Bad Influence series 2, episode 9, aired on the 4th November 1993.
24 years and one day ago.
As usual the episode was filled with reviews, previews and cheats, but one thing which caught
by attention was this Fireworks Simulator demonstrated by Andy Crane on the PC.
It's not something which I would find useful at all through-out my life, unless I get a
job as a firework technician in the next few years, but it was just cool.
Having the freedom to setup firework displays willy nilly and see what they look like?
I'll have some of that please.
Now, I'm not entirely sure what program Andy was using there, but I thought we could spend
the next few minutes taking a look at a couple of vintage Firework programs, and then maybe
try and re-create Andy's incredible display.
Let's start in 1987 on Microsoft DOS with Pyro by K.G Shields.
The accompanying read-me tells us that Pyro utilises the power of an IBM AT compatible
and the colours graphics capability of an EGA display to produce a realistic simulation
of a Pyrotechnics display.
Now this isn't a programmable simulator as such.
Written in Turbo C; It's really just a demo which whips through various firework effects
such as Spurt Fill, Flare Fade, Burst Sound, Rocket and Roman Candle.
But back in 1987, I would have been more than impressed, especially on an EGA card.
On a 486 it runs incredibly fast.
It's far more suited to a 286 machine.
Along a similar vein is Sparkwood, created by Nicholas Centanni and released in 1996.
This time we've stepped up to VGA graphics, and this is much more suited for 386 and above
machines.
It's written in Borland C++ and makes use of the XYZ 3D library to create some pretty
impressive effects.
Whats more we get a few options we can play around with to enjoy the full 3D effect.
As Nicholas himself puts it; "Sparkwood if the first true 3D Virtual Reality simulation
of a Fireworks exhibition.
The simulation is surprisingly realistic, taking into account the forces of gravity,
intertia and air resistance"
But still, I haven't got the freedom of creating my own display.
Well that's where Fireworks Simulator developed by Reality Twist GmBH comes into play.
Released in November 2014 and published by rondomMedia GmBH, this should offer me all
the firework excitement I was hoping for in 1993, but with the power of modern day technology.
As I'm new to this, trying to re-create Andy's original display seemed a straight forward
task.
It will be amazing to witness it in high definition glory.
Just as it would have appeared to my blissfully ignorant eyes back in the 90s.
So we get a choice to locations to host our display, of which I'm going to go for OlympiaPark.
Now we've got a lot of choice of fireworks, including various rockets, but we'll need
to stick to a Ground display for the Bad Influence spectacular.
The problem I found however, was that basic fireworks like Catherine-wheels and this suspended
thing Andy uses simply aren't available in Fireworks Simulator.
Not that I could see anyway.
We've got a lot of vertical spurting type spectacles however, so we'll have to make
do.
For the bulk of the display I've opted to use these Silver Vulcans, which I'll be placing
in a line to create something vaguely similar to the original.
There we go, from the safety of the water edge, it looks rather pleasing.
Next up, I reckon a couple of Silver Falling Stars can take the place of the side flames,
so let's plonk those on the front platform.
You can also then sequence all these fireworks, to create perfect timing, but in the original
they all seem to go off pretty much straight away, so if we plonk those there, then we
get this effect.
Which is nothing really like the original, but as close as I can manage with these tools.
I'm just gonna plonk a Rainbow Comet at the back there to pad it out, and then a couple
of Golden Vulcan's because that's all I have and voila.
This is my interpretation of Andy's original on the fly display using Fireworks Simulator.
Of course if you put time and effort in then you can create pretty impressive displays
such as this.... although I'm still not forgiving the lack of cathrine wheels.
And even still, it's not as impressive as this original creation was to my eye...
They even linked real fireworks up to it at the end of the show and ran the whole thing
from the computer, which was tremendous.
But frankly, it looks better on screen than reality.
Anyway, that's enough Firework shenanigans for this year.
I've managed to create an entire display without even leaving the house.
Don't think I can top that.
Remember to never go back to a lit firework kids.
Have a great Bonfire night!