Intermediate

Now that you’ve mastered the basics, it’s time to delve deeper into the Tools Bag where a number of useful and fantastic gadgets can really add variety to your creations.

Emitters

Emitters are like small genies minus any bothersome limits on wishes. They produce whatever you wish on demand. And luckily, they aren’t trapped in some lamp. Nope, they can be found in the Tools Bag on the Gadgets page under the Emitters section.

The Emitter is handy for summoning the object of your choice when triggered. As a gadget, they must be first attached to an object before they can work their magic.

Place an Archie in your level and then attach an Emitter. Open the Emitter’s Tweak menu and set the Object to be a Danger Archie. Switch to Live Mode and you can see that Archie can’t help but produce deadly clones endlessly.

Another fanciful use for Emitters is to emit weapons. For example, if you wanted Archie to spit out missiles instead of clones. Toggle Emit Weapon on and choose the Straight Shot from the list of available weaponators under the Weapons tweak.

Check out Archie again in Live Mode to see he’s spitting mad and shooting off Straight Shots one after the other! Go ahead and save this Archie after giving him some distinctive stickers and decorations with the Capture Tool as “Angry Archie.”

Emitter Tweak Menu

Super Effective!

There’s another kind of Emitter that’s less interested in tangible things. The Effects Emitter is all about flashiness. They add visual pizzazz to your level when attached to an object. Stick one to Archie and experiment with different effects to see the difference!

Emitter Tweak Menu

Sensors

These various, wonderful gadgets sure are fantastic, aren’t they? The only real problem is that you don’t have any control over when they activate. No one likes feeling out of control. But lucky for you there’s a whole class of sensitive gadgets that specialize in sensing particular actions, events, or objects.

Sensors, all of which are located in the Tools Bag on the Gadgets page under the Sensors section, connect to various gadgets to activate them depending on certain criteria. Rest assured there’s a Sensor for every occasion.

Tag! What’s It?

Tag Sensors are always on the lookout for their soulmates: Tags. Like butter and toast or ham and eggs, these two gadgets are inextricably linked to one another.

Tags are used to transmit a color-coded signal of your choice over a short distance that can be picked up in your level by a Tag Sensor. It’s a great way to make your object’s presence known.

Open your Popit’s Goodies Bag and place a regular Archie and a Danger Archie in the level. Slap a Tag onto the regular Archie and a Tag Sensor onto Danger Archie. Also, plop a Grabinator powerup nearby.

While you’re at it, decorate and save the tagged Archie with something blue since the Tag color is blue by default. Rename him to “Blue Archie.”While you’re at it, decorate and save the tagged Archie with something blue since the Tag color is blue by default. Rename him to “Blue Archie.”

This first sensor presents a fantastic opportunity to learn about making connections. No, there isn’t any speed dating involved. Rather, Sensors are all equipped with connection points that appear as shining yellow lights.

Use your Popit Cursor to highlight the sole yellow light on the Tag Sensor, causing it to turn white. This is the sensor’s Output. Press to select it, and then stretch it all the way to Danger Archie’s Danger Tweaker.

Notice the yellow light on the Danger Tweaker? That’s its Input. Every Input yearns for an Output to connect to it. Simply hover the connection over the Input until it turns white and press to make the connection.

Switch to Live Mode for a brief moment. Notice the fact that Danger Archie isn’t his usual hotheaded self. That’s because his Danger Tweaker isn’t activated until the Tag Sensor is triggered.

To trigger a Tag Sensor, an object with the identically colored Tag must enter its trigger range. You can Tweak the shape and size of the Tag Sensor’s trigger range easily. Open the Tag Sensor Tweak menu and increase the maximum range to 10. A green field around the sensor visualizes this range.

Now, the Tag (and the object it’s attached to) can trigger the action of your choice when it gets near any Tag Sensor gadget set to detect a blue Tag.

Switch to Play Mode and pick up the Grabinator powerup. Grab a hold of Archie, carrying him toward Danger Archie. The moment your sack person brings Archie into range of Danger Archie’s Tag Sensor, Danger Archie bursts into flames! Talk about getting hot under the collar.

Tag Tweak Menu

Tag Sensor Tweak Menu

Up for Grabs

It’s great fun for picking things up and putting them down, but wouldn’t it be nice if there were consequences? Well, with the Grab Sensor applied to an object, any time a driver grabs on, it can activate whatever you wish.

Delete the last Danger Archie and replace him with a fresh one from your Popit. While you’re at it, keep the Grabinator around because it’s the key to the next sensor. Slap a Grab Sensor onto the regular Archie. Next, connect the Grab Sensor’s output to Danger Archie’s Danger Tweaker’s input.

Switch to Play Mode, pick up the Grabinator, and grab the regular Archie. The moment your sack person gets a fistful of Archie, Danger Archie’s Danger Tweaker activates to make him burst into flames!

Grab Sensor Tweak Menu

Extra Sensory Perception

90% of success is showing up, but like a falling tree in the forest, it requires recognition. The Player Sensor is always attentive and notices the presence of a kart. Simply showing up within its range triggers it.

Place an Audible Archie in the level and attach a Player Sensor to him. Tweak it as you did with the Tag Sensor to expand its trigger range to a comfortably large size.

Now, any kart that approaches receives overwhelming ovations. Of course, such gestures are usually saved until later in the performance if this were the theater. You can Tweak this sensor to only activate after a certain number of laps have e-laps-ed.

Keep in mind that the Player Sensor can be set to detect only a particular team, or conversely, require several or all the karts to be in range before it activates.

Player Sensor Tweak Menu

Under Pressure

There’s a lot of pressure to build something special to add to the Craftverse, but don’t sweat it too much. The Pressure Sensor is sure to be your best friend in many a crafty adventure. It’s really no more complicated than a big, shiny button needs to be.

It has one output that sends a positive signal when the button is pressed down by the weight of a kart. Try plugging it into Danger Archie’s Danger Tweaker and see what happens when your sack person parks on top of the Pressure Sensor in Play Mode. Invert the output and try again to get a sense of the Pressure Sensors’ usefulness.

Pressure Sensor Tweak Menu

Object Tweaker Throwback

You were promised the last object tweaker and now you’re getting it! After learning about sensors, this is sure to seem positively elementary. Remember that you can find the Destroyer in the Tools Bag on the Gadgets page under the Object Tweakers section.

Appetite for Destruction

Sometimes the objects in your level have worn out their welcome and need to be disposed of. To clean slate, the Destroyer object tweaker can obliterate the largest of objects with ease. Simply attach it to any object and connect an output to its input. The second that sensor is triggered, watch it go kaboom!

Place a Pressure Sensor and Archie in the level. Then open the Popit to find the Destroyer and attach it to Archie. Finally, connect the Pressure Sensor’s output to the Destroyer’s input. Before testing things out, open the Destroyer’s Tweak menu and set the Destroy Effect to something more dramatic: Explode!

Drive onto the Pressure Sensor in Play Mode and watch as Archie get blown to a million tiny bits. Ouch. I hope he has insurance.

Destroyer Tweak Menu

Hitting Reset

There are occasions when you’re less interested in sensing something happen than the aftermath—like when a poor kart is blown to bits and has to respawn. Well, any Reset Sensor parked on a Spawn Point triggers its output when it detects a respawning kart. Connect it to a Sound gadget to announce each respawn with fanfare—or boos, if you prefer.

Reset Sensor Tweak Menu

Having a Blast!

There are two remaining sensors, and they’re both mighty straightforward. The Weapon Blast Sensor detects when a weapon hits the attached object. The Impact Sensor is similar except it detects any physical contact that the object encounters. Super straightforward!

Weapon Blast Sensor Tweak Menu

Impact Sensor Tweak Menu

Scoring Big

All those delightful score bubbles on the track practically beg drivers to pick them up. But shouldn’t there be some sort of positive reinforcement for racking up a high score? With the Score Sensor, it’s easy to set scoring goals with consequences. You get to set whatever target score you please and have it trigger fanfare or perhaps some confetti when it is reached.

Score Sensor Tweak Menu

Sensing from the Start

There are two particular sensors that always go in the same place no matter what: the Race Position Sensor and the Progress Sensor. These sensors are a nosy lot, preferring to latch onto a spawn point so that they may monitor and keep track of the drivers in the race.

Unlike most sensors that send either a positive or negative signal, these sensors send out a percentage. Rest assured you can put away those calculators, as it’s much simpler than it sounds. Your good friend Archie is the perfect volunteer to demonstrate how these outputs work.

Make a basic circular racetrack with long straightaways and then place a super-sized Archie at one of the far ends.

Archie has been listening to a lot of heavy metal, so he’s gotten into the habit of headbanging whenever he’s rocking out. To accomplish this motion, place a Hinge Motor below Archie and rotate it so the motion swings down and forward. Then connect the Hinge Motor to the bottom of Archie.

Now attach a Progress Sensor to your sack person’s spawn point (always the first position when in Create Mode’s Play Mode). Connect the Progress Sensor to the Hinge Motor’s input.

With everything wired up, there’s one last step. Open the Hinge Motor’s tweak menu. There, you want to speed up the motor’s speed so you can observe how quickly Archie bangs his head as the race progresses. Set the Time to 1.0s. While this may seem awfully short, keep in mind that it will be operating at less than 100% speed until the final lap.

While you’re in the tweak menu, reduce the Pause to 0.0s. Your sack person will be driving by so quickly that any pauses could make it difficult to tell if Archie is moving.

Now it’s time to switch to Play Mode. Notice on your first lap that Archie only seems to bend down and up again at a leisurely pace. Yet pay closer attention on your second and third laps to see how rapidly he begins headbanging. That’s because each additional lap increases the output, causing Archie to ramp up to full-speed rocking out.

The Race Position Sensor works in a very similar manner. Except rather than simply continually increasing the output over time, the output can vary as your sack person rises and falls in the rankings. Increase the number of laps and see how Archie’s movements differ as your sack person pulls ahead or falls behind.

Race Position Sensor Tweak Menu

Progress Sensor Tweak Menu

Feeling Fast

A mad scientist in the Craftverse once theorized that if you could get a kart up to 88 miles per hour, you would see some serious...sack. It was all just theoretical until the day that the Craftverse discovered the Speed Sensor. This gadget tracks the speed of whatever object it is attached to. When it passes a certain speed, the sensor triggers its output.

Another neat application is combining the Speed Sensor with a motor. To try this out, create a simple racetrack and place an Archie above the fence line. Place a Path Follower Motor along the fence line’s path and then connect it to Archie. So far, so simple.

Now place a Speed Sensor to your sack person’s spawn point (remember, the first one). Connect its output to the Path Follower Motor’s input. Finally, open the motor’s tweak menu and set Input Action to Speed Scale. Now when your sack person races around in Play Mode, Archie zooms along the fence line.

Speed Sensor Tweak Menu

Movers & Rotators

Want to make dynamic objects even more dynamic? Well, slapping a Mover or Rotator onto one and watch what happens! Movers and Rotators add some basic but flexible options for determining how your object moves. Look in the Tools Bag on the Gadgets page under the Movers and Rotators section to find them.

Houston, We Have Liftoff

Have Archie join the jet set by attaching a Thruster to him. The direction that Archie is propelled is determined by what direction the Thruster is pointing.

Be aware that unless an output is connected to the Thruster to trigger it, the Thruster propels the attached object forever.

Thruster Tweak Menu

As the World Turns

Certain objects don’t need to go anywhere in particular, but should still show some signs of life. The Rotator applies torque to an object to spin it around. The object’s rotational motion is always centered on the Rotator gadget. The direction the object spins is determined by the Output setting in the Tweak menu. Apply one to the top of Archie’s head to have him spin in place. Moving the Rotator to the front of Archie makes him cartwheel away.

Rotator Tweak Menu

Staying Steady

Archie’s a nice enough fellow but his sense of balance is no better than any other chunk of ice. But with a Gyroscope gadget attached, he doesn’t have to worry about falling flat on his face. Gyroscopes automatically steady whatever objects they are attached to. You can change the criteria the Gyroscope uses to determine stability in its Tweak menu.

Gyroscope Tweak Menu

Magnetic Personality

Some people find attraction to be complicated, but those people probably haven’t considered magnets properly. The Magnet gadget knows how to bring two objects together. By default, any object the Magnet is attached to draws other dynamic objects toward it. Setting the Output to negative values causes the object to repel rather than attract.

Magnet Tweak Menu

Getting a Move on with Motors

Your sack person is obviously familiar with how motors can make things go fast, but your Popit has a selection of motors that can do so much more. The many motors available in your Popit add dynamic motion and action to otherwise static objects. You can find all these mechanical marvels in the Tools Bag on the Gadgets page under the Motors section.

Push It to the Limit!

Are you feeling pumped? If not already, you will after playing around with Pistons. Pistons are always primed to push around whatever object you attach them to. They tirelessly and reliably push and pull in a straight line.

Using the Piston is a two-step process. After placing one in your level, you are then prompted to connect it to an object. Where you attach this connection doesn’t actually matter. The attached object is always destined to be in parallel with the purple line superimposed over the Piston that appears when the Popit cursor hovers over it.

By default, Pistons push side to side, but after a little rotation, they can be made to stomp up and down. Place a Danger Archie above the ground and then place a Piston above it. Rotate the Piston so that the purple line points downward. Press to place it and then maneuver the connector and attach it to Danger Archie (making sure to press again to secure the connection).

Switch to Live Mode and see how he rises and falls from the ground with vigor! Imagine a row of Danger Archies in the road, daring drivers to zoom beneath without being crushed. Setting up such a hazard is really quite simple, because the Piston can be connected to several objects at once. Try it out!

Piston Motor Tweak Menu

A Swinging Good Time

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing. At least, that’s the case with garage doors—or any doors for that matter. Building such doorways into your level hinges on, well…the Hinge Motor, quite simply.

Place Archie in the level and then whip a Hinge Motor out from the Popit. Be sure to pay close attention to where you attach the Hinge Motor. Its location determines the point at which the object pivots. Try placing the Hinge Motor at Archie’s center and then at one of his corners. Switch to Live Mode to see the difference.

Hinge Motor Tweak Menu

Spin Cycles

Love makes the world go round. Rotator Motors do this on a significantly smaller scale. Imagine if Archie obtained a job as a night watchman. Well, he’d have to keep his head on a swivel, constantly sweeping his gaze around and around to ensure no troublemakers are about.

Setting Archie to spin around is no problem with the Rotate Motor. Find it in your Popit and place it directly above Archie. Much like the Hinge Motor, the position of the Rotate Motor determines the pivot point. In this case, the point around which the object rotates. Center the Rotate Motor to make him spin in place or place it at a distance to have him patrol in a circle.

Rotate Motor Tweak Menu

Paparazzi!

Has your sack person been mistaken for a celebrity? It certainly seems so when using the Look At Motor. Whatever you attach this motor to can’t help but focus on the target you specify. By default, it tracks the position of the nearest kart. Put one on a standard Archie and watch him follow your sack person’s kart.

The Look At Motor’s focus doesn’t have to be restricted to just the competitors. Adjust the Follow Tag setting to make the attached object follow a color-coded object. Place a Blue Archie in front of the one with the Look At Motor and slap a Thruster on his back. Switch to Live Mode to see Archie nearly get whiplash following the Blue Archie zooming away.

Look At Motor Tweak Menu

Forging a Path

Before you can tackle the last of the motors, you must first learn about Paths. It’s about time to introduce you to the last two Function Tools: Draw Path and Edit Path. Both are found in the Tools Bag on the Tools Page.

Path Edit & Edit Path Tools

Ever felt like being a trailblazer? It may be too late to discover the Northwest Passage, but there are still ample opportunities to forge paths in the Craftverse.

Paths are nifty for determining the route you want something to take. Unlike Breadcrumbs that only work with the track, use the Path Tool to draw paths for karts and other objects.

Select Draw Path from the Tools Bag to create a path. Use the left stick and press and hold to draw a path in the level. Release when you are done drawing.

To edit a path, select the Edit Path tool from the Tools Bag. Move over the path and select a point or the path line itself to edit it. From here you can adjust the path as you see fit.

Path Edit Controls

Button	Action
	Select point or path line.
Left Stick	Move path point/entire path.
Directional Pad /	Cycle through path points.
	Open Tweak Menu.

Path Tweak Menu

Follow the Leader

Some objects need to get around, but like a new puppy not yet housebroken, they need guidance to stay in line. In these cases, attaching a Path Follower Motor to an object ensures it only travels along a pre-determined route.

Draw a path in your level and place Archie nearby. Next, place a Path Follower Motor in the level. Notice that the white icon that appears nearby and snaps to the nearest path line. In the process, the path turns from purple to dashed green.

Because Path Follower Motors must sit on a path, the white icon indicates the nearest viable place the motor can be placed. It also lets you place one without having to position the cursor precisely on the path.

After placing the Path Follower Motor, you must connect it as you did with the other motors to Archie. Switch to Live Mode and observe him zooming along the path like clockwork.

Path Follower Motor Tweak Menu