Dear Thortspace … Where do I start?
Where do I start in thinking about how Thortspace could be helpful with the particular project I have in mind? … Here is a one-page primer on the significant aspects of Thortspace.
This is a response to the comment linked above from Dr. Rose (click on it, to read the comment in full).
Dr. Rose has a particular project in mind that he is considering using Thortspace for. I hope that the following information may help in determining how Thortspace could be helpful with this project:
(1) Paths in Thortspace are made up a series of PathSteps ... it's a concept we intend to take much further but haven't yet. As yet paths are not very complicated. You can join any "thort" to any other thort or group, and similarly any group to any other group. The software doesn't as yet make very much of the fact, but in the background it does already have a appreciation that all the path-steps which connect together and are of the same pathtype go together to make up the path. I'm hoping we'll get to build on this soon.
(2) Categories in Thortspace allow Thorts to be coloured so as to highlight cross-group relatedness. Category-sets allow this to be done to the same set of thorts in multiple different ways and then switched between. Categories can be picture-based as well as colour-based. https://medium.com/thortspace/how-and-why-to-use-category-sets-in-thortspace-79050373c42c
(3) Arrangements in Thortspace allow the same set of thorts to be located into multiple alternative structures on a sphere and grouped in different ways accordingly. https://medium.com/thortspace/how-to-store-the-same-set-of-thorts-in-multiple-alternative-arrangements-and-switch-effortlessly-9a3a2c4871b6
(4) Spheres in Thortspace can be embedded in other spheres as well as being linked together into networks. Links between spheres have a kind of equivalence with PathSteps mentioned above. This is another thing we plan to make more out of was we proceed.
(5) Journeys in Thortspace are analogous to a presentation tool. Journeys are composed of a series of "viewpoints" ie. steps along the path of the journey. Each viewpoint stores with it a particular "camera position" pointing at a particular point on a sphere (which can but doesn't have to be tied to a specific thort or group), from a particular zoom distance, and with a particular Arrangement and Category set currently applying. Journeys can travel across multiple spheres as they proceed (but don't have to), which may but don’t have to be spheres that are linked together in a network. [You get cooler looking transitions if the spheres are linked, though.] In other words Journeys tie together Paths, Categories, Arrangements, Spheres and Sphere networks into a "story" or presentation ... a series of key points along the path of an understanding. https://medium.com/thortspace/how-to-present-and-publish-the-thinking-youve-created-in-thortspace-part-1-30daa0a220b8
Here’s an example of a Journey I recently made a video of stepping through:
(6) Lastly let’s go back to the start, and take a quick look at the basics of dragging Thorts around in Thortspace.
Other related articles:
A taxonomy of words for naming features or aspects of things in Thortspace is here:
The Thortspace “QuickStart” is embedded into the Thortspace App as a series of “tutorial” or “skills” videos. Every time you watch a video, an extra piece of the functionality of the Thortspace app is automatically unhidden. The QuickStart can also be browsed as a series of articles on Medium.com here: https://medium.com/thortspace/start-out/home .
Furthermore, the Thortspace “QuickStart” is also available to download Free as a single PDF, buy on Kindle for $3 or purchase as a printed copy book. To download as a single Free PDF or buy on Kindle or in print, see this article:
The latest article I’ve written about using Thortspace with Zoom via the OBS (Open Broadcasting Software) is here:
A fairly complete list of all the Thortspace articles on Medium.com is here:
