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Introduction to Alice Alice is named in honor of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

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Presentation on theme: "Introduction to Alice Alice is named in honor of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland."— Presentation transcript:

1 Introduction to Alice Alice is named in honor of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland

2 Alice A modern programming tool 3-D graphics 3-D models of objects Animation Objects can be made to move around the virtual world (a video game or simulation implemented in 3-D) Can download latest version from the web www.alice.org

3 Demo: Getting started Starting Alice Load and run a world Octopus (movie) Skater (interactive)

4 Fundamental Ideas 1. Creating a list of instructions (program) Pen the Tail on the Donkey Making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich 2. Ifs If it is raining, take an umbrella 3. Repeating behavior (Looping) 4. Create smaller tasks (Decomposition) Breaking things down, creating smaller tasks 5. Computing a result (function)

5 Thinking in a New Way Use problem solving skills Program: a set of instructions that tell the computer what to do Also a way to tell another human being what you want the computer to do

6 Kinds of Animations Two kinds of animations: Movie Passive user watches the animation Interactive Active user clicks on mouse, types a key on keyboard … Actions of user are called events

7 Demo: A new world Create a new world File  New Choose template

8 Demo: Adding objects

9 Techniques and Tools Mouse is used to approximately position objects in the scene Camera Navigation is used to set the camera point of view Drop-down menu methods are used to resize objects more precisely position objects in the scene Quadview is used to position one object relative to another object

10 Objects An "object" is any thing that can be identified as unique from other things How is an object unique? has a name has properties (data): width, height, color, location can perform actions (methods): associated actions it can perform tasks it can carry out

11 Object Parts Objects may be composed of parts

12 3 Dimensions, 6 Directions A 3D object has 3 dimensions height, width, depth 6 degrees of freedom (directions of movement)

13 Center of an object At the center of mass Where it stands on the ground Where it is held

14 Class Objects are categorized into classes Each object is an instance of the class. All objects in a class have similar properties and generally can perform the same tasks. Person Dogs peter mary paul spike scottie fluffy

15 Galleries Classes (3D models) are found in the galleries Local gallery (installed with the software) Minimum or complete options CD Gallery (only if CD is in the machine) Web gallery

16 Demo: Saving a world Writing and testing an animation is an intense load on the computing system – a crash can occur. Best solution: save your world every 15 minutes  (Or at least every half hour) also save to a backup system (for example, a zip disk or memory key)

17 Assignment 1. Island 1. Create an island scene by choose water template. 2. Add an island object (look in the environment folder). Place island in center of scene. 3. Add a goldfish. Place it to the left of the island. 4. When the scene starts make the camera show the island only. The camera should zoom out to reveal a wider view of both the island and the fish.

18 Assignment #2 2. Soldiers on Deck 1.Create a water world using the templates. Place a carrier (Vehicle folder) and four toy soldiers (people) in the world. 2.Place two soldiers at each end of the deck as if they were in a formal ceremony. 3.Right click on each solder and use the methods to move the soldiers arms to salute each other. (This is not an animation. No actions should occur. This is simply setting up the scene).


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