Noah (8) does a Minecraft animation

Noah spent yesterday afternoon and evening putting together a short animation with camera control, rigging, motion blur and textures. This was put together using Blender 3D which he’s been learning at the 3D Dojo in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This is how kids use their mid-term holiday if you give them the right tools. Noah was … Continue reading “Noah (8) does a Minecraft animation”

Noah spent yesterday afternoon and evening putting together a short animation with camera control, rigging, motion blur and textures. This was put together using Blender 3D which he’s been learning at the 3D Dojo in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This is how kids use their mid-term holiday if you give them the right tools.

Noah was amused that “in my day” we didn’t even have cameras to do stop motion animation. We had to write little pictures in the corners of notepads and animate them by flicking them quickly. These days he has the entire gamut of animation software to try things out.

This is why we need to do more of this across the region because the kind of thinking that got us to this place will not get us out of this. We need to re-brand Northern Ireland as a “creation nation” or an “innovation nation”. That’s the sort of rhyming that gets the PR truck running.

So, watch what else comes out of 3D Dojo. We have some of the best minds in the country. We have some of the best creatives in the world. And, perhaps for good or bad, the only way is up.

3D Dojo

3D Dojo kicked off today. The class (of 25 or so) was led by Michael Davis jr (16) and supported by Greg Maguire (old), Michael Davis snr (old) and me (very old). Today the kids worked on modeling a banana (though Meggan created a “Temple of Spikes” and Noah a labyrinth) Similar but different to … Continue reading “3D Dojo”

3D Dojo kicked off today.

The class (of 25 or so) was led by Michael Davis jr (16) and supported by Greg Maguire (old), Michael Davis snr (old) and me (very old).

Today the kids worked on modeling a banana (though Meggan created a “Temple of Spikes” and Noah a labyrinth)

Similar but different to Coder Dojo, this class will be covering modeling, animation, textures and rigs. If you want to know more or see more or book a ticket, see here.

Minecraft Pi Edition Snippets

If you want to get Minecraft Pi Edition: see here This is more difficult because I don’t know python (or any language for that matter) I open LXterminal: cd /home/pi/Desktop/mcpi cd /home/pi/Desktop/mcpi/api/Python/mcpi python import minecraft as minecraft then python shows >>> To connect with the new API: mc = minecraft.Minecraft.create() mc.postToChat(“Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey”) … Continue reading “Minecraft Pi Edition Snippets”

If you want to get Minecraft Pi Edition: see here

This is more difficult because I don’t know python (or any language for that matter)

I open LXterminal:

cd /home/pi/Desktop/mcpi
cd /home/pi/Desktop/mcpi/api/Python/mcpi
python
import minecraft as minecraft

then python shows >>>

To connect with the new API:


mc = minecraft.Minecraft.create()
mc.postToChat("Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey")
mc.postToChat("Hey, beautiful day")


mc = minecraft.Minecraft.create()
mc.setBlock(0,0,0,46)
mc.setBlocks(0,0,0,10,10,10,3)

The latter creates a block of dirt, 10x10x3.

Code from MinecraftForum

Others:

From StuffAboutCode:

  • Minecraft – API – The basics – an introduction into the Minecraft API, its functions and how to use it.
  • Minecraft – Hide and Seek – a really simple game of hide and seek for Minecraft.
  • Minecraft – Auto Bridge – an absolutely brilliant utility (even if I say so myself) which automatically creates a bridge in front of you, no more falling off cliffs, no more having to swim across oceans, the auto bridge allows you to walk straight on

Pi-Cade Complete

Today we completed the Pi-Cade. We were interrupted briefly a small group of Bangor Academy students (who were not in the project group) coming in and marvelling that this sort of thing was being made at their school, in their Technology class. The problem we had was with the pins-GPIO mapping. The instructions we were … Continue reading “Pi-Cade Complete”

Today we completed the Pi-Cade.

Pi-Cade
Pi-Cade Completed

We were interrupted briefly a small group of Bangor Academy students (who were not in the project group) coming in and marvelling that this sort of thing was being made at their school, in their Technology class.

The problem we had was with the pins-GPIO mapping. The instructions we were using, sourced off the Internet, were incorrect. Through a lot of trial and error and swapping pins about, we managed to figure out where the errors in the mappings were and modify the breadboard accordingly.

The teacher, Mr Pollock, is now taking the new pin layouts and intends to make some PCBs which will make the layouts permanent. As we have another set of joysticks and buttons, the intention is now to make a pretty one.

Mavis Minecraft Teaches Coding (or “Learning Lua with ComputerCraft”)

I think we’ll be supporting this at Coder Dojo BMC. I have no idea about Lua but really, how hard could it be? Related posts: Whither Minecraft NI? College degree or Entrepreneur Donald J. Boudreaux teaches ecology/biology/medicine/genetics 5 ways to get you coding…

I think we’ll be supporting this at Coder Dojo BMC. I have no idea about Lua but really, how hard could it be?

Digital Circle does Computing Clubs

For the past few weeks, I’ve been helping Bangor Academy with a Raspberry Pi project. I had attended the school with Young Enterprise and the VP asked if I would be interested in helping them out with a project. As I lack the ability to say ‘No’ to good ideas, I agreed. The project was … Continue reading “Digital Circle does Computing Clubs”

For the past few weeks, I’ve been helping Bangor Academy with a Raspberry Pi project.

I had attended the school with Young Enterprise and the VP asked if I would be interested in helping them out with a project. As I lack the ability to say ‘No’ to good ideas, I agreed. The project was determined to be a Pi-Cade; a mini-arcade machine that could fit on a desk that was operated by a Raspberry Pi.

Today we were joined by Andrew Bolster from Farset Labs and Stephen Sloan from the All Island Software Network (part of Momentum). They worked with the teacher and kids to discover the intricacies of the GPIO pins, breakout boards, shoot the breeze about Arduino and try our damnedest to get MAME to compile on the device.

All in all it was great fun, even when we ran into an immovable object.

C2K block anything useful; getting the source and binaries for anything was made anything between ‘more difficult’ and ‘impossible’. We had to use an iPad mini 3G (in the Faraday Cage of school building) running GoodReader to download the modified xmame source and then transfer to a Mac over USB onto a USB stick so we could load it onto the Pi. Thanks, C2K.

Anyway, thanks to the students, to Mr Pollock (the teacher) and Andrew and Stephen, we’re making some progress.

The equipment and time I’m putting into this is kindly given by Momentum. There have been some other donors too and we’ll thank them specially when everything works. And special thanks to @vedanator for the joysticks and buttons at the last minute (ours haven’t arrived from adafruit.com yet)

Noah addresses the Coder Dojo in Belfast

Noah giving s brilliant rPi/scratch talk to over 80 people earlier today!!!!!ow.ly/i/1dMU3 #coderdojo@cimota — CoderDojo Belfast (@CoderDojoBMC) December 8, 2012 Related posts: Minecraft Pi Edition Snippets Whither Minecraft NI? Coder Dojo Bangor – book now. Noah (8) does a Minecraft animation

Raspberry Jam

Getting people together to do things can be hard. But, interestingly enough, a Pi can be powered by the USB port on a Time Machine or Airport. Which makes it a cinch to get on the network. Related posts: Mobile/Portable Computing Caveats MWSF2008: The Good, the Bad and the Fugly BarCamp WiFi Disaster Solar…portable…renewable

Getting people together to do things can be hard.

But, interestingly enough, a Pi can be powered by the USB port on a Time Machine or Airport. Which makes it a cinch to get on the network.

CoderDojoBelfast kicks off for 2012-2013

This is a morning briefing for all prospective mentors for CoderDojoBelfast. It is being held in the Gerald Moag Campus of Belfast Metropolitan College at 10 am on Saturday 22nd September. This briefing will include details on the 2012-2013 programme and the plans and expectations for each mentor and opportunities to get involved. http://digitalcircle.org/events/coderdojobelfast-mentor-briefing Related … Continue reading “CoderDojoBelfast kicks off for 2012-2013”

This is a morning briefing for all prospective mentors for CoderDojoBelfast. It is being held in the Gerald Moag Campus of Belfast Metropolitan College at 10 am on Saturday 22nd September.

This briefing will include details on the 2012-2013 programme and the plans and expectations for each mentor and opportunities to get involved.

http://digitalcircle.org/events/coderdojobelfast-mentor-briefing