Mind Map Maker
-What it is
-This project was completed as a large percentage of my final A-level computer science grade. Every student had to choose a language or development framework and create a program for a client, whilst most students chose to -create video games for their siblings, I chose to create mind map software as my sister was soon to start her GCSEs and was struggling to revise. The software had to run on a £70 laptop and allow for files to be transfered between -copies of the software. I also aimed to create an intuitive and relatively unrestrictive system as my sister was an art student and had little experience with digital design software.
+This project was completed for my computer science A-level. Students had to find a client and create a program for them, I chose my sister and created software to help her revise for her GCSE's. +The software had to:
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- run on her £70 laptop +
- allow for files to be transfered between devices +
- allow actions to be undone and redone +
- be generic enough to work for any subject +
At the time I was finding myself really interested in intuitive UI design so I also aimed to create a simple and unrestrictive system that I felt was easy to learn and use. Though I found I had to cut a lot of it for time constraints.
+We were given 24 hours spread over 2 months to create the program and were allowed to choose our own langauges and frameworks. +I chose to write the sofware in Unity as I wanted to learn a new engine and knew that unitys use of scenegraphs +would let me avoud calculating the scaling and positioning of mind map components.
+As one of the software requirements was to run on very low end computers I also had to ensure I was creating scripts that would run as efficiently as possible when compiled, so I ended up +finding myself weighing up the strengths and weaknesses of different libraries, often choosing ones with drawbacks in favour of their lower usage of memory.
+The outcome
-What I did
-I independently created this program over the course of 24 hours spread over 2 months. I chose to write the sofware in Unity as I wanted to learn a new engine and knew that unitys use of scenegraphs
-would make the process of development alot faster as I wouldn't have to calculate scales and positions of mind map components as unity would do this all in the background, allowing me to focus on the larger aspects of the project.
-As one of the software requirements was to run on very low end computers I also had to ensure I was creating scripts that would run as efficiently as possible when compiled, this regularly meant having to
-weigh up the strengths and weaknesses of different libraries, often choosing ones with drawbacks in favour of their lower usage of memory.
The final system had a number of features:
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- Fully working undo/redo system +
- The ability to create and link text bubbles +
- The ability to import images +
- A drawing tool, along with options to optimise lines for slower pcs +
- A save and load system +
- A settings panel +
- The ability to navigate and magnify the mindmap +