Cosmic Blobs: Lab Rat Edition is more than "just" a
creativity software for children. It's contemporary--even breakthrough--and
allows children to create in ways they have never experienced. As they pull,
stretch, duplicate, tug, stretch, and animate their "blobs", they are making
acquaintance with sophisticated, yet kid-friendly, computer graphic art tools.
The Cosmic Blobs experience begins with a simple drop of a 3D
shape onto the workspace. Because the shape is rich with color and
features just the right shaded lighting for a 3-dimensional look,
it fairly begs to be manipulated, just like a lump of modeling
clay. The beauty of the software is that kids can truly manipulate
their "blobs", or models, using their mouse to shift the shapes
and rotate them.
Using zoom and view tools, kids are presented with a large
variety of ways to move and view objects. Shaping Tools are
available to pull, tug, poke, and stretch parts of the blob, for
example to create sockets for eyes. They then use sliders to
refine these actions--make them larger or smaller, deeper or more
shallow. Kids can add more shapes, found in beakers at the bottom
of the screen, to the workspace and use Model Tools to merge or
glue shapes together. In addition to standards such as the undo,
redo, and delete tools, users are able to create exact duplicates
of shapes and then give different colors and textures to each, use
a mirror tool to make changes that will appear on the other side
of the model, sketch features, and so forth. The merge tool was
the function that impressed kids most.
Children work with their creations by switching from the
modeling zone to decoration mode and to animation mode and
performing a wide array of tasks using sliders and handles as they
"tweak" their special creation. In the Paint Shop mode, children
can paint and add textures to their blobs. Decals in Cosmic Blobs
make the common stickers in most children's art software seem
archaic. Decals are stickers that actually conform to the curves
of the blob and move realistically with the models, and include
such things as winking eyes
In the Animation Lab, kids create a surface for their blob and draw a path
for it to follow. Choreographing an animation involves changing the music,
animation speed, volume, and animation type (such as hopping or dancing). The
resulting animations look incredibly realistic.
What to do with the finished models? Although simply creating them is a
satisfying experience in and of itself, kids can print their creations, create
screensavers, and save their files in 2D or 3D for sharing.
The interface is kid-friendly, but there is a learning curve.
This fact adds more creative and educational value to the product,
as kids seem to continually make new discoveries as they play with
sliders and handles. Our testers didn't want any help, except they
were confused about how to save their blobs. (Changes are saved
automatically in an ongoing fashion when users click a new button,
and selecting the empty beaker saves the current blob in a beaker
of its own).
If, however, kids are intimidated by the label-less icons or
get stumped, there is plenty of available online at
www.cosmicblobs.com.
Video tutorials and explanations of icons are available at the
site. It's apparent that there is a lot of love and support behind
the Cosmic Blobs project, which is a comforting fact for many
parents.
This software title is impressive and both educationally and
creatively rich. Children can easily lose themselves in this
software for an hour or more, and it's time well-spent. The
capabilities of the program are great, and it must be seen to
appreciate. Kids as young as 7 or 8 can play the game and enjoy
it, although younger children will need help getting started.
A time-limited trial download is available at cosmicblobs.com,
and it's a great way to try the product before buying.
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