[Bf-education] Taking Cues From Other 3D Companies Already Doing Ed.

[Rui Campos]

Hey Josh, glad to hear from you :) .
How were your vacations? Good I hope.


I had already made some research on this issue and I think that the
solution is the combination of both commercial approaches you presented.
There should be books covering basic and advanced features, also some
DVDs with videos available through the BF e-shop.

One thing I believe that we must try to innovate is the approach on the
contents, avoid centering all the attentions on the tool, instead focus
on 3D and CG as the main content and teach the tool from there.

Is my opinion that we should try and show what is 3D and how
professionals do it, instead of just explaining a tool.

For me that is what may, or may not, make any Blender related content a
real winner.


As for the Certification or Diploma, I think that some previous posts
focus it very well, distinguishing them in a very specific manner.


Most of the things are already sorted out.
Now it is time to start defining things in a more specific context.
So if anyone as ideas on what specific contents a "Blender Basics -
Fundation" now it would be the time to show them.

Just keep in mind the following:
 - There is already a Reference Book.
 - There will be a series of "Blender Advanced" books.
 - The approach should be centered on 3D and CG, not Blender itself (for
that purpose we have the Reference Book).
 - The content of the "Blender Basics" series is to be used by people
who may or may not know anything about 3D and CG.
 - The "Blender Advanced" series will be used to train experts.


Best Regards,

	Rui Campos

On Mon, 2005-03-07 at 17:02 -0600, jseaver at smm.org wrote:
> Hi all,
> Sorry I've been so quiet. I was preparing for--and then took--a 6 week vacation from work. Now I'm back and I have reviewed all the posts so far.
> 
> My reactions to things up to now:
> I still believe that focusing on a certificate or diploma or whatever it is for the initial "trainers" is the most important thing to start before we issue certificates to the general public.
> 
> A review of current approaches:
> I thought it would be helpful for people to take a look at what's out there by the commercial companies if you haven't already.
> 
> The two 3D software companies really working hard to sell educational materials--Caligari and Alias--they have taken two completely different approaches. In case you haven't visited these sites lately, it's worth a look to see how they're approaching it. I've linked below.
> 
> Alias has gone the book and DVD route. I have won several of these items from our local Maya User group and they work very well for me. They hover around $69 USD per book or DVD. The benefits of a book or DVD of course are high-resolution and not having to worry about bandwidth or loosing your place. Not to mentional tangibility. They also offer support packages, but these don't include any free tutorial access, just tecnical support. These start at $149 USD annually.
> 
> http://www.alias.com/eng/products-services/learningtools/index.jhtml
> 
> Caligari offers courses on Truespace from their site at a standard price of $79 a pop (each being around 1 1/2 hours with support files). 
> 
> http://www.caligari.com/products/trueSpace/ts5/Courses/spirit.asp?Cate=Courses
> 
> Individual tutorials can be downloaded or viewed directly with a 100 Kbps connection streaming from the web site directly. You can subscribe to their Proteam service for $895 USD for an annual subscription to all the material. 
> 
> http://www.caligari.com/store/proTeam/default.asp?Cate=STproTeam
> 
> They've broken their tutorials into two categories: "Fundamentals" and "Master Series", which falls into line with what has been suggested previously.
> 
> Obviously we wouldn't necessarily be charging such prices for our services to the community, but this gives you an idea of what it out there. 
> 
> I don't have time to continue right now, but I thought this might generate some additional discussion.
> 
> Thanks Rui for keeping this going,
> Josh
> 
> 
> Joshua Seaver
> New Media Manager for Learning Technologies
> Science Museum of Minnesota
> 651-221-2523
> 
> Tag along on NASA's recent historic missions to Mars and see the Red Planet as you've never seen it before. "Mars 3D" is only in the Science Museum of Minnesota's 3D Cinema. 
> 
> October 8, 2004 through spring 2005.
> 
> http://www.smm.org/mars3D 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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