The Kanji Sketch Pad

The Kanji Sketch Pad is an intuitive kanji coach that tests your ability to draw Japanese characters. It is integrated into the Cerebware Vocab Trainer but also comes as a standalone application in two flavours - a freeware version with eighty Grade One Kanji and a full Joyo Kanji version for serious students. In essence, it is a drawing pad that converts mouse strokes into kanji strokes, but it also animates new kanji for you to show you the correct shape, sequence and direction of the strokes. It does this by reading copyrighted data made available through the kanjivg project. It also makes use of the Edict dictionary to give you readings and examples of usage for your kanji. It allows you to set learning targets and plots your progress and revision needs, using a dynamic memory model based on a spaced repetition system.
Index
Part One - Overview
Part Two - The Main Buttons
Part Three - The Mnemonic Buttons
Part Four - The Text Editor
Part Five - The Pad's Hot Zones
Part Six - Learning Targets
Part Seven - Usage and Readings


The standalone version is shown on the right, partway through an animation. (Note that the kanji shown is incomplete. The current downward stroke is only partly traced in blue and the short final stroke needed to complete the kanji is not yet shown. Also, the answer is shown in the window title because this kanji was selected in look-up mode, rather than test mode.).

Watch the blue kanji animation a couple of times, and then attempt to copy it: press the left mouse button while moving the mouse or dragging your finger across a touch pad, then release. Your messy mouse stroke will be replaced by a neater copy. (If you make a mistake while drawing a stroke, just keep drawing until your line leaves the white page and the mistaken stroke will be discarded.)

When you have finished the kanji, it will turn black, the background will turn green instead of blue, and the red 'Pass' button will change into a blue 'Next' button - press this to move on. After the first couple of viewings, the animation will not be there to help you, so stop to consider the strokes and how they are ordered before clicking 'Next'. If you have completed the kanji without any errors, the 'Claim' button will also become active. Pressing this button informs the memory modelling software that you think you know this kanji quite well and do not need to revise it again for a while.



The kanji coach will give you colour feedback as you draw (options for colour-blind users are under development). If your attempt matches the desired stroke reasonably well in terms of placement, angle, shape and length, it will be replaced with the official version, coloured in green. Note that the strokes need to be completed in the correct order, and each stroke needs to be in the right position compared to other strokes. A messy wobble related to the awkwardness of using a mouse does not usually count as an error - the important thing is for the stroke to start and end in the right overall positions. The kanji coach also considers the length, curvature and speed of the stroke, so try to copy the example closely, but quickly. If you find that the kanji coach is being too strict or lenient in judging your efforts, click on the Easy/Medium/Hard button to change the difficulty settings.

Intersections and contacts between strokes are important, and they are handled quite differently. Crossing a stroke that should not be crossed, or failing to cross a stroke that should be crossed, generally counts as an error. In every other setting, though, it is not necessary for your mouse stroke to touch any other stroke. The downward-left sloping diagonal shown in the diagrams, for instance, begins at the junction of two other strokes. The mouse-drawn version only needs to start near this junction, however. The software will join the stroke to the others in the junction for you. Starting or finishing too close to another stroke risks accidentally crossing it and is generally a bad idea.


If your kanji-drawing is faulty, your mouse stroke will turn yellow or, if it is more seriously misplaced, red. Yellow strokes are not penalised, and the computer will merely coach you by showing, in grey, where the stroke should have been. Red strokes incur a one-dot error penalty, and as far as the memory modelling software is concerned, it's a case of five strikes and you're out. After the fifth error, the blue kanji coach returns, showing you where each correct stroke should have been. Trace over the blue stroke, committing the shape to memory, before performing the next stroke. At any stage, a double-click on the page will remove the last stroke.

To summarise: repeat the stroke if the mouse stroke is still visible and is yellow or red, move on to the next stroke if the mouse stroke has disappeared; repeat the stroke if the coach's stroke is grey or blue, move on to the next stroke if the coach's stroke is green.

The Kanji Pad has four hot zones, as shown below. The Quit Zone lies above the page. Double-clicking this zone instructs the kanji coach to show you the animated stroke order. The item is marked as wrong/unknown (with five error dots) and the memory-modelling software schedules the item for an earlier revision. Take the opportunity to practise the item before moving on.

The Reset Zone on the left of the page wipes out the kanji and lets you start drawing it from scratch. (This won't remove any penalty dots, though - the memory model needs to keep track of errors.) The Next Kanji Zone on the right of the page functions like an 'Okay' button. Double-clicking here moves on to the next kanji. If you double-click before finishing the current kanji, it is marked as wrong. Note that you need to have started the current kanji, drawing at least one stroke, to activate this zone.

The Hint Zone lies below the white page. A double-click here instructs the kanji coach to mark the start of each stoke with a blue dot. Items answered with dot hints are scored at half value, but it is much better to get the item right with a hint than to give up and be told the answer. Dotted hints will also appear after you have made three errors.



Finally, the Hint Zone switches modes once the kanji is finished. Clicking here in pop-up mode shows the current pop-up interval, which can then be adjusted by clicking to the right or the left of the displayed time. Clicking here after completing any kanji shows a progress graph like the one below.

More details, along with examples of features offered in the full version, can be found here - but note that this link refers to material provided with the program, so do not follow the link if you are reading this online; instead paste this into your browser:
http://cerebware.110mb.com/downloads/The%20Kanji%20Sketch%20Pad%Part%Two.html

Contact Cerebware with any questions! Happy kanji drawing.