Magical Sketch 2
© 2004 Curious Labs
Like virtual modeling clay, this program starts with a blank screen and some drawing tools. You first create an outline with a pencil tool, and watch as the shape turns into a 3D shape (a circle becomes a blob of clay, for example). From this point, you can twist, push and pull the shape into different. The program is hard to figure out (unintuitive icons and no tutorial) and limited -- it seems like there are many more things you can't do, than you can do with it. Also, it is not possible to save work in popular graphics formats. The program could be used as an introduction to wireframe animation. See also Cosmic Blobs.
$30, Win XP, Mac OSX
Teaches: art, creativity, drawing, CAI, computer animation