Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!thad
From: thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Director Demos, etc.
Message-ID: <11744@cup.portal.com>
Date: 25 Nov 88 00:52:26 GMT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 39

Re: Blaine Gardner's comments about the ``Walker'' demo ...

You should try it on a 68020- or 68030-equipped Amiga:

1) the Walker becomes a Runner

2) the audio is multiplied into the ultra-sonic range, attracting bats and
   vampires from miles around!  :-)

3) the video is (attempted to be) displayed at 240 frames/second; not nice on
   an NTSC system at 60 frames/second: video tearing, "snow", etc.

Other DIRECTOR-created demos operate fine on a 68020 system, so it's not clear
where the problem lies, BUT such (obvious) software timing loops controvert
the spirit of the BKDC rules and also controvert the Amiga Programming
Guidelines first issued at the May 1985 Developers' Conference (re: the
compatibility of programs with different CPUs, etc.)

Another serious problem with nearly every DIRECTOR-created animation I've
seen is the misuse of file search paths.

For example, consider Probe_Sequence:

1) starts off fine, using "DDemo1:", but very quickly some of its components
   begin referencing ":" (root of the connected file system) thereby precluding
   the operation of this demo from other than the TOP of a filing system; not
   nice when one wishes to put demos in sub-directories on a HD.

2) its "script" file is encoded (somehow) so that one cannot even have the
   option of patching it to "fix" the problem.

That problem (with Probe_Sequence) also exists with Walker.  So guess WHICH
demos are NOT shown on dealers' systems?

Demos SHOULD be able to be moved to whereever one wants for convenience in
showing them off!


Thad Floryan [thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ...!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad]