SwitchIt! FaceMaker Screen Shots


A review by Rosie Murphy at Fairfield School

SwitchIt! Facemaker Anyone used to �Facepaint� will welcome the arrival of �SwitchIt! Facemaker�. Although the basic principles are the same, this program is far more exciting in that it allows the user to import their own photographs and incorporates animation as well as a host of other new and different features.

I used the software with two groups of students - switchers and non-switchers.

Setting up this software on the Interactive Plasma Screen is ideal for groups of students. Although it requires a staff member to import the photographs first, once they are loaded they can be used any number of times. The initial set up also requires staff to place the markers on the face in the correct position so the features will be added in the right place. None of this is hard to achieve, but it does need preparing in advance.

There are four levels of difficulty, from simple cause and effect to normal selection, which presents all the features irrespective of gender. All can be used with or without a switch.

I opened a folder of pictures for my students to choose from - and many of them chose members of staff! They used the Plasma as a touch screen and looked through all the options before deciding on the features they wanted. There are seven categories of features that can be added to a face and, on completion, the picture can be saved and printed out.

SwitchIt! Facemaker An excellent element of this program is the gender setting which means that, when this is turned on, the program only offers features of the gender of the photograph shown. This avoids the confusion of adding a beard or moustache to a female picture!!

Using switches with this program is easy. On the first two levels the student can either press a switch to get random features or have a choice of three to scan through. If they choose the wrong one this can be altered by selecting the one they want and it is immediately changed. When features are added they automatically animate, which adds interest. My students were delighted at seeing their staff with ridiculous characteristics!

The pictures can be saved in a gallery and accessed at any time. My students printed out the pictures and we made our own �rogues gallery� for the rest of the school to see.

Concluding, this program is fun and exciting to use. It helps to improve switching skills and encourages descriptive language without being tedious. The sounds and graphics are clear and self explanatory and every time a student uses it they can get a different outcome! Just be ready to see yourself in a very different light...

SwitchIt! Facemaker


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