OVER 2 YOU 173 (23/03/04)

ANIMATED REPLIES

Can anyone recommend any animation software available as a download or reasonably priced package that would suit my 14-year-old son?  He is a gifted artist and particularly enjoys drawing cartoon characters. He uses an educational program called "Interactive Physics" to create objects and then animate them but really he would like something a bit more appropriate for the job.
Henry Glasse, via email 

There are two free packages that Mr Glasse's son might like to take a look at. The first one is Alice (http://alice.cs.cmu.edu/), which mixes simple programming with animation and is easy to use plus there is a large gallery of 3-dimensional objects available for download. The other one is "Smooth Teddy" and this provides a simple way to design new objects
(http://www-ui.is.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/

~takeo/java/smoothteddy/index.html).
Both packages require Java to be installed you’re your PC, which also needs to be reasonably fast with plenty of memory.
Dr David J Lewis, via email

Whichever branch of animation your son pursues he should definitely read The Principles of Animation by Ralph A. De Stefano. It’s an absolute mine of information and essential reading for anyone interested in this subject. The principles in question are timeless and apply to both traditional forms and the more recent computer-based processes; the end-result is the same in both cases after all. This fascinating document is freely available on-line and you’ll find a copy at: http://www.evl.uic.edu/ralph/508S99/index.html

Peter Steele, via email

The UK online magazine Skwigly (www.skwigly.co.uk) contains just about everything to do with animation and every month features the latest budget packages. Have a look at a program called ‘The TAB’,
http://www.skwigly.co.uk/magazine/articles/

01-03-04/the-tab/the-tab-presentation.asp. There’s also a link to a 30-day trial version on the web site, I’ve tried it and found it very easy to learn.

David Smith, via email

Your son might be interested in a series of animation tutorials at http://www.webreference.com/3d/ .

Charles Kent, via email

Although he is still a little young to enrol, it’s not too early for Henry Glasse junior to pay a visit to the National Centre for Computer Animation web site at Bournemouth University (http://ncca.bournemouth.ac.uk/). There he will find details of NCCA courses, some background on the technology and examples of student’s work.

H. Thompson, via email

DISTANCE LEARNING

I am a very frequent traveller and like to record the distances I travel. I used to use my old Psion 5MX, enter my location and destination and it would give me the total distance in miles. My new iPaq does not have this function. Can anyone suggest any suitable software, or a web site, that can calculate the distance between 2 locations, worldwide?
David Hardy, via email

Your correspondent can get a fairly good idea of the distances travelled if he can read the coordinates (latitude and longitude) of the two points concerned from the maps he uses. The problem is one of spherical trigonometry and has been extremely well studied for developing navigation systems. For short distances such as may be involved in travel on land a simple solution would suffice. The simplification calls for treating the Earth as a true sphere rather than an ellipsoid. If the approximation is acceptable, a quick answer to the distance between two points can be obtained from: http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~cvm/latlongdist.html

Alternatively, David Hardy could try a GPS (global positioning by satellite) receiver, which can do the same calculations and present him the solution quickly and accurately. The problem would still be that turns etc would be ignored and only the "as the crow flies" distances would be available.

Group Captain Kapil Bhargava (Retd), via email

David might be interest in the products available at: http://www.avshop.com/catalog/

product.html?productid=4184. There he will find details of GPS modules and mapping software for the iPaq, but be warned, it’s an expensive hobby! A decent road atlas and ruler, or one of those little rolling distance measuring gadgets will probably be a lot quicker, and a great deal cheaper!

William Peters, via email

I can’t offer much help to David with his UK travels but if by chance he ever visits America he’ll be pleased to know that the Rand McNally Mileage Calculator for iPaq can plot the distance between more than 800 US cities. The program costs $19.98 and can be downloaded from: http://www.handmark.com/software/

Rand_McNally_Mileage_

Calculator_for_Pocket_PC.php. Maybe they are working on a British version, it might be worth his while asking them?

Alan Croft, via email

The method used to calculate distances between two points on any planet is called the Great Circle Distance. A bulky equation now simplified by internet sites, requiring you to enter latitude and longitude of both start point and finish point followed by a single mouse click. You will find Great Circle Calculators at: http://www.gb3pi.org.uk/great.html

http://www.argray.org/dist/index.en.html

and

http://www.vwlowen.demon.co.uk/java/circle.htm

Albert Smith, via email

I use the Great Circle mapper (website http://gc.kls2.com), which provides distances between any 2 airports in the world. It is quick and very easy to use.
Peter Jordan, via email

CAN YOU HELP

I would be grateful for recommendations for basic software that can calculate volumes for earth moving and excavation. The intended application is farming and landscaping work using data based on an area plot measurements and laser profiles.
Derek A Rogers, via email

I train stenographers for real-time speech-to-text reporting for the deaf and disciplinary hearings. In the past I used Word Perfect 5.1 in DOS and could mark my dictation passages using two macros, one to put a "/" in (with a space around) every 10 words, followed by a number (from 10 to 1000, incremented in 10s) so that I could read the same passage at different speeds.  Since changing to Word 97 I have not been able to transfer this macro nor work out how to create a new one. Can anyone assist?

Mary Sorene, via email