Getting Kid Pix 4 to run in Windows 8 and 10 and 11

Sunday Software closed its virtual doors in 2019 and donated all of its 18 programs to http://www.rotation.org where you can find the updated teaching guides and extra tech tips. Supporting Members at rotation.org can also download our software for free.

The following are tech notes we had at Sunday Software for Broderbund’s Kid Pix Deluxe 4 –a popular illustrating program in many Sunday School computer labs.

First…Make sure you have the last/latest version of Quicktime for Windows 7.7.9 downloaded and installed. Learn more at https://support.apple.com/kb/DL837

“Animated Stickers Not Working”

“Animated Graphic Box is Empty in Kid Pix”

I created a patch file for the “Animated stickers not working” problem for those who experience it after upgrading to Windows 7/8 or 10. You can find it at https://www.rotation.org/topic/important-technical-notes-and-helps?reply=691365964890151106#691365964890151106

Getting Kid Pix to Appear Larger on the Screen

Open your Windows Display Properties and move your “scale” slider to 125% or 150%.

---

Additional tips for installing or getting Kid Pix to run

“Kid Pix menu freezing” etc….

We occasionally get emails from folks saying “KP4 is crashing or freezing.” These issues are not solved by our patch. Some of them are caused by having versions of KP4 which are too old. Others by the setup on their computers.

Try the following:

1. For installing and running KP4, be sure you’re logged in as the Main User with full admin privileges.
2. Check to see if Windows has popped up a window asking for your permission to run the setup file. Sometimes it hides behind other windows.
3. After installation, RIGHT click the desktop icon and select “Run as Administrator.”
4. Make sure you have the latest version of Quicktime for Windows installed on your computer (https://support.apple.com/kb/DL837).
5. Uninstall KP4 from c:\TheLearningCompany\ folder and re-install it to c:\Program Files(86x). Windows applies different security settings to its different folders and expects older software to be installed in Programs…(86x). Some people have no trouble with the default installation location. Others need to install to the ‘more protected’ Program Files (86x) folder.
6. Temporarily disable your security software which may be erroneously blocking a Windows operation that KP4 is trying to initiate, then test KP4. Some of these security programs have proven to be too aggressive against older software which will otherwise work fine in Windows.
7. Be sure you have SAPI 4 application installed from the KP4 CD (sapi4 or msapi4). This is the Microsoft speech application used by KP4. Later versions of Windows need SAPI 4 installed (it doesn’t affect SAPI 5 that comes with more recent versions of Windows.)
8. If you have a network version of KP4 running, you can try all of the above, but typically, the network version won’t work. Too out of date.

Tip: Set your screen resolution to as close to 800 x 600 to make Kid Pix appear larger on your high resolution screen.

Go here if you have the animated sticker problem in Kid Pix 4 after upgrading Windows.

Importing Graphics and Backgrounds

While working in Kid Pix, you want to import a graphic or background from the hard drive or other media into the program. The remainder of this technical note describes the procedure. Follow the procedure below to import a graphic or background into Kid Pix.

1. NOTE: Kid Pix will import the following graphic or background file types: Bitmap (*.bmp), JPEG (*.jpg, *.jpeg), GIF (.gif) or Macintosh® Picture (*.pic, *.pict).
2. Click the Menu bar.
3. Go to the Add menu option and click Add Graphic (to import a graphic) or Import Background (to import a background) from the menu that appears. The Add Graphic (or Import Background) window will open.
4. Click the down arrow button to the right of the Files of type: field and select the file type for the desired graphic (or background) to import (i.e., *.bmp, *.jpg, .gif or *.pic).  In other words, if you’re looking for a GIF file that you saved, it will only appear in the dialog box if you have selected the gif file type!)
5. Using the Look in: field, navigate to the drive and location of the desired graphic (or background) and click once on the file name to select it. A preview of the selected graphic file may appear in the Preview: box.
6. NOTE: To the right of the preview box is a list of four options describing how the graphic or background will appear when added (or imported) to the current picture. By default, Center at Original Size will be selected if adding a graphic and Shrink/Stretch to fill Canvas will be selected if importing a background. If needed, select another option. The preview to the left may change.
7. Click OK. The graphic or background selected in Step 5 will appear on the current picture in the Paint Zone. If a graphic was added, adjust the graphic as needed.
8. NOTE: After adding a graphic (or importing a background) to a picture in Paint Zone, the picture can be saved and added to a slide show in the Slide Show screen.