[Bf-docboard] Introductory chapter

[Jason Oppel]

Bart Veldhuizen wrote:

>Hi Colin,
>
>I think it's a wonderful text! Very pleasant to read and very accessible
>to someone who is new to 3D. If everyone agrees, I think that we can use
>this instead of the 'Quickstart' chapter that we have planned.
>
>  
>
This looks like a very good beginning for the quickstart.

>-----Original Message-----
>From: bf-docboard-admin@blender.org
>[mailto:bf-docboard-admin@blender.org] On Behalf Of Walters, Colin
>(Tru64 UNIX Pubs)
>Sent: woensdag 2 april 2003 18:14
>To: bf-docboard@blender.org
>Subject: [Bf-docboard] Introductory chapter
>
>
>Hi,
>
>I'm in the process of writing a short introduction to Blender based on
>the default screen.  The initial draft is appended.
>
>The idea behind this is that many novice users do not really know the
>fundamental concepts of drafting in 3D space.  Therefore, they encounter
>a new interface that is not windows-like, and new 3D animation concepts
>at the same time.  This can be very confusing for novices.  Existing
>online tutorials are great, but they all seem to assume a level of
>knowledge that is quite sophisticated.
>
Colin:
I found your choice of wording very interesting as its quite close to 
what I'm writing for the 3D Concepts and Fundamentals chapter. I think 
you and I should consider working closely together and try to make sure 
that our chapters use the same style/vocabulary and try not to cover too 
much of the same material. This is especially important since both of 
our chapters will be dealing with the same audience (3D newbies).

I'll show you an example...

You wrote...
"In the default main window, imagine yourself looking down at the tiled 
floor of a large room. The lines and “tiles” are grid pattern that helps 
you to create and position objects on the floor. The green and brown 
lines are part of this grid. They mark the center of the floor. This 
chapter will refer to the imaginary room as the /Blender universe/."

While in one part of my intro to 3D I've written:
"When working with Blender it's helpful to imagine that Blender's 3D 
viewport is your window into the 3D universe you're creating. To 
understand what you're seeing in this viewport you need to understand 
some basic concepts regarding how all three dimensional objects are 
represented in Blender..."

Lately I've been able to write a fair bit so I'll post what I have in a 
few days once I fill in some of the gaps.

Colin:
If this is of interest to you just let me know and we can see about 
merging/streamlining our efforts. It looks like you and I have pretty 
similar writing style so it would be a pretty easy to do. If everyone 
agrees to "Colin's Quickstart" (hey that has a nice ring to it :-) I'd 
like to put my chapter just after the Quickstart. People are always 
itching to dive right into a program rather than learn boring theory first.

Thanks,
Jason <Pato>