Blender Age Builders Video Tutorial Series Thread

If you feel like you're up to the challenge of building your own Ages in Blender or 3ds Max, this is the place for you!

Blender Age Builders Video Tutorial Series Thread

Postby DreamBliss » Tue Jun 18, 2013 6:13 am

OK don't get all excited. Calm down. Breathe in. Breathe Out. Nothing special here yet, OK?

So here is a link to the first (in hopefully many) video tutorials covering age building in Blender. If you are already age building in Blender please read the description! I do share a few tips you may not have been aware of and some configuration stuff, but most of this will be old hat for you.

This is geared for two groups of people. The first are Max users who want to make the transition to Blender. The second are those who want to build ages for Uru with Blender but need some instruction.

This first video just goes into setting things up and configuring the build environment. Its a two-Blender setup, 32-bit 2.49a and 64-bit 2.67. Tested and working with Python 2.6.6, PyPRP 1, PyYAML 3.10 and PIL 1.17 on Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (1080p resolution.)

If you have any questions, requests or suggestions this is the place to post them. Please note, these videos are not professional like you would get off Lynda.com or something. It's 1 take, no fancy editing, me fumbling around and sounding half drunk. And I burp at the end quite unintentionally. Also I never set up Blender 2.49a with PyPRP and all associated files until this video. I knew the process somewhat intellectually, but had no experience. I did get PyPRP to work with Blender 2.64, highest I could go, so I had experience there.

Yes yes, here's the link:
http://youtu.be/ap62qyaGizA

Thanks and credit go to Sirus (hope I spelled that right) for answering my PM with his workflow, which I have adapted to this tutorial.

No, there is no definite release date for the next parts. I have to figure out how to make an age in Blender first. Yes, there will also be some Max videos at some point. In fact I already cast a few, but since learned some things that lead me to believe I should start over with those. Separate thread for that when and if any are done,
Last edited by DreamBliss on Fri Jul 12, 2013 3:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Blender Age Builders Video Tutorial Series - First Video

Postby Deledrius » Tue Jun 18, 2013 10:30 am

Thanks for taking the time to make a video. I've watched through the first 17 minutes or so thus far, and I really feel I must stress a very important point of any video tutorial: you absolutely must know what you're doing ahead of time. Your video spends a lot of time with you pondering things which are easily answered if you took the time to learn them before making the video, and will only serve to confuse new users which is something I'm sure none of us wants.

I must admit I was amused along with you on your observations at the horridness of Blender 2.49's nonsensical interface decisions; that thing truly was wretched in a lot of ways. However, precisely for that reason, you need to make sure you know where you're going before trying to teach others. Blender versions previous to 2.5 do not lend themselves to on-the-fly learning.


As a side note: You still seem to have a lot of questions, and they've been littered throughout the forum in a way that makes things somewhat hard to track. If you'd like to continue learning, which I hope you do, I'd suggest creating a single thread for your discovery process, where your questions and troubles can be answered as you come across them in a linear fashion that everyone can follow. I'd heavily recommend against what appears to currently be a shotgun method of learning; a thorough understanding of the underlying concepts here is imperative.
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Re: Blender Age Builders Video Tutorial Series - First Video

Postby DreamBliss » Tue Jun 18, 2013 6:31 pm

OK, thank you for the feedback. I will certainly recast this later sans me pondering things.

I do disagree with you slightly in one area... The learn-as-you go on-the-fly approach, where the teacher learns even as they teach the students, is actually a very good formula. I know because I built an entire website around that, years ago, learning Unreal this way. At the time it was written tutorials, but it earned me hosting on the Gamespy servers for a long time. I think it was probably my best work. I don't know why this methodology works so well, you would think you would have to be an expert in every area of a subject before you teach it. But no, you don't have to be, and sometimes that is actually favorable.

That said I do feel you are right. A lot of wandering around and pondering does not a good tutorial make. So I will smooth that aspect out for sure. Just need to do as I said I would before the next videos - build my own age in Blender, take notes, and then guide from there. Still a little rough, still room for on-the-fly learning and experimentation, but less pondering.

I believe I do have a thread detailing my progress somewhere around here, and will re-purpose that for my, "...discoveries and troubles...", as you have suggested.

Thank you for taking the time to post your feedback and suggestions - I appreciate it!
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Re: Blender Age Builders Video Tutorial Series - First Video

Postby Christopher » Tue Jun 18, 2013 11:46 pm

Maybe another (small) thing: If you do video tutorials about age building in Blender, I suggest, you don't say something like "I have no idea how to build ages in Blender" in your first video.

If I imagine, that I am searching for a video tutorial for something and then some says he don't know how to do what I am looking for, I would search for nother video...

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Re: Blender Age Builders Video Tutorial Series - First Video

Postby Mystler » Wed Jun 19, 2013 3:25 am

DreamBliss wrote:The learn-as-you go on-the-fly approach, where the teacher learns even as they teach the students, is actually a very good formula.

Uhm... I can only speak as a student here, but after 12 years of school and one year of studying at a university I can doubtlessly conclude:
I don't want teachers who seem to be incompetent. I want a teacher who appears to understand what he is doing, who can explain the how and, particularly, the why. I want a teacher who can tell me what I did wrong, how I do it right and why I should do it differently.

I can imagine it is a good approach if a group of students works together and everyone learns from the other, so that you can see an overall progress. But that's group learning by experimenting and not teaching/tutorials.
There is TEACH in the word TEACHER. And, imho, an authoritative person like a teacher should have to earn the students respect by being a guide, not an equal.
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Re: Blender Age Builders Video Tutorial Series - First Video

Postby Deledrius » Wed Jun 19, 2013 6:29 am

DreamBliss wrote:I do disagree with you slightly in one area... The learn-as-you go on-the-fly approach, where the teacher learns even as they teach the students, is actually a very good formula. I know because I built an entire website around that, years ago, learning Unreal this way. At the time it was written tutorials, but it earned me hosting on the Gamespy servers for a long time. I think it was probably my best work. I don't know why this methodology works so well, you would think you would have to be an expert in every area of a subject before you teach it. But no, you don't have to be, and sometimes that is actually favorable.

There is a lot of good to be said about learning through the process of teaching others. I wouldn't even want to dispute that if I could. I'm just suggesting that you go over what you plan to do ahead of time and run through it at least once so you can get to know where the potential pitfalls are, take note of them, and find answers. Then you can make a video which avoids taking the meandering paths which may distract and confuse, as well as be able to cover the places someone may get stuck and actually have answers to help! :) You don't have to be an expert, but a dry run through a new topic isn't really fitting for something called a Tutorial, IMO.

DreamBliss wrote:Thank you for taking the time to post your feedback and suggestions - I appreciate it!

No problem, and thanks again for contributing. We're pretty short-handed around here and every little bit helps, which is also why I'm concerned that we don't get people lost with the small amount of supporting information available. The audio and visual quality of your video were fine, you just need a bit of editing and fore-planning of content I think.
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Re: Blender Age Builders Video Tutorial Series - First Video

Postby DreamBliss » Thu Jun 20, 2013 12:33 am

I have taken all of your suggestions and concerns to heart and will soon be removing the video, to be replaced with something better.

I have just spent the last two days, a couple of hours each day, rooting around Blender 2.49 and Blender 2.67. I have also completed my first Blender age! Per Deledrius's suggestion I have started a new thread here:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6147

I will do my best not to drive away or confuse newcomers to Blender. In fact I think I will PM one or two of you that have posted here (with your permission) when I have a new video ready and will only make it public after you critique it. Sound good?

I think that covers it... Thank you all for posting!
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Re: Blender Age Builders Video Tutorial Series - First Video

Postby DreamBliss » Mon Jun 24, 2013 3:45 am

A bit of a status update here...

I have created the script for the next casting of the first video in the Blender Age Builders series. I will record it sometime this week, and replace the previous video with that. I will post the video initially as Private if I can, and provide links to those who have posted here, so they can critique it. I will send a PM asking permission to do this before sending a link to the video. I will forgo this step if that is what everyone would prefer, and just make the video public in that case, replacing it later if needed (which it won't be.) I will check back on this thread when I have finished the video.
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Re: Blender Age Builders Video Tutorial Series - First Video

Postby DreamBliss » Fri Jul 12, 2013 2:45 am

UPDATE:
I have re-cast the video, and it is now two parts, one for download, install and setup, the other for Blender configuration.

I have decided against keeping these private and letting others critique them. My reasoning is very simple - I am unable to work that way. It took me a month to get these done. Too much pressure to make them professional and ensure I knew what I was doing beforehand. But this is not how I work. So I am uploading these and considering them done. If you have a problem with it you can comment or start your own series.

I will continue to use a script and learn ahead a little to make things as professional as possible. But these videos were never meant to be recorded to a DVD and sold at Amazon for $60.00 or so. I am not 3D Buzz or Lynda. Just an enthusiast sharing what he has learned. I will do things my way, the way that flows most naturally for me.

I appreciate your understanding and respect your viewpoints. I mean no disrespect or offense. When it comes down to it I am doing this series, and my standards are not necessarily yours. So if my tutorials aren't good enough in your opinion feel free to do better. Nobody is stopping you. In fact I even have a tutorial up about making video tutorials, You can find it in my videos. It will show you everything you need to know to get started, and I am more than happy to help as needed.

So here are the links for part 1:
http://youtu.be/p1HRqCa_FkM

And part 2:
http://youtu.be/MQkUPqi4sTA

I have deleted the first video I made, as promised. Please let me know if I missed anything in these initial steps and I will go over it in part 3.
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Re: Blender Age Builders Video Tutorial Series Thread

Postby dendwaler » Fri Jul 12, 2013 5:43 am

I have a few remarks, after i have seen the tutorials for a few minuts.
Not all, because i already know how to work with Blender, then this video's are way to long in relation to the amount of info.

Its obvious that you don't like Blender, you want to make it look like 3DMax and want to work with it like in 3Dmax.
But hey ! This is Blender!, .....not Max!
Its your choise to make a look alike, but remember that the difficulty you have with the blender interface and all its shortcuts are in fact
the strength of Blender!

Only if you master those shortcuts then you can model realy fast in Blender.
(Personaly i prefer for Blender a trackball above a mouse actualy)

Because Blender is a fast modelling tool, the shortcuts and mousebuttons are very well choosen to get this high workflow.
Therefore its a pain to see and hear the advise to change the left and right mouse button as you did in your video.
Those who follow that advise will never be as quick as somebody who learned it the way it should.

Here is a usefull shortcut card for beginners in 2.49b, also you can find there how to model terrain.
http://www.katsbits.com/tutorials/blender/useful-keyboard-shortcuts.php

If you have a favorit screenlayout save it here: (instead of changing the default)
You can choose between your different layouts using "ctrl" with " arrow left"

Image



These are usefull settings especialy when the age is getting larger then the one you are standing on in your avatar.

Image
Last edited by dendwaler on Fri Jul 12, 2013 5:58 am, edited 2 times in total.
Those wonderfull Worlds are called " Ages" , because that is what it takes to build one.



Watch my latest Video Or even better..... watch the Cathedral's Complete Walkthrough made by Suleika!
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