Collision detection? Tools? Availability? Interface?

Hi,

Sounds very interesting.... I've done some experimenting with Alice 2.0 with my son who really enjoys the creativity he can express when using it, so THANKS!

I have a few questions:

- The announcment says development on 3.0 starts now...
So when do you think we might see something? (6 months? 10 months?).

- Will the Alice 3.0 have collision detection?

- 3.0 will have a Java "Engine" again, but with a different architecture.
Will User's still be able to invoke/test methods as they can now in an edit (add objects) view? I was wondering if a "dump a program and load it in a new Engine" effects this? (not interpreted by the engine, but loaded seperately? If I understood the previous posting correctly.

- What will the Character/Object 3D editing tools be?
3Ds Max or something new? (hopefully something less expensive or part of the Alice 3.0 environment).

- Will the basic object methods (the programming Interface) remain the same? Event model remain the same? Or will there be a new "language"?
If the Interface remains the same, might it be possible that Alice 2.0 programs will (mostly?) "port" to 3.0? even thought it's a different architecture? I see that one can export HTML for printing in 2.0. I guess I would be looking for a copy/paste/import of code snippets?

- So one will still need a Java Engine runtime? for one's Alice programs?
(no standalone win32 exe generated).

- Stability improvements? Sometimes I just let 2.0 just sit there doing nothing (I've gone to lunch or something) and memory resources start to disappear and the machine get's maxed out (doing nothing). Do you think that these issues can be addressed if your still using Java? (I guess I'm blaming the Java garbage collector? don't really know, but this is something that bugs me).

- Web support? via an Applet environment?

- Movie Support? SIMS supports "Movie Maker".

- Will code sharing still be via individual objects only? What about Remote Sharing? I might be nice to share entire modules over in local internet.

Thanks for all your hard work and negotiations to keep Alice going. We're enjoying 2.0 and looking forward to 3.0

Jake

[madden]

Alice 2.0 has colision detection, depending on what you have. If you have a Mac it wont have colision detection. If you have a Dell it will have colision detection.

Merry Christmas

Originally Posted by madden

Alice 2.0 has colision detection, depending on what you have. If you have a Mac it wont have colision detection. If you have a Dell it will have colision detection.

Merry Christmas

Does linux have colision detection in alice 2.0?

~J3ff

Originally Posted by madden

Alice 2.0 has colision detection, depending on what you have. If you have a Mac it wont have colision detection. If you have a Dell it will have colision detection.

that's mainly when you do the event: "let the arrow keys move camera", plus you can try to program your own.

Originally Posted by J3ff

Does linux have colision detection in alice 2.0?

~J3ff

I don't know... For a Dell or Windows even though it's possible programing it can take a lot of time and patience. Linux can probably take it, but expect to take a long time to work on it. BY the way, and example might be:

If walking==true
If random guy is within 2 meters of building
loop infinity times times
random guy move away from building 1 meter.

THis might possibly work, but it can definitly become more challenging. believe, me. I've tried!

Alrighty alice looks like it can be a powerful tool if used properly I just need to take t3h time to learn how to use everything. Which might take awhile me thinks/.

~J3ff

It sounds like you may be able to make good use of the online tutorials at http://www.dickbaldwin.com/tocalice.htm