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[[Image:DemoSample.jpg|thumb|A frame part of an animation displayed in real time.]]
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A demo is a way for [[demomakers]] to demonstrate their abilities in [[programming]] (that's the coding part), [[music]] (zik), [[drawing]] (gfx), and/or [[3D modeling]]. It is a kind of non-interactive multimedia presentation, the difference with a classical animation being that the display of a demo is computed in real time (like people performing a play compared to showing a movie), making computing power considerations the biggest challenge. For now demos are mostly composed of [[3D animation]]s mixed with [[2D effect]]s and [[Full screen effect]]s.
[[Category:Demoscene |*Demo]] ▼The boot block demos of the 1980s, demos that were created to fit within the small (generally 1024 to 4096 bytes) first block of the [[floppy disk]] that was to be loaded into [[Random Access Memory|RAM]], were typically created so that [[software cracking|software crackers]] could boast of their accomplishment prior to the loading of the game. What began as a type of electronic [[graffiti]] on cracked software became, however, an art form unto itself, and demo makers continue to push themselves to the limits of their abilities by making these short demos to this day.
There are three main kinds or types of demos: "4k intros", "64k intros" and "demos", which only differ in terms of size limit. Demos have no specific size limit, whereas intros do. Hence, intros also show off the programmer's ability to squeeze much into little space, often by generating graphic and sound data rather than just reading it from a datafile. Because of the extremely low size limit, 4k intros often have no music.
Restrictions change from one competition to another, depending on the machine on which the programs are run. The demos are now most commonly designed to run on [[Personal Computer|PC]], but not that long ago were mostly designed to run on [[Commodore 64]], [[Atari ST]] and [[Commodore Amiga]] [[home computer]]s. There are even demos running on such diverse platforms as [[Commodore VIC-20|VIC-20]], [[Amstrad CPC]], [[TO7]], [[BeBox]], [[RiscPC|RISC PC]], [[Apple Macintosh|Macintosh]], [[Game Boy]], [[GP32]] and SONY [[PlayStation]].
Notable [[List of demoscene groups|demo groups]] include the [[Future Crew]], [[Renaissance (demo group)|Renaissance]], the [[Silents]], [[Cascada (demo group)|Cascada]], [[Witan (demo group)|Witan]], [[Triton (demo group)|Triton]] and many others.
For a more self-explaining definition, see [http://www.pouet.net Pouet.net] for one of the most active [[Demoscene]] repositories.
==see also==
*[[:Category:Demo parties]]
[[Category:Computer graphics]]
▲[[Category:Demoscene|*Demo]]
[[Category:Home computer software]]
[[fi:Demo (tietokone)]]
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