Scenes
A scene is a photo with areas that speak: the playground with the swing and the slide, the kitchen table, grandma's garden. The child taps the swing and hears "swing". Scenes work well for young children and for talking about real places and moments.
Making a new scene
- Open the grown-up controls and choose Edit this board.
- In the Editing line under the top bar, tap the camera icon at its end.
- Choose New scene from camera to take a photo now, or New scene from photos to use one you have.
- Crop the photo: drag the corners so the things you'll talk about fill the picture, then tap Crop. Or tap Use the whole photo. The child's view doesn't zoom, so a tight crop makes the areas bigger.
- Type a name in What is this place or moment?, for example "Playground".
- Choose where the scene's button goes (see below).
The scene then opens, ready for you to draw its areas. Grown-up controls stay open for the whole flow.
Where the button goes
Amalino never puts a new button anywhere on its own. Where should it go? shows the board:
- Free cells are highlighted, and the first one is already chosen. Tap Put it here, or tap another free cell first.
- A cell that holds a hidden word says so, for example "Hidden word: 'jump', appears at level 3", and can't be chosen: that word will appear there later.
- One cell is marked Kept free for ★ Favourites.
- Put it in Favourites instead puts the button in the Favourites folder.
- If the board is full, Amalino says This board is full. Choose Put it in Favourites instead or Choose another board.
Back returns to the name. If you leave without placing the button, Amalino asks Discard this scene? and deletes the photo only if you confirm.
Drawing areas that speak
When a scene has no areas yet, a card on the photo says what to do.
- A box: drag a box over the thing with one finger. Type the word (or record it), then tap Save.
- An odd shape: tap Draw a shape, tap the corners around the thing one by one, then tap Done. A shape needs at least three corners.
- Change an area: hold it until its editor opens. You can change the word, record your voice, or Delete it.
- Zoom: pinch with two fingers to zoom the photo while you draw small areas. One finger always draws.
The buttons at the top of the scene editor:
- Show outlines: shows each area's edge to the child, a dark and a light line, so it stands out on any photo.
- Show touch areas: shows you how big each area is to touch, with the touch settings applied.
- Word on tap: shows the word near the area while it's spoken (on by default).
- Words always shown: shows every area's word all the time (off by default).
- Change crop: crops the photo again. Areas that end up outside the crop are counted, and come back if you widen it.
On small screens these buttons wrap onto two or three rows.
If AI helpers are on, the camera menu also offers Suggest hotspots: Amalino looks at the photo on the device and proposes areas for you to accept. On Android this uses Google ML Kit on the device; the photo never leaves it.
Tap Done in the top bar when you've finished.
What the child sees
The scene opens from its button on the board, like a folder. When the child taps an area:
- its word is spoken,
- with Word on tap, the word appears in large letters just above the area (below it if there's no room) and fades away shortly after the sound ends,
- with Reduce motion on, the word appears and disappears without fading.
The words never get in the way: a tap on a word reaches the area underneath.
Moving a scene's button later
Edit the scene's button on the board and choose Move…. You can pick another cell on the same board, choose another board, or put it in Favourites. See Editing and moving buttons.
Next: Editing and moving buttons.