User Videos and Bug Submit

[Ozzie]

I know two separate issues ? so

1. Why do advanced users not submit instructional or even training videos to this board?

Just do a Google for ?online screen capture videos?

Someone asks a question or someone just wants to show how to do things.

This site could then provide FREE instructional videos from experienced users and NV could and in my view should provide a searchable directory so others can view them ? simple enough idea just needs someone to set up a means of being able to do it

Some of the trainers frequenting here may not agree but training in a broad sense should be free and easily available as a resource

If a user chooses to seek training from a trainer they can do that but NV should be doing all they can to make available the best training resources so users can be up and running in the shortest period of time

2. Submitted bugs should be listed on this site so users know what is going on ? that is it!

It should be done and must be done

Instead of users who submit bugs being kept in the dark as to what is going on ? they should be fully informed in a transparent and open way, if it is a bug or not, if so when it will be fixed and when fixed told about it

[Chris D]

I agree on the bugs..been asked before.

[Pat Stanford]

Ozzie,

Have you tried to make any of these FREE instructional videos yourself? To do a decent job requires a lot of planning and time. To distill a concept into even a short 3 to 5 minute video can easily take over an hour from start to having something ready to upload.

I have occasionally done this (see http://www.vectortasks.com/Movies/Movies.html ) and it is much harder to be clean than you would think.

Also, what is the incentive to do this? The goodness of my heart only goes so far. As Merlin Mann once said, In order to do nice things I can't do everything.

Also, I don't think the forum would be the best place to store this type of resource. It would be better to put it someplace where the data could be tagged, sorted and searched better. That would make it much more worthwhile.

Personally, If I thought that a "large" (>1000?) enough audience was going to actually see/use the videos it might be more worthwhile. If you look at the average thread views, most threads are less than 100 people. It just does not quite meet my cost benefit level to do something for a hypothetical stranger. Now if I needed to do it to explain to someone I know I would certainly post it to be shared with everyone.

Just my thoughts and opionions.

The comments posted here do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or opinions of Nemeteschek Vectorworks, the Moderators, Mighty Mouse or myself.

[michaelk]

Ozzie & Pat

I've been thinking about this subject and I'm conflicted.

I have made and posted a few videos (not as nice or concise as Pat's) for my user group and many more for clients I draw for or provide training for. Pat's absolutely right. I try to keep it very casual, but even a short video takes much longer than you would think.

And there's a serious need for curation. Not all the videos out there are good. Or accurate. I know some of my videos have errors. I've even found errors in the Nemetschek produced videos.

That said, I would very happily watch the screens of a few this forum's frequent posters while they drew, coded scripts, mumbled about what they were doing, drank beer, and ate potato chips.

And I think videos demonstrate procedures and concepts far better than the anything else.

The searchable directory is also an issue. Searching the current knowledgebase for videos is frustrating.

I don't have a solution. But I recognize the need and the benefit of doing something as well as the challenges.

I totally agree about the bugs. I'd love to see an open bug ticket list.

The comments posted here are not necessarily those of Nemetschek Vectorworks, the Moderators, or Major League Baseball.

mk

[James Russell]

All,

I read this subject this morning and left it in the back of my mind for a while.

I personally find myself in a slightly newer generation of draftspeople who weren't around for the days when VW was MiniCad and the concept of not having Sheet Layers is slightly scary.

I've been using Vectorworks for 4 years with little to no training except for assistance here on the forum, an excessive amount of manual reading, attempting to memorise the VS Reference Guide and watching nearly every video released by Nemetschek.

I don't mind if the content is lacking, slightly misguided, or if someone loves to hear a click every time they hover over a smart point, I think each of the videos are relevant in their own way. The biggest thing missing for me is an easy way to find these videos, to reiterate what Pat said somewhere where it can be tagged, sorted and searched through.

My best conclusion is that it would be beneficial to Nemetschek if they were to develop their current Video library (http://www.vectorworks.net/library/index.php) into more of a resource including user submitted video approved by either them or perhaps moderators from here.

As for the bugs list, I'd like to see it but also see things crossed off it by version so I know some version limitations.

J

PS. One day Pat, Michael or any of the elites in coding there should be a live stream of a code from start to finish, something fun with a dialog box, multiple criteria selection, data collection and results in worksheets. That'd be amazing!

[Christiaan]

My best conclusion is that it would be beneficial to Nemetschek if they were to develop their current Video library (http://www.vectorworks.net/library/index.php) into more of a resource including user submitted video approved by either them or perhaps moderators from here.

The other one would be to have a NV-curated wiki-style user-content element to the knowledge base: http://kbase.vectorworks.net/

Really though, without a steady supply of content it probably wouldn't work.

[AndiACD]

A good video database would be really usefull to help explain the more complicated solutions needed to successfully carry out operations when you are told "This operation can not be computed!"

For example "subtract solids". I discovered today that subtracting from a "Sweep" IS possible if the sweep profile extends to the centre of rotation/sweep instead of using for example a 2D line as the anchor.

Bug Progress list also would be a nice pointer in the right direction.

[Benson Shaw]

Yes!

[grant_PD]

In an ideal world, which I suspect is coming soon...

all users would submit their queries/bugs via a video rather than a written query. Tech/moderators would then post their solutions back. If this was to go on to a board so that users could search them, one could watch the question and solution process.

That being said, does anyone know of a good(free) capturing utility that would allow a user to do just that?

[Ozzie]

http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/

Edited December 11, 2011 by Ozzie