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       ޲  ݱ  ۲߱   ߲
       ۲     ܰ 
      ߲ܰ   ߲ܰ    ߲ܰ ߰  
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 ܱ ۱۰ ߱۰۱ݲ  ۰ ۰۱     ۰ݰ
۱  ۱۲ݰ ۱۱۰  ۱۱ ߲
   ۲   ۲۲  ۲۲۱۲  ۲  
     ۱۲  ۲۲۲۲۰   ۲۰    
                         ۰
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   ۰           ޲  <A  .   A  .   A>  ߲   ax.rmrs.ice     
                            ܲ
                             Aces of ANSi Art                      
                    ++----------------------++            
        Even beginnings have a beginning.       
      ۱                                                           
      ۰         ۲            
               ۲ܲ                    ܲ       ۲
       ܱ                                  ܲܲ
                                           
ܱ
                                                             
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        here to begin?                                               ۰
   ۰                                                                      
  ۰      Aces of ANSi Art was an alliance of artists who specialized     ۰
 ۰ in one thing: ANSI.  Although their specific date of birth is         ۰
    not known, it is approximated to have been some time late in the      
    year of 1989...                                                       
                                                                          
          Aces existed in one form or another from 1989 - 1991.  Formed    
     by two people, Zyphril and Chips Ahoy of San Jose, California,        
     Aces of ANSi Art ("<A.A.A>") was indisputably the first underground   
     or "elite" ANSI group, and possibly the first organization of ANSI    
     artists ever assembled.  Their motives for the creation of this       
     group were simple: "put out some cool artwork", "help out sysops"     
     and get name-brand recognition.  Strength in numbers was realized.    
                                                                           
          In September of 1990, several key players from the group left    
     to form one of their own.  This dealt a devastating blow to Aces      
     and for several months after it was unclear whether or not the        
     group had seen it's last days.  Something happened; a local artist    
     by the name of Mondoman came aboard, releasing a fury of ANSIs        
     and arguably some of the best ANSI animations seen in <A.A.A>.  New   
     life was breathed into the group, attracting others once more.        
                                                                           
          The selection of ANSI artwork included in this archive, while    
     authorized, is partial.  This is a modest representation of what      
     was drawn by artists of this era but is by no means definitive.       
     While there are 84 ANSIs and 2 executable ANSI loaders included,      
     much artwork is missing from the likes of Chips Ahoy, Icepirate,      
     The Beholder, even myself.                                            
                                                                           
          You will find that each of the artists represented have a        
     distinctive style.  Many of these ANSIs are animated or make          
     creative use of the blinking attributes.  Most Windows based          
     viewers show only the final page of an animated ANSI, effectively     
     stripping out all the animated action preceding the last screen,      
     and also tend to disable the blinking attribute all together.         ۰
     It is recommended that a capable viewer such as ACiD View 4.36f      
     (included) be used in full-screen text-mode for proper display.      
                                                                          
         By the time <A.A.A> had faded away, so many events which would   
     change the face of the art scene had yet to happen.  There were no    
     "VGANS" collages of ANSI, or decent ANSI viewers, let alone one       
     which supported real-time VGA-mode down-scaled browsing of an ANSI.   
     To display an ANSI, one would "type" it from DOS, or view it the      
     way it was meant to, while connected to another BBS.  To imagine      
     what something might look like in VGA mode, the only thing one        
     could do was to distance themselves as far away as possible from      
     their monitor and use some imagination, one screen-full at a time.    
     No SAUCE descriptions to declare the title, author, and organization  
     to identify your artwork, just eight mighty characters prepending     
     the de facto file extension of dot A-N-S.  Most importantly in        
     the context of this writing, the concept of an artpack, let alone     
     an artpack comprised of new artwork released on a monthly basis       
     had yet to be seen.  Relatively speaking, this is the most            
     comprehensive collection of artwork by Aces in circulation, and       
     the one and only pack to stand out proudly in our 1991 directory     
     on the ACiD Artpacks Archive:                                         
     ftp://ftp.artpacks.acid.org/pub/artpacks/artpacks/1991/.              
                                                                           
          These ANSIs represent a sign of the times, but mean a lot to     
     me in other ways.  ACiD's lineage traces directly back to Aces of     
     ANSi Art.  If it weren't for that precursory inspiration in 1990,     
     I can only imagine how different things would be today.               
                                                                           
          I owe a great many thanks to many people who assisted in         
     one way or another with the assemblage of this set.  Especially       
     when you take in to consideration that these files are now            
     teenagers themselves...                                              
                                                                          
        Sources included:            
                                                                          
           - Private collection by Mondoman (former <A.A.A>                
             and ACiD Artist)                                              
           - AAA.ZIP, a very small and unauthorized sampler                
             released by Cavalier (former CCi Net administrator           
             and RNDserv bot operator on the #ANSI of yore)                
           - ACID.ZIP (also known as ACID1.ZIP, ACID-1.ZIP),               
             an unofficial release of early ACiD and AAA artwork           
             by an anonymous individual. The accompanying                 
             FILE_ID.DIZ still makes me cringe to this day.                
           - Hacker Chronicles CD-ROM / P-80 International                
             Information Systems                                          
           - Jason Scott (Sketch the Cow) & textfiles.com                 
           - My own personal collection of 5.25 & 3.5" diskettes,          
             miraculously still intact and readable!                       
                                                                           
   ۲                     
                                                                           
     Thank you for reading,                                                
                                                                           
     Christian Wirth aka RaD Man (mailto: radman@acid.org)                 
     Senior Advisor and Founder,                                           
                                                                           
     ACiD Productions                                                      
     Post Office Box 24523               fax: 775.854.6161                 
     San Jose, CA 95154-4523           http://www.acid.org                 
     U.S.A.           aim:goim?screenname=ACiD+Productions                 
                                                                          
  ۱                                                                      
 ۲ܲ
                                                                          
    ߱                                                                    
      
SAUCE00Aces of ANSi Art Remembrance Pack  RaD Man             ACiD Productions    20030303W/   P                              