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  /   |    \  _)   \   \_/   \   |   \  /    \   \  _)   \    |    \______  \
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 \_____     /_______/___|     /_______/\____\_____/_______/_________/________/
     \_____/            |____/
                                                          Subscribers  : 2658
 DemoNews 139 - 26 January 1997                           Archive Size : 3918M

>------------------------------------------------------------------ Contents --

         Introduction
         Calendar
         Week In Review
         Top Downloads
         New Uploads
         Articles
           A Graphician's Tip Book - Part 9 .............. Shaithis
         General Information

>-------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction --

 Hello all, and welcome to DemoNews 139.

 _____Introduction

 Sorry about not releasing DemoNews last weekend.  We had some file reviews,
 but no articles.  In hindsight, I really should have released an issue. Now
 there are 125k worth of "New Uploads" that I haven't printed yet, due to the
 maximum size (64k) of this newsletter.

 _____Big Demoscene, Little World

 By night, I work on Hornet Archive.  By day, I work on other archives housed
 on ftp.cdrom.com.  After seeing the numbers of new uploads for Linux,
 FreeBSD, OS/2, DOS, Windows 3.1/95/NT, Bible, Project Gutenberg, Games, Ada,
 etc., I have come to the conclusion that the demo scene is one of the most
 prolific "scenes" in existence.

 A quick check tells me that 784 productions have been cataloged on the Hornet
 Archive so far this year.  That's over 30 per day!

 On a happy note, we are expecting significant storage upgrades on wcarchive
 very soon.  We will be swapping out 4 2.8 gig drives and installing 5 9.2
 gig'ers.  That's an increase of about 34.8 gigs.  I have secured the Hornet
 Archive a solitary spot on one of the new drives.  I don't know how long
 we'll be the sole owners of that drive but for a while it should give us some
 breathing room.

 _____Trixter Jr.

 "Samuel George Leonard, son of Jim (Trixter) and Melissa (Catwoman), was born
 at 3:50am on January 23rd.  No handle as of yet. ;-) He'll grow up in a world
 where computers are as common as television sets and phones.  The demoscene
 of his day will be completely different from ours.  Weird." - Trixter

 Our best wishes go out to Trixter and his wife this week, and to the start of
 2nd generation Hornet members.  :)

 _____RAR and TraxWeekly

 I have a minor gripe about the RAR discussions in TraxWeekly.  For the past
 couple of weeks, people have been debating whether RAR is better than ZIP for
 compressing songs.  I don't have a problem with the discussion, but I do
 think the methodology these people are using leaves a bit to be desired.

 First off, you don't decide whether one utility is better than another based
 solely on the difference in compression ratio of mech8.s3m.  You test
 hundreds of songs, some with little pattern data, some with a lot of pattern
 data, some with 16-bit samples, some with similar samples, some with small or
 large samples, songs in different formats, songs with different numbers of
 channels, etc.

 Second, don't discount the currently popularity of .zip and the utilities
 that work with it.  Until recently, you couldn't even compile RAR 2.00b3
 under FreeBSD (which made it a big no-no for Hornet Archive).  We're not
 really opposed to using RAR on the Hornet Archive, but I want to see some
 more concrete data before we do.

 _____Conclusion

 Snowman / Hornet - r3cgm@hornet.org

>------------------------------------------------------------------ Calendar --

 Date         Event               Location  Contact Points
 ------------ ------------------- --------- ----------------------------------
 09 Dec 1996  Movement            Israel    civax@kinneret.com
 27 Dec 1996  The Party 6         Denmark   theparty@vip.cybercity.dk
                                            www.theparty.dk

                                       * <-- YOU ARE HERE

 31 Jan 1997  PC96                Brazil    x@wm.com.br
                                            wm.com.br/~x/pc96.html
 15 Feb 1997  General Probe 3     Poland    s146630@ire.pw.edu.pl
                                            neutron.elka.pw.edu.pl/~mszklano
 02 Mar 1997  Invasion            Finland   invasion@xuq.nullnet.fi
                                            www.koillismaa.fi/invasion
 28 Mar 1997  Mekka & Symposium   Germany   amable@aol.com
 28 Mar 1997  SiliConvention      Germany   www.siliconvention.com
 04 Apr 1997  X Takeover          Holland   x97take@dds.nl
 11 Apr 1997  The Trip            Italy     keyby@jnet.it
                                            www.logicom.it/trip
 30 May 1997  Scream              Canada    scream97.educ.infinit.net
                                            furb@total.net
 22 Aug 1997  AntIQ               Hungary   aboy@ttk.jpte.hu
                                            www.jpte.hu/~aboy
 25 Aug 1997  The Place To Be 5   France    www.mygale.org/05/dadu

>------------------------------------------------------------- Week In Review --

 -- /demos  ------------------------------------------------------------------>

 :: Phoenix / Hornet - phoenix@hornet.org

 _____TP6 Entry Comments

 I must say, I was a bit disappointed by The Party 6 demos and intros this
 year, so much that I don't think they're even worth a full-length review.
 Normally, the winning demo gets a 4.5 star rating but not this time.  It
 seemed like a lot of votes went toward good buddies and jokes, rather than
 high quality.

 Quick Demo Synopsis (ones I've checked out so far)

   1. Alto Knallo by FEB - OK, it has one nice looking vector scene, but..
      that's it!  And the music, ugh.. didn't go for it.  No gfx either.
      This must've won through all the Amiga voters.
   2. Megablast by Orange - Probably the PC favorite.  Has a long animation
      followed by various standard Orange effects, with a little 3D to boot.
      Nice music by Dune.  The demo is rather long, but ends abruptly.
   3. Venus by Fudge - another nice one, mostly vector scenes though.
   5. Empire by TPOLM - original! Cool music, funny intermission, and
      better effects than we're used to from TPOLM. :)
   7. Compost by Orange - simple but stylish.. a 70s theme (a bit of a
      stereotype, however), and music by Sulphur.
   8. Helsinki Mon Amour by Plant - this is a 6mb SLIDESHOW.  Of photographs,
      no less.  Argh.
   9. Min Lada.. (forgot the whole name) by Goto 10 - ACK, total garbage.
  15. Tone by Eufrosyne - should've placed WAY higher.  Very nice graphics
      and music, good looking effects (even if they're slightly overdone :)
      The fast forward key is one of the best ideas to hit the scene.  Too
      bad this demo locks up on my machine midway. :(
  16. Downtown by Abyss - not the latest effects, but good graphics and
      catchy music.
  20. Dreams by Kosmic - the only N. American entry?  A few good effects
      and of course pretty good music, but no real design or graphics.
  26. Sand 3 by Rectum Cauda - if you know rC you know what to expect. :)
  32. Xamen by Solid - certainly did not deserve last place.  Short, but
      has decent, original design and music.

 Quicker Intro Synopsis

   1. Deesbab by Orange - pretty lights, but same old Dune music.
   2. Junior by Amable - stylish music, cute duck-go-round part. :)
   3. Ashes by COMA - spastic, typical COMA style, see below..
   4. Cosmic Space Arabi by TPOLM - no offense but when TPOLM places
      high in the intro compo, that says something about the rest. :)
   5. The Astonishing Tribe by Yodel - nice vectors but rather short.
   6. Huge Crowd by Zeb+Barti - no, I'm not changing my GUS port from 260h
      just so I can get this to work. :)
   7. Jade by Shock - good design and music, though the effects get a
      little dull after a while.
   8. Daze by Urinate - very cool design and nice breakbeat music.  But
      guys, don't thank us, thank Oxygene. :)
  11. Adrift by Wild Light - an impressive intro but.. not much after that.
  13. Velvet 3 by Fatal Justice - nice vector scenes, but poor music and
      unoriginal design.
  (many others but I'll stop here)

 For the record, I checked out some of the C64 demos from TP6 and they
 included such effects as polar flaring, embossed pillars, textured tunnels,
 tilting landscape, and 7-bit color video.  So I think it's time for the PC
 scene to get moving, before even these guys catch up. :)

 _____New Demo Highlights

 "Tuhka" by COMA - 2nd at the Demolition 2 '96 intro compo.  If you watch this
 and their later TP96 intro, "Ashes", you'll see and hear a lot of
 similarities.  COMA has picked up an Amiga scene trick of "remixing" demos,
 that is just changing a few routines and reentering them at different compos.
 It may work for them but it's not a tactic I necessarily appreciate.  Anyway,
 the intro.  In 80k it features a tune with breakbeat loops, a fullscreen
 video clip and a small raytrace animation, and bunches of simultaneous
 tunnel-like effects.  I found it a lot less annoying than Ashes. :)

   Code: 8  Music: 7  Graphics: 8  Overall: 8/10  (1996/c/cmatuhka.zip)

 "D'Orzo" by Recreation - winner of the Text Mode Demo compo.  This was
 another one to just barely get a four-star rating.  Even though it uses pure
 80x50 text mode, it has all the effects and design of a normal demo.  It
 features vector scenes, 3d blob morphing, embossing, and simple
 zoom/rotation.  The best part is that it runs well on a 486. :)

   Code: 8  Music: 7  Graphics: 8  Overall: 8/10  (1996/r/rcn-orzo.zip)

 _____Comments

 Maybe I'll save them for a special "bitch and whine" edition of the
 weekly review. :)

 -- /music  ------------------------------------------------------------------>

 :: Snowman / Hornet - r3cgm@hornet.org

 _____Music Disks

 I'll bet you're surprised to see me writing this column.  Anyway, this past
 week I decided to get down and dirty and review some stuff myself (something
 I don't do much anymore).  Many surprises awaited in /incoming/music/disks.
 I've started making heavy use of our "description" field, as you will see in
 the New Uploads section below.

 Here's a list of "you should get these" for this week:

 Firestorm 3 by Firelight is out (you probably already knew that).  Firelight
 is getting noticeably better with each release.

 Deceased Ambition by Vincent Voois.  I hadn't even heard of this guy until I
 reviewed his music disk.  Many of the songs were so-so, but a couple really
 stood out.  Be sure to check out "Global Conquest 1/2".  Do be warned, this
 guy seems depressed and indicates that he's releasing an anthology of his
 music since he'll no longer be tracking.  Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

 Blur Plastiq by Mellow-D.  Jak is an absolutely incredible tracker.  His
 music is catchy, polished, and professionally done.  Get this disk.

 Eko "S" by Zake.  When I first started going through the songs in this disk,
 I had forgotten who Zake was.  Then I got to "Shiva Shanti" and it all came
 back.  The first time I met Zake was in Mellow-D's apartment right before
 Assembly '96 started.  Zake brought over a mini-disk with his compo tune. We
 were all very impressed.  The title track for this disk is rather odd (not
 bad, just a little unusual).

 Subsonica #1 by Mellow-D, KxMode, Stinger, Darkwolf, GD, Hunz, and Skie. This
 group disk has some really kick ass tunes.  What brought this people
 together?  Who knows, but it worked.

 _____Gripes

 If you're going to upload a music disk, please do not include sub-directories
 in the .zip that contain embedded .zip files that when extracted have to
 overwrite crufty text files.  I actually deleted a disk because of this and
 mailed the author.

 A big Slam! goes out this week to Dopa Pack #1.  See the description for
 details.  Note: "Slam!" is (c) 1997 - r3cgm Enterprises.

 _____Random

 Cubic Player is now officially produced by Pascal, _not_ Cubic Team.

 A couple of the directories in /music were changed.  There is not a
 /music/educate, which contains educational programs/utilities/texts for
 musicians.  There are only 3 files in there now but I expect this to grow in
 the near future.

 Check out Impulse Tracker Throbber!  This /unusual music program replaces the
 big "N" Netscape icon with an animated Impulse Tracker icon.  It's a bit
 difficult to appreciate until you actually try it.  This utility serves no
 purpose and I love it.  :)

>------------------------------------------------------------- Top Downloads --

 This represents combined ftp/http transfers for the last 7 days.

 Total files downloaded   :     188,952
 Size of files downloaded :  30,597,181k

 Times File                             Description
 ----- -------------------------------- --------------------------------------

 -- /demos ------------------------------------------------------------------>

   167  /1995/a/animate.zip             Animate by Schwartz
   145  /1993/s/symbolog.zip            Symbology by Admire
   135  /1993/u/unreal11.zip            Unreal v1.1 by Future Crew
   124  /1993/0-9/2ndreal1.lzh          Second Reality by Future Crew [1/2]
   115  /1993/c/cd2_trn.lzh             Crystal Dreams 2 by Triton
   114  /1995/n/nooon_st.zip            Stars (bugfixed) by Nooon
   113  /1993/0-9/2ndreal2.lzh          Second Reality by Future Crew [2/2]
    95  /1992/c_dream.lzh               Crystal Dreams by Triton
    94  /1995/c/countdwn.zip            Countdown by Realtech
    91  /1993/p/panic.lzh               Panic by Future Crew

 -- /music ------------------------------------------------------------------>

    85  /songs/1996/s3m/a/athought.zip  Another Night of Thought by Zastar
    80  /songs/1996/s3m/i/im_chron.zip  Chronologie Part 4 (remix) by Karsten
    75  /songs/1996/s3m/i/im_empir.zip  The Hidden Empire by Karsten Koch
    70  /songs/1995/s3m/a/aryx.zip      Aryx by K. Koch
    51  /songs/1996/s3m/f/fa-bung.zip   Animated Bunghole Power by Future Assa
    49  /songs/1996/s3m/f/fm-mech8.zip  Mechanism Eight by Necros
    48  /songs/1996/xm/p/pg_fujis.zip   Toki-Gaba (Fujisaki) by Tanigon
    48  /songs/1995/s3m/c/ctgoblin.zip  Catch That Goblin by Skaven
    46  /songs/1994/s3m/chariot.zip     Chariots of Fire by HMW
    44  /songs/1996/xm/x/xr-circ.zip    Squared Circles by Xerxes

 -- /graphics --------------------------------------------------------------->

    14  /images/1994/i/incest5.zip      Incest by Pentalysion
    13  /programs/vector/veced300.zip   3D Vector Editor by Grey Cat
    12  /programs/editors/gfx2b93.zip   Grafx 2.00 Beta 93 by Sunset Design
    12  /images/1996/a/aa_gargo.zip     The Gargoyle by Coolhand
    12  /disks/1996/pls_sun.zip         Sun by Lazur of Pulse
    11  /images/1996/m/mystic.zip       Mystical by Madman
    10  /images/1996/v/voyeur.zip       Voyeur by Visualize
    10  /images/1996/h/hardcore.zip      by Boss
    10  /images/1996/a/abc_pien.zip     Pani Pienkowa by Grass
     9  /programs/convert/bmp2avi.zip   BMP to AVI by Paul Roberts

 -- /code ------------------------------------------------------------------->

    74  /effects/water/water.zip        Water by De-Phassed
    64  /effects/water/hq_water.zip     Heart Quake's water source by ARM of I
    58  /effects/rotozoom/pasroto.zip   Cache Optimized Roto-Zoomer by Pascal
    55  /effects/fire/burn.zip          burn by Frank Paxti
    53  /effects/scroll/motionrd.zip    Motion Read Me by Patch of Avalanche
    51  /tutorials/denthor/tut21.zip    Asphyxia VGA Demo Trainer #21 by Denth
    51  /effects/3d/3dtext.arj          Textmode Texture Mapping,Plasma, and 3
    50  /tutorials/denthor/tut05new.zip Tutorial 5 in C by Snowman of Hornet
    48  /tutorials/denthor/tut01new.zip Tutorial 1 in C by Snowman of Hornet
    47  /tutorials/denthor/tut04new.zip Tutorial 4 in C by Snowman of Hornet

 -- /incoming --------------------------------------------------------------->

   100  /code/wavepic.zip
    97  /code/linefire.zip
    79  /TP96/demo/alto.zip
    79  /TP96/demo/1sttime.zip
    76  /code/mds06rc1.zip
    75  /TP96/demo/megademo.zip
    64  /TP96/demo/mental.a01
    64  /TP96/demo/euforia.zip

>--------------------------------------------------------------- New Uploads --

 All ratings are subjective.

 Filename                        Size Rated Description
 ------------------------------- ---- ----- ----------------------------------

 -- /demos ------------------------------------------------------------------>

 /1993/a/akm-chan.zip             326 **    Change Disk by Arkham
 /1993/a/akm-dem3.zip             234 **+   Demo 3 by Arkham
 /1993/a/akm-glob.zip               5 **+   Globule Trace by Arkham
 /1994/0-9/2cents.zip             584 [n/a] 2 Cents by Mental Design -
                                            | ASM94:demo:10:
 /1994/a/akm-carr.zip              25 **    Carrie by Arkham
 /1994/a/akm-hema.zip               8 **+   BBS Hematie by Arkham
 /1994/a/akm-mama.zip               9 **    BBS Don't Trust Your Mama by
                                            | Arkham
 /1994/b/bliq.zip                1389 **+   Black Liquids by Native Force -
                                            | TP94:demo:XX:
 /1994/d/dawn.zip                 726 ***+  Dawn by TEI - ASM94:demo:20:
 /1994/i/instinct.zip             661 *+    Basic Instinct by B-Ware -
                                            | ASM94:demo:XX:
 /1994/i/intropic.zip              58 **    In Tropic by Mikki -
                                            | ASM94:in64:XX:
 /1994/j/jff-int2.zip              17 *+    2nd Little Intro by JFF
 /1994/j/jff-intr.zip              17 *+    First Intro by JFF
 /1994/j/jff-jckt.zip              81 **    Jocketro by JFF
 /1994/k/kone.zip                  85 +     Akesdisk by Kone - ASM94:demo:XX:
 /1994/l/lammas.zip                41 *     Demo by Lammas - ASM94:demo:XX:
 /1994/m/manifest.zip             615 **+   Manifestation by 3rd Foundation -
                                            | ASM94:demo:XX:
 /1994/m/meltdown.zip             661 **    Meltdown by SPA - ASM94:demo:17:
 /1994/o/otherd.zip               208 **+   Other Dimension by Midnight Moon -
                                            | ASM94:demo:XX:
 /1994/p/penguin.zip             1378 *+    The Penguin Experiment by
                                            | Zweilight Tone - ASM94:demo:XX:
 /1994/r/remote.zip               314 **+   Remote Control by Neurotica -
                                            | ASM94:demo:XX:
 /1994/r/revenge_.zip              56 *+    Bamses Revenge by Satsuma Design -
                                            | ASM94:in64:XX:
 /1994/s/starlite.zip             481 ***   Starlite by Nordic Vision -
                                            | ASM94:demo:XX:
 /1994/w/waytofin.zip            1782 ***   Way To Finland by Real Time -
                                            | ASM94:demo:XX:
 /1994/w/wl.zip                  1574 **    Wasteland by SCC - ASM94:demo:XX:
 /1995/a/akm-dem5.zip            1285 ***   CPC Is Back v2 by Arkham -
                                            | TP94:demo:XX:
 /1995/j/jff-bbs3.zip               7 **+   BBS Direct Connection by JFF
 /1995/j/jff-call.zip              12 **    BBS Call It by JFF
 /1995/j/jff-chic.zip              63 **    Chicago by JFF
 /1995/j/jff-pomm.zip              56 **    Pomme by JFF
 /1996/0-9/5c_tw.zip              628 ***   Textmode Windows by Five Coders -
                                            | TMDC96:demo:06:
 /1996/a/ad_lame.zip               79 **    True Lameness by Alpha Design -
                                            | TMDC96:demo:08:
 /1996/a/antimaat.zip             115 *     Antimaat by XL
 /1996/a/aor_fbi.zip              722 ***   Fundamental Bias by Amour
 /1996/a/astralf.zip              979 **+   Astral by Virtual Rage, Phoenix
 /1996/b/beyond.zip              2276 ***+  Beyond by Immortals -
                                            | MOV96:demo:02: : GUS/SB/PAS,VESA
 /1996/b/blm-hbbc.zip              33 *+    BBS Brain Coma by Bloom
 /1996/b/blm-im.zip                 2 **+   I'm by Bloom
 /1996/b/bspdrip.zip             1460 [n/a] Drip by BSP - MOV96:demo:03: :
                                            | VESA,SBPro@220/5/1 ONLY?!
 /1996/d/dentaali.zip             498 ***   Dentaalispirantti by tAAt -
                                            | TMDC96:demo:03:
 /1996/e/est_pray.a01             792 ****  Pray by Esteem [2/2] -
                                            | MOV96:demo:01: :
                                            | P5,GUS/SB/PAS,VESA
 /1996/e/est_pray.arj            1422 ****  Pray by Esteem [1/2] -
                                            | MOV96:demo:01: :
                                            | P5,GUS/SB/PAS,VESA
 /1996/e/excuse.zip               621 **+   Excuse by YOE - MOV96:demo:04: :
                                            | GUS/SB/PAS,VESA
 /1996/k/ktv_1296.zip             571 ***   KFMTV 2 (Nightvision) by Kosmic
 /1996/m/mathro.zip                19 **+   Mathro by Technolord of Chaotic
                                            | Visions
 /1996/n/noc_perp.zip             518 ***   Perplexity by Noice
 /1996/p/p2b4_d3.zip              116 **    Flower by Zen - P2B96:demo:??: :
                                            | GUS,VGA (S3 only?)
 /1996/p/puke4kb.zip               13 ***+  Puke by Borzom of Exotic Designs -
                                            | MOV96:in4k:EE: : 386,VGA
 /1996/r/rcn-orzo.zip             765 ****  D'Orzo by Recreation -
                                            | TMDC96:demo:01:
 /1996/s/sima.zip                  36 +     Sima by TTOM - MOV96:in64:EE: :
                                            | jokedemo
 /1996/s/snc-cow.zip              396       Cow by Sync - *+:MOV96:demo: :
                                            | GUS/SB/PAS
 /1996/s/spspot.zip              1225 ***   Spaceless Spot by tAAt -
                                            | TMDC96:demo:05:
 /1996/t/textosis.zip             347 **+   Textosis by Vinlandia -
                                            | TMDC96:demo:07:
 /1996/t/tremor2.zip              415 ***+  Tremor by Demolition -
                                            | TMDC96:demo:02:
 /1996/t/txtc.zip                 465 **+   Textasy by The Enterprise Crew -
                                            | TMDC96:demo:04:
 /1996/w/wired.a01                329 **+   Wired by Jourgensen [2/2]
 /1996/w/wired.arj               1422 **+   Wired by Jourgensen [1/2]

 -- /music ------------------------------------------------------------------>

 /disks/1994/ciadsk01.zip         649 *     CIA Musicdisk #01 by CIA
 /disks/1994/ciadsk02.zip        1218 *     CIA Musicdisk #02 by CIA
 /disks/1994/ciadsk03.zip        1120 *+    CIA Musicdisk #03 by CIA
 /disks/1994/ciadsk06.zip        1214 *+    CIA Musicdisk #06 by CIA
 /disks/1994/ciadsk07.zip        1593 *+    CIA Musicdisk #07 by CIA
 /disks/1995/c/ciadsk08.zip      2300 **    CIA Musicdisk #08 by CIA
 /disks/1995/c/ciadsk09.zip       872 **    CIA Musicdisk #09 by CIA
 /disks/1995/m/mndfk002.zip      1453 **    Mindfuck #2 by Misfits
 /disks/1995/m/mndfk003.zip       696 **    Mindfuck #3 by Misfits
 /disks/1995/m/mndfk004.zip       656 **    Mindfuck #4 by Misfits
 /disks/1995/r/rt_corin.zip      1280 ***+  Corinne Dreams by Realtech
 /disks/1996/a/abducted.a01      1422 ****  Abducted by GeeWhiz Records [2/3]
 /disks/1996/a/abducted.a02        45 ****  Abducted by GeeWhiz Records [3/3]
 /disks/1996/a/abducted.arj      1422 ****  Abducted by GeeWhiz Records [1/3]
 /disks/1996/b/blackmtl.zip      3647 ***+  A Tribute To Black Metal by Samael
 /disks/1996/c/c_mental.zip      2243 *+    Mentality by Coiled : Song titles
                                            | and concept were good.
 /disks/1996/c/cia-cn01.zip      1009 *     Metallica Music Collection by
                                            | Cerebral Neurosis of CIA
 /disks/1996/c/cia-dk02.zip       724 **    CIA's Music Disk #2 by CIA
 /disks/1996/c/ciadk-01.zip       647 **    CIA Music Release #1 by CIA
 /disks/1996/c/craw_wk.zip       1422 ***   Week by LakEEE : Kenji's music is
                                            | just so fun to listen to!
 /disks/1996/d/daitpck.zip        118 **+   Deceased Ambition (IT Pack) by
                                            | Vincent Voois [1/4] : Only 1
                                            | song... not bad, but come on...
                                            | one song!?
 /disks/1996/d/damodpck.zip       297 **+   Deceased Ambition (MOD Pack) by
                                            | Vincent Voois [2/4] : 3 tunes.
 /disks/1996/d/daptmpck.zip      1977 **+   Deceased Ambition (PTM Pack) by
                                            | Vincent Voois [3/4] : A couple
                                            | decent tunes in here.
 /disks/1996/d/das3mpck.zip      1064 **+   Deceased Ambition (S3M Pack) by
                                            | Vincent Voois [4/4] : This is
                                            | the best pack of the bunch...
                                            | some really jazzin songs.
 /disks/1996/d/daxmpck.zip       4944 ****  Deceased Ambition by Vincent Voois
                                            | : At 5 megs, you might not want
                                            | to download this.  Trust me, you
                                            | do.  There are a couple totally
                                            | kick ass tunes in here... this
                                            | guy is good.
 /disks/1996/e/eamd3.zip         1023 **    Euji Acha's Music Disk 3 by Euji
                                            | Acha of Sector X-10h
 /disks/1996/e/eamd4.zip         1377 **    Euji Acha's Music Disk 4 by Euji
                                            | Acha of Sector X-10h
 /disks/1996/e/eamd5.zip         1824 **    Euji Acha's Music Disk 5 by Euji
                                            | Acha of Sector X-10h
 /disks/1996/f/firest_3.zip      2718 ****  Firestorm 3 by Firelight : Some
                                            | really good tunes in here... be
                                            | on the lookout for Firestorm 4
                                            | (which more than likely will get
                                            | 4.5 stars in our ratings).
 /disks/1996/f/fm-plast.zip      2262 ****+ Blur Plastiq by Mellow-D of Five
                                            | Musicians
 /disks/1996/f/fnfc_01.zip       1540 ***   Free Noise for Charlie by Charlie
                                            | Brown Records [1/3] : A wide
                                            | range in quality levels for
                                            | songs in this disk.  On the
                                            | whole, not bad.
 /disks/1996/f/fnfc_02.zip       1506 ***   Free Noise for Charlie by Charlie
                                            | Brown Records [2/3]
 /disks/1996/f/fnfc_03.zip       1083 ***   Free Noise for Charlie by Charlie
                                            | Brown Records [3/3]
 /disks/1996/f/fr-refle.zip      1416 ***   Reflections by Dustbin of Fatal
                                            | Rage : Professionally organized.
 /disks/1996/g/g_plq.zip         1150 ***   Pointed Little Quill by Quantum
                                            | Porcupine of Grey
 /disks/1996/g/gem-luna.zip      2947 ***   Random Lunacy by Gemini
                                            | Productions
 /disks/1996/g/gem-soft.zip      3299 **    Bitter Softness by Galahad of
                                            | Gemini Productions : Pretty good
                                            | sample choice, decent rythum and
                                            | structure, unfortunately a bit
                                            | out of tune.
 /disks/1996/k/kmd_ekos.zip      2557 ***+  Eko "S" by Zake of Kosmic : If I
                                            | could have given 3.75 stars on
                                            | this one I would have.  This guy
                                            | is talented and can touch the
                                            | funky beat.  I think he's also
                                            | Mellow-D's cousin or something.
 /disks/1996/m/m1-7days.zip      1419 ***+  Seven Days by Liam The Lemming :
                                            | no interface
 /disks/1996/m/m_rush.zip         386 **    Rushmore EP by The Fox II : 2 mods
                                            | doesn't exactly qualify as a
                                            | musicdisk.  Author seems
                                            | friendly.
 /disks/1996/m/mnc-anth.zip      2285 **    Monaco's Anthology by Monaco : The
                                            | songs are kind of old but a
                                            | couple are fairly good.  Comes
                                            | with a Windows 95 interface.
 /disks/1996/m/mndfk005.zip      1436 **+   Mindfuck #5 by Misfits
 /disks/1996/m/mndfk006.zip       693 *+    Mindfuck #6 by Misfits
 /disks/1996/m/mndfk007.zip      1156 **    Mindfuck #7 by Misfits
 /disks/1996/p/ph-1296a.zip      1401 ***   Phluid 12/96 by pHluid [1/2] : no
                                            | interface
 /disks/1996/p/ph-1296b.zip      1295 ***   Phluid 12/96 by pHluid [2/2] : no
                                            | interface
 /disks/1996/s/sc-md1.zip         521 *+    Scrape Music Disk #1 by Scrape
 /disks/1996/s/sky_dopa.zip      1284 *+    Dopa Pack #1 by Riders of Skyjump
                                            | Team : This isn't tracking, it's
                                            | creative sampling.  5 out of 6
                                            | songs in here use very extended
                                            | CD sample rips and the author
                                            | does not credit the originals.
                                            | There are copyright notices
                                            | everywhere, which doesn't really
                                            | make sense since most of the
                                            | songs were ripped from CD (i.e.
                                            | that little (c) isn't even
                                            | valid).
 /disks/1996/s/spl9612.zip        303 ***   Spleen December by Spleen
 /disks/1996/s/sub01.zip         2013 ****  Subsonica #1 by Mellow-D, KxMode,
                                            | Stinger, Darkwolf, GD, Hunz,
                                            | Skie : All of the tunes in here
                                            | are really good... a couple even
                                            | at the 4.5 star level.
 /disks/1996/s/submerge.zip       248 ***   Submerged (fixed exe) by Sublevel
                                            | 3 [1/3]
 /disks/1996/t/tan-ant1.zip      1311 ***+  Ancient Tracks by Tangerine of T-
                                            | Rex [1/2] : This guy is
                                            | consistenly good and even
                                            | samples some of his own stuff (a
                                            | lost art).  This pack was
                                            | released in 1996 but contains
                                            | his tunes from 1995.  I wish I
                                            | knew what he was doing these
                                            | days.
 /disks/1996/t/tan-ant2.zip       613 ***+  Ancient Tracks by Tangerine of T-
                                            | Rex [2/2] : This guy is
                                            | consistenly good and even
                                            | samples some of his own stuff (a
                                            | lost art).  This pack was
                                            | released in 1996 but contains
                                            | his tunes from 1995.  I wish I
                                            | knew what he was doing these
                                            | days.
 /disks/1996/t/tan-modl.zip       978 ***   Mod Lover by Tangerine of T-Rex :
                                            | A lot of his samples are
                                            | original.
 /disks/1996/t/tr07_vot.zip       181 ***   Traxism Compo #7 : A few good
                                            | songs, a few bad ones.
 /disks/1996/u/u-lucid3.zip      1790 ***+  Lucid Volume 3 by b0b, Keith 303,
                                            | Vivid, Stinger of Lucid
 /disks/1996/v/voyage.zip        1213 ***   Voyage by Andromeda : This disk
                                            | shows all the signs of a very
                                            | talented musician.  Something
                                            | just isn't coming together
                                            | though.
 /disks/1997/0-9/0l_insd1.zip    1398 ***+  The Inside Music Disk by Ooze
 /disks/1997/0-9/0l_shade.zip    1073 ***   Shade by Ooze
 /disks/1997/b/bmbretro.zip       627 **    Retrospective by Viper : One song
                                            | in this disk really stands out
                                            | (Strobofobic).  Too bad it
                                            | wasn't released individually
                                            | where it would have got a much
                                            | higher rating.
 /educate/theo_bks.zip              5       Theory Books : A great list of
                                            | books dealing with musical
                                            | theory, and composition.
 /educate/theory.zip               53       Theory : A bunch of texts on music
                                            | theory I've collected.  Its
                                            | mainly begginer stuff, (scales,
                                            | chords, etc) but some of it
                                            | might go a little further...
 /programs/convert/mid2xm13.zip   497       MIDI to XM File Converter v1.3 by
                                            | Ian Luck
 /programs/convert/xm2mid.zip     117       Xm2Mid Package : Converts
                                            | Fasttracker II's extended
                                            | modules to standard midi files.
                                            | Effects: Set Volume, Jump loop,
                                            | Position jump, Set Speed/BPM,
                                            | Pattern break
 /programs/emulate/remus04e.zip    40       Remus v0.04e : Generic protected
                                            | mode sound card emulator. Allow
                                            | you to use programs with sound
                                            | cards you do not have. Very
                                            | ALPHA.  Emulates Speaker, D/A on
                                            | LPT, Gravis, more to come...
 /programs/emulate/stsou31.zip    516       Atari-St SoundChip Emulator v3.12
                                            | by Leonard of Oxygene
 /programs/mixers/mm5_1.zip        88       Master Mixer v5.1 : Full range SB
                                            | mixer (All functions)
                                            | Undocumented controls enabled!
                                            | Automatic "clicks" removal. Can
                                            | save 6 different mixing configs.
                                            | Can replace ALL SB drivers at
                                            | BOOT. Boots your PC (DOS) in + a
                                            | second. Unlimited number of
                                            | Special Effects. User definable
                                            | Chorus/Reverb+editor. [v5.1:Fix
                                            | OPL3, AWE32, PC Spk level.] Does
                                            | DSP Reset, EMU Reset. Win95 Ok!
                                            | Can enable/disable any function.
                                            | Command-line "QuickLoading" (tm)
                                            | Sets your mixer in 1/4th a
                                            | second!
 /programs/players/cp16echo.arj     0       Cubic Player v1.6 Echos by Buzz
 /programs/players/fcwin.zip      175       Amiga Futur Composer player for
                                            | Win95 by Leonard of Oxygene :
                                            | Plays FC4 files (8 included in
                                            | this file)
 /programs/players/mikit003.zip    50       MikIT v0.03b by MikMak by MikMak :
                                            | IT player for Win95/NT w/full
                                            | NNA and DCT support
 /programs/players/mld216.zip      41       The Unchained Melody v2.16 by Mak
                                            | : MOD/S3M player for GUS
 /programs/players/mmp4382.zip    104       The Multi Module Player v4.382 by
                                            | Charles Attard : SB Only
 /programs/players/rplay017.zip   427       RDOS Player v1.7 : OPL2/OPL3 music
                                            | module player for your ears.
                                            | FIRST generic adlib player in PC
                                            | world at all. Coded in 100%
                                            | assembler.  It's fast with x-
                                            | mode graphic analyzers and
                                            | other. Supports module packing
                                            | and about 16 adlib module
                                            | formats (AGD, HSC, RAD, D00 plus
                                            | more...)
 /programs/samplers/snarrl16.zip   24       Acid Snarrl v1.6 : Sample
                                            | synthesizer for DOS
 /programs/trackers/ast110.zip    401       All Sound Tracker v1.10 by
                                            | Cagliostro : AWE32 only?
 /programs/trackers/digitr32.zip  230       DigiTrakker v3.2 by N-Factor : MDL
 /programs/trackers/itinfo.zip     23       ITInfo v0.1 by Gregorio Javier
                                            | Gutirrez Barroso : ITInfo gives
                                            | information of IT Modules and IT
                                            | Samples
 /programs/trackers/liq127.arj    116       Liquid Tracker v1.27 : SB and PAS
                                            | only (what's with that?)
 /programs/trackers/sndinfo.zip    24       SoundInfo v0.1 by Gregorio Javier
                                            | Gutirrez Barroso : Gives
                                            | information about FAR, IT, ITS,
                                            | S3M, ULT
 /programs/unusual/it_throb.zip     2       Impulse Tracker Throbber for
                                            | Netscape Navigator 2.0 and up by
                                            | David Menkes : Replaces the big
                                            | "N" Netscape icon after the
                                            | location field with an animated
                                            | Impulse Tracker icon.  This
                                            | rules!
 /songs/1993/mod/sundance.zip     221 ****+ Sundance by Purple Motion -
                                            | ASM93:m4ch:??:
 /songs/1993/mod/walkntit.zip     121 ***+  Walk 'n Titanize by Dizzy of CNCD
 /songs/1993/other/hapyslam.zip   184 ***   Happy Slam by Reepicheep : 669
 /songs/1993/s3m/skyrider.zip     128 ****+ Skyrider by Purple Motion of
                                            | Future Crew - TP93:mmul:??: : A
                                            | classic.
 /songs/1994/mod/m/murderpa.zip   372 ***   Murders of Passion by Lava -
                                            | TP94:m4ch:XX:
 /songs/1994/mod/t/tangosis.zip   100 ****  Tango Sister by Chromag -
                                            | TP94:m4ch:XX:
 /songs/1994/mod/u/unboredf.zip   203 ***+  Unbored Fantasies by Kallestrup -
                                            | TP94:m4ch:22:
 /songs/1994/mod/v/vaglubri.zip   235 ***+  Vaginal Lubrication by Yolk -
                                            | TP94:m4ch:XX:
 /songs/1994/mod/v/voodoosp.zip   159 **+   Voodoo Spacefrog by RMX -
                                            | TP94:m4ch:XX:
 /songs/1994/mod/v/voodspec.zip    92 **    Voodoo-Spezial by Mr. Melody -
                                            | TP94:m4ch:XX:
 /songs/1994/mod/w/wastedyo.zip   173 ***+  Wasted Youth by ICS -
                                            | TP94:m4ch:XX:
 /songs/1994/mod/w/whatdafu.zip   272 ***+  What Da Funk by Ome -
                                            | TP94:m4ch:XX:
 /songs/1994/mod/w/windhog.zip    266 ***   Wild Hog Walk by Ger -
                                            | TP94:m4ch:XX:
 /songs/1994/mod/w/womaninh.zip   163 ***   Woman In My Head by Dahaul -
                                            | TP94:m4ch:XX:
 /songs/1994/mod/w/wralix.zip     298 ***   Wralix by Lucifer - TP94:m4ch:XX:
 /songs/1994/mod/y/yackcow.zip     70 ***+  Yackow by Woober - TP94:m4ch:XX:
 /songs/1994/mod/y/yeah.zip       292 ***   Yeah by Lord Semtex -
                                            | TP94:m4ch:XX:
 /songs/1995/other/harmdiso.zip    44 ***   Harmonic Disorder by Dreamfish -
                                            | DS95:mmul:04: : Whacky MOD
                                            | Format
 /songs/1995/s3m/a/amigamia.zip    52 ***   Without You by ?? of FH -
                                            | ENL95:mmul:??:
 /songs/1995/s3m/h/harley.zip      57       Leaves by Harley of VI -
                                            | ***:ENL95:mmul:
 /songs/1995/s3m/l/lookers.zip    318 **    Join No Good For Me by XPEH of
                                            | Lookers - ENL95:mmul:02:
 /songs/1995/s3m/o/ol-astr.zip    269 ***   Astral Transgression by Tangerine
                                            | - ENL95:mmul:08:
 /songs/1995/s3m/o/ol-part.zip    146 **+   Be Ready For Kommunism by
                                            | Tangerine - ENL95:mmul:08:
 /songs/1995/s3m/q/qmg-em.zip     304 **    Evil March by Rogers of QMG -
                                            | ENL95:mmul:04:
 /songs/1995/s3m/q/qmg-iwr.zip    129 *+    Ill When Roll by ?? of QMG -
                                            | ENL95:mmul:??:
 /songs/1995/xm/n/nr-alien.zip    415 **+   The Alienation by Netrunner -
                                            | ENL95:mmul:01:
 /songs/1995/xm/n/nr-stres.zip    374 ***   Stress by Netrunner -
                                            | ENL95:mmul:01:

 -- /graphics --------------------------------------------------------------->

 /disks/1996/0l_cerl1.zip          34 **    ??? by Cereal
 /images/1996/a/abc_clau.zip      106 ***   Claudie by Grass
 /images/1996/d/dq-vibes.zip       35 ***+  Vibes by Damaq - SKE96:grfx:07:
 /images/1996/l/l_etoile.zip      161 **+   L'toile by VelluV - SKE96:grfx:??:
 /images/1996/m/manhead.zip        40 *+    Man Head by EZ Man
 /programs/editors/gfx2b93.zip    399       Grafx 2.00 Beta 93 by Sunset
                                            | Design : Multi-resolution bitmap
                                            | paint program

 -- /code ------------------------------------------------------------------->

 /3d/docs/3d_math.zip              11 **+   3d math by Lithium of VLA :
                                            | Explanations of some 3d math
                                            | concepts - I remember not
                                            | getting the 3d rotations working
                                            | correctly when I first started
                                            | programming, but I'm not sure if
                                            | that's my fault or the fault of
                                            | the doc.  Most of the docs are
                                            | some simple linear algebra.
                                            | They spell out the equations in
                                            | the end for those who can't
                                            | completely understand them. Text
 /3d/docs/3dbasics.zip              2 *     3d basics by Synergist : Some
                                            | basic 3d documentation - I'd
                                            | never want to tell someone that
                                            | this doc is a good place to
                                            | start.  The person writing this
                                            | has no concept of structures,
                                            | which severely ease the
                                            | programming of complex things
                                            | such as 3d systems. Text
 /3d/systems/3dvect39.zip         373 ***+  3d vectors by John McCarthy : A
                                            | complete 3d vector system - No
                                            | complex shading, but has a full
                                            | camera model, gif loader, object
                                            | loader, etc, etc...  Takes some
                                            | time to figure out. Assembler,
                                            | protected-mode
 /3d/trifillers/flat/fpoly256.lz   33 **+   fx 3d kit by Dave Stampe : A Y
                                            | mode filler and line routine -
                                            | Well documented and good
                                            | comments.  Poor asm style when
                                            | it comes to stack handling.  It
                                            | would be difficult to learn from
                                            | this code. Assembler, real-mode
 /3d/trifillers/gouraud/ggouro2.   65 ***   Gouraud shader source by Jedi of
                                            | Sector One : Source for a
                                            | gouraud filler, requires GEMA to
                                            | compile - Needs GEMA.  No useful
                                            | comments.  For TASM and MASM
                                            | users, remember that GEMA's
                                            | nmenonics are operation source,
                                            | destination. Assembler,
                                            | protected-mode
 /audio/converters/amm.zip         29 *+    Audio Manager III by Kenneth Foo
                                            | Chuan Khit : A loader for amm
                                            | files - A proprietary format not
                                            | generated by any trackers that I
                                            | know of Assembler, real-mode
 /audio/converters/mod15ins.zip    29 +     15313115 by Fred of TFL-TDV : A
                                            | format converter for 15
                                            | instrument mods to/from 31
                                            | instrument mods - Useless!  Even
                                            | the file_id.diz says it's a
                                            | joke.  Rather boring on the
                                            | humor scale.  No code.
 /audio/detection/gusenv.zip        1 **    GUS Environment by Patch : Grabs
                                            | the Ultrasnd environment for you
                                            | - Good for those who don't know
                                            | how to find an environment
                                            | variable, but it doesn't tell
                                            | you much.  It may give you a
                                            | place to start. Assembler, real-
                                            | mode
 /audio/detection/gusrev02.zip     12 *     GUS Revision by data : GUS
                                            | revision detector v0.2b - Isn't
                                            | this in the manual that comes
                                            | with the GUS, or somewhere on
                                            | the board? No code.
 /audio/detection/oplid.zip        30 *     oplid by ? of Audiotrix : Detects
                                            | what type of OPL chip is on your
                                            | sound card - An ad for audiotrix
                                            | more than anything else.  No
                                            | code.  It looks like there
                                            | should be more files in the
                                            | archive than there are.
 /audio/docs/awe32prg.zip          36 ***+  AWE 32 "documentation" by Judge
                                            | Dred : Useful documents for AWE
                                            | 32 programming - Beats the shit
                                            | out of Creative Lab's released
                                            | information. Text
 /audio/docs/d00formt.zip           3 ***+  d00 format by Joachim Fenkes :
                                            | Docs of the d00 format used by
                                            | Adlib player and Edlib tracker -
                                            | Docs for those who need them.
                                            | Docs are also available with the
                                            | EdLib tracker, but these are a
                                            | little more thorough. Text
 /audio/players/advhsc18.zip       56 ***   HSC player by Antares : A TPU for
                                            | FM playback of HS C files - Has
                                            | examples on how to use the unit.
                                            | real-mode
 /audio/players/amod095.zip       106 **    Adrenalin MOD player by Beta of A-
                                            | Men : A mod player for pascal
                                            | and has a TSR to play music in
                                            | the background - No SB support,
                                            | horrible documentation, little
                                            | to no support. real-mode
 /audio/players/asmod09s.zip       88 **    AmoebaSoft MOD Player by Jonathan
                                            | E. Wright of AmoebaSoft : A mod
                                            | player for Pascal - No SB
                                            | support, bad documentation, only
                                            | supports MOD files. real-mode
 /audio/players/bwsb120a.zip      318 ***   Bells, Whistles, and Sound Boards
                                            | by Lee Schlunder : A Music
                                            | player library - Interfaces from
                                            | Pascal.  Has support for a few
                                            | formats and a decent variety of
                                            | sound cards. Assembler, real-
                                            | mode
 /audio/players/bwsb120b.zip      505 ***   Bells, Whistles, and Sound Boards
                                            | by Lee Schlunder : A Music
                                            | player library - Interfaces from
                                            | Pascal.  Has support for a few
                                            | formats and a decent variety of
                                            | sound cards. Assembler, real-
                                            | mode
 /audio/players/cpmik02.zip        18 **    Cubic Player Music Interface Kit
                                            | by Kortal of Wizardry : A music
                                            | player - Doesn't have the sound
                                            | player code, is buggy, supports
                                            | only GUS and S3M. Assembler,
                                            | real-mode

 -- /mags ------------------------------------------------------------------->

 /1996/bsr-0008.zip                11 **    Belgian Scene Report Issue 8 by
                                            | Baxter : Text Only
 /1996/sub00004.zip               761 **+   Subkult Issue 4 by Dr. Dyregod &
                                            | Ko

 -- /party ------------------------------------------------------------------>

 /reports/1996/sncwir96.zip       690 ***   Wired '96 Party Report by Sanction
                                            | - WIR96::: : VESA,GUS/SB,8MB

>------------------------------------------------------------------ Articles --

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------->

 :: "A Graphician's Tip Book - Part 9"
 :: Shaithis / Immortal Coil - shaithis@buffnet.net

 _____Introduction

 Hello all,

 Been awhile, eh? Let me explain myself.  I went home for christmas break.
 Sadly, going home for christmas break means I have connection to the net for
 a month. Thus, I couldn't get my lovely articles to Snowman and all you
 people who await this column (there's at least six of you now...right? ;) had
 to go without for awhile.  Anyway, I'm back, and with me I bring text. This
 particular one can be entitled "Building the better grass tile".

 Before I start, however, let me thank Rhythm Greene for punching me in
 the arm a few weeks ago and pointing out the idiocy of the last column's
 statement "320x240x256 is more or less a standard vesa mode".  It's not.
 It's mode-x (I believe), and it's a pain to work with.  :)  For that reason,
 we've switched our little RPG to 320x200.  But don't worry yourselves over
 that, it doesn't affect any of the tips I gave in my last article. At any
 rate, thanks to glenn, and onward...

 _____Building The Better Grass Tile (Fun with Spray Paint)

 Alright, so as of last week, I left you with a dark green square with some
 light green, wavy lines on it.  Not a terribly stimulating tile, to be
 certain.  The members of my group weren't particularly impressed either, and
 so we decided we had to do better.  Along the way, we discovered a bunch of
 mistakes that are probably made often (mistake number one is and has been
 made by a variety of artists for various game companies throughout the course
 of time.  Once in awhile, it's pulled off anyway, but usually it could have
 been done better).

 I'll emphasize again that these are mistakes _we_ (my group) made, NOT
 mistakes that we arrogantly believe we are above.  Far from it, believe me.
 If you've made these mistakes, I assure you that you have my deepest respect,
 because if you haven't made them, you probably haven't been trying very hard.

 _____Number 1

 *Mistake #1*  Grass isn't all green.  Think about it.  Go out to your
 backyard and look at it if you have to (although for those of you in my
 region of the US all you'll probably see is snow).  At any rate, you'll
 probably notice there's also a lot of brown in there.

 In actuality, there's also blues, oranges, yellows, reds, and just about
 every color of the spectrum (But you need a couple of light color and design
 courses to train your eyes to see that, and still half the time it's hard to
 believe).  Anyway, considering the fact that we're only working with a 16x16
 pixel tile, we stuck to just brown and green.

 *Solution #1*  Brown and Green.  Two great tastes that taste well... mediocre
 together.  But with a little effort, you can make that combination work
 together like a well oiled machine.  Your best bet is to use the spraypaint
 tool.  Everytime I talk about the spraypaint tool, I get two responses: "The
 spraypaint tool is useless" or "The Spraypaint tool is great!"  To those of
 you in the former crowd, I humbly suggest you haven't played with it enough.

 We took our 16x16 dark green square and, using our first 16 greens, created a
 gradient.  For two reasons, we left the top two and the bottom two off the
 gradient, giving us twelve colors.  First, our effects engine deals a lot
 with hue fades, so we needed some room for that.  Second, grass is rarely so
 dark it is virtually black, or so light that it's virtually white.

 We "sprayed" the green square with the spray paint tool, after selecting our
 gradient.  This gave us a very random spread of pixels, all green, but
 varying in intensity and saturation.   We repeated this with a brown
 gradient.  This gave us a rather random looking jumble of browns and greens,
 which leads on to the next problem...

 _____Number 2

 *Mistake #2*  Completely random green and brown pixels rarely look like real
 grass.  This one's pretty much a given.  At times, they can be passed off,
 but for the most part a little thought and some basic background design in
 your tiles can give a much better impression of grass, while still managing
 to look quite random.

 *Solution #2*  I hope you're reading this whole column before you start
 trying grass tiles, or you're going to hate me for this. :)  Start with a
 pattern.  We scrapped the aforementioned random tile, and restarted.  We took
 a dark green tile, drew a relatively erratic pattern (but by placing the tile
 next to itself, we were able to ensure that some lines would appear to
 "cross" the 16x16 border.  More on that below). Now we repeated the step
 above involving the gradients and the spray paint tool.  Because the spray
 paint tool randomly sprays pixels, enough of the original texture was left
 behind to give the tile more cohesiveness then it's predecessor.

 _____Number 3

 *Mistake #3*  Too much brown makes your grass look very muddy.  The need is
 very much there for finding a good balance between greens, browns, and the
 hues in between. There are ways to balance your colors with relative ease,
 and they are discussed below.

 *Solution #3*  We added a third gradient, which I'll call "Olive Green". This
 allowed us to have pixels that were both green, brown, and a mixture of the
 two.  Now the tile was really starting to look like something.  The only
 problem?  Well, that's mistake number four.

 _____Number 4

 *Mistake #4*  It's very easy to make grass tiles look too repetitious.
 Conversely, if you make each tile too random, they won't blend and the breaks
 between tiles will be altogether too obvious.

 *Solution #4*  We took six of the same grass tile, and placed them in a
 vertical column, with one line of white space between each.  We selected each
 of our three gradients, and using the shade tool, darkened and lightened the
 various pixels (This method is described in my fourth dpaint article.  If you
 didn't read it, then shame on you! :)  Now we had six different tiles that,
 when placed together, create a very random, yet still coherent patch of
 grass.

 The tiles range from light to dark, and can be placed in ways that make the
 patch of grass appear shaded, without it being terribly evident how the
 effect was achieved.  This, of course, involves some experimentation, but I
 shall leave that part up to you. :)

 _____Conclusion

 There you have it, "Building a better grass tile" from start to finish. Don't
 expect the world to beat a path to your door... that's for building a
 mousetrap, but you can expect any game you're working on to have a much
 greater level of depth and realism in its tiles.  This process can be applied
 to a variety of tiles, ranging from grass to wood to stone (and even to skin
 tones, albeit with a lot of work).  Experiment, play around, and see what you
 can come up with.  If nothing else, come up with a bunch of plausibly useful
 tiles. :)

 That's the article for this time. Again, sorry about the wait.  I hope it's
 been worth it.  Next time, I'm going to jump right into the long awaited (and
 still multiple-undo-less, grrrr) Photoshop 4.

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