What's new in SimQuest 6.4
Oct 4, 2011
- New features:
- New AgentFeedback element. SimQuest now supports the 3D Agent Elckerlyc* that can be used for learner feedback, including speech and animation
- Graphs can contain vectors (they can now for instance function as an oscilloscope)
- GDI+ is now automatically used for all drawings and animations when applicable
- Transparency can now be used in the coloring of objects
- Anti-aliased drawing is added to graphs and animations
- Animations now run smoothly
- Images now remain perfectly visible when they are scaled or rotated
- Equation text has nice color syntax highlighting
- Images can now be rotated based on the value of model variables
- Graphs can be filled below the curve (semi-transparent)
- Graphs can have different line styles (solid, area, dotted, dashed, dash-dot, etc)
- Logging of the monitoring tool now in XML
- Variables can now have descriptions
- Web simulation (SimQuestViewer) now supports string variables as well
- Errors in the equation text are now emphasized in red within this text (instead of a large dialog)
- Assignments can be used as feedback for multiple choice
- New model functions that return the number of assignments and their success
- Windows 7 look and feel
- The window look automatically adjusts to the operating system (2000, XP, Vista, 7)
- More information on Elckerlyc can be found here
- Improvements in SimQuest 6.4:
- Speed of reading in images
- Speed of displaying images
- Responsiveness during simulation
- Performance of Vector and matrix computations
- Nice drawing of domain maps using colors and gradients
- Graphs display faster
- Ellipses are drawn like they should be
- Polylines and polygons are drawn much faster
- Removed the previous & next buttons in the learner view to prevent too early switching
- Tab buttons now in the toolbar of the author environment
- Bug fixes in SimQuest 6.4:
- Panning and zooming of a graph works better
- Correct variable names when saving for the web (SimQuestViewer)
- Memory management problems with large models that contain many images
- Fonts that are used in an application but not present on the computer are mapped to similar ones that are available
- Initial position of animation figures
- Lock-ups with large equation text models
- Choosing large windows fonts now work fine with SimQuest
- Traces of objects in animations no longer slow down the animation
- OperationAssignments now load their session information correctly
- Displaying of rectangle animation figures with thick lines
- Logging of the monitoring tool
- Font of the help button
- Wait cursor now behaves correclty (locks no longer occur
- Saving of matrices and vectors for web simulation (SimQuestViewer)
- Known issues:
- German, Danish, and Swedish are not implemented fully yet. If you can help us translating SimQuest in these language, please send an email to: [email protected]
- Translation of Vietnamese is almost complete.
- Not all simulations in the simulation section are tested with SimQuest 6.4 yet. We will update the simulations in the near future.
- SimQuest was successfully tested on:
- Microsoft Windows NT4/2000/XP/Vista
- Microsoft Windows NT networks
- Novell networks
New in SimQuest 6.3 (Oct 4, 2011)
- analysis of collaboration chats in SimQuest Meeting (datamining)
- new interface elements: MenuButton and TabSheet
- new logging in XML format
- better vector and matrix support (multiplication etc)
- new library element: Domain Map
- domain map in LE background as alternative for starting assignments
- domain map gives visual feedback for status of assignments
- visual feedback for status of assignments (specify in application properties)
- new model element: switch - case
- discrete state variables now also work with differential equations (finite state machine, digital control, etc)
- Improvements:
- improved sqzx format (SimQuest java viewer output)
- improved status of assignments
- improved layout consistency of assignments
- improved display of fonts not available on computer
- improved interpolation function out of range
- improved saving and loading of assignment status in learner session
- improved behavior of save progress bar
- problem with replay sound button solved
- problem with button opening an addition interface solved
- improved screen update when switching between LE elements
- improved control flow for switching between assignments and interfaces
- Features and improvements in SimQuest 6.2 (2009-01-23):
- sqzx (XML) export for models, interfaces and all external resources
- SimQuestViewer
- Save your simulation as sqzx file and also a SimQuestViewer file and html file are created
- Simply doubleclick the html file to run the SimQuest simulation in your webbrowser without the need of an installed version of SimQuest
- The user only needs the following three files:
- SimQuestViewer.jar
- 'simulation'.sqzx
- 'simulation'.html
- Other new features:
- Italian help system
- Italian advice system*
- save size of learning environment - replace the learning environment background with your own gif or png file
- equation editor: div operator added (integer division: "div" or "//") -- example: 16 div 5 = 3
- equation editor: mod operator added (modelo: "%" or "\\") remainder after div -- example: 16 % 5 = 1
- Improvements:
- faster saving of simulations
- improved accuracy of save progress bar
- bugfixes in animation editor
- bugfix in slider elements
- multiple selecting problem interface elements solved
- bug with open answer field explicitation assignments solved
- problem with saving big models solved
- not fully implemented yet
New in SimQuest 6.1 Build 3 (Oct 4, 2011)
- assignments: overall wrong answer now one feedback window
New in SimQuest 6.1 Build 2 (Oct 4, 2011)
- several fixes in 'control mechanism'
- several small improvements
New in SimQuest 6.1 (Oct 4, 2011)
- New features and improvements:
- new tool: domain map
- new tool: chat analysis (used by SimQuest meeting)
- XML output (currently implemented for models and interfaces)
- new (default) calculation method: Runge Kutta Fehlberg (variable stepsize)
- new multiple language implementation (no catalogs needed anymore)
- author can set all languages a simulation supports
- learner can choose one of the available languages
- new and updated example simulations (multilingual)
- new simulations directory (Documents/SimQuest)
- new log directory (Documents/SimQuest/log)
- Windows Vista compatible
- improved SimQuest meeting (for collaboration)
- improved updated French language catalog
- improved language input in editors
- fixed visibility of explanations in webview learning environment
- fixed 'control on' mechanism
- fixed drag and drop image from file
- fixed editing animation elements
- fixed monitoring tool issue
- fixed many small issues
New in SimQuest 6.0 Build 4 (Oct 4, 2011)
- problem with save as...
- Italian keys update
New in SimQuest 6.0 Build 3 (Oct 4, 2011)
- error when connecting variables to objects in animation editor
- implementation of new languages in 'application properties'
New in SimQuest 6.0 Build 2 (Oct 4, 2011)
- fixed strange background and selection colors for Vista in Hypothesis Editor
- fixed menu's so that they now show on top of other windows
- font fix (German, Italian)
New in SimQuest 6.0 (Oct 4, 2011)
- New features and improvements:
- fast startup
- new Learner Environment (you can switch to the old view in the Author Environment preferences)
- preview of interface elements while dragging
- improved interface/animation editors (a.o.t. browse list showing all interface and animation elements)
- better looking interface elements
- support for several image formats, like jpg, bmp, gif, png
- learner sessions can be saved
- improved drag & drop
- improved language support (you can now easily modify the language keys)*
New in SimQuest 5.3.2 (Oct 4, 2011)
- Beta version of new SimQuest helpsystem (SimQuest Authoring Environment)
- Bugfixes:
- English language fix hypothesis scratchpad