Dear Squeaklanders,
I send this note on behalf of myself and the "etoy developers" who
created and continue to support the original etoy system, some of
whom continue to evolve the system to its next level.
A few of you have pointed out less-than-ideal experience(s) when
creating multiple frame animations where you or your child/student
have wanted the object they initially paint to change its size as
part of the animation. You have noted that duplicating and changing
the size of the original object can lead to unexpected results. (We
have observed this when we conduct workshops as well.)
Our team has engaged in much discussion (a group of us hold weekly
computer-based "conference calls" where we discuss support and
development issues) over this issue. Due to the nature of Squeak's
underlying architecture, especially in regard to the way the system
handles the scaling of objects, it is our recommendation to you and
your children that when creating multiple objects you wish to
animate, IF you wish to see a size-change for that object, that each
object be painted and saved individually, in whatever size desired.
You should avoid using the duplicate feature in such cases. If you
follow this procedure you will be ensured to get the result you are
seeking.
We highly appreciate your feedback on this, and other features (or
lack of them). Another recent example is the discussion of the "undo"
button on the navigator bar. While we may not have the people power
to implement an "infinite" undo on each action (the ultimate desire)
in this version of the system, please be aware that our knowing that
you desire such action is a good thing. (We'll soon be "pushing" an
update to Squeakland which improves this "undo" buttons abilities and
provides some feedback as well.) We will strive to work this and
other such suggestions into future releases of the authoring
enviornment.
I think the community realizes that the etoy system currently
downloadable from the Squeakland website grew out of a demo and is
the efforts of a small team of researchers (not product developers)
doing most of this work as a labor of love. Some features (undo in
the nav-bar, for example) were put in as a 'placeholder' for
something we want, ultimately, and are in a first-start position and
for one reason or another have only gotten "so far" and then work on
that particular feature paused, perhaps because another feature
required the attention of that person at that time, etc. Our
limited 'people power' has caused starts and stops on features within
the system (text and audio chat being another you are familiar with).
Please know we are hard at work to evolve the current "etoy" system
into something more robust, with scripting and other features suited
to middle and high school students as well. As we are developing
this system, we are listening to you!
Thank you for your continued trials, curriculum and project
development, and your continued feedback to us. It is very
important to our current and future work.
-- Kim
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