking about texture mapped objects. First it starts with 'standard' 3D objects with steady (passive) pics on all sides. Next is a multiple sides object covered with 30 dollar note's, rotating. And on we go ... Some very nice gourad shaded objects are thrown in the arena. Nice colorful, fast, rotating and moving. Certainly one of the best on the Falcon till now. A big X appears again and a new module begins to play. A mini slideshow of a guitar and anti(??) EKO pics comes by, the readme text says that the EKO pics are just jokes. Another batch of texture mapped objects make their entrance. This time they have zooming (!) fractals on all sides. The objects move and rotate at the same time, impressive ! The fractals are replaced by other pics on the cube, and these pics get distorted, while the cube rotates ! One of the last parts of this demo is revolving around a 3D village. you get to see it from almost every angle. There are houses, tree's and even a train. This part is quite long, a bit to long for my taste. A 3D word (spelling VOLUME) is at the end of this sequence. END PART + CONCLUSION The whole show gets rapped up with one final pic, it's say's The End! T..T...T... That's all folks. This demo is without any doubt one of the better demo's at the moment for the Falcon. A lot of DSP code is used for some spectacular effects. Another big advantage of this demo is the fact that it also works on VGA !! I'm glad to see that more and more coders make their stuff run on VGA monitors. All effects are well executed but most of them are done several times before. So all you democoders out there come up with some new effects because all this 3D stuff gets boring. I'm sure that some of you are anxious to see the figures, CODE : 9- GRAPHICS : 8 SOUND : 8 OVERALL : 8 ~RED.PAL~