I spent some time in University making videos in 3D - a laborious process in Strata Studio Pro in 1997 where renders would take up to 36 hours for 30 seconds of footage. Such time did the G3 266GHz PowerMacs take to render that my team would take turns sleeping in the lab trying to make sure renders were complete.
With Kahootz 3 out around town and freeware like Blender 2.46 kicking around too, there has never been a better time to get into 3D if your a school student. The 3D and CG industry is booming worldwide. And not just for games - in industry too. In WA 3D companies are commanding high prices for their immersive works.
Version 2.46 of Blender supports a new particle system with hair and fur combing tools, fast and optimal fur rendering, a mesh deformation system for advanced character rigging, cloth simulation, fast Ambient Occlusion, a new Image browser, and that’s just the beginning. Check the extensive list of features here … have fun!
Radiologik is a freeware DJ tool that would be of interest to teachers and students alike. I remember when my students produced three CDs of music in GarageBand for the school International Food Day.
This would have been a great way to broadcast interviews with the creators of the “world music” themed tunes in between the tracks.
Radiologik is a set of two programs that seeks to address the specific needs of radio broadcasting in an accessible and focused way.
It is being developed for LPFMs, online streaming radio stations, and school radio stations and it should grow to support commercial operations over the next year.
The DJ portion is ready for prime-time now and along with the scheduler (now in public beta testing) you can have a fully-automated station.
Another for the toolkit is ReelBean. Handy if your students are using their mobile phones to capture video. The .3gp files can be converted to other formats with this and converted back for moblie phones. The ReelBean website details:
ReelBean is a movie converter and player offering many features that are normally only available in expensive pro video applications. Most of ReelBean’s features are available for free.
ReelBean allows you to export your videos to many different video and audio formats, edit videos, extract sections of audio and video into separate files, and displays detailed video information and properties panels. It can be used to extract the audio from a movie and export it directly into iTunes. Individual frames or image sequences from movies can also be saved as image files.
Every year as a part of Universal Children’s Day Graeme Johnston of Coomera Primary School organises the fantastic “Dream A Better World” film festival. So get your iLife suites warmed up and get creating! From Graeme via the MacEd list:
Just a reminder that the 7th annual ‘Dream A Better World’ Film Festival for Australian Primary Schools is on again in 2007 - 2nd December at Dreamworld.
Just enter a 3 min film made by your class, with some teacher guidance, on an environmental or humanitarian theme and enter it in the festival.
Great prizes on offer from our sponsors and also a great way to showcase your kids skills and talents. All levels of “experience” welcome. By the way most entries are made on macs.
Apple has an interesting project going where students can produce a video using clips of the quite famous band Modest Mouse. This may be of interest to students of Media Production. Via the Apple EdCommunity website:
Here’s what we’re looking for. Modest Mouse want a video for their new single “Missed The Boat”. They know there are tons of talented fans and video directors out there who have what it takes to put it together. So that’s where you come in.
“Now you see it,. Now you don’t.” Give your mac a little magic! Abracadabra for OSX is a widget that gives you the ability to make files and folders on your computer appear to disappear before your very eyes. Files that are dropped into your magic top hat are hidden from users searching for them in Spotlight as well as most other applications on your Mac.
The hat is password protected, so when you’re ready to view your files again you can pull individual files or all of the files inside out. The magic hat’s menu can also be password protected to keep spying eyes and stray white rabbits from getting inside
This is not secure protection, but efficient privacy ‘on the fly’. A great report from LifeHacker.
Do you often use screenshot software and feel that something is missing? Don’t you feel like they’re not so efficient and that they are way too complicated? Tired of long menus? If you answered “yes” to one or more questions, InstantShot! is the software for you!
Mac OS X only: Freeware app InstantShot is a menubar app that takes screenshots of your Mac desktop, windows, or selection, and saves them in one of three formats.
Macs come with decent built-in screenshot capabilities (Cmd-Shift-3 for fullscreen, Cmd-Shift-4 for selection), but it’s relatively limited. However, InstantShot’s different outputs (.jpg, .tiff, and my favorite, .png), its pixel-specific selection tool (i.e., you can see how large your output will be), its timer mode, and its multiple shots at intervals are all features that are missing from OS X’s default tool. If you’ve been looking for that sort of functionality, the free, Mac OS X only InstantShot should do the trick.
The big question is - will schools be buying them for Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) access during excursions and outside work? You bet - at least those with money will. It wasn’t until I came across this video, I understood what the web community is so amazed about. Kindy kids will be able to understand and operate that GUI! This montage from Rojo sums the combination up for a visual spatial learner like me:
Unfortunately, being able to access rich media via the school WiFi network changes the boundaries for school ICT resources yet again. With the new wireless capabilities of hubs like AirPort Extreme digital portability enters yet another dimension - can our school infrastructure and systems keep up? This sort of change in expectation displays the need for scaleable network and storage solutions. Instead of portable notebook trolleys will we see racks of iPhones in the library? I’ll check back on this post in 2008 to see where we are at.
Update: Lot’s of other bloggers are thinking about the gaping hole iPhone could fill in education:
Chalkface Project predicts:
“that the iPhone, and its descendants and imitators, will replace desktops and laptops as the workhorse educational computing device.”
Electronicportfolios.org’s Dr. Helen Barrett hypothesises:
“Online simulations, games, learning objects, widgets, blogs, a built-in digital camera to collect images; the capabilities of this device could far exceed the way Palms are currently being used in education today. I could imagine many ways that this device could become the next 1-1 platform for learning. I also see a tool that will support the many stages of ePortfolio development, including collection and reflection.”
....... continue readingiPhones in education.
It contains 361 words, 1 image = an estimated 1:27 mins reading time.
The Huckleberry mirror is a nifty tool for any MacBook or MacBook Pro doing the same as many educators have been doing with their iSight cameras. The MacBook screen effectively becomes a huge LCD with an Intel processor.
Consisting of an acrylic mirror and two durable plastic mounting brackets, Huckleberry for MacBook is placed above the screen to reflect the built-in camera’s field of view. Instead of filming yourself, it will now film what’s in front of you! The new Huckleberry II for MacBook Pro uses two mirrors to provide a full 180 degree change in camera direction.
Educational uses For Huckleberry:
Capture movies direct iMovie HD.
Create stop-motion/clay-mation video in iStopMotion.
Scan your media with Delicious Library.
Take pictures in Photo Booth.
This online service called FlipClip takes short-video clips and transforms them into small flip books traditionally the domain of quirky gift shops. This is an interesting way to share and preserve short clips your students make in the physical world - great for clay animation made with iStopMotion or for clips with subtitles in iMovie. Basically you upload 15 or 30 seconds of video to the website and select a book size. They print out several frames from your video and assemble a book which animates when flipped. Check out a short video clip here. Surprisingly they aren’t very expensive considering they are personalised. Pricing works out to AUD$11 per book, and $13.40 for postage. A bulk order of 25 books can be sent for the postage price of AUD$34. Some technical info from the FlipClip website:
The ideal resolution for a FlipClip is 640×480, and there are some great cameras available now that will record movies at that resolution or higher. Although FlipClips can be printed from any resolution video, short clips (under 30 seconds) at 320×240 or 640×480 are optimal. Frame rates aren’t as important, so you can safely record at 10 or 15 frames per second and still have a great looking FlipClip. FlipClips.com currently restricts the size of file uploads to 25 Megabytes, so you may want to edit your video’s length and, if possible, compress it before uploading. FlipClips are intended to be used for movies, where flipping the pages reveals the motion.
....... continue readingFlip Clips - for the web2.0 tool-belt.
It contains 290 words, 1 image = an estimated 1:10 mins reading time.
Search
About
You are currently browsing the Aus Mac Ed weblog archives for the ICT category.
Longer entries are truncated. Click the headline of an entry to read it in its entirety.
Welcome to AusMacEd
AusMacEd is a hub for collaboration and documentation of the good work being done by Australian Educators using Macs and iPods.
Chris Parcel: iStudyToGo is a cool application that lets you put your school notes on your iPod. It is designed specifically for students studying for the SAT and comes with 5000 preloaded SAT words.
Raul Erazo: Can someone explain how you are using iphones in teaching math? I am interested in cathing up with this trend….
Paul Reid: G’day Kris, commonly in XP you need to toggle with the ATI control panel to get the correct settings. There are more complicated ways of fixing BootCamp projector use for Vista here:...
Lee: that was pretty cool I never used the script editor never new what it was. Can u do that with any other applications??
Kyrne Holloway: I would like to suggest iShowU as an alternative to Snapz Pro as it provides a lot of control over compression settings for the movie you create. School-House is very good. People may be interested in...
Steve Adcock: Just letting you know that Pixelmator is out of Beta is no longer available until it is for sale. For virtualisation, I just wanted to add Crossover http://www.codeweavers.com/pro ducts/cxmac/ which is...
Brett Moller: A great list of apps… May I add Snapz Pro for screen captures etc… Used it recently for a lesson I did with my students that was captured then added as a podcast. An overview of this is on my...
Paul Reid: A big thank you to Jenny Ashby for hosting tonights Macedders conference. Also to Martin Levins and Andrew Douche for their thought provoking presentations. And most of all to the 29 participants for their...
Beth G: Happy to hear you are using Elluminate Live! for your online conference. Please pass on to your attendees that they can use the technology for free with Elluminate vRoom. It’s our free, 3-user virtual room...
Jenny Ashby: Thanks Paul. It certainly is heating up with lots of people registering and excitement building for the night. What a great way to attend a conference. No travel, no time wasted and in comfort. There is still...
Paul Reid: Mark Prensky has some clear ideas on how mobile phones might be used in education here: http://www.marcprensky.com/blo g/archives/000043.html
Judy OConnell: Glad to have you on board David! I’m sure there’ll be lots of ways you can provide input..the younger, the merrier! Cheers.
Steve Adcock: Good One Judy. Its definitely better than Grab and having to use Preview to change picture formats. Nice find. STeve
Steve Adcock: Departments of Education across Australia enforce policy and often the technology policies are never updated quick enough. At pesent in WA schools, in terms of wireless infrastructure, integrators that win...
John Pearce: Hi Paul, Came across this blog via Judy O’Connell’s Hey Jude. The blog is a nice addition to the blogosphere and the Mac world as well. Congrats. Reading this entry was though was one of those...
Chris Craft: Funny that you blog about this, I just ordered this yesterday! They were out out of stock for the one for MacBook Pros until recently. I am looking forward to recording some good video and taking good...
Jenny Ashby: Another handy app for the ipods is called Zapp Tek iPresentit. The app converts powerpooints,keynotes and PDF’s into movies suitable to view on ipods. This can be handy and coupled with an AV cable can...
Paul Reid: You raise some important considerations for network maintennance in schools Steve, especially those using Windows profiles for student/staff movements on the network. In reducing user profile size network speeds...
Steve Adcock: Windows profiles (these are the files that are copied onto the server or files sent back and forth while logging in from a Windows machine) lack the same precise tools that workgroup manager in OSX server...
Paul Reid: Hi Steve, the new AirPort Extreme is potentially a very useful device for school network support managers. It prompts quite a shift in the ways schools will use their network. As far as schools showing forward...
Reg Whitely: Thanks for this Paul. I’ve tried it and it works well. Just remember that it will only convert WAV and AIFF files. I spent some anxious moments trying to convert some mp3 files before reading the FAQs on...
Greg Alchin: Congratulations Paul on putting the hard yards into making a great resource. Cheers Greg
Paul Reid: Testing Testing 1-2-3, Are these recent comments in the sidebar working? I hope so. If not there must be a stray or tag - or something. Now do I get the Trackbacks functionality to work. And does this comment...
Recent trackbacks
Online hub for Australian educators using Apple Macintosh: Online hub for Australian educators using Apple Macintosh computers & iPods. … Instead of portable notebook trolleys will we see racks of iPhones in the library … Browse…
Orange: 30,000 iPhones sold so far in France: iPhones in education at Aus Mac Ed Online hub for Australian educators using Apple Macintosh computers & iPods. … Instead of portable notebook trolleys will we see racks of iPhones in the library? …
Another for the toolkit is ReelBean. Handy if your students are using their mobile phones to capture video. The .3gp files can be converted to other formats with this and converted back for moblie phones. The 
Just a reminder that the 7th annual ‘Dream A Better World’ Film Festival for Australian Primary Schools is on again in 2007 - 2nd December at Dreamworld.
Here’s what we’re looking for. Modest Mouse want a video for their new single “Missed The Boat”. They know there are tons of talented fans and video directors out there who have what it takes to put it together. So that’s where you come in.
Consisting of an acrylic mirror and two durable plastic mounting brackets, Huckleberry for MacBook is placed above the screen to reflect the built-in camera’s field of view. Instead of filming yourself, it will now film what’s in front of you! The new Huckleberry II for MacBook Pro uses two mirrors to provide a full 180 degree change in camera direction.
This online service called 
