Kidpix Movies

Kidpix just keeps making Hyperstudio better and better. Last month, I pointed you to the fact that Kidpix lets you draw images with an incredible wealth of palettes and tools. But, we know that Hyperstudio does much more than just display pretty pictures.

Heck, it displays pretty movies!

Open up Kidpix and decide what kind of movie that you'd like to design. In the example below, I did my name. On the surface, a pretty boring concept but the Kidpix / Hyperstudio really makes it, er, hop.

From the Animate menu (the running dog), I chose the alphabet set of characters. If you haven't been there before, it's a great place where the authors have animated every character in the alphabet. Thus inspired, I proceeded to spell my name on the screen. To test it out, click the play button in the top right corner of the screen and enjoy.

Looking good.

Now, we need to save this, not as a Kidpix file, but as a movie. If you move your cursor to the top of the screen as far as it will go, you'll see the hidden Kidpix menu. From the FILE MENU, select EXPORT. This is promising, not just for now but for into the future. Look at all of the file export options. In this case, we'll choose PAGE AS A QUICK TIME MOVIE. Give it a name and remember where you stored it and exit Kidpix.

Now, we're off to Hyperstudio. From the OPTIONS MENU, we're going to add a Button. Under THINGS TO DO, we need to select PLAY A MOVIE. Do all of the typical things that you would with your button (i.e. shape, location, etc.) and save everything.

You're done. When you play the stack, click on your button and your movie with your name in dancing letters appears! What a terrific way to spice up a card.

Click here to see my movie in your browser. (A new window will open to play the movie.)

Hyperstudio Festival

I'm pleased to announce that, due to the success of the Hyperstudio Festival that was held last year, a Hyperstudio Festival will once again be held to celebrate the efforts of our students' multimedia authoring.

When?
You can start as soon as it works into your schedule. I know that some schools make Hyperstudio a major part of big projects and are already working on their entries! The Festival will conclude in time to celebrate during Education Week 2003.

What?
The purpose is to celebrate how multimedia authoring fits into the curriculum. Any project with ties to the Ontario Curriculum is welcome. While Hyperstudio lends itself to Social Studies nicely, it can be used in all kinds of situations. Turn your students free to be creative.

How Many?
To keep it manageable, there are a limit of 6 entries per school.

Stack Size?
Entries must have no fewer than 5 cards per stack and no more than 20 cards per stack. In addition, a cover card will be made available to be placed as the first card in the stack to identify school, topic, etc.

Inspiration?
Just what can be done? Check with your school's CIESC and look for the CD-ROM that was created last year or the year before composed of all of the entries.

Good Luck! Those that participated last year really enjoyed the excitement that was generated as students worked towards a final product.

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