Multimedia eBooks or video tutorials?

[GCharb]

Hello everyone!

I have been searching for new ways to make tutorials for Anime Studio and two seems to be the best, video tutorials, and multimedia eBooks.

Video tutorials are the norm these days, you get to see what the artist or teachers does, it is right in your face, hard to miss, then it all depends on the skills of the teacher.

Multimedia eBooks are a much newer form of teaching media, usually they are multimedia rich pdf's with embeded videos, graphics, sounds, files, hyperlinks, access to web etc.

Much smaller in size, the multimedia eBook allows the teacher to go much more in depth then possible with videos, since quality videos get quite large even with only a few hours of recordings.

On the other hand, video tutorials are hands on demonstrations of how things are done, it is there, you can almost touch it.

My question is this, which would you think is best, which method is most suited so peoples can easily learn?

Any comments mostlly apreciated!

[jonbo]

I believe the video tutorials are the easiest for new people. Since new people are having to learn not only new techniques but also the correct terminology, I think it's easier to associate things like key frame interpolation with the action needed to use it if you can see the sequence being used. You know, "monkey see, monkey do".

[hayasidist]

Hi Gilles

the thing about a video is that is runs at the pace of the presenter not at the pace of the learner.

Ok, there are pause and rewind buttons but ...

I'm firmly in favour of material that works at the pace and depth of knowledge of the learner. This means, for example, videos that show basics to support the "monkey see .." as jonbo says, but also linked to supporting and extension material such as the manual, "wisdom" (as collected on this forum and elsewhere), interactive exploratory activities (e.g. http://www.biomotionlab.ca/Demos/BMLwalker.html), and ...

The next thing to do is to replicate the feedback between presenter and learner that happens in a face-to-face environment. In a multimedia environment that means giving the learner some way to interrupt the flow to ask a question.

This all a whole lot more than a "multimedia book", Computer Based Training (CBT) or e-learning and moves into the realms of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) to use an emerging term to describe this sort of pedagogical approach. One TEL implementation technique is "Serious Games" where the principles of computer gaming (interactivity, non-linearity, context preservation, "skills levels", good graphics ... ) are applied to a more fomal learning environment.

[CGArtFan]

In my opinion PDF tutorial is better because any one who's a none native english speaker can understand what you say and people with low connection speed (like myself) can access them easily and save them for future use.

[slowtiger]

PDF. I don't like watching videos, it's either too slow or too fast for me, and rarely the voice is recorded in a way it's understandable. Plus the small details of what's done get lost in compression artefacts.

[Rhoel]

PDF are generally more useful but they are not supported on all platforms, ie, iPads and smartfones.

Video, especially in the newer WebM format is cross-platform/OS. The latter is effectively the default for HTML5 <video> </video> If its a web-based project, why not HTML the tuts or use YouTube if its not a subscription service.?

I have a heap of video tuts for programming, Blender and AutoCAD - the biggest drawback with video is a tutor who knows all the short-cut keys and things "just happen" without you having the slightest idea how to replicate the action.

Rhoel

[cucumihai]

I don't bother much with pdfs, i think video tutorials are more efficient because you can acces them from anywhere, it's faster to listen to instructions than to read them and i often learn more from a video tutorial that the main think that the tutorial is about because i see other tehniques and stuff.

[uddhava]

I think a PDF with imbedded video and photo sounds great.

Recently, I watched a video about how to use some scripts and I missed two important steps.
If I am reading step by step instructions as in a PDF then I won't easily miss a step. Pictures or videos need to be included otherwise it can be confusing and too theoretical especially for beginners.

It also depends on what you(GCharb) will be able to maintain. Something is better than nothing. A nicely paced video with text and a clear, simple but thorough narrative like some of the one's you have already made are good.
(As long as one can understand English).

But, this is only my opinion. I am not an expert.

udd

[GCharb]

Hello everyone and thanks for the many replies.

I am a reader myself, I rather read a well done pdf over having a video at any time.

This said, I wanted other peoples opinions, since you are the ones who will read or watch the tutorials!

On my blog I made both types of tutorials, some are plain videos on YouTube while others are just plain text with embedded images and animated gif.

I usually get praises for my written articles as well as for my videos, but usually peoples prefer the written articles.

What I have in mind is this, a multimedia pdf, with of course text, plus embedded videos, links to files, URL etc.

Viewing such a document should look like this.

You open the file, you get a listing of links taking you to the different sections of the document.

A typical page would have text, images and embedded videos, you could read as you would normally do a typical pdf, activating embedded videos as you read.

Or you could activate a reading option where you would only press a button and the page would be read for you, text and images would be highlighted as the page is being read, videos would be activated as the page is being read, etc.

What I would like is the best of both world, where the user could learn at his pace, being able to read and re read as many times as needed, but with the added benefit of video workflow, showing how some of the more complex procedures are done.

Also, pdf can be read pretty much anywhere, at least according to Adobe, and that includes IE, Ipad and Smartphones.

They can also be printed, which I often do.

What are you thoughts on such a document?

Would it please those liking video tutorials and those who like reading as well, would this be best of both worlds to you?

Thanks a bunch for your time!

[jonbo]

I think this would be great Gilles. I too am an avid reader, but the video embeds would be what some people would go to to get the information. Case in point is the number of new users who come here to the forum and ask question that are covered in the help manual. Even when you direct them to the proper section in the manual, they still don't seem to understand the info until they're showed. I don't know if it's laziness or an unfamiliarity with the terms used. But what you're proposing sounds like it would cover everybody, so it should be ideal.

[funksmaname]

i suspect mostly laziness...

however - i think that's a good idea Gilles, although i learn more from watching videos that REALLY depends on the presentation - it has to be at the right pace (which for me, is not too slow!) and often I'll be looking at a video for a single piece of information which I might miss if I didn't watch it all (I used to be a member of 'lynda.com' where I learnt a lot from videos, but they are always devided into chapters and are well produced and paced)... I love watching people at work and find this a great way to learn, but as you said, being able to know in advance what is covered and how to get to that specific part would probably be my prefered method upon reflection.

Good luck with it

[InfoCentral]

I like embedded multimedia PDF. That way you get the best of both worlds. You can see what and how it gets done and you can also get written step-by-step instructions.

[GCharb]

I also suspect laziness, young peoples just do not want to read unless it's a Harry Potter book, even then, most just wait for the movie to come out.

I will dig this a little more, but from this thread I would say most peoples like reading, self paced tutorials better, for the most part.

The video advocates also have good points, so yes, maybe a multimedia pdf could be a solution that would satisfy most peoples.

I think I will order some video tutorials on Acrobat X!

[GCharb]

Forgot to mention that a pdf could be done so the user could select his or her version of Anime Studio, and only informations relevant to this version would show in the file.

This is actually very cool stuff, and you can use JavaScript to enhance or control pretty much all of it.

[hayasidist]

if you're explaining a "big concept" to someone who is familiar with it (such as draw a stick man and then do a walk cycle) that's all you need to say. But if you now break that down into the "next level" it might be draw the man ... add a bone layer ... and so on. Then next level down is draw background limbs, head and torso, foreground limbs, ... and so on until you're explainig how to draw and link points.

so a good tutorial e-book needs to follow that nesting principle, diving deeper and deeper into detail. There might be just one picture to illustrate each key point. (contrast that to a book that folows a linear progression of click to add a point then drag to add a line and ...... until ... right-click the keyframe to change to "cycle" ...)

And in much the same way as you'd add (static) illiustrations to text, then video needs to illustrate the text - the top level video here might take a minute to explain the whole process, but each "lower level" video might also take a minute to explain each individual step...