Written tutorials
dreamfarmer
Posts: 2,128
Yes! We're back to this topic again!
Last night I read a 3 page DeviantArt tutorial on making a mug in Hexagon. (http://www.deviantart.com/art/Hexagon-Beginner-s-Tut-Part-1-128942202) and it pushed ahead my understanding of how 3d modeling works way more than the hours of time I've spent trying to follow video tutorials. Ultimately, the big problem I have with video tutorials is that unless they are very short and well-polished, I struggle to pay attention. We can blame the ADHD (I take meds), or a childhood spent learning how to tune out teachers, or my children, but that's the fact of the matter.
The other fact of the matter is that no 3d software can be 'introduced' in a short video. :-)
When you're watching a video tutorial, everything has to happen in sequence, they show you one thing after another, blah blah blah. With a good written tutorial, they can tell you something and then you can pause your reading and study the screenshot and then go reread and then go on.
ANYHOW, I know written tutorials are a lot more work. But while software changes, the concepts seem to stay the same. Which means old tutorials that are less about the software and more about the fundamental techniques should still be useful... right? That one I linked above was from 2009, after all! And I got to see things like welding done, which is not something I've ever made it to in any blender tutorial I've watched. (Usually I get about an hour into UI explanations and tap out....)
So... what have you read that really pushed ahead your understanding? And you know what? Books as well as online tutorials are okay. Tell me about them.
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Comments
I really like this book:
[Digital] Modeling by: William Vaughan
I've read it a couple times... Actually, I've liked all the [Digital] books I've read so far.
...you are preaching to the choir here with me and I like it. As I have short term memory issues, video tutorials do not work or me.
The other side of the coin is many who make them have little knowledge of video production and educational presentation.
That's the crux of the problem. Video tuts are easy and quick to make, but leave us drowning in a sea of horribleness we're all to familair with.
I went in to writing tutorials to make money, with a few other Bald Wizards and I/we found the time spent making them wasn't worth it. All centered around DS, Plus by the time I got a few done the software got updated making a lot of the info out dated hence more time redoing them. I do love a well polished methodical vid though.
Yes, I think written tutorials only make money as books. And then probably as concept/technique lessons rather than specific software walk throughs. But (for me) at least, picking up individual software quirks is a lot easier if I'm not learning the concept of selecting an edge, a vertex or a point at the same time.
Like, yesterday I finally figured out (was taught) what an 'edge loop' is. Let me tell you, coming from a knitting/crocheting background I had an /entirely/ different idea.
Have to admit, I've seen some good free video tutorials for DAZ Studios. The ones that came out in conjunction with the Genesis Supersut were very helpful, for instance. They taught me a lot not only about the product itself but also different ways to select surfaces and textures within DAZ, the LIE editor etc. I've also seen some great free video tutorials for other software, too. I find that I don't get the most out of them unless I've got YouTube in one window and DAZ in the next and I follow along. Then I feel like I'm in a crafts class and I retain what I learn.
The bad free video tutorials are too numerous. Some have bad production values but there are also some that are misleadingly tagged and imply that they are going to teach you more than they possible can. I remember one I saw early on that claimed it would teach how to "make morphs" when all it really did was say something like "step 1. buy creature creator. step 2 find morph sliders here blah blah blah." But the bad written tutorials, IMHO are even worse as they may look competent at a distance but then turn out to skip steps, have problems with phrasing, etc. It's not just a DAZ Studio problem either - I have seen bad tutorials associated with practically every software I've used. Some of the Photoshop ones are horrendous. They don't encourage a streamlined workflow and they don't explain what certain tools actually do. Unfortunately some of them are on websites associated with Photoshop mags or even designers which makes it worse.
As for paid tutorials, I won't buy any books unless I can browse them in a bookstore first.
An edge loop is similar in.concept to the border between colors in a multicolored item (my mom used to knit/crochet as well).
Yeah, whereas I was imagining it as a loop used at the edge of a flat surface to knit pieces together. How it got there I couldn't imagine. Even in stuff that wasn't about that, just the mention of it would send me off spiraling into distraction.
For techniques I don't really need to know how tools work, not right now. When starting out I just need to know when to push the buttons. If I like what I'm doing I'll learn more. But so many tutorials start out like they're teaching a semester long class to a captive audience. 'Doing' is for week 3 or something.
like, for blender: I feel like there should be easy to find tutorials that start with 'doing.' Make, as in Hexagon, a mug. Don't explain any more of the UI than needed for that. Ideally have a UI skin that hides all the stuff you don't need for making a mug. Make the remaining buttons big. Add stuff as new trainer projects grow in complexity.
(And for god's sake if you're going to make a video tutorial, write a script at least in notes form and do a dry run so all your stuff is in order.)
https://www.youtube.com/user/tutor4u has some good straightforward blender tutorials, that are aimed at beginners. His videos are clear and easy to follow.