Synthematik is a demo

Demo (computer programming)

A demo is a non-interactive multimedia presentation made within the computer subculture known as the demoscene. Demogroups create demos to demonstrate their abilities in programming, music, drawing, and 3D modeling...

 made by the Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 demogroup

Demogroup

Demogroups are teams of demosceners, who make computer based audio-visual works of art known as demos. Demogroups form a subculture collectively known as the demoscene....

 Outracks

Outracks

Outracks is a Norwegian demogroup who released their first demo in 2002. Best known for the demo "Synthematik" from 2004, which got nominated for the "Breakthrough Performance" award at Scene.org Awards 2005, Outracks is still active today in the Norwegian and European demoscene.-Style:Outracks'...

 in 2004. It was first presented at the demoscene party Scene Event, where it won third place, although many critics saw it as the moral winner of the competition. It was nominated for "Breakthrough Performance" in the 2004 Scene.org Awards

Scene.org Awards

The Scene.org Awards are the demoscene awards established by Scene.org in 2003. They are given annually to the creators of the best demos or intros that year. The winners are selected by a jury, consisting of acclaimed sceners from all around the globe...

, and as of 2006, it stays as Outracks' most successful demo to date. http://www.pouet.net/groups.php?which=2323&order=thumbup

The demo title is a portmanteau of "Synthesis" and either "mathematic" or "automatic

Automatic

- Technology :* Automatic transmission, or a car with an automatic transmission* Automatic firearm* Automatic watch* Automatic , a defunct American automobile company- Albums :* Automatic * Automatic...

".

Technical information

• Size: 7.8 megabytes
• Running time: 4:16
• Platform: Win32
• Minimum requirements: Pentium II class CPU, TNT2 class video card

Credits

• Programming and design by Anders "Duckers" Lassen
• Modelling by Kjetil "Znork" Åltvedt
• Soundtrack by Ivar "Irvin" Kvalvik

Synopsis

Synthematik is an energetic show of various effects, tightly knit with the uptempo electro soundtrack. The demo utilizes various forms of NPR

Non-photorealistic rendering

Non-Photorealistic rendering is an area of computer graphics that focuses on enabling a wide variety of expressive styles for digital art. In contrast to traditional computer graphics, which has focused on photorealism, NPR is inspired by artistic styles such as painting, drawing, technical...

, visuals are mostly cel-shaded

Cel-shaded animation

Cel-shaded animation is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make computer graphics appear to be hand-drawn. Cel-shading is often used to mimic the style of a comic book or cartoon. It is a somewhat recent addition to computer graphics, most commonly turning up in video games...

 or "cartoon rendered". Visuals are rendered with OpenGL

OpenGL

OpenGL is a standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics. The interface consists of over 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives. OpenGL...

.

One of the most interesting effects in the demo is what the demo calls the "realtime slam", essentially a soft body simulation

Physics engine

A physics engine is computer software that provides an approximate simulation of certain physical systems, such as rigid body dynamics , soft body dynamics, and fluid dynamics, of use in the domains of computer graphics, video games and film. Their main uses are in video games , in which case the...

, somewhat akin to cloth simulation. The effect is demonstrated on a box with its corners pinched out. One of the corners serves as the source of acceleration

Acceleration

In physics, acceleration is the rate of change of velocity with time. In one dimension, acceleration is the rate at which something speeds up or slows down. However, since velocity is a vector, acceleration describes the rate of change of both the magnitude and the direction of velocity. ...

 and drags the rest of the box throughout the field, occasionally hitting the ground with it. (On computers with less processing power, it is occasionally seen that the box turns inside out.)

The soundtrack of the demo can be classified as a crossover of Florida breaks

Florida breaks

Florida breaks, also referred to as Florida breakbeat, is a genre of breakbeat music which, as the name suggests, is most popular in the areas around the US state of Florida but is recognized as a unique sound around the world. Florida breaks became popular in the club culture of the southeast...

 and nu electro. It bears classical demomusic elements, such as the breakdown-crescendo formula and acid sounds. A remix of the soundtrack by Bent "Gloom" Stamnes was used as an announcement jingle at The Gathering demo party.

Synthematik introduced the four slashes symbol (usually in bright red) which is used consistently in the typography and design throughout the demo. This symbol was later adopted as Outracks' logo and can be seen in almost all later demos made by the group.

External links

• Synthematik at Pouët
• Synthematik at Scene.org
  Scene.org
  Scene.org is a non-profit organization, providing the currently largest demoscene file repository. It was founded in 1996 by Jaakko "Mellow-D" Manninen, though originally it existed as ftp.fm.org, an FTP-server for releases from the group Five Musicians. In 1997, it re-opened as Scene.org...