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!
Thanks to Peter Murray from Apple for hosting the session at Mt Lawley Senior High School in Perth, Western Australia today. It is great to see so many educators interested in the learning that can occur through the communicative and creative potential of Macs.
Here are links to the tools I did a show n’ tell on today - I’d just like to remind you that some of them are still in beta
Pixelmator, the beautifully designed, easy-to-use, fast and powerful image editor for Mac OS X has everything you need to create, edit and enhance your images. (Update: this software is in locked beta - thanks Brett and Steve) Pixen is an innovative graphics editor for the Mac. Pixen is like a very powerful MSPaint or a simpler, more agile Photoshop. And best of all, it’s Free!
Kahootz is an eduational Software application that allows students aged 5-18 to create their own 3d content. Share designs with schools around the world.
PhotoPresenter offers many gorgeous styles to create animated slideshows with amazing effects.
Jing: the concept of Jing is the always-ready program that instantly captures and shares images and video…from your computer to anywhere.
Virtue Desktops allows you to achieve similar to what Apple Spaces will do when Leopard arrives in October.
Skitch is the Internet age’s Camera and it Rocks! The best screenshot tool in the world from the team that brought you ComicLife.
....... continue reading8 great Mac Apps for Ed.
It contains 309 words, 9 images = an estimated 1:14 mins reading time.
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.
Thanks to Bronwen for bringing to my attention Skitch - the latest highly intuitive tool from the guys at Plasq. ICTs that have *FUN FOR ALL AGES* written all over them are hard to find. Three years ago when Comic Life appeared on the Mac platform it became a quick way to show the amazing simplicity of the OS X interface and the iLife suite integration. Apple loved it so much they began include it free on most Macs. Last month Plasq announced a ComicLife beta for Windows. The Windows beta of ComicLife is currently down but will be up again soon. Treat your Windows using pals to a nice UI! First time users are regularly amazed at the ease of use Comic Life provides. Skitch has a similar “wow why hasn’t anyone done this b4?” factor. For Skitch sign up is req’d to try the beta - I don’t have any invites yet but Plasq promises more soon. Please email me and I’ll pass one on. Possible uses of Skitch in the classroom:
Quick screen-cap and draw function has the most immediately obvious use in an educational setting.
The UI offers many neat features like not having to select the text tool - just start typing.
Web-sharing across schools and annotating resources and user-guides.
Using iSight to capture live video shots that one can scribble and jot on.
Re-size and crop by simply dragging a corner + all sketches are vector and scaleable.
....... continue readingSkitch in the classroom.
It contains 425 words, 1 image = an estimated 1:42 mins reading time.
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.
If there’s one annoying thing about QuickTime Player it is the lack of fullscreen movie support by default. As most of you know, the basic Quicktime (the one that comes on OS X) does not allow the user to enter into full screen mode unless they upgrade to the Pro version. or use a third party application like VLC. However, there is a very quick and easy way around this that will let you enter full screen mode, thanks to a very simple three-lined AppleScript that scales the movie to your screen size. Very crafty!
Here’s how you do it:
Launch the AppleScript Script Editor - spotlight for “Script Editor”
Type the following exactly:
tell application “QuickTime Player”
present front movie scale screen
end tell
Compile and Save As “Fullscreen”
Launch your QuickTime movie, and Launch your Fullscreen Script.
2006 had a lot to offer, but the biggest story from ‘the year that was‘, according to Scott Stevenson, is that Apple finally got out of the shadow of its early success with the original Mac in the 80s, and has redefined what it means to be Apple Computer. Not only is the iPod a true cultural phenomenon, but 2006 can lay claim to the most Macs ever sold in a single quarter!
Lego Digital Designer 1.6 is a free download for OS X. Students can design their own virtual Lego model in 3D. There is an option to order the exact set of bricks used in a students design over the Internet and build it in real life as well. To order these bricks could prove to be quite expensive, however as group project a few groups in a class may be a justifiable expense. Nonetheless, building with the virtual building software is, of course, free. From the Lego website:
Now at version 1.6, LEGO Digital Designer is quite simply the best virtual building system out there – with its “Click-Stick” method of 3D modeling winning praise from children, parents, teachers and design enthusiasts everywhere. And, as the virtual design platform behind a growing number of LEGO products, LEGO Digital Designer is here to stay. A host of improvements and new features are already in development, including an improved user interface, new connectivity, more life-like building, Technic compatibility and improved train building and animation. So stay tuned – with LEGO Digital Designer, the future is yours.
Further to this, at the the Lego Design School students can follow lessons to discover what it takes to build with the best of the lego building blocks.
New software called Levelator may solve the tricky fluctuating audio level issue many teachers with limited equipment face. It automatically adjusts the audio levels within a podcast to account for variations in level between speakers. Drag-and-drop any WAV or AIFF file onto The Leveler’s application window, and a few moments later you’ll find a new version which just sounds better. The application is available for Windows and OS X - it’s free (for non-commercial use).
Have you ever recorded an interview in which you and your guest ended up at different volumes? How about a panel discussion where some people were close to microphones and others were not? These are the problems the post-production engineers of Team ITC solve every day, and it used to sometimes take them hours of painstaking work with expensive and complex tools like SoundTrack Pro, Audacity, Sound Forge or Audition to solve them. Now it takes mere seconds. Seriously. The Levelator is unlike any other audio tool you’ve ever seen, heard or used. It’s magic. And it’s free.
A new webcast around the topic of Mac computers begins on the 22nd of October. We hope you can join us for this weekly live webcast. The first skypecast show can be joined at the following link
More details on tuning into the webcast can be found at EdTech Talk.
Join Jason Robertshaw and Brad Hicks for their first Macbridges webcast, join the discussion as we seek to define the directions MacBridges will take, help us create our manifesto!
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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...
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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? …
Thanks to 
Lego Digital Designer 1.6
