All Things Visual: The University of Chicago Visual Resources Center

Color Uncovered is a free app for iPad that explores various aspects of color:

How is Monet like a honeybee? What color is a whisper? Why is it so hard to find your car in a lamp-lit parking lot?

Color Uncovered features a wide spectrum of cool color-related topics to explore. Learn why friends shouldn’t let men buy bananas. Try your own color experiments on the iPad using simple items you have at home: a CD case, a drop of water, and a piece of paper. Discover how the iPad and other devices create color. Find out what causes afterimages—and more.

For more information, view the Exploratorium website.

Are you teaching or presenting with your iPad 2? Want to avoid e-mailing large PowerPoint or Keynote presentations to yourself? It’s easy to to sync presentations to iPad using iTunes and your Keynote app.

First, connect your iPad to your computer. iTunes should launch automatically (if not, open iTunes from your dock or Applications folder). On the left panel in iTunes, under Devices you should see your iPad. Click to highlight it.

Next, navigate to the menu tab for Apps.

Scroll down to see File Sharing options. On the left you will see any apps that allow file sharing between your computer and iPad.

To sync presentations, select Keynote. At right you will see the list of Keynote Documents that have been synced to your iPad. To start loading presentations (in either PowerPoint or Keynote format), click “Add…” then navigate to wherever you’ve saved the presentations on your computer. Then select Open. The presentation will be added to your list of documents.

After adding your presentations, click Sync at bottom right in iTunes. Your presentations will now be available in your Keynote app on iPad.

Please contact the VRC with any questions!

Tired of lugging your laptop from class to class? Try teaching and presenting with your iPad 2 instead! The iPad 2 can connect to a projector through a VGA adapter, just like your laptop. You can open PowerPoint and Keynote presentations in the Keynote app for iPad. Here’s what you’ll need:

• iPad 2
• Keynote app for iPad ($9.99)
• Apple VGA Adapter for iPad ($29.99)
• PowerPoint or Keynote presentation, emailed to yourself, loaded to Chalk or synced to your iPad using iTunes and Keynote

Once you’ve navigated to your presentation online (or in Keynote), click to open. If loading from the web, click again on “Open in Keynote.” Keep in mind that some formatting may be lost in translation from PowerPoint to Keynote, or from your laptop to your iPad. See this guide from Apple Support on best practices for creating a presentation on a Mac for use on an iPad. Some quick tips:

• The simpler your presentation, the more likely it will open properly on iPad.
• Swipe or tap iPad’s screen to switch slides.
• Presenter notes will show up on iPad, but you must select that option from the menu at upper right.
• Use simple fonts; unrecognizable fonts will automatically be replaced with Helvetica.
• Resize images before inserting them in your presentation; this allows for quicker download.
• Do not plan to transmit audio; currently projection from iPad 2 only works for video.
• The first generation iPad does not support projection or mirroring.

You may also use iPad 2 to present media groups or slide shows in LUNA. LUNA mirrors from iPad 2 seamlessly! Contact the VRC if you’d like a demonstration.

Unfortunately, iPad is not yet fully compatible with ARTstor but you can access some ARTstor functionality on iPad with their mobile app.

PLEASE NOTE: Your iPad displays all passwords character-by-character as you enter them. Right now there is no way to change this option. Wait until you have logged in to Chalk, email, LUNA, or other websites before connecting iPad 2 to the projector.

If you have any questions about teaching with iPad 2, or if you’d like to borrow an iPad 2 and adapter to try out the possibilities, please contact the VRC.

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek now presents 20 manuscripts from its voluminous Oriental collection in the form of an application for iPads and iPhones. The “Oriental books” are available free of charge in the Apple App Store.

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek also presents the application “Famous books – Treasures of the Bavarian State Library” for iPads and iPhones, which features 52 highlights of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek’s collections.

The New York Public Library has released the first in a series of free iPad applications which will highlight various aspects of the library’s collections and services. The series is called Biblion: The Boundless Library and the first app showcases the library’s 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair holdings. As the Apple iTunes description of Biblion: World’s Fair states:

In this free app you will hold documents, images, films, audio, and essays directly from the collections right in your hands.

Via INFOdocket.

Where: CSL — 2nd Floor Cobb — Room C 210

When: Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Time: 1:30 to 2:30

Steven Clancy, Senior Lecturer in Slavic Languages and Literatures and Academic Director of the Center for the Study of Languages, will explore how the iPad can be used in the classroom. If you teach using a laptop computer and you are interested in using an iPad instead, you are encouraged to attend.

Unable to attend? Steven Clancy’s PowerPoint is available for download: Teaching with the iPad.

Via ġeðēode.

Do you use Powerpoint 2010 on a PC? If so, there’s a simple trick for turning your mouse cursor into a laser pointer. Following these instructions, from the Slide Show view you can hold down CTRL, click and hold the left mouse button, and use the pointer to illustrate your discussion. You can even change the color of the laser!

A similar function is available in Keynote for iPad (not in Keynote for Mac computers). To activate the pointer, touch and hold anywhere on your iPad screen after launching your presentation. A red and white pointer will appear and move along with your fingertips.

More information on teaching with the iPad is coming soon!

ARTstor is now available to registered users on mobile devices, including the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad equipped with Safari 4+. ARTstor Mobile features include keyword search, image group access, flashcard view, and collection browse. For more information about ARTstor Mobile, click here and be sure to register for ARTstor.

The new Wright Guide, developed by Azara Apps and adapted from William Allin Storrer’s The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, offers descriptions and a photograph of each of the built works by Frank Lloyd Wright. Building descriptions link to other nearby architecture as well as to directions from the user’s current location. Buildings may be searched through the index or by browsing location or date. Users can even keep track of which buildings they’ve visited in the application.

The app is $9.99 and compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad with iOS 3.0 or later. It is available from the iTunes store.

Via Deep Focus.

Humanities Computing staff members have developed an application for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad called Chapbook. This “app” provides free access to all news, events, blogs, and podcasts currently available from the Division of the Humanities website (including our very own All Things Visual, as seen above). The program allows you to search the campus directory and view campus maps, as well as access articles from Tableau, the Humanities Division magazine.

To download the application from iTunes, click here.