[Bf-education] Organizing / suporting education

[Knapp]

On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 2:28 PM, Baptiste G <bapsite at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello everybody :-)
>
> I am also interested in participating on setting up certification and
> uniform educational tools.
> I believe that Blender is an amazing software-app, with great features out
> of the box.
> However, there is a need to make a uniform educational package, so people
> in Brazil learn the same things as people in Russia :-).
>
> I believe that in the first stage we need to break down the software in to
> bundles, keeping in mind that these bundles all togheter make an end result.
>
> Just thinking out loud:
>
> example:
> 1. layout screen
> 2. navigation in 3d
> 3. modelling:
> adding meshes
> basics
> grab, scale, extrude, spin, screw
> modifiers
> mirror, decimate, shrinkwrap ...
> box modelling
> edge loop
> loop cut
> etc
> poly modelling
> and so on
> Curve
> bezier
> NURBS!!
> Surfaces!!
> 4. lighting
> different types of light ( spot, halo, sun )
> shadows
> light setups
> and so on, and so on
>
> There should also be 3 levels, from beginner, to intermediate, to expert
>
> a beginner knows nothing, but when he gets trough al the beginner chapters
> he is intermediate. When he starts with the intermediate chapters, there is
> a referencing back to the intermediate ( stuff they already know ) and
> builds on that. After intermediate comes expert, and again building on the
> already based knowledge.
>
> In that way teachers could organise an beginner class, an intermediate,
> and an expert, always building on top of each other.
> Also student can learn the thing they want,
>
> For example: I want to be a 3-modeller
>
> I can follow
> navigation and layout
> modelling => beginner, intermediate, expert
> lighting => beginner
> etc=>
>
> Or I want to be a lighting expert
> navigation and layout
> modelling => beginner
> Lighting => beginner, intermediate, expert
> compositing => beginner
>
> Or I want to be a animator
> navigation and layout
> Armatures => beginner, intermediate, expert
> NLA => beginner, intermediate, expert
>
>
> Suggestions, improvement, comments are al welcome, but we need to chunk
> down and organize the different parts, flowing into each other ...
>
> I would really want to help laying out the guidelines, and getting this
> very wel organized
>
> So keep me posted on how I can help.
>
>

>
>
I think what you have said is logical but I am not sure it is the best way
to go.

Another way to go is to bring the student from beginner to expert in one
very narrow subject with flashy outcomes. The advantage of this way is that
the student ends up at the end of the class with one very nice
and professional thing (pic or animation or whatever). As an example a
student can be given a finished rigged man and then taught all about doing
walking, running, and acting in one 3 month long 5 credit uni class. The
disadvantage is that they are very narrow in what they know. It is also
easier to market something where the students end results are "cool" and
usable in a job. Something that builds his portfolio. There are
other tutorials that I think are not the way to go, for example the cube
man and animation. You can learn a lot from it but are you wanting to show
the results to your boss? I think not.

I think a good video of this is
http://thenatureacademy.blenderguru.com/fe/18406-realistic-grass-tutorial
This grass is rendered with just the normal blender render. At the end of
this the student can make really good grass. He as learned a lot and his
results look professional and the teaching is upbeat. On the other hand
there is still a LOT that he has not learned with just this one video. I
think that even a beginner could get through this video with just a few
days of help. At the end they will be proud of their results. After a few
months of work like this they could make great pictures.
Some result from his class
http://www.blenderguru.com/winners-hall-of-fame

In case you are wondering, I do not work for or even have any contact with
Andrew Price. I admire what he is doing and what he has accomplished with
blender, as a teacher and as a businessman man. I think we can learn a lot
from what he has done to bring Blender teaching and results to the level
that pros need.

-- 
Douglas E Knapp

Creative Commons Film Group, Helping people make open source movies
with open source software!
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Massage in Gelsenkirchen-Buer:
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Please link to me and trade links with me!

Open Source Sci-Fi mmoRPG Game project.
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http://code.google.com/p/perspectiveproject/
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