Changes Since Version 3

Home: What's New: If You've Used Version 3: Changes Since Version 3

The Geometer's Sketchpad Version 4 differs from Version 3 in several important ways:

Select Without the Shift Key

In Version 4, there's no need to use the Shift key to select multiple objects. Click any unselected object to add it to the current selections, or click a selected object to remove it from the selections. Click in empty space to deselect all objects. Click and drag an unselected object to drag just that object; click and drag a selected object to drag all selections.

Animate Anything, Anytime

In Version 3, you could only animate points, and you had to specify the path along which each point should move by selecting it explicitly, and you had to stop an animation before you could do anything else with your sketch. In Version 4, you can animate any geometric object, you don't need to select a path explicitly, and you don't have to stop the animation in order to interact with your sketch. Animation speed is now independent of the speed of your computer.

In Version 4, an animated point moves according to its construction: a point constructed on a path object (such as a segment or a circle) moves along that object, but an independent point moves freely in the plane. If you want to animate an independent point along a specific path, Merge the point to the path before animating. (Or use the custom tools in the Animation Tools sample document to animate independent or dependent points along any path without merging them.)

Also note that in Version 4, an animating point continues animating until you stop it explicitly. You can stop animations conveniently using the Motion Controller, by choosing Stop Animation in the Display menu, or by pressing the ESC key. However, you don't need to stop animations in order to continue working with your sketch.

Use Custom Tools Instead of Scripts

In Version 4, scripts have been superceded by custom tools, which are easier to create and use. Recursive scripts have been replaced by Iteration.

Use Custom Tools Instead of Custom Transformations

In Version 4, custom tools provide similar functionality to custom transformations in Version 3, but allow a broader range of transformations and can be moved from document to document.

Use Presentation Buttons Instead of Sequence Buttons

In Version 4, Presentation Buttons allow you both to sequence a series of other action buttons, or to present a set of other actions simultaneously. They also offer more options for determining the effects of a sequence of presented animations.

See also
Presentation Buttons

Generating Labels

In Version 4 an object label is generated only when the label is needed, instead of when the object is created. In other words, the first point you label with the Text tool in a new sketch will be labeled A, the second B, and so forth.