Guild of Writers

Hey guys!

After talking with some people (mostly newbies) in the cavern, they asked me a question that I thought I had a good answer to:

"Where can one find links to tutorials on how to get used to Blender and the basics of using it?"

I quickly replied: Head the the Guild of Writers forum! I'm sure that they have links there that you can use, and more than likely they've been posting their own tips and tutorials.

One of them said: "Don't bother. You won't find any. Google it instead."

So I came here this morning and looked about. Sure enough, I can't find a Sticky anywhere in your Guild forum, offering links to things that might not be covered here, such as links to some Basic Blender tutorials, or for any other subjects for that mater.

Now, while I might be a Maintainer sticking his nose where it does not belong (Please accept my apologies if it is that), it seems to me that you had 5 potential guild members who turned away from your forum, because of something simple not being here. Something that surprised me also when I could not find it here myself.
Now if I'm wrong, and there are links like that posted here (wouldn't be the first time I missed something), is there anyway to make a list of links like that more visable?

I mean, I hate telling people to come to a place where they can find information that they need, only to be dead wrong about it. I would also like to help in that, by directing newbies here, it makes for a great place for them to come for learning, tutorials (or links to), resources and of course talking and becoming part of your guild.

Again, if I just stepped on my own tongue by posting this, I deeply apologize.

I keep saying the GoW site needs a wiki to combine all the tutorials into one place.

The site lacks severly (no offense meant), we could have wiki tutorials, texture library of use amongst the guild, shared models for use amongst the guild.

Agreed.

The Alcugs wiki used to be known and sufficient, but it simply isn't nowaday.

andylegate wrote:So I came here this morning and looked about. Sure enough, I can't find a Sticky anywhere in your Guild forum, offering links to things that might not be covered here, such as links to some Basic Blender tutorials, or for any other subjects for that mater.

I wish we had a Sticky function at all! o.o

I agree that there should be a section for beginners and more tutorials that are beginner friendly.

~Kia

Well you could of just told them to go to blender.org and they could of found most if not all the tutorials that I've played with. Also goggle isn't all that bad, but yes this site needs some of the better tutorials linked from here.

One thing some of those tutorials need to be updated. Doing some of them with the current version is anoying at best, but doable if you have enough patients.

It's great that we have the Alcugs wiki and all its content but IMO it (at least the tutorials section) could use a serious rehaul. Some tutorials refers to old versions of Blender, others to old versions of PyPRP, some refers to features (in blender and/or PyPRP) that don't even exist anymore..
(But I don't have the time to go through all this myself, and since I don't like to criticize if I can't bring at least an hint of a solution I'd rather not speak too loud )

In fact I think we should have one people, maybe more, responsible for its maintenance. (of course that shouldn't prevent other people from occasionnaly participating). In many ways this wiki is the core of all our work; sharing the knowledge is key to our collaborative age creation effort. And it is crucial if we want to push the age creation effort forward to maintain that wiki properly, to update it regularly (whenever a new software or a new technique pops up), and to add as much interesting and well-presented content as we can. Don't get me wrong, I do think it has improved a lot over the last months. But there's still some margin of progression, the current state of the wiki is IMO a good basis to go to the next step.
Essentially, as Andy suggests, I think we need more Blender-specific tutorials, rather than PyPRP. Eventhough some articles are out of date, most of PyPRP's features are covered. But people (especially those new to 3D or to Blender) will look for more than that. What is needed is practicle articles to help people create their scenes in their Ages: "How do I create a tree?", "What's a good and efficient way to UV map it", "How to properly lit an outdoor scene".. etc. As well as possibly more in-depth articles like "the constraints of real time 3D", "what defines the mood of an Age", "why and how to plan your Age to the tiniest details before building it", "the relation between the physical appearance of an Age and its backstory"..etc (these are only random examples)

One might argue that this goes beyong the original scope of the Alcugs wiki. Well it might go somewhere else then, but wherever it will be, it is needed if we want our Ages to get better, and to bring in more people, more easily.

While it's great and usefull that anyone can edit a wiki, because no one is actually responsible we easily end up with anarchy and obsolete/contradictory content.

Maintaining that specific wiki would't be easy (again I'm talking about the tutorial section only, no the whole Alcugs wiki), and the same goes for writing good tutorials. It isn't easy, and it takes time. That's why I think an appointed person is the way to go. Sort of a wikimaster. Idealy that'd be someone with a solid knowledge of 3D, Blender, PyPRP, (and of course Uru), someone who has good writing skills, and most of all someone with pedagogic skills. (I know that's asking a lot, but I said 'idealy'. )
Maybe we should actually split tasks: one person would be responsible for maintaing the 'integrity' of the wiki (making sure that articles are up-to-date, that the whole wiki is well organized and coherent, etc. Like a webmaster), while other people would actually write content. In a word I think that wiki needs organization. It's a scary word, I know. But that wiki (or at least its content) is key to all our efforts, we need to take good care of it.

Beside, as it has already been said, I think we need links to existing Blender tutorials. I'm sure there are plenty of them available, and many that can apply to Ages creation. Sure Google and Blender.org may help, but it's also the role of the GoW to help and share the knowledge. Else, why have a GoW in the first place? In an OOC sense at least.

(But again, right now I don't have the time to do any of that myself, so I'll shut up )

Very good point Aloys!

Sort of a wikimaster. Idealy that'd be someone with a solid knowledge of 3D, Blender, PyPRP, (and of course Uru), someone who has good writing skills, and most of all someone with pedagogic skills. (I know that's asking a lot, but I said 'idealy'. )

I'd be willing to start with a redo - but slowly, since I do have a number of other priorities.
Technically, I do meet all the req's you put forward (having done extensive PyPRP progamming, some agebuilding and doing some teaching for a living), but I don't know if I can spend too much time on it. Having a couple of people working on it (two or three) might prove to be better, in case one has limited time for an longer timespan.

It would probably be better if we had a re-do... on our GoW website. Not that the Alcugs wiki is not the place for it; rather, it has been for quite some time. But as I see it, we the GoW should have all Writing resources stored locally, to make it simpler for users to find information. I mean, a person would be more comfortable browsing a wiki at http://www.guildofwriters.com/wiki, rather than http://alcugs.almlys.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page, especially if they are new to the idea of age building and want a group (the GoW) to rely on. It's just a simple psychological thing.

At least, in my opinion. And of course I realize it would take a lot of manpower to create something like a Wiki on our website.

I vote a wiki here, best to have the GoW site as you're one stop shop for Age building.