Friday, January 19, 2018

Set up MCPI Mod for Teacher Gaming Minecraft EDU on Mac

These are just some itemized steps so I can remember, for getting started coding Python on a Minecraft EDU server.
First, download and run the Minecraft EDU v 1.7.10 jar installer (I have) and install the client only (for students).
Then, download the McpiApiMod and put it in Library / Application Support / minecraftedu / minecraft / mods folder. This folder is tricky to get to. Open Finder, click Go and press option key, click Library, etc.

Sunday, January 14, 2018

Can Processing's Turtle Library Do Beetle Blocks?

The answer is...sort of! Beetle Blocks is a fascinating blocks based programming environment that allows you to program in three dimensions using a variation of Turtle Geometry.

Image Integration With the Turtle Library for Processing

In this post I'm going to explore using Leah Beuchley's Turtle library for Processing to "stamp" images in a sort of port of Scratch's ability to stamp a sprite's costume. The turtle's self knowledge of its heading and position will come in handy here, though the way Processing's rotation method works make it a little tricky at points, but certainly worth while.
Something to try is creating a graphic that models an animal's movement, such as a butterfly, like I did here with Scratch.

Saturday, January 13, 2018

Write an Arc Function With Processing Turtle Library

Blocks based Logo environments that have an arc block, such as TurtleArt, allow you to input the angle of the arc you want to draw, as well as the radius of the circle it is on.

There isn't an arc function in Leah Beuchley's Processing Turtle library. A great challenge is to write your own arc function, and I think high school students would have a great time with this, too. I'm going to break down this problem step by step.