
Software Piracy Birthed an Underground Art Scene (2018) [video] - bane
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpu5IxLIPR8
======
opz2019
I'm the author of 03 of those ANSi art screens displayed on 20min50.

Here are the links to the full artworks: [http://blocktronics.org/lu-glitch-
ans/](http://blocktronics.org/lu-glitch-ans/)
[http://blocktronics.org/luciano-
spidertronics/](http://blocktronics.org/luciano-spidertronics/)
[http://www.ansigarden.com/downloads/death-roses-bbs-
theme/](http://www.ansigarden.com/downloads/death-roses-bbs-theme/)

~~~
bane
These are awesome.

Does anybody know of a good library that can generate images (jpg, png etc.)
from ANSI art files?

~~~
opz2019
Thank you!

Yes. AnsiLove:
[https://github.com/ansilove/ansilove](https://github.com/ansilove/ansilove)

~~~
bane
Thanks!

One thing I really enjoy is the close brotherhood the ANSI scene has with the
demoscene. I'm not quite sure how the venn diagram overlaps but there's all
these really interesting underground computing art scenes and these ones are
really close together.

------
taneq
I miss the demoscene. Even coded a couple of demos back in the day (unrelated
to cracking, though.)

Some of the Farb Rausch stuff was phenomenal ([http://farb-
rausch.de/](http://farb-rausch.de/))

I sorta feel like some of the magic is gone now, though, because computers are
so powerful. There's no graphical effect that you can't either do directly, or
at least fake with sufficient realism that you can't really tell it's fake.

~~~
klez
I'd say the "new" technical challenge for those so inclined is 64k demos and
such.

Also there's still a lot of people who make demos for the old platforms, like
the c64, Amiga, Gameboy...

Take a look on [http://www.pouet.net/](http://www.pouet.net/) if you are
interested. Some demos have been recorded as video so you can watch them
without the actual hardware.

------
eggy
I remember attending the first HOPE conference in 1994. Shocked, but
understand, to see it is now $170 to attend (unless you hack admission?);)

I started in 1978 on a Commodore PET 2001 with a cassette drive to load and
store programs, and using PEEK and POKE commands. I moved on to Amiga, PC,
Macs running Minix, Linux and the usual suspects. You were always low-level
then, and I loved creating tunes on my Vic-20 and Amiga 500. The demoscene
came along and inspired me to push my 6502 and 286/386 assembly skills to
squeeze as much as possible out of my system's resources. I never joined the
demoscene, but only created at home back in the days of my old 300 baud modem
(2400 baud modems were over $500).

I think this early wonder with low-level, and being crafty, is why I think I
find myself attracted to languages (like forth, CToy, the TCC compiler, J, and
even assembly) amongst the bloat of Python, Java, C++, and JavaScript.
However, I do like Zig/Rust for low-level. One-line C code to produce music
from the command line? You bet; watch and listen to bisqwit. [1]

The demoscene produces some truly entrancing artwork, an acid trip manifested
in pixels. I have great respect for the sole creators and creative teams alike
that make such spectacles.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9KLnN0GczI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9KLnN0GczI)

------
tomxor
@ 1:08:20

> "Yes that is a water melon"

:P wicked tunes though.

[EDIT]

I still can't get over just how good some of the music is in the old 80s/90s
demos.

I enjoy the modern 140/512/1k/4k graphic code golfing sites but feel there is
a serious hole for music here.

~~~
mattnewport
4k demos often have some pretty impressive music, a lot of them use soft
synths designed specifically for use in 4k demos like
[https://github.com/askeksa/Oidos](https://github.com/askeksa/Oidos)

------
Harzza
Does it also play a huge part in the advancement of computer graphics in
general? As I've often understood it, the demo scene people were usually some
of the most talented in their field.

~~~
zokier
Not a huge part, at least not directly. Many sceners do work in the graphics
industry (cgi, games, hw etc) but demos are mostly just a hobby for everyone.
I feel like lots of stuff done in demos is not really practical for "real-
world" use.

There is one interesting example of where demoscene has managed to break into
more commercial world: [https://www.notch.one/](https://www.notch.one/)

------
mediaserf
Only a few Atari 8-bit people in the audience, but one thing that wasn't
covered in his overview was ATASCII art - sometimes made with a program called
a "Breakin' Generator". There are some online demos here:
[http://www.breakintochat.com/collections/atascii/](http://www.breakintochat.com/collections/atascii/)

------
olivermarks
I miss Morph's Outpost and Kai Krause.

