New tutorial - and it's a video, again! Why no pdf?
cherpenbeck
Posts: 1,416
Dear PAs! Please, could you consider to do your really good and valuable tutorials as pdf files?
I have bought several video tutorials over the last year. And haven't finished a single one of them. For me as a non-native speaker, an English video is about the worst form of tutorial I can get. Often I simply don't understand the voices. And if I don't understand what you are saying, the tutorial is of no use to me. Reading, that's a different matter. It's far easier to handle a written English text.
I would have loved to buy the new tutorial about book covers. But ... it's a video.
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Comments
I second that. I'm hearing impaired myself, so video tuts are pretty much useless to me.
Would it be of any use to either of you if you were provided a plain text transcript of the spoken dialog in video tutorials?
It would certainly help, but I honestly prefer written tutorials regardless. They are easier to look through and quickly find what I'm after, and I can read at my own pace, and highlight what I want for quick access later. It's just a preference, but I realize I'm in the minority for it ;)
There's a certain irony there!
As it happens I really do not like video tutorials either, though they can sometimes point the way when you actually see something as opposed to reading the description.
It's very helpful for a presentation to have visual aids that present the material in another form, not just as a supplement, but because the more senses involved, the faster people learn. Hearing is not as efficient as hearing and seeing. So while a PDF would be nice, it would be best if printed captions summarize the main points. I did a video series a couple years ago and it had a square with print on it BEFORE the concept was shown. They get the information, then are shown it as reinforcement.
People can also pause the video to read (and there should be plenty of time on the captions so it's not necessary for native English speakers.)
Well, if someone does these captions, it should be fairly easy to transfer them to a pdf as well. And then elaborate them, perhaps even add a screenshot, enough that the information is usable. I agree, a combination of pdf and video would be the best of two worlds.
I never buy video tutorials as I have no speakers connected most of the time and my PC shares space with other people who do not want to listen which limits the time I can spend on actual learning - I guess I could buy a headset or a laptop but even if I did that I find Video to time-consuming to learn from as it forces you to listen to what you already know & delays getting to the part you need to know :(
A combination of PDF & Video would be the best solution as I appreciate others learn differently - I used to think I must be the only person to dislike video so its good to know others still like to read to :)
I'm no fan of Video tutorials either. Especially for Tutorials that cover a process that takes several steps (like making a whole item) when all I need is, say, step's 15-18 (out of 30), and they're split between 2 videos, because the video breaks after step 16...
Also, I can search a PDF. I can't search a video.
Videos are ok except the ones that have music which I find annoying and unnecessary. Sometimes written material is incomplete in that it may leave out steps it assumes the reader knows already.
I dont care for video tutorials either. Prefer .pdf format with pictures.
I'm kind of a mix. I'm a very visual person and I like seeing someone go through the steps while I watch. However, I love reinforcing what I've learned by reading. All the better if there are lots of pictures a screenshots.
I must be the weird one then, because I prefer videos. Not so much for the audio (though that can help,) but because I am a highly visual learner. Monkey see, monkey do. I have watched some training videos in foreign languages, because there was no training vid in English. To me there is nothing like seeing exactly where they are going, where this setting is at, and so on. But I also understand that is me, and how I learn is different from others.
The biggest issue I have with any written tutorial is that the writer almost always assumes the learner already knows a step or two about something. I cannot tell you how many times I needed a tutorial for the tutorial I was trying to use because of that, especially last year.
Yep, that happened to me a lot when I was first learning how to use Gimp and then Blender. There were always steps left out and I had to track down how to do what they didn't tell me. I've watched some really good video tutorials in foreign languages that really helped me understand the concept it was teaching. If it's French or German, I can actually understand some of it. The few tutorials I've found in Russian and some other language (forget which one), I just turned down the audio and concentrated on what they were doing.
The one think I love about a lot of the Blender videos I've been watching lately is that they now have the thing that shows what keys the person in the tutorial is using during the video capture. I really wish other programs had that feature because it really helps to follow along with some of these programs.
I'll do (watch) video tutorials - but I'm starting to do snapshots of key screens and short narratives, for future reference. I can see that video is a lot easier to knock together than a written text. But, as far as I'm concerned, video is NOT a long-term reference work. Not until I find a utility somewhere that can search a directory of videos for keywords.
I don't think you're the weird one, since I've known people that learn better by seeing something done instead of reading it in a textbook or other written format. I'm the same way, in some ways as well, although as Knittinmommy says, having both can help because sometimes you need a reminder of where things are and the written version with static images will work for that.
I prefer video tutorials, too, as you can see or hear all the steps involved. They can't get to the result without showing what to do. PDFs and manuals are nice for reference and more in depth material, but too often they are missing steps. I would guess the non-English speakers like to run text through translation software, so the text would have to be accessible.
For information not provided, I use Google site search of the DAZ forums to find the information I need (Google is almost always spidering here and recent posts often show up in the top results). I also bookmark frequently and printout the important info.
Fairly easy? No, I've done it. Placing text in an image then copying/pasting into a document is double work, you still have to do the layout in the document, totally different, it's not just copy/paste and plop it down, the captions in an image aren't standalone without the visual reference. It's a LOT of work doing screenshots (which you should have, that's a given) and placing them with the text, then typing up all the speech from the video that the images don't have, PLUS explaining all the visuals of screenshots that you don't have- unless you screenshot every move of the mouse that changes something. So from experience, there's nothing fairly easy about it.
And I'd think the prices won't be the same for a product that has, literally, double the work. Videos and PDFs are TWO products, not one. I'm in agreement that having something in print would be awesome for a handy reference, but I think it should be two separate products so folks can choose which one they want, or both, and the vendor doesn't put a higher price on a package deal (and they should.)
So far as music, just turn it off. People learn different ways, some relaxing music may help others, and totally distract others.
I have to agree with Novica. The last few tutorials I did for my thread were all screenshot tutorials with text placed on the screenshots to explain the steps. While I like doing my tutorials that way, it is a ton of work when you count in layout and proof reading. Making sure the text doesn't obscure anything vital in the screenshot while still being legible is a pain in the neck. It is extremely more difficult to do written tutorial with images of each step and explanations. And, if you want to turn that into a PDF instead of something web-based then you are looking at a totally different format and layout. I still haven't fixed my first ever tutorial so that the PDF looks more professional and readable. It just isn't that easy to. Video tutorials are much easier and quicker to produce. This is especially true, I think, if you are making the video from a web-presentation like the new tutorial that came out today.
I think all of the tutorials by Digital Art Live and whichever other PA is involved are based on web seminars; I have one of the ones by Arki.
...I'm in the PDF camp.
For myself a combination of tinnitus as well as short term memory and attentive span issues tend to lend to poor retention. I never was really all that good at gleaning information from lectures as I was from texts and manuals on my own. When I first came into this "hobby" learning what to do was great as all tutorials were pretty much PDFs. With the advent of services like Vimeo and YouTube, that has all changed and I find myself pretty much having to "fly by the seat of the pants" so to say. Not an easy task today, as this little "pastime" has become much more complex in recent years.
The forums here are a wealth of information, but apologies, the search engine in the current software sucks rocks the size of medium sized planetoids. I remember there was a much better search engine back in the old PHP software days that actually had several parameter filters as well as allowed you to use exact string matches like "Iray Skin SSS" that would pull up only threads/posts that contained those exact three terms together. It wasn't perfect but far better than whe we now have.
However I still feel some form of manual or as I have suggested in other posts a "Daz for Dummies" type book (that included working with Iray and how to actually make sense of that spilled bowl of noodles called the Shader Mixer/Builder) is the best format. It should deal with actually working with the programme, explaining it's tools, features, and concepts from beginning to advanced levels, not waste a lot of pages discussing a bunch of artsy aesthetics (there are plenty of other books available for that). Like some of the "[...] For Dummies" books, it could even include a DVD with videos that supported or expanded what was in the text. I certainly would purchase something like that.
A few other issues I have noticed with video tutorials. For one Daz is highly customisable, so someone new may wonder what is this person doing, or what did they do to get that to happen, because they have a completely different custom setup than he/she use that may "shortcut" a process? Next it comes to (as mentioned above somewhere) assuming that the viewer knows more about the programme than they actually do, often leaving them in the dark as to how one got from Step "F" to step "L" when "G" through "K" were skipped or glossed over (I've run into this trying to learn Blender which is why I gave up). Then there is the "understanding" behind how or why a process or tool works the way it does. Often this is not addressed in video format and given the fact there are no up to date text manuals for the software that go into more detail, that essential part of the learning experience is lost. In one post I likened video learning to a "monkey see - monkey do" affair effectively mimicking the moves the video shows without actually learning what is happening behind the scenes to produce the result.
Finally, some videos I've seen are just very poorly made as true, not everyone out there is an experienced an video production tech and/or teacher. I've watched some that have wandered off tangent, sometimes to the point of discussing things totally unrelated to the process at hand, and even caused me to nod off.
With better knowledge about what this software, it's tools and its processes actually do, one is given a better understanding of what this new artistic medium is capable of and thus able to push it in directions they may never have considered. That is where the creativity happens.
My two zł worth
I'm pretty sure you are correct. I bought the newest one and it was from a live webinar that I was unable to attend so I was actually looking forward to it being in the DAZ store. I picked it up because it is a subject I'm very interested in learning how to do. I learned a lot. There was a lot of useful information in it. All of the other tutorials I've gotten from Digital Art Live have been recordings of webinars, too. Nothing wrong with that as I've found all of the ones I've gotten very useful.
I can understand that perfectly. The only reason I'm doing some of the screenshot type tutorials I've been doing is that it also helps to cement into my head what I'm trying to teach as well. The old adage about Learn it, Teach it, Know it. I don't know how long I'll be able to keep up the tutorials I've been doing because, as you say, they take a really long time to produce. It remains to be seen just how much fortitude I have to keep them up.
I prefer PDFs with screenshots myself. I'll watch a video, think it's great (or not) and think I'll remember everything in it, then when I'm at my computer, I already forgot most of it. I like being able to refer back to written material. Also, I like to have it on a different device or printed. I can read a PDF on my iPad while sitting at the computer or print it out, rather than having to switch live back and forth from DS to watching the video, then having to rewind or fast forward to the exact spot you need. I would love a combo of both. First leisurely watching the video, then having the PDF available while working on DS.
Well, nobody asked for an all-free-pdf. At least, I didn't. I would gladly pay for it. As I did for several video tutorials. Which, in hindsight, were relatively useless to me, because I couldn't follow the speaker. I tried several, from different PAs, several free on youtube as well. Videos are good to see some special little things, but to learn the basics of a program, I need pdf.
I think that including the transcript of a video tutorial (or subtitles, though they are a two-edged sword) would be a very, very helpful addition to a tutorial video. I mean, I do understand spoken English, but I usually switch on subtitles when watching a video, because it's easier to follow (and translate) than spoken word alone.
That said... Personally, I need various channels of input, but the point is that spoken word is not always perfectly understandable, no matter how hard the speaker tries. So, having in addition to the video, the information available in written tutorial, which could also include more in-depth information, like a glossary of terms, for example, would really add additional value to a tutorial. But I also understand that, compiling both, would mean quite some extra work, and that would increase the price, and some people would step back from buying the tutorial.
So maybe, make it a bundle - the pdf-tutorial (transkript with "benefits") as a purchasable add-on for the video, and both items enhance each other. Those who just want the pdf, can buy the PDF, those who want the video only could buy the video only. It would also show if something like that works at all, sales-wise.
...that is my feeling as well.
In my former job, I wrote up all the procedures related to my position so that if I were say, sick or on vacation, the person who took over my workload would have a very good understanding of what needed to be done and how it was performed. While these "mini manuals" were detailed I endeavoured to make them simple to understand as well as included illustrations where necessary. Yes this took a lot of work but it gave me peace of mind that I wouldn't return to a catastrophe a couple days or a week later.
I also used to programme in the "iron age" of computing (in what I now refer to as "dead languages") when you were still required to documented your code just in case someone else needed to pick up working on it if you were gone or moved on elsewhere. Again tedious, but no where near as bad as having to debug undocumented code especially that written by someone with no sense of programming style.
I completely get that Video Tutorials are faster and less work to put together. And for many people they probably work great.
But I'm not one of them.
I did pick up a video tutorial series that was on mega sale once. I even transfered them to our media server so I could have the tutorials on the TV while I worked through them on the computer.
Following the Tutorial, I guess I did fine. I only occasionally had to back up and re-watch.
But I had to take a break from it for a couple of reasons (holiday chaos, our server dying) and if I were to go into Hexagon now, I don't know that I actually learned anything from them. I don't know that I could use the techniques I replicated while following the video on a completely unrelated project. I certainly can't recall anything specific that I learned from the tutorial at the moment. I also don't know if I could jump back in, because I'm not sure where I stopped. (Again, this would require looking at at least 2-3 of the videos, which at least is better than trying to scan through a 1 hour seminar video for those 5 mintues you need.)
And all this talk of having a PDF reference manual is great - except there isn't one. Because everyone is doing Video Tutorials, and the DAZ manuals here on the site are generally pretty sparse on the actual how you do something.
I've written a tutorial or two myself. And yes, they take time, and there are lots of screenshots needed, and all sorts formatting tricks required. (That I actually find easy, but I've been making my own RPG character sheets for years, so I have practice) So I completely understand that Video Tutorials are faster and easier. And I'm not upset with anyone for going the Video route. They're not useless to me, but they're not as helpful to me as they are to others.
Which is why I only even think about buying Video Tutorials when they're on super sale. Because while I'm sure they're even worth full price to some, even most, they're not worth that much to me. (Please do not ignore that last "to me" part when evicerating me for saying that they're not worth the price.)
I don't watch tutorial videos, because being hard of hearing it's very difficult to follow the voice. I watch TV\movies with subtitles, which sadly hasn't taken off with tutorial videos. So PDFs are very welcome e.g. Whiskey and Smoke Tutorial. That said, some PDFs require a degree in rocket science to understand it
Yes, I've seen this come up every now and then in a "help, what do I do now?" discussion. It's not always immediately obvious to new users that the default "training wheels" UI setting that hides things and tries to emulate Poser is just that, and there are options that might better suit the way they think and work.
I do this too. I've been distilling video tutorials into a collection of notebooks in Evernote.