Title of Article: Interview with RaD Man of ACiD Productions Writer: Shivan Bastard Appeared in: Beyond The Horizon, Issue #5, 10/09/96 Ú ßÛÛßÛÜ Ä ÛÛ ÞÛÛÛ ÛÛÜÜ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿____________________________________________ ³ Û² Û²°ÜÜÜÛÜÜ ²Û Û² ø ^nA ³ | ßßÛßÛÛÜ ²Û ÜÜÛÛÜÛÛÜ ú ù | BTH Interview : RaD Man (acid founder) : ÛÛ ÞÛÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛÛ² ÛÜ Ü²ÜÜÜÜþ : ù ÛÛ ÞÛÛ²°ÛÛ ÛÛÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÜÜ ù interviewer: shivan bastard Û² ÞÛÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛÛÛ Ü ßßÛÛÜ media: internet relay chat (#bth) ÜÜÛÛÜÛ²ß ÜÛÛ°²Ûß Üß²ß # ÞÛÛÝ date: ~11:00pm -> ~1:30am 10/09 ß² ßß ÞÝ ø ÜÛÛß ù beyond the ßÜÜ ÜÜÛ²ßß ù____________________________________________ À ù ú horizon #5 ú ßßß ú ù Ù ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ° °° °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°±°±±±²± BTH Exclusive ±²±±±°±°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°° °° ° ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, here it is folks. The interview you've all been waiting for. RaD Man, the founder and leader of one of the most influential computer art groups, speaks out about ACiD Productions and the many topics pertaining there to. Once again, Beyond the Horizon brings you the scoop on some of the most important subjects in the computer art scene. +- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -+ "I'd like to start off by asking you about the Hornet demo group. First they start trashing acid in demonews, then they give you a directory on ftp.cdrom.com.. whats up?" "Someone had to ask sooner or later -- Let me start off by saying that Hornet has been taking a bad wrap for the actions of only one individual. Ironically enough, this person has also been elected as the head of Hornet's public relations. The person who I am referring to is Trixter. It all began when they [Hornet] first introduced the Top Downloads to DemoNews; Straight out the chute, ACiD was downloaded #1 out of all categories combined. Our artpacks remained at the top ten for several weeks, until one day the /incoming/ansi directory was removed from the Hornet Archive. [See: DemoNews #113] This stirred up a bit of controversy, as there was no real explanation as to why it was done. People from both the artscene and demoscene were left in the dark, and could only assume that it was done out of a fit of jealously; The #1 download off the Hornet DEMO Archive was an `ANSI Pack'. After I made some calls, I discovered the true reason was a little more serious than a minute case of demoscene envy; there were serious legal issues which implicated both Hornet and their provider, Walnut Creek CD-ROM. Apparently there was a great deal of triple X rated images, artwarez and commercial software in general being uploaded to ALL the incoming directories, but /incoming/ansi was receiving concentrated amounts of it all. Thousands of letters were sent in protest of it's removal, but the decision to eliminate the directory remained unchanged. As stated in The ACiD Newsletter, Issue #12, I met personally with Snowman, the chief administrator of the Hornet Demo Archive. Over dinner, we discussed how ACiD and the artscene operated and talked over possible solutions to the great blow the artscene had been dealt with the loss of the massive internet storage headquarters on ftp.cdrom.com. [See: DemoNews #121] Snowman was sympathetic towards the situation and promised he would look into alternative options, but that it could take months for any type of answer -- if any. If nothing else, one constructive thing came from our meeting: one more influential member of the demoscene now had a positive outlook and a better understanding of what the artscene was all about. Time passed... At NAID I had the opportunity to introduce a couple of the ACiD members to some of the Hornet members ;) It was an inside joke between the Hornet council that disgruntled ACiD members would come to meet them face to face, readily equipped with Louisville sluggers. About 2 weeks after the NAID party, I received a followup email from Snowman indicating that a /pub/artpacks directory was to be created, operated primarily by ACiD. Trixter had begun publishing his NAID Log in DemoNews about this time, a few weeks later we get to hear all about his version of the Awards ceremony [See : DemoNews 126 & 127.] He goes off with snide remarks such as `RadMan needs to keep a tighter reign on his members,' and that we need to do something about our elitist attitude. I send him a several page rebuttal and never heard another word back. Apparently not even he has all the answers. [RaD Man's rebuttal is included in issue four of Beyond The Horizon] "You pretty much answered my second question as well, I was going to ask you about Trixter's comments in his NAiD report. For the record, how many awards did ACiD win and how many did Hornet win?" "ACiD won three spots in the top ten places at NAID. Two of our members ranked high enough to take home CASH prizes. Blue Gravity placed first in the Graphics Compo, while Future Assassin and Evolution ranked third and tenth, respectively, in the Music Compo. Kosh and Soul Assassin also had graphics shown on the big screen, placing them somewhere in the top twenty. To the best of my knowledge Hornet won one award, placing second in the demo competition." "Do you have any comments on the recent actions of Rai and the eclipse guys (releasing the fake acdu0996 pack) or the hacking of the eclipse whq, apparently in retaliaton?" "I first learned of this by word of mouth and later discovered the actual file on our Artpacks Archive... I don't really agree with someone releasing false packs, but at the same time it was really hard to take their release seriously. I am confident that no ACiD member was responsible for the formatting of Rai's hard drive and relabeling it NOECL-ACID." [Editor's Note: The hacker is revealed in the BTH rumor wall!] "What do you feel about the future of ANSI artwork?" "It's my feeling that soon enough, ANSI art will become as relevant of a real standard as RIPscrip graphics. I believe that within a decade the only two important static mediums will become high-resolution graphics (such as SVGA), and both colored and uncolored seven bit ASCII text. Colored IBM-Extended ASCII, or `ANSI' graphics as we know it will begin to see the train at the end of the tunnel." "Do you ever create computer art anymore? Or do you not have the time, with such big responsibilities as leading a group of 100 of the best freelance computer artists in the world, having a life, etc.." "I'm starting to pick up the pen again... The Wacom Artpen that is. I'm experimenting a little bit with Photoshop now and then. You can see my latest creations in the ACID-50 pack (A joint VGA with Cat) and in the intro screen for Product eMag 2. My goal is to have a solo picture of ACiD- quality within the year." [Editors Note: A Wacom Artpen is a serial input device with an electronic pen and pad, used to simulate real pencil drawing on the PC.] "Speaking of Product 2, what is it's status? I can't believe it's been so long since the last issue [over four years.] Is it going to be released on a regular basis from now on? Issue 2 was quite impressive." "Thank you. All we have heard is positive feedback. We plan to release The Product Magazine on a yearly basis from now on." "Well whats up with the artscene now? It seems like there are alot less groups that there were a year ago? Do you think the art scene following is weakening?" "Definitely not, I think the art scene is growing stronger as it ages. The statistics speak for themselves. Gigabytes of information are being downloaded from our FTP sites, and our web audience continues to grow. I have noticed that the scene is starting to slowly mature and that the quality curve is rising as well amongst all groups." "Yes, the art scene is definately maturing finally. What about your plans for an Artpack CD? Do you have a publisher yet? Walnut Creek perhaps?" "It seems the rumor is out. Dan Wright (author of Escape and Freedom CD-ROMs) has publicly announced it, and it's been reported other places as well that we will be publishing some sort of an Artpack CD-ROM. One thing I can say is that we will not be using Walnut Creek as a publisher or distributor. The project is still under wraps at the moment, so I'm afraid I can't really disclose any information about it at this time, sorry." "Ah come on. What about a price estimate? Or how many might be available? And why not Walnut Creek? They did a great job with the Hornet Underground demo CD." "Prices on these CD-ROMs will be somewhere in the range of fifteen dollars each, and will be a limited edition. We plan on pressing a quantity of 1000, with a portion of these being available from us directly, while utilizing resellers for the remainder of distribution. Christopher Mann (Snowman) of Walnut Creek did a great job with the Hornet Underground CD, but the overhead involved going through them isn't something we want to deal with right now. "What do you think about the World Wide Web? It seems to have had a major effect on the art scene, before it came along art packs were filled with long ansis and old school ascii's but now its very rare to see a pack with even half as much ansi as vga. Is this a good thing?" "Yes, it's good to see people heading towards the right direction. It was really inevitable that we make this progression towards higher resolution graphics. While there's always something to say for someone who can push the envelope of a limited medium such as ASCII or ANSI text, SVGA has many more possibilities." "Whats up with the MOP merger and ACiD's competition within the art scene? iCE was kicking alot of ass earlier this year, but it seems with the recent departure of Visigoth and Borian, and now the web page problems, they are really having a wake up call." "A precursor to the MOP merger was a discussion between Tweed and I many months before -- I think his first impression of me wasn't too great, until after we talked voice; we chatted about how things were going in our groups internally, and the possibilities for a merger some time down the road. Later on, the MOP founders Tweed and Bob The Janitor came to the realization that they didn't have the time neccessary to run MOP to their level of expectations. And the rest is history... ACiD remains competitive in the art(packs) arena, there are many other aspects of the group which are top notch as well. Our programming division continues to release the highest quality utilities and applications of their kind, ie. ACiD View, ACiDDraw, Oblivion/2, Spoon II, Tombstone Artist, and more. Our pHluid music division releases monthly music disks and is continuing to gain a higher visibility and respect in the tracking scene. From what I've heard from other members within iCE, the reason so many people are leaving is due to upper management not producing the results that the members want to see. iCE still has some talented ANSI and VGA members, but they've really left the remainder of the group neglected. There's alot of talent they could uncover in their other divisions, if they would just take the time. "I'd like to end by asking you what the future holds for ACiD, as far as projects, goals, and the general direction of the group, as THE leader of the computer art scene." "Short term projects and goals for ACiD at present are: ACiDDraw w/XBIN support, and a new version of SPOON II which will automatically detect fields for a wide variety of file formats. Long term goals include more emphasis on our web site, continuing to streamline our internal processes to make ACiD run as smooth and efficient as possible, and finally to transition ourselves away from a PC Art Scene over to a more universal art scene. "What exactly do you mean about transitioning more into a Universal art scene?" "A utopian universal art scene or art group would be one that attracts ALL computer platforms. Due to the universal nature of most file formats, this should not be too difficult to achieve." "Okay, final question. Alot of people seem to think that you are solely responsible for putting together the packs, and that's why they are occasionally so late. Can you explain the ACiD organizational structure to us, and all the different steps you have to take to release the monthly Acquisition Update?" "I can see you save the easy ones for last. Depending on how you want to look at it, I am and I am not the only one responsible for the packaging of our monthly artpack... As for the hierarchical structure of ACiD, things have changed a little. We've abolished the Senior Staff and Coordinator concepts for something more logical, the Advisory Staff system. From the top down it works like this: President -> Main Advisors -> Group Advisors -> Group Members. Main advisors are responsible for the six major divisions within ACiD. They are: Art, BBS Modifications (ACiDic), Coding, Information Systems (AIS), Music (pHluid), and Telecom-Courier. Each Main Advisor either has a single Co-Advisor as a means of backup, or Group Advisors for sub groups of that respective division. Currently, the only two division within ACiD large enough to have subgroups are Art (ANSI, ASCII, VGA) and Modding (Obv/2, PCBoard, Renegade, and Telegard.) Confused yet? The first stage of the artpack is collections. There are two main channels that I receive submissions through. The first is through basic internet email file attachments. The second is by uploading the file directly to my BBS, Succotash (ACiD's Northern Agora). One way or another, the files get there. The second stage includes final quality control, manual examinations of all ANSI files and ASCII files to make sure they agree with our general guidelines (such as no 80th column, removing [255D, etcetera), jotting down all the appropriate SAUCE titles and authors on paper, and finally adding the SAUCE to each file. The last stage has been optimized thanks to one of our innovative programmers, Skull Leader. Two years ago I would spend another hour or so physically creating the ACDUMMYY.NFO file, zipping it up, and making sure the filenames, dates, bytes, and descriptions all matched up. Using Skullo's packgenerator, it automatically extracts the necessary data from the SAUCE of each file and inputs them into the correct fields automatically. Then it goes and zips all the files in into files each under 1.40mb. This quick 35k program saves me huge amounts of time. Those are the three major stages. Collections is handled by advisors, couriers, and myself. Quality control takes place at both the collections level by advisors, and finally by me. The last stage, zipping up the pack is now done mostly in part thanks to Skull Leader's program, and then rigorously inspected by myself and whoever is left awake on IRC at the time. "Thanks for the interview! lateron..." +- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -+ I've had the pleasure of interviewing alot of influential people in the scene (Somms, Neurotic, Darkened Enmity, etc.) but this was definately one of my favorites. RaD Man has shaped the course of the scene since the early 90's, and it doesnt look like he has any intentions of stopping now. Whatever your personal feelings about ACiD may be, noone can deny that they literally created the computer art scene. Everything they've accomplished is all because of the dedication of one man. RaD Man was releasing acid packs before most of us knew how to use a PC, and for this and everything else he's accomplished he deserves our respect. - shivan bastard +- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -+