[Bf-docboard] Re: Blender education materials

[Glen Moyes]

As far as target markets for training material, it includes just about 
everyone. It's pretty tricky as it is trying to write up-to-date 
documentation, which is why I chose video tutorials (less overhead). 
Trying to write for different groups independently will take more time. 
I'm not sure what solutions you may have for this problem, but I don't 
think it should be writing different documentation for each group.

One thing that I've found that has worked for me, at least in the 
documentation that I've written for work, is color coding different 
sections for code explanations (for those rewriting the code), rules and 
conventions (for everyone), how-to's (for people that need to use the 
software for a specific task), etc. The practical upshot of this is that 
I write one document, but different people can quickly scan through it 
to get what they need, and can skip the areas that are not for them.

I'm not saying that we should color code the documentation, but the 
benefits of whatever method we use should be the same. A beginner should 
read the section on concepts of texturing, concepts of UV mapping, how 
to UV map in Blender, and pick up some .blend files to try it out so 
that they can get the hang of it. In comparison, a professional, who is 
migrating software, only needs to read the section on how to UV map in 
Blender. We are not writing any more documentation, just modularizing it 
so that people can focus on what they really need to know, and then 
bypass all the fluff.

On the topic of transition guides (e.g. Maya to Blender), I wonder if it 
would be just as easy to explain how each tool works. Yes, it's nice to 
tell people, "okay, this shortcut key is the same, this is in a similar 
place", and so on, but I think 90% of that kind of information is 
different between programs, or will at least need mentioning anyway. 
Professionals just need to know how to use each tool, and that can be 
explain really quickly in such away that anyone that has used 3D 
software before, or even the beginner that has just read the 
introduction to that chapter, will understand it. But I do think that 
such guides would be helpful, but should only be really really short 
quick start guides.

I think what it really boils down to, is to separate the meat from the 
milk. A lot of documentation I've read has the milk (concepts) mingled 
with the meat (how to use the software), which is perfectly fine when 
you are writing for just one audience. But I think if we separate them, 
the beginners still get the milk and the meat, professions just get the 
meat, and the contributers to the documentation are still only writing 
one document.

Going slightly off topic, I've been teaching Blender to about 20-30 
students each Saturday for 8 weeks. Each workshop is 3 hours long, so 
that's 24 hours of instruction. This is my second semester doing this, 
and I've learned a lot about those different groups, how they react to 
different teaching methods, and what problems most people have when 
learning the software. I've discovered some very interesting things, 
which I'll likely write an article about and then post it on Elysiun 
when the workshop is done. But if you'd like me to share those now, I 
could do that.

 From the Blender Conference Follow-ups that was released yesterday, it 
seems that training and education are hot topics, and should really be 
discussed more. I think we all agree that education is more than likely 
Blender's Achilles heel. I've thought that for over a year now.

One thing that was mentioned was a "Blender Course Book." I'm making 
something like that right now for my workshops. Since I do these every 
semester, if I prepare the course the first time, then I can reuse again 
each semester, which makes my workload easier. And after it's finished, 
I'd gladly share it.

 > I've personally considered developing training tools for Blender - a 
series called 'Blender in 30 second Bites' - which would be a series of 
Blend files that had a text explanation

Yes, that has proven to be a very successful method--especially when it 
comes to understanding the modeling tools--and is part of my course.

There are so many possibilities for education in this field, and 
particularly for Blender, that we haven't tapped into yet. The community 
will grow, more talented developers will come in, and if I might add, so 
will the money.

In the mean time I'll write up that article of my findings, and also the 
course outline as well. I've been using this opportunity to make video 
tutorials for each week (for those people that didn't show up), so I'll 
already have video tutorials that go over that course outline after the 
workshop is over. I'll likely post those up here on the docboard and 
education mailing lists as well as Elysiun to be open for discussion.

I'm shooting to have a finalized--and hopefully production 
quality--outline, Open Office presentations, and video tutorial 
collection by the end of the Winter. I've been modifying my course 
slightly now that I will have taught it in it's entirely this Fall, so 
it might take some time before I'll have a final version of it.

And as always, collaboration on such a project would be appreciated.

- Glen Moyes (Metsys)