Comments on: Blender Gamekit sneak preview

By: UndercoverBlenderist

UndercoverBlenderist — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:51:40 +0000

@OldJim
Thanks for the invitation !
If I have the opportunity to come next to your place, I'll contact you so we can have a coffee together =)
Gstaad is said to be a splendid place.

By the way, thanks for the link. Too bad the DVD is only in German (or too bad I don't speak German…) as it seems quite well done.

@Olaf
You're absolutly right. But I suppose it's always a matter of how good the teacher is.

@Carsten
It makes sense, it's probably easier to copy a DVD and not a paper book.
On the other hand, I bought Creature Factory not so long ago and thought I wouldn't be the only one to do so. Are there any numbers about sells of those DVDs (Creature Factory, Mancandy, …) ? Are they so terribles ?

By: Carsten

Carsten — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:57:54 +0000

Your suggestions are very welcome.

One sidenote: I also did made a video tutorial next to my german Blender book, however, the sales compared to the book are… well… low. So either the DVD gets copied or people don't like video tutorials. For the Blender Foundation it is also important to make money to continue developing Blender in the way it is now. Apricot proved that also the realtime development is intresting for the community. The gamekit is the next step, the Reference part is the biggest in the book!

If this new gamekit is a success I am sure that video tutorials and other game projects will follow.

Carsten

By: Olaf

Olaf — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:27:19 +0000

I too think that video tutorials are the way to go. Although they ussually suffer from going to fast for beginners, so you'd have to be very carefull to clearly explain everything you're doing, and show a litle window that shows which keys are being pressed at each time.

By: OldJim

OldJim — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:08:16 +0000

@UndercoverBlenderist [... and hope your coffee was as nice as mine (mmmh, Switzerland milk. I just can imagine a coffee cream over there, you lucky one) =)]
LoL, Yes I’m a lucky one and really enjoyed my Cup of coffee.

[1-what's true for me is maybe not what's true for another,]
Yep I think that true, different people learn different Ways.
I most of the time fist read a book from finish to end, giving me a over all view of what’s in there. Then I get in front of the Computer and do the different Tutorials in there and as a next step maybe 1 or 2 Years leather I remember that this or that is written in that book and since I have highlighted and market and wrote all my personal notes in there I just skip trough the book and voila there is what I’m looking for.
But here again, that’s just my way of learning if someone learns different a other way, go ahead and do it your way…

[So I cross my fingers for Carsten to go video (at least some day)]
he already did so: http://blenderbuch.de/DVD.php
but its in German… :-)

So I hope you one time get the chance to come to Switzerland and enjoy a good Swiss milk cream Coffee… If you come send me a note and you may can stay at my place some time… Gstaad is one of the nicest sites in switzerland.

By: UndercoverBlenderist

UndercoverBlenderist — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:39:29 +0000

@OldJim
- I'll admit video tutorials require you to have a big screen or, even better, a dual screen to be really effective.
That's the only limitation I see as real, but any serious artist (earning enough money to buy professional educational material) should already have that kind of rig.
- About the fact you can read book wherever you are, I would be quite stubborn on the fact that trying to learn something without practicing at the same time is just a waste of time. You could read an entire tutorial book in your toilets (as you seem to like it ;-)), you'll get almost nothing out of it when you finally come out.
- "Things you read you remember longer then things that you see"… but best is things you actually do. And video tutorials are easing the flow : quite often you can find yourself struggling between tons of lines and small black and white screenshots trying to understand what the autor meant. You surely lose a part of the benefit of practice if you break it in small pieces with looking back and forth to the book.
How many lines will we have to read for a tutorial about a reasonably complex logical node setup ? How many seconds of video would it take for the same setup ?
To me it's clear that video tutorials are the best way to go for professionals (not a coincidence if gnomon goes video and not books).
But : 1-what's true for me is maybe not what's true for another, and 2-I'm not the one building that up.
So I cross my fingers for Carsten to go video (at least some day) and hope your coffee was as nice as mine (mmmh, Switzerland milk. I just can imagine a coffee cream over there, you lucky one) =)

By: OldJim

OldJim — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:41:38 +0000

@UndercoverBlenderist
Having a book, has its good sides to!:
- You can read it where ever you are (Bus, Airplain, Toilet, outside….)
- You dont need a big Screen and still can have the tutorial and Workingspace visible at the same time (Working Space on your Screen Book on your Desk…)
-You can higlight and mark things that are importent to you.
-You can write your own notes in to the book.
-Thing you read you remeber longer then things that you see
-I know there are a lot more points but it early in the mornig here in switzerland and I just woke up and did not have my cup of cofe yet,,, ;-)

By: Dalai Felinto

Dalai Felinto — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 01:14:56 +0000

What I like in underwater projects (being involved in one myself – see banner above ;) ) is that this is a world Blender was not made specifically for.

It brings a lot of challenges. For example, the radar sensor is useless because it doesn't cast rays in all directions but stick to a plane. The physics doesn't help much without tricks (and treats ;p), and other fun challenges.

Looking forward for the book. BGE really lacks of a good unified documentation.

By: mjordan

mjordan — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 01:08:51 +0000

Dudes, use a stitched binding fot the book, please…. My "Introducing Character Animation with Blender" has a glued binding and is losing pages…. :-/

By: NathanKP

NathanKP — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:36:09 +0000

Very nice work! This looks like an admirable project that I'm inclined to look further into. Any idea when the gamekit will be out? NathanKP - Imagination Manifesto

By: Squiggly_P

Squiggly_P — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:14:26 +0000

Wow, I'm gonna have to buy that book. Looks like it goes into a lot of useful stuff.

@Vladimir: I think that would be a great idea as well, but on teh flip side, having a lot of smaller projects like this will allow you to get used to a complete workflow, and then you can let people experiment with past games by adding their own stuff to them. I think the rapid-prototyping features of the Game Engine is one of it's strengths, even to pro studios who might just want to make a mockup of a game idea. I think there's a lot of pros and cons to both methods. Would be nice to see a larger project come together, tho.