Changing Pen colors

[Lyndacaswell]

Is there a way to place the "Swtich to pen" object on a flipchart and set it to a specific color? I would like for Player A and Player B to have two different colored highlighters without having to manually change the setting everytime they click on this object. I have two separate "Switch to pen" objects on my flipchart page, but it wants to go to the default of the black pen. Thanks for any help.:)

[simongreen]

Hi Lyndacaswell,

What a good idea! I can see why you'd want to do this, but unfortunately it is not currently possible in the software. I can't really even think of a reasonable get-round to do what you want to do, perhaps someone else has some ideas?

Thanks for posting anyway, and welcome to the forum...!

Simon

[daverosthorn]

It would be ace if you could have some sort of 'macro' attached to an object whereby it carries out more than one action in sequence.

E.g of a macro for this case...

#1, Activate pen mode
#2, Change colour to blue

If you see what I mean. In my opinion the actions bit needs a bit of a revamp - there's toooooo many!

[Alan Walker]

Hi Lynda,

Without seeing the activity it is difficult to know if the following would help......

Although not ideal, it could be a workaround.
You could create two different coloured highlighter objects and have multiple instances stacked on top of each other. The learners could then drag the highlighter objects over the image/text and resize then go on to the next one. Example attached. If you post your flipchart we could take a look.

Regards

[Daniel Bunker]

The drag a copy function can be added to the initial highlite, so you don't even have to stack multiple copies.

Dan

[wilcogirl]

I think it would be great to have colored crayons or pencils in the action lesson building tools of the resource library that could be dragged out in lesson planning that would change the color with that color pencil or crayon. :-/

[Dug]

I think it would be great to have colored crayons or pencils in the action lesson building tools of the resource library that could be dragged out in lesson planning that would change the color with that color pencil or crayon. :-/

Not sure exactly what you mean here, Heather. This sounds very much like ACTIVprimary thoiugh:confused:.

[wilcogirl]

Maybe so, I just thought that like the pen tool graphic that changes to the pen, it would be nice for it to change to a pen and the color that the pen is. :confused:

[Peter Lambert]

Oh, I get it now :o
Problem is that there are user options to change the cursor, so it may not always be a pen. Sometimes it is a small dot and there is also an option to have no cursor!

[Lyndacaswell]

I'm going to try to attach my file so that you can see the activity. It is a simple gameboard with numbers. The first student selects a number by covering it with their color of square. The opponent then uses their color to cover the factors of the other student's number. It would be great that if instead of covering the numbers with the squares, the students could just move the highlighter (of their own color-without having to change colors every time). Two highlighters on the board - two different colors- would be wonderful!

[Lyndacaswell]

Oh, by the way, thanks everyone for your comments. I'm new to the forum and really enjoy getting all of the great help![clap]

[Daniel Bunker]

You may just have to wait until dual pen technology is released.

In the meantime the drag a copy function tidies up the flipchart.

Dan

[rexboggs5]

[quote=Daniel Bunker;20578]You may just have to wait until dual pen technology is released.

Dan, Can you please let us know what 'duel pen technology' actually is? Can two students write on the board siumltaneously? Most important, will it work with my existing ActivBoaard?

Ta

Cheers

Rex

[wilcogirl]

I love your game I think the way that it is, is great. But I think two highlighters would be great.

[sdreyer]

Dan

How do you get your cursor to change shapes when it hovers over a stacked group of objects.? I've looked through my settings, and I've searched on the forum for an answer. I mainly use AP3. Is this something that is unique to AS?:confused:

[Peter Lambert]

We will be previewing this sort of functionality (dual pens) on the booth at NECC. [clap]

Hopefully, it won't be too long before it becomes available as an Activboard upgrade.

[Peter Lambert]

Dan

How do you get your cursor to change shapes when it hovers over a stacked group of objects.? I've looked through my settings, and I've searched on the forum for an answer. I mainly use AP3. Is this something that is unique to AS?:confused:

It isn't actually a stack of objects, it is one object that has the "drag a copy" action applied to it. Thus, the cursor changes to indicate that you are about to drag a copy of the original object.
In both AP and AS, right click on an object (use design mode in AP) and choose Drag a copy from the drop down menu. V3 only

[caryn]

Do you know will the duel pen work with the activhub?

[sdreyer]

It isn't actually a stack of objects, it is one object that has the "drag a copy" action applied to it. Thus, the cursor changes to indicate that you are about to drag a copy of the original object.
In both AP and AS, right click on an object (use design mode in AP) and choose Drag a copy from the drop down menu. V3 only

Thanks for the explanation. Looks like I have a new feature to play with.:o

[marshallsays]

There is a way that you can have two coloured 'pens'. If you have a white background, writing with the highlighter tool looks exactly the same as if you were using a pen.

So here's how it goes -
- create a white background
- go to the activstudio resource bank and select the action objects for the hightlighter and pen tools. Put these on your flipchart
- set the default size and colour for each tool simply by selecting it and changing the colour

Effectively on the white background you now have two different coloured 'pens' switchable on the same page.

I have put in a simple tic-tac-toe example to show how this works.

Not sure if this is exactly what you wanted, but hopes it helps.

Sam

[Lyndacaswell]

That was awesome! Thank you SO MUCH!!