[Bf-docboard] Re: Re: Visual Video Documentation

[Glen Moyes]

Well, I'll tell you what my final goal is with the work I've been doing 
with my video tutorials.

I am convinced that when people want to learn they are more interested 
in the topic than in the form it comes in (text documentation, tutorial 
with pictures, video tutorial, sample blender files, etc.) After they 
have found where to get the information on what they are learning then 
they might find that a video tutorial would be more helpful to learn 
animation, or maybe they just need to see a sample .blend file of what 
someone else has done.

What I would like to do is to combine the documentation project, the 
tutorial and video tutorial sections of the web page into one entity. 
They all have the same purpose in mind; teaching Blender. It's just a 
host to different methods. Instead, you search by topic (and the way the 
documentation project is organized is fine), then you can see the 
manual, any number of video tutorials or what have you. It's all right 
there. You'll also be able to search by type of media as well, which 
means that this will likely be a database or something that will use a 
lot of "site items" as they are called in the content management system.

In answer to your question, yes, I would like to see this in conjunction 
with the online documentation (see above), that's why the tutorials are 
so very similar to the documentation, and that the collection is 
organized the way it is. Of course combining all these projects is a 
huge change to the way things are now and it would take everyone a lot 
of time to do. I still haven't gotten any responses about this idea from 
last time I posted it on the mailing list <ackem>. However I fell 
strongly that it would be beneficial and I'd like to see it happen. If 
it does it will probably happen when we merge the www.blender.org and 
www.blender3d.org sites together.

You can see what I have finished here 
[http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Video_Tutorials.396.0.html] along with 
GreyBeard's tutorials.

As for codecs, Flash and other video codecs are very different. You 
won't get the same results (or maybe even the same learning experience). 
You'll have a hard time showing a good walk cycle in Flash (at least 
with the tools that I'm familiar with when it comes to making video 
tutorials as a .swf). You can imbed video into a Flash file but I think 
you actually have to use Macromedia Flash or some other program that 
costs more than $200. Also keep in mind that even 3DBuzz.com is using 
XviD for their video tutorials. Of course the problem with just about 
any codec is that not everyone can play them right away. The most 
compatible codec is MPEG1 since QuickTime, Windows Media Player, and 
most Linux media players can open them. However the quality is not 
nearly as good as MPEG4 based codecs, and there for sizes will be 
larger. Besides, it takes just as much effort for people to install the 
On2 codec as it would be to install the XviD codec or even VLC since 
neither of those come stock with any operating system. Choosing just one 
codec for the community to use is difficult because they may not have 
the software to make files in those codecs. For example I'll probably 
end up adding a RealMedia video soon, just because that's what the guy 
decided was best to use due to his capture software or otherwise. Right 
now the tutorial collection is just a place for community made 
tutorials. I think some official ones would be nice :).

In the future I'd like to put these tutorials onto a DVD/CD. We could 
put the community ones in their native formats on a data CD so that 
people won't have to download them. However I'm looking towards making 
an actual DVD Video disc (now talk about compatibility). I have recently 
figured out how to make the videos zoom in, pan, scan, and include the 
over scan areas and then output to NTSC and PAL  so that the videos will 
be formated for TV viewing. Not surprisingly the post processing 
involves using Blender to get these compatible for TV, imagine that :). 
I'll post a link to a proof of concept when it's done.

- Glen

Brian Hinton wrote:

>Glen-
>
>Is this a project designed to work in conjunction with the online
>documentation? And eventually the book/CD? As I see this as being very
>useful. If you have some done can you perhaps list what is done and what
>needs to be completed. Perhaps some sort of listing should be done of what
>needs to be recorded and what is done. I'm for using video but I don't
>think that divx or XviD are the best codecs to use. They are nice, but
>they often do not play properly between versions. On2 available from
>quicktime I've found is stable. And I think that mpeg4 is decent. I'm up
>for discussion on what to use. Keep flash in the picture because you can
>record flash and have audio sync with it. And being that we are serving a
>broad audience, it might be a good idea to go for flash. What does
>everyone else think? I'm new to this list, but looking to get involved,
>and I think this is a good project to hit up on.
>
>Brian
>  
>