# Make stars in Cuttle ⭐️, Custom parameter types ☑️, Behind-the-scenes interview 🎩🐇

JAN 14, 2022

Happy 2022! Here's the latest with [Cuttle](https://cuttle.xyz/).

-   There’s now a Star component.
-   You can change the “type” of your parameters to make color pickers, checkboxes, etc.
-   I recorded an interview diving into the codebase and architecture behind Cuttle.

## Star ⭐️

There’s now a **Star** component you can drag in from the left sidebar.

![](https://content.cuttle.xyz/blog/make-stars-in-cuttle-custom-parameter-types-behind-the-scenes-interview/f151bf5e3e524fccfdc71cc568009318ee5a6255e6891e8247e57fbcc6d12d04.gif)

You can control the number of points and how “spiky” it is.

Fun tip: you can make a “knurled knob” by adding a **Round Corners** modifier to a **Star**.

![](https://content.cuttle.xyz/blog/make-stars-in-cuttle-custom-parameter-types-behind-the-scenes-interview/f281bebbdf4d0b5ad2a8b38dcbf6f9f34fef17d6a83fbf7104f4dca888e391ab.gif)

## Custom Parameter Types ☑️

You can now set the “types” of your parameters so that they show up with a custom interface.

![](https://content.cuttle.xyz/blog/make-stars-in-cuttle-custom-parameter-types-behind-the-scenes-interview/7d8c8ce3701498e4a7b29d110ecd6f87dfb9aa0770b8e43ed52a1dd04958a40d.gif)

Click the **⋯** next to the parameter, then change the **Parameter Type**. Here are the current options:

-   Boolean - appears as a checkbox, takes on values `true` or `false`.
-   Number - appears as a scrubbable “pill”
-   Point - appears as scrubbable x and y pills, takes on the value `Vec(x, y)`.
-   Color - appears as a color picker, takes on the value `Color(r, g, b, a)`.
-   Text - appears as text entry, takes on the value of a string. Notably you don’t need to put quotes around the string.
-   Font - appears as a font picker, takes on the value of a string (URL to a font).

There are a couple more parameter types we’ll be adding in the future.

## Behind-the-Scenes Interview 🎩🐇

I recorded a [one hour video](https://youtu.be/2el-85vG-IU) where I walk [Chet Corcos](https://chetcorcos.com/) through the Cuttle codebase.

![](https://cuttle-content.imgix.net/blog/make-stars-in-cuttle-custom-parameter-types-behind-the-scenes-interview/5dd6fa975ee73f9cbbe47c7d16bb84a59ef45dac2a6f3acb768af80f67b15a78.jpg?auto=compress,format&q=60&fit=max&w=720&h=720&dpr=2)

After the [big performance update in November](https://cuttle.xyz/blog/cuttle-survey-multiple-selection-copy-and-paste-modifiers-and-cuttle-is-way-faster), many of you said you’d be interested in learning more about the internals of Cuttle.

Chet reached out and told me he was starting a video series showing the technical details of how software is built. There are many videos where people talk about new technologies, and tutorials demonstrating simple examples, but not a lot of videos where people talk concretely about how production software is actually built. Yet so much can be learned by observing someone’s craft — the details of how they structure their code or model their systems. I’ve certainly learned a lot by working with talented people over my career. So the premise of his series is to ask experienced programmers to onboard him to their codebase, as if he were a new engineering hire.

I thought this was a great idea and volunteered to be the first test subject. I think [the resulting video](https://youtu.be/2el-85vG-IU) is a good overview of Cuttle’s internal architecture and the strategies we’ve used in our codebase. If this is your cup of tea, I think you’ll enjoy it!

And if you are working on a project, or know of one, that would be a good fit for Chet’s series, you should [reach out to him](https://twitter.com/ccorcos/status/1480612338294145029)!

## Other Improvements and Fixes 🐞

-   You can rename a project on the dashboard with a single click on the name.
-   Fixed some UI issues with the inspector.
-   Scripting: Added `curvatureAtTime()` and `secondDerivativeAtTime()` methods to [Path](https://cuttle.xyz/learn/reference/Path).

![Small circular photo of Toby](https://cuttle.xyz/images/blog-authors/Toby.jpg)

Toby Schachman