new member sketch

[mwforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Jeff Knope)]

Dear Forum,

Moderator Wendy has asked I offer something about my experience and interests
in MicroWorlds and in this Forum.

In the Beginning (circa 1985), I discovered Apple Logo, which ran on my 64k
1Mhz Apple II.  Actually (and I think this maybe important for teachers), what
I discovered was the fan-fold Quick Reference Card for that program, which
presented the entire language, neatly organized by catagory (graphics, lists,
math, conditionals, etc.).  It was instantly obvious that with this, I could
persuade a computer to do whatever I wanted.  It was one of the great "Ah-ha!"
moments of my life.  

Before long, I migrated to pc's and LCSI's original IBM Logo (as well as every
other implementation I could lay my hands on).  As an architect, my dream was
a program that could examine a set of inputs about a design and the
construction methods to be used, and generate a set of drawings that
implements those methods with that design.  This dream remains my personal
Holy Grail.
Pursuing this dream was interrupted by the necessity of putting my kids
through college.  Now, in semi-retirement, I have resumed the chase.  

I have been using MW Pro for only one year.  I'm very impressed with its
parallel processing capability (launch and forever), and have learned to use
it effectively.  Still, not a week goes by I don't discover something new.

I've written a number of utilities I'd be happy to share:

 One permits drawing a polyline which keeps a list of vertices, rubber-bands
from the last point to the current mouse position, allows switching modes
(orthogonal or angled) on the fly, has a reverse sequential undo, and and
allows either a blind ending or a close to the beginning.  I've written an arc
procedure for it, but don't yet have it integrated.

Another is a revision of towards (I call it toward) which overcomes the
weakness of towards that it returns the heading as an integer, which isn't
nearly accurate enough for my purposes.  Also, it accepts any point [x y] as
input, rather than only another turtle's pos.

My immediate project is a GPS (Global Positioning System) program with
utilities for downloading and assembling free USGS maps from the internet.  It
accepts input from an inexpensive (US$110) GPS reciever, and plots where you
are and where you've been on the maps.  A floating instrument panel follows
behind the plotting turtle, reporting time, distance travelled, elevation,
speed, and heading.  

Well, this already a lot more about me than anybody wanted to know.

Wendy's third question was why I joined the Forum, and what I hoped to gain.
Besides the pleasure of sharing with others of similar interests, I do have an
immediate question and frustration:

I recently got a digital camera that has a video mode for short film strips.
It creates video files in the .AVI file type, which is listed as supported in
MicroWorlds.  

The videos play fine in both Quick-Time and Windows Media Player.  When I try
to import them into MicroWorlds, a video window of the correct size and
filename appears.  Usually, the window is just black.  Sometimes it has a wide
strip along the top or bottom that a jumble of colors.  Rarely, I get a
slightly flickering gray window, and the soundtrack plays accurately.  But
never have I gotten an actual image.

Can anybody tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Regards,
Jeff

Dear Forum,

 

Moderator Wendy has asked I offer something about my experience and interests in MicroWorlds and in this Forum.

 

In the Beginning (circa 1985), I discovered Apple Logo, which ran on my 64k 1Mhz Apple II.  Actually (and I think this maybe important for teachers), what I discovered was the fan-fold Quick Reference Card for that program, which presented the entire language, neatly organized by catagory (graphics, lists, math, conditionals, etc.).  It was instantly obvious that with this, I could persuade a computer to do whatever I wanted.  It was one of the great "Ah-ha!" moments of my life. 

 

Before long, I migrated to pc's and LCSI's original IBM Logo (as well as every other implementation I could lay my hands on).  As an architect, my dream was a program that could examine a set of inputs about a design and the construction methods to be used, and generate a set of drawings that implements those methods with that design.  This dream remains my personal Holy Grail.

Pursuing this dream was interrupted by the necessity of putting my kids through college.  Now, in semi-retirement, I have resumed the chase. 

 

I have been using MW Pro for only one year.  I'm very impressed with its parallel processing capability (launch and forever), and have learned to use it effectively.  Still, not a week goes by I don't discover something new.

 

I've written a number of utilities I'd be happy to share:

 

 One permits drawing a polyline which keeps a list of vertices, rubber-bands from the last point to the current mouse position, allows switching modes (orthogonal or angled) on the fly, has a reverse sequential undo, and and allows either a blind ending or a close to the beginning.  I've written an arc procedure for it, but don't yet have it integrated.

 

Another is a revision of towards (I call it toward) which overcomes the weakness of towards that it returns the heading as an integer, which isn't nearly accurate enough for my purposes.  Also, it accepts any point [x y] as input, rather than only another turtle's pos.

 

My immediate project is a GPS (Global Positioning System) program with utilities for downloading and assembling free USGS maps from the internet.  It accepts input from an inexpensive (US$110) GPS reciever, and plots where you are and where you've been on the maps.  A floating instrument panel follows behind the plotting turtle, reporting time, distance travelled, elevation, speed, and heading. 

 

Well, this already a lot more about me than anybody wanted to know.

 

Wendy's third question was why I joined the Forum, and what I hoped to gain.  Besides the pleasure of sharing with others of similar interests, I do have an immediate question and frustration:

 

I recently got a digital camera that has a video mode for short film strips.  It creates video files in the .AVI file type, which is listed as supported in MicroWorlds. 

 

The videos play fine in both Quick-Time and Windows Media Player.  When I try to import them into MicroWorlds, a video window of the correct size and filename appears.  Usually, the window is just black.  Sometimes it has a wide strip along the top or bottom that a jumble of colors.  Rarely, I get a slightly flickering gray window, and the soundtrack plays accurately.  But never have I gotten an actual image.

 

Can anybody tell me what I'm doing wrong?

 

Regards,

Jeff