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Using Alice to Introduce Programming Concepts. Mr. Craig Ham Technology Coordinator Westminster Schools of Augusta Augusta, GA. Computer Science. It’s crucial we begin to push CS at the secondary level - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Using Alice to Introduce Programming Concepts
Mr. Craig HamTechnology Coordinator
Westminster Schools of AugustaAugusta, GA
Computer Science
It’s crucial we begin to push CS at the secondary level
US Dept Labor predicts CS jobs will be the fastest growing and highest paying over the next decade
CS Provides 21st Century skills necessary for innovation. Job demand is growing and by 2016 estimates are 1.5 million jobs in CS
What Can Your School Do to Successfully Incorporate CS Education?
Implement CS classes. Rigorous and engaging.
Allow CS to count toward graduation (as math or science)
Make courses accessible for all. Recruit those underrepresented.
Improve teacher preparation and professional development.
How Does Alice Fit In?
Alice is designed to engage students with the designs of programming but without the tedium of syntax and error checking.
Additionally it creates all this in a 3 dimensional space instead of text on the screen.
What is and what can I do with Alice?
Alice is a modern programming environment designed to be a student's first exposure to object-oriented programming. It allows students to learn basic computer science while creating animated movies, simple video games, where students control the behavior of 3D objects and characters in a virtual world.
Updates, Releases, Fixes
New releases each Spring and FallLook for ver 2.2 and the most current date
with is 8/5/2011Versions for both Mac and PCAfter you download (351 MB)Copy the Alice 2.2 Folder-no installRun Alice from the folder
Several Good Books out there
Text by Charles Hebert
What I Hope to Cover
Alice screen layout overviewPositioning, Resizing, Moving ObjectsMotion and OrientationOther things that “pop” into my headYour questions!
Most of the follow slides were created by Wanda Dann, Steve Cooper, and Don Slater at Carnegie Mellon University
Alice Code Editor
Object tree
Control Structures
Object details
Events Editor
World View
Go to Scene Editor
Demo & Practice Go to Scene Editor of this project (click on Add Objects button)
aliceLiddell (People gallery) hare (Animal gallery) axes (Shapes gallery)
Identify the center of each object. Identify the forward direction of each. Identify the up direction of each.
Motion Motion of an object is relative to
the orientation of the object the location of the object
• Location is defined by an objects center point (or pivot point)
The art of Alice animation is manipulating the location and orientation of an object and / or its subparts to create the illusion of motion.
Orientation Orientation is an object’s sense of direction A 3D object has
3 dimensions• height, width, depth
6 directions of motion
Center of an object An object is positioned in the world, with
reference to the center of the object. The center of an object can be:
At the center of mass, or
Where it stands on the ground, or
Where it is held or connected (for example, a hinge joint)
Alice Scene Editor
Object tree
Gallery
Object details
Camera Controls
Mouse Control
World View
Return to Code View
Translational Motion Changes position of an object in the world The direction of translational motion is stated
relative to the self-centric orientation of the object. Six directions
• moveleftrightupdownforward backward
Bounding Box Viewing the intersection of axes in an object’s bounding box is one way to determine where the center of an object is located.
Set-up methodsTo illustrate object motion, we will use the
object’s popup menu of menu methods.
Process for using a set-up method: Right-click on the axes from the object tree or
in the world Select methods from the list Select a method from the list
Selecting a menu method: orient to
Right-click on axes
Demo & Practice Use a menu move instruction with
aliceLiddell hare axes
Note: You can click the Undo button to return an object to its
initial position before trying another move.
Question
Other than move, what other methods in the menu can be used for “translational motion”?
Using Alice to Introduce Programming Concepts
Mr. Craig HamTechnology Coordinator
Westminster Schools of AugustaAugusta, GA
Rotational Motion Rotational motion changes the orientation of an
object in the world An object’s center acts as its pivot point for
rotation of the whole object. Two forms of rotational motion:
• turnforward, backwardleft, right
• rollleft, right
Hands-On Practice Compare turn and roll menu methods with aliceLiddell
and the hare
Note:Be sure to click the Undo button to return to initial position before trying another rotational motion.
How would you describe the center point of each object? Are they the same?
Question
Other than turn and roll, what other methods in the menu create “rotational motion”?
Rotational Motion: Subpart
Rotational motion of a subpart of an object may have a surprising result Turn and roll actions for a subpart are
pivoted around the center of the subpart, generally located where the subpart connects to the rest of the object
(see example, next slide)
Example The hare’s right arm is centered at the shoulder(the pivot
point) of the upper arm to the body
Note: A few Alice 2 models were designed to work differently and, therefore, do not conform to this example.
Center for a subpart One way to view the
center of a subpart is to move an axes object to the subpart and then orient the axes to the subpart.
Example: hare’s rightArm’s center
Movement of a subpart One way to view the
movement of a subpart is to set the vehicle of the axes to the subpart and then orient the axes to the subpart.
Example: Select axes in the object tree Select properties tab in axes
detail’s window Change vehicle property
using the drop down menu
Review
1TranslationalMotion.a2w1RotationalMotion.a2w
Open File Menu: World• Click on Examples tab• Click on workshopWorlds
folder• Click on Day1 folder
Text
Additional information on motion instructions may be found in Tips & Techniques 2 Orientation & Movement Instructions
Practice ProblemOpen file 1HelloWorldStart.a2w
The hare is waiting in the garden when Alice enters from the left. (She is off screen at the beginning of the world.) Have the hare turn to greet Alice after she enters. Both say hello to each other. (use the say method of the objects.)
Then they both turn to greet the viewer, with a wave. For an extra challenge, try to have Alice wave her hand. They should return their arms to the original starting position.
Open File Menu: World• Click on Examples tab• Click on workshopWorlds
folder• Click on Day1 folder
Additional Material The following slides contain additional
information, examples and topics that will not be covered explicitly in this workshop. See workshop leader during breaks for more details
Pivot Point Orientation
Different pivot point connections and orientations may be found in 3D objects because Alice 2 models were designed Over several years by dozens of different
graphic artists For many different virtual world projects,
where a variety of connections for subparts were needed
roll and turnIf subparts are connected with pivot points
differently, the same roll and turn instructions may result in different actions on different objects. This is particularly noticeable in biped objects
where arms and legs are animated.
Demo
Walking The variations in design and construction
of 3D models make it difficult to write a walking method that can be used for all bipedal objects.
Alice 2.2 has a Walking People gallery containing 3D models for creating “people” objects that already know how to walk look inside the People gallery for Walking
People folder
Walking People Gallery