3D Notebook or Notebook 11 feature requests?

[Obe Hostetter]

What features would you like added to Notebook?  What would make this software better for your classroom as well as captivating for your students?

 

One idea I had is to add a 3D feature.  Can you imagine being able to explore the Jamestown settlement in 3D mode and click on objects to learn about history.  What if you could examine a cell components in 3D by manipulating Notebook?  Think about the possibilities of adding Google SketchUp components with 3D gaming aspects. 

 

Any more ideas you can add?

[Jennifer Harper]

A much more simple request that I have is that I'd like for the tool bar features to toggle themselves off.  For example, it drives me nuts that when I select the shape tool, draw my triangle that it doesn't turn itself off.  That if I don't remember to go back up and tap the black "select" arrow , then the next touch to the board is another triangle.

 

Jenn

[Vanessa Cassie]

I think in theory this would be a nice idea, but in practice it could be even more frustrating.  With SMART Meeting Pro software (the corporate version of SMART Notebook), they made the tools toggle themselves off, which at first, I was VERY excited about.  However, once I started trying a few things, I realized that if I ever want to draw more than one shape, arrow, line, etc. that it was more frustrating to have to continually re-pick up the tool.  For example, making a quick graphic organizer now takes 5 minutes instead of 20 seconds to draw each bubble and line.

 

Soooo...I'd like to keep your suggestion but make an addendum.  It'd be nice if somehow you could tell the software when you'd like the tool to toggle itself off and when you'd like it to stay in that tool until you select you cursor.  Maybe something as "easy" as a double-tap.  For example, if I know that I only want to draw one circle, I select the circle, and when I've drawn one it goes back to cursor mode.  However, if I know that I want to draw multiple circles (as in the graphic organizer example), I double-tap the circle and it gives me as many circles as I need until I select the cursor myself.

Make sense? That's just something I'd like to see... :)

Vanessa

[Jessica Meacham]

I agree with the 3D and also what Jenn said.  

 

I'd love for it to be easier to create and manipulate/edit tables in notebook.  

[Tracey Carlson]

I'd like to set music to play over a number of pages. I currently have to use powerpoint for songs as this is not possible in notebook.

[Christi Squires]

 

I would like to see a pre view of my files.  Before the last update I could see the first page of my notebook lesson.  Now I only get a blue icon showing it is a notebook file, not very helpful.

 

It would also be nice if they could create a flash program of alphabet tiles with capitals on one side and lower case letters on the other.  It could be used when teaching a Making Words lesson.

[Paige M]

Christi, you can do this, if they are in a folder.  Just make sure you are on thumbnail view in your folder.

[Jenna]

SMART is listening.  Thank you for this post Obe.  I came across it via Twitter.  I work in the Product Management department at SMART.  Please continue to post ideas we always are interested in what you want this software to do.

[Jenna]

With regards to 3D in Notebook.  Keep listening for more information on 3D content as we talk more about Mixed Reality.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M6mX-blFiI

http://www.smarttech.com/mixedreality

[Joanne]

Something simple...I'd like the option to be able to lock/unlock items on every page all at once.  I would also like the items in Attachments to alphabetize, perhaps even by type (for example, ink aware category, website, flv.)

[Obe Hostetter]

Good news!  You can lock or unlock all items right now in Notebook....

1. Click on Edit-select all or use shortcuts (Apple+A or CTRL+A) to select all objects

2. Select the down arrow for one object and choose locking-lock.  This will lock all selected objects on the page at once.  You can also unlock all objects by one object....unlock

[Jim BRook]

The features I miss most whenever I use Notebook are the alignment and equal spacing functions that are almost universal on other graphic programs.

Typically in these programs a user can select a number of items, then right click (or use a button) to have them left-aligned, center-aligned or right aligned. Furthermore selected objects can be spaced equally, vertically or horizontally. Using these functions it is easy to get a page which looks really good very quickly.

There is, in Notebook, a strangely limited alignment function. It's slow and doesn't allow the manipulation of large numbers of items at one time, and it doesn't allow equal spacing at all. As a result, if you are placing more than a few objects on the screen, it is almost impossible to get them looking just the way you'd like without inordinate amounts of work.

For all the great work that has gone into Notebook, I'm more than surprised that such a basic set of tools hasn't been provided.

Jim B.

 

 

[Danny Nicholson]

3d Objects from Google Sketchup were being put into the version of 10.7 being shown at the BETT Show. They were placed in the notebook page and manipulated with the tools, or via augmented reality with the document camera.

 

it doesnt seem to be in the version of 10.7 released yesterday unless you need to have the document camera to even add the objects to a page.