Alice in Wonderland - Class Assignment

So our latest technology learned in class was about a little program called Alice. This isn't the same little girl in the story most of us are familiar with. This Alice was actually developed by some nerdy smart people at CMU. First let me start by saying it takes absolutely forever to download. However, once I downloaded it all night for 5 hours, it didn't even open the file. I tried getting it from someone's flash drive and that may have worked but I decided not to try because of reported viruses from the other computers by that same flash drive.

Anyway, on to the actual program. Basically, Alice is a nice little program that allows you to create your own animated movies. The detailed tutorial walks you through the entire process of how to make things move and how to time it and speed it up or slow down. It can be a bit overwhelming at first but once you get the hang of it, it can be quite fun.

I learned how to make an ice skater jump up and down and skate forwards and backwards. I also made a bunny, disturbed from a nap, jump and squash a cell phone. I also learned how to make penguins sing notes of my choice and then record the melody created. The possibilites are endless in combinations of what is available to use. I think programs like Alice are very fun but can be time consuming for even the simplest movements. I read online that they are coming out with a newer version - of which I'm eager to see what it has to offer.

While the graphics of the characters and movements aren't exactly realistic to say the least, it is mind boggling to imagine what the creators of computerized films (like Toy Story) must go through to just get through one scene. Overall, I'm glad I got to learn how to use Alice. I doubt I'll go make movies for fun unless I'm really bored. However, I do have a new appreciation for what it must take to animate films. I would recommend it to other people only if they have an interest in computer animation. Otherwise, save yourself the trouble of learning how to use something you probably won't make worth your time.

That's all I have for Alice. Apologies for being so late on my latest adventures of Paris and Switzerland Alps stories. I'll blog on those as soon as I get the chance. I also have a newspaper article to post about sports as well. Until then, I'll "ttyl" or talk to you later!