Review: KidPix Studio Deluxe

Reviewed by Natalie Trusdell

Editor's Note: The software reviewed below is KidPix Studio Deluxe by Brøderbund. The reviewer, a second grade teacher, provides a detailed description of this multimedia program, comments on the ease of its use, provides her opinion of the software, and lists system requirements for running it.

The review is divided into the following sections:

• Program Information (with Systems Requirements)
• Information about the Reviewer
• Description of the Program
• Ease of Use
• Reviewer's Comments

Program Information

KidPix Studio Deluxe by Brøderbund. A multimedia program intended for children from preschool to grade 6 (3 to 12 years of age). Available in English and Spanish. Price range, US$30.00-35.00. System requirements: for DOS-based machines running Windows 3.1, a CD drive, 486 CPU or better, 4 MB RAM (8 MB for Windows 95), 30 MB free hard drive space, super VGA (640x480x256 color), CD ROM 2X or better, Windows-compatible sound device; for DOS-based machines running Win9x, CD drive, 486/66 MHz CPU or better, 4 MB RAM, 35 MB free hard drive space, super VGA (640x480x256 color), CD ROM 2X or better, Windows-compliant sound device; for Macintosh, system 7.0.1 or better, CD drive, 68030/25 MHz processor or better, 5 MB RAM (3.5 MB available), 32 MB free hard drive space, CD ROM 2X or better, 256 color resolution. Note: More information about this package is available from Brøderbund at the company's web site, http://www.broderbund.com.

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Information about the Reviewer

KidPix Studio Deluxe is reviewed by Natalie Trusdell, a second grade teacher at Winterville Elementary School in the Clarke County School District, Athens, Georgia, USA. Ms. Trusdell has been teaching for eight years and is currently enrolled in a master's program in Elementary Language and Literacy at the University of Georgia.

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Description of the Program

KidPix Studio Deluxe is a multimedia drawing, painting, graphics, animation, and writing program that consists of six portions:

• KidPix allows users to create illustrations, text, and animation, alone or in any combination. The tool bar offers many options to facilitate such creation, including pencil, paintbrush, typewriter, and stamp pad. Printing, editing, selecting special effects, and moving to other parts of the program are easily accomplished.
• Wacky TV includes dozens of excellent video clips of nature and animated cartoons, with and without sound effects. Clips that are selected appear on a "television screen," with options for experimenting (new clip, pause, repeat, freeze-frame, playback, sound on/off, or return to main menu) displayed on the right. Below the screen are options to mix "wild effects," such as bubbles or streaks, into the video clips.
• Moopies allows users to create their own animated or moving pictures. Creations begin moving when the user lifts his or her finger from the mouse.
• Stampimator is the portion of the program for selecting animated stamps (stamp "actors") that can be easily programmed to move across the screen along paths that the user creates. To the right of the screen are Cast Boxes (which hold the stamp actors), Path Boxes (for showing which path the stamp actor follows), and Behavior Boxes (to control the motions of the animated stamps).
• Digital Puppets includes ten marionettes that can be controlled on the keyboard. The "Goodies" menu contains commands for finding more puppets, adding a background picture or sounds and music, and turning the sound off. At the bottom of the picture frame are buttons to record puppet movements and to play, pause, or stop the show.
• Artist Palette is a kit of digital artist's tools, such as a paintbrush effect, pencil, fill colors, and so on.
• Slideshow provides a way to display the screens that have been created by means of transitions from one screen to another, and to insert sound effects for a complete presentation. The storyboard screen allows the user to select screens and effects from KidPix, Moopies, Stampimator, Digital Puppets, Slide Show animations, and digital movies. Each screen in the slide show is numbered to show the order in which it will play, and has presentation options that enable the user to pick a picture, sound, or transition.

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Ease of Use

This program is designed to be easy to learn and to use. When the user clicks on one of the program portions in the main menu, a voice announces what he or she will be doing when the next screen comes up. The file menu on the toolbar allows easy movement through the program and easy return to the main menu. The toolbar also facilitates editing, deleting, saving, changing, and printing what has been created. Student support is provided at every stage, from creating or drawing through all the options on the menu and other tool bars. Students can learn each portion of the program by hands-on exploration or with initial teacher or peer assistance. The software is adaptable to children of different ages and grades.

KidPix Studio Deluxe allows for a variety of literacy opportunities, such as creating, typing, and editing stories, sentences, or poems. There is also an option in the speech menu that enables the program to read aloud or to indicate how to pronounce any text typed with the typewriter tool. The KidPix portion of this software package allows students to switch between English and Spanish Talking Alphabet Stamps, menus, and help text.

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Reviewer's Comments

This program is an excellent example of multimedia software for children in elementary school. Because children have easy access to multiple sign systems, they have creative options for expressing their ideas. Just as important, when children are given time to explore, wonder about, and tinker with features of the program, they are likely to discover that the computer can be used as a tool for using language and symbols for thinking and communicating.

I enjoyed learning how to use the various parts of this software. The graphics, painting, writing, and drawing opportunities it offers, along with the different ways available for display of creations, are great resources for students to use in completing class projects in any area of the curriculum.