Free tool that allows to create animated movies and games

A free programming tool has just officially launched on the Internet, allowing anyone - even the most "A, B, C" technology people - to create an animated movie, My own video game and interactive artworks.

Mainly aimed at children, Scratch does not require users to have knowledge of complex and complicated programming languages. Instead, it uses a very simple graphical interface, allowing the assembly of programs like a puzzle.

This digital toolkit was developed by the Massachussetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Traditional Lab, allowing users to mix all three elements of images, audio and video.

" Computer programming is considered a privilege of a small group of experts and tech people. But with Scratch, programming will become much closer and more popular, " MIT Professor Mitchel Resnick said.

Children's games

Anyone can create a video clip very easily, by assembling commands together as a puzzle.Source: Infotech

The booming broadband connection has led to the dizzying growth of media content and entertainment websites.

" Today, children interact with all the dynamic content on the screen. But that interaction usually only happens in one direction: Others create and they receive, " said Resnick. What little is known is that he invented Lego Mindstorms, a puzzle game that almost every child knows.

" With Scratch, we want them to be creative. They will create interesting dynamic content on their computers and then share them with friends ."

Programming has turned into a game in their eyes, when they can create a new program, a video clip with clear, simple steps like tiles.

" We assemble the" code blocks "together, select the characters and objects that appear in the clip from the menu board. Open the color palette, cut, color and paste the image on the Web ."

" Children will not have to worry about commas, long and confusing commands are still common in all programming languages ."

Each block (Block) will contain a separate statement, such as "move" or "blank", and only when these statements match, will the blocks be tightly coupled. On the contrary, they will push each other out and they immediately understand that they have to find another Block.

For example, if a child wants to set up a scene about a cat passing by the screen, they can go to the menu, revise the "Move" command to order the cat to move forward 10 steps.

If after that, they want the cat to just walk away, while drumming, they can "stick" the "drumming" command under the "move" block, select the sound the instrument will play and the amount of drag long of a drum.

Other actions such as talking, changing colors or background music, can be inserted in a similar way. And so the animated clip is finished.

Mix and mix

Scratch is a perpetrator who has been "raving" by DJs, allowing to mix and rub existing recordings to create a new melody and song.

" With Scratch, our goal is to allow everyone to mold, mix media genres together in a creative way of their own ," Professor Resnick said.

Completed works will be able to be shared, on Scratch's website. Here, users can enjoy the finished product of others, even borrow some good elements in this clip, the other clip to put into their work.

Professor Resnick believes Scratch will be a useful tool in teaching children how to think computing, while stimulating imagination and creativity within them.

" If the first impression when contacting your computer was" Oh, it's so hard ", 90% will be very aversion to programming in the future. That's an unforgivable thing. for educators, "he said.

However, if children are interested in more traditional-looking code, there are sites like HacketyHack ready to serve. This website teaches children about a programming language called Ruby. There are a total of 7 free lessons, and 1 of these allows children to set up new blogs after just 6 lines of code.

Trong Cam