Enhancing Wiki Tutorials

[Lyrositor]

After overhearing that the wiki documentation might be in need of help, specifically in the area of tutorials, I proposed on IRC to some of the Writers to try and enhance the current available tutorials to a) reduce redundancy between tutorials b) "wikify" pages not well integrated c) organize articles in a consistent fashion. I was told I could try, so I've been reorganizing existing tutorials recently. I plan on consolidating all the information available into as few tutorials as possible, whilst enhancing their clarity where I can. All opinions, criticisms and advice are welcome!

My work so far is done on a separate wiki available at the following address: http://lyros.ath.cx/wiki/GoW/Tutorials

I've only done a few for now, and some of them are still complete, but I plan on chugging along regularly, time permitting (my time being divided between my duties to the Guild of Messengers, my school work, and various other Uru-related tasks).

[Tweek]

Looking good so far, I like how everything is on a single page as "tutorials" which makes it more new visitor friendly.

If you need a hand with cleaning these up I'm happy to help when I can. I have long been looking towards the wiki with some ideas for improvement. For example instead of saying "you need to UV unwrap your mesh then do X" saying "press U to UV unwrap the mesh[...]" a lot of the tutorials assume you know you're way around blender which is a downfall because that isn't always the case (I jumped right into the tutorials after installing Blender, and I hadn't used it before).

[Lyrositor]

I would indeed appreciate help! However, I would like to go through a few more before allowing others to edit (have to set up MediaWiki permissions too... ). In the meantime, though, if you have fixes you'd like to submit, I'll include them as quickly as possible.

[andylegate]

:applauds:

Have fun!

[diafero]

That's looking good, and the wiki definitely needs some love! I still hope to finally get rid of the archive of the main page by including the remaining links somewhere else, or remove them if they are entirely outdated - but independently of that, the tutorials need some work as well.

During the wiki reorganization, someone started to use categories for these, and I think that is a good idea, but it should be a bit more standardized - at least the "big" categories for 3ds Max and PyPRP. Currently we have some tutorials in the PyPRP category, there is a global "Tutorials" category with mixed information about both programs, and within the 3ds Max there are even some capitalization problems, i.e. I saw tutorials and Tutorials.

[Tweek]

I'd like to see Andy's tutorials mirrored on the wiki as well. Not sure where he stands on that though. But I've found them super helpful.

[Lyrositor]

During the wiki reorganization, someone started to use categories for these, and I think that is a good idea, but it should be a bit more standardized - at least the "big" categories for 3ds Max and PyPRP. Currently we have some tutorials in the PyPRP category, there is a global "Tutorials" category with mixed information about both programs, and within the 3ds Max there are even some capitalization problems, i.e. I saw tutorials and Tutorials.

I've changed the Tutorial template to automatically detect whether there are Max and PyPRP versions available, the current version available, and the appropriate categories in consequence (Category:Tutorials for all, Category:3ds Max Tutorials and Category:PyPRP Tutorials for specific versions).

I'd like to see Andy's tutorials mirrored on the wiki as well. Not sure where he stands on that though. But I've found them super helpful.

Could I have a link? I'd wait for his approval, but I would already like to get an idea of these tutorials in the eventuality that he does give permission to use them.

[Deledrius]

Thanks for doing this work, Lyrositor. It is much appreciated and needed!

For example instead of saying "you need to UV unwrap your mesh then do X" saying "press U to UV unwrap the mesh[...]"

Yes, even many of the Blender tutorials make the mistake of leaving out the information (or at least they did when I was trying to learn) and it makes a huge difference in a program with such an undiscoverable interface like Blender. The first time a process is used, it needs to be explicitly described.

[diafero]

I've changed the Tutorial template to automatically detect whether there are Max and PyPRP versions available, the current version available, and the appropriate categories in consequence (Category:Tutorials for all, Category:3ds Max Tutorials and Category:PyPRP Tutorials for specific versions).

Wow, that's cool . Once this is in the "main" wiki, we can clean up the mess at http://www.guildofwriters.org/wiki/Special:Categories

[Lyrositor]

I've begun preliminary work on a new Main Page here, following the standard colors of the GoW.