Video teaching

#1 Pablo, you make an excellent suggestion. Ive recently been exploring options for doing video tutorials myself. There are a few problems though.

First off is the cost of production. Recording and editing video is an expensive process. Granted, if my videos sold, Id be golden. The initial cost wouldnt be a big deal. If they didn't sell, though, I would have effectively used money I need for rent and time that could have been used some other way.

Another problem is delivery. Even compressed, any tutorial would still be a pretty hefty file. I have webspace, but not enough to handle a ton of people downloading videos.

Basically, video tutorials are a really great idea with great potential. But like anything that fits that description, there is also a lot of cost/risk.

So really, the bottom line is if someone wants to buy me the software and give me the space to sell them, I'll get right to work. :)

#2 Well actually a software like Captivate would be great for this, you can directly record audio into it and it's $500 which I think you would get back pretty fast, there's a lot of cheaper options.
Actually I think that in 3dbuzz you can just provide the "know how" and they provide the rest, and thwy allow to buy dvd-roms with the videos or download.

#3 Hm, thanks for the link Pablo. :) I had no idea Captivate existed.

Video tutorials just MAY be a possibility for me.

EDIT: Certainly Pablo and I arent the only ones who have thought of video tutorials.... anyone else have any thoughts?

#4 I hope you do, am new to torque and am really suffering with the learning curve, and am sure am not the only one. Something like this would be great for the community.

#5 FRAPS (www.fraps.com) is what i use for recording gameplay videos from various games, and I have tested it with torque and it works. And the $30 pricetag is certainly a lot easier than $500... You can use a free version of it, but it's watermarked. As for editing, you don't _have_ to spend a lot of money on software. Windows movie maker (eugh...) or iMovie work fine.

#6 I've made some pretty decent demo movies with fraps and windows movie maker. It's cheesy but it works well.

We were working on some video tutorials here at the office for a while. I wonder what happened to them...

#7 Windows movie maker eh.... Im guessing thats the windows version of IMovie?

#8 Hmm, I have full versions of Acid Pro, Home Studio, and Pinnacle lying arround... might try and see what quality can be combined with those. I know Acid Pro has great audio syncing with video clips...

#9 Acid is more of a music testbed for loop-based composition. It's syncing is okay. Vegas does have some excellent syncing abilities, though. They're also a bit more intuitive than Premiere or Final Cut Pro, though not as feature-rich. Sound Forge is more for streamlined audio editing.

#10 Good point about Acid... though I was quite surprised...

for a former class project (sound editing) I had to take a game demo clip and take out the sound and create the sounds myself... I was pleasantly surprised that I got it to sync flawlessly, even little subtle movements and sounds... I also used Sound Forge, though for editing the sounds seperately.

EDIT: as far as the video end of it I haven't tested Pinnacle and am unsure if it is as good quality compared to other editors

#11 I hated Pinnacle. iMovie and Windows Movie Maker was better, IMO.

I've gotten spoiled by working with FCP, Logic, and Soundtrack on the Mac side and Avid, Soundforge and Acid on the PC side. I loved Pro Tools, but I can't justify the expense (since I have a job, I'm kind of funding guy for our little film group).

#12 I've used Camtasia Studio to record training videos for 3D artists. Very easy to use and not that expensive ($300).

#13 I was really hoping someone would make some videos just to show how to do the basic stuff to get me started... I am so stuck I havent even found out how to transfer the combo pack into torque... I think it would be a good think for those new or just want to learn a little bit more than they already know.

#14 Yeah, windows movie maker is basically a lame iMovie clone, but it's good enough to do basic editing and some nice transitions.

#15 Windows Movie Maker isn't all too bad. I edited some wedding videos with it, and my friends seemed to like the end results. :)

#16 What do you need beyond basic editing functionality?

My flatmate from last year was a film student and I worked with him on several projects. He invested in Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects, and to me it was a huge waste of money, as we simply didn't need 90% of the stuff that came with it. (maybe he'll use it more in the future?)

Our main film won second prize in the national film makers competition (amateur section), and it was all just simple cuts as far as editing went (actually, we did some hue and colour balancing, but thats because we forgot to white balance one of our cameras one morning of shooting).

I don't think you need anything too fancy for a project such as torque tutorials.

#17 This videos are directly recorded from screen, so there's no need for film knowledge and very little editing, the best reference is 3dbuzz, they even keep some jokes in the video there's not much to it and you really learn from them

#18

Quote:What do you need beyond basic editing functionality?

Color correction, motion tracking, focus push/pull along a z-axis which is extremely difficult to do with DVCAM lenses, etc. Color correction is a huge one, though.

For Torque demos, you don't need any of that, though. If you have ever thought about doing local commercials to make a buck, though, having those capabilities will put you miles ahead of the competition.

EDIT: Clarification

#19 But there's no camera involved, this is done by a program that directly records all events on screen.

#20 What I want to know is how are you going to cram it all into a video? Seem's like there is so much to cover that each one would have to cover one aspect as best it could. That could be dozens of videos to make and choose from. Or maybe one massive 5 gig movie, lol.


Don't get me wrong, I like the idea a lot myself. What would get covered first? Newbie guide? Getting started? Scripting 101? there is a lot that could be done here. I'd even be willing to sign on to generate content if needed because something like this most likely would need quite a few skilled people to really get it right and get it done. But I'm no video producer so I may be talking shiznit, lol.