Pygraphics, Inc

One of the most exciting features of 3D Interactive and 3D Professional is the downloadable Performer’s Practice Tools for performers (or students). The Performer’s Practice Tools is a suite of tools used at home by a performer for viewing, practicing, and printing their drills. Your performers pick up the drills at home effortlessly! No personal email account, no downloading of email attachments, no handling of data files. Everything is done automatically within the Performer’s Practice Tools. In minutes the most current copy of a drill is loaded directly into the program on the performer’s computer, ready to use. The suite of tools include: The Drill Explorer, The 3D Performance Simulator, The Drill Book printout, The Coordinate List printout, and The Thumbnail Charts printout.

"The marching pad is a really helpful tool. It helps you with pulse, direction changes, and memorization. Pyware gives marching band students many advantages other than the drill. Being able to watch the drill with your spot highlighted helps you to learn, and if you lose your coordinates, being able to print off another set is a great advantage."
Geneseo Band Student

The Drill Explorer
The Drill Explorer displays and animates a drill to music. The performer’s place in the drill is brightly spot lit continuously as their position moves from set to set. For a very accurate analysis of a performer’s placement and movement in the drill, the performer can zoom closer to their place. The zoomed display automatically pans the field to keep the performer’s place in view as the drill animates. The performer’s stride is continuously displayed. Animation controls make the performance loop animation between sets, as well as start, stop, and backup at any count of drill.

"Being able to view the animated drill at home helped make the drill and music more personal. I felt like it was my show."
Geneseo Band Student

Personalized Coordinate Printout
Prints a list of the performer’s coordinates at each set in a drill. Coordinates can be printed in a variety of sizes; from full page, to small enough to fit in a wallet. With 3D Production, coordinates for an entire production (multiple drills) can be printed in a single list. The list includes the performer’s location at each set with a resolution up to an eighth step. Also shown are set counts and number of counts from the previous set. The Director or Drill Designer no longer has to print hundreds of pages of Coordinate sheets. Now performers can print their own personal Coordinate sheets at home.

"The simulator made our sets more accurate and helped us to visualize the sets on the field. It was also very advantageous to be able to print our own coordinates quickly."
Geneseo Band Student

Personalized Printed Drill Book
Prints a powerful personalized drill book containing an overhead printout of each set printed from the performer’s perspective. On the same page, a chart zoomed near the performer’s area of the field is printed with the performer’s path showing from the previous set and to the next set. At the bottom of each page the coordinates of the previous set, current set, and next set are printed. The printed pages can be folded in half and stapled to make a handy 5.5” by 8.5” drill book for use on the field during rehearsals.

Personalized Thumbnail Printouts
Prints a report consisting of multiple sets per page of a drill. The charts are personalized with the performers place highlighted. Use for quick reference during rehearsals.

3D Performance Simulator

The patent pending 3D Performance Simulator simulates the drill centering on the performers place in the drill. Interactive marching truly comes to life. As a drill is performed, the performer (student) marches their individual part and the performer is scored according to the accuracy of their step, synchronization, and directional changes. Performers march their part using the numeric keypad or the (Optional) Pyware March Pad. With the Pyware March Pad, performers execute their performance using the step off method adopted by many High School Bands and Drum Corps. Top score is 1000 points. The performer’s scores are transmitted online to the drill’s Simulator Leader Board. Performers compete daily to get to the top of the leader board. They are practicing without even realizing it!

"This year I assigned one of our three songs each week, to be marched on the simulator for the highest score possible. Then the students would upload their scores to the leader board. During that week they were allowed to march the song as many times as they wanted to try to improve their score. You wouldn’t believe how much they got into it. Some of them were enthusiastic because they wanted to improve their score, or get the highest score. Some of them kept at it because it was helping them improve the execution of their drill on the field. Some felt that it helped them stay in step better. We even had two kids who started out as alternates and wound up with full positions for the last competition. They used the simulator to practice their marching repeatedly outside of rehearsal. We even put the music over a loud speaker and they marched on the pad while playing their instruments and performing the horn moves."
Steve Scherer,Geneseo High School
Fine Arts Department Chair
Director of Bands

Print Leader Board
Prints a certificate for top performers on the Leader Board. Certificates are used by the director for recognition of a performer’s accomplishments.

To download the Performer's Practice Tools:

1. Click on the appropriate operating system platform.
PPT Installer for MAC OS X "PPTMacInstall.3.1.0.zip" (18MB)
PPT Installer for Windows "PPTWinInstall.3.1.0.exe" (48 MB)

2. Save it to a location on your hard disk. Remember the location where you saved it.

3. Locate the file on the hard drive that you downloaded. Double-click the file that you downloaded. This will start the installation of the program.

4. After the installation has been completed you may be prompted for an Account ID and Account Name (or Group Purchase Activation Code). This information will be provided by your director (and/or) designer.

5. You may also be prompted for a User Name and Password to access the account. This optional information may be provided to you by your director (and/or) designer.

"The other thing we added this year was the ability for the kids to install the ipas program at home and download the drill to watch on their own computer. I synchronized the music with the drill files and identified all of the students on the cast list. Not only were they able to watch the animated drill at their convenience, but they could print out their own personal coordinate sheets whenever needed. We had a coordinate check at the beginning of each rehearsal, and no one was ever on the rehearsal field without their coordinates. It helped make our rehearsals much more productive and consistent."
Steve Scherer

Performer’s Practice Tools are downloadable from www.pyware.com and operate for 1 year from date of purchase.

Individual Purchase Online with Credit Card - 7.95 each.
Unlimited Installations for Schools and Groups - 300.00

3D Director’s Viewer

The Director’s Viewer is designed specifically for Director and Drill Designer’s clients. Directors and clients can use the Director’s Viewer to seamlessly get drills online from 3D Interactive and 3D Professional users. With the Director’s Viewer, directors can download and view commissioned drills from their Drill Designer, purchase commercially available drills, or get ideas from other Directors and Designers. The Director’s Viewer uses the 3D interface to animate. It can also print coordinates and thumbnail charts.

The Director’s Viewer is downloaded from www.pyware.com/3DPPT/directorsviewer.html for $49.95. Included with the Director’s Viewer is a FREE activation of the Performer’s Practice Tools. Also, the $49.95 can be deducted from the purchase of a full version of the 3D program. The Director’s Viewer will operate for 1 full year.

Pyware March Pad

Enhance the experience of the 3D Performance Simulator with the Pyware March Pad. Performers (students) execute their performance using the step off method adopted by many High School Bands and Drum Corps.

"In the past, I have handed out blank drill sheets for kids to plot their coordinates, and had written quizzes each week for them to write their coordinates from memory. Upon seeing the march pad, I thought the students would show more interest, because I have seen them play “Dance Dance Revolution” on a similar pad, and they really love it. "
Steve Scherer

"It's (the march pad) just the best way to learn to keep in step with the music."
Geneseo High School Band Student