Hard Light Productions Forums
Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The FRED Workshop => Topic started by: 0rph3u5 on August 15, 2016, 06:45:24 am
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Hi everyone,
recently I got a PM from a TBP fan who would have liked me to make an updated FRED tutorial for TBP. While I was honoured, I figured that good work is already being done in that field and redirected said fan towards this forum and the wiki.
But a curious idea stuck in my head: What if someone were to do video tutorial for the use of FRED? - So I reached out to karajorma for a second opinion and after a positive response from him, here we are.
There are some advantages to doing so: you can demontrate some basic functions like camera movement in real time, you can more easily demontrate were to find each of menus and SEXP. (Plus with some editing it would be simple to show off some basic functions in the mission).
However it would require a little more preperation because to adapt a tutorial (from breaking it up into steps that make sense as an visual presentation, to figuring out the required set-ups and to the actual text)...
So what do you think?
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Keep it simple.
EDIP.
Explain.
Demonstrate.
Imitate.
Practice.
Bullet point the basics and make a simple video for each. Screen capture with voice overlay.
Compile into a final and voilà.
(Edip is standard British army method for practical straightforward teaching)
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What sort of program could you use for doing the capture? I've never tried doing a video tutorial before so I might be interested in giving it a try one day.
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OBS is pretty good. Mostly used for streaming but it can encode directly to h.264 and if you up the bitrate you can get it to look pretty good when recording.
If you have time and HDD space to spare you can also use FRAPS. The files will be huge and you'll have to encode them manually through an editing program but you could get higher quality(doesn't really matter if you plan on uploading to youtube though as they'll make everything look kinda muddy).
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Fraps then Sony vegas or premiere?
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Okay, so we've discussed how to do it. But more importantly, what should we do?
What would you guys get from a video tutorial that you wouldn't get from the walkthrough for FS2 or Diaspora? I guess this is aimed at the beginning FREDders somewhat. But also is there anyone on here who would like to try FREDding but hasn't given it the plunge that thinks this might help?
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I'm a firm believer in Fred docs as everything you could possibly need is in there.
The masses who've not yet completed TSM 103c want easily digestible information and youtube is their preferred delivery medium though.
I think we'd just be modernising the fred docs to the popular multimedia equivalent. Making use of the available technology.
**also the author would get to say SEXPEE aloud a lot and that's not happened in my life since the last HLP London I went to with karajorma.
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Yeah. We got a lot of strange looks in that pub.
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I'm a firm believer in Fred docs as everything you could possibly need is in there.
The FRED docs could use a little update to the changed UI (with more options) as displayed by Exhibit A:
(http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af321/0rph3u5/FS%20Open/th_ExhibitA_zpsbhkmmftd.png) (http://s1020.photobucket.com/user/0rph3u5/media/FS%20Open/ExhibitA_zpsbhkmmftd.png.html)
Not to mention that " http://fredzone.hard-light.net/freddocs/sexp.html " returns a 404-page...
I think we'd just be modernising the fred docs to the modern equivalent. Making use of the available technology.
That's tl;dr of it, yes...
But using moving pictures might also help to deal with some issues of scale which would crop up regardless of which set of ships we'd put in the videos, be they FS, Diaspora, TBP or WoD etc. We would only have to establish "this is small", "this is big" and "this is capital" at one point and then go on - considering that is something worth doing considering ship classifiction also limites AI orders, would happen naturally anyway (even if the mod/game doesn't use the terminology because tables).
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Fair enough, but it's worth remembering that I have updated information for all the new UI elements in the Diaspora documentation (which is stickied on this board).
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Not to mention that " http://fredzone.hard-light.net/freddocs/sexp.html " returns a 404-page...
Capitalization matters. You want http://fredzone.hard-light.net/freddocs/SEXP.html
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Not to mention that " http://fredzone.hard-light.net/freddocs/sexp.html " returns a 404-page...
Capitalization matters. You want http://fredzone.hard-light.net/freddocs/SEXP.html
The link I gave is from the FREDocs table of contents though
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Well, phooey. This means the original :v: freddocs had that same broken link. I've fixed it on the FREDZone site.
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So, I have now returned from the land before transitions in between shots were a thing (aka I was writing a paper on a movie from 1930s) and am ready to give this a prototype'ish go in the next weeks. Any advice of substance before I do like always and hammer the keyboard against my head??
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Mission update: As it turns out my headset is broken and has been for sometime (so none of my improv audio was recroded) - and to that that I seem to be unable to record video of any passable quality (relative to the requirements for this); I kinda spend the last four weekends achieving nothing...
So I am waiting past the end of year, so I can affort new hardware and I will try again then
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I might give a try before that then.
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:bump:
I gave this a try. You'll have to download it (http://diaspora.fs2downloads.com/DiasporaQuickstartTutorial.mp4) for now since YouTube uploads are a PITA over my VPN. I'll upload it to the Diaspora account once everyone is happy with it. Give me some comments on what you liked and didn't like and I'll see about making the main Diaspora tutorial or the FS2 one into a video.
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Fraps then Sony vegas or premiere?
Use OpenBroadcaster Studio (https://obsproject.com/). It's the only open source capture program that captures from video games (be it DirectX or OpenGL).
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FrikgFeek already suggested that earlier in the thread. It's what I used in fact.
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Hey kara!
Great video :) A couple suggestions:
1) You have a long lead-in with nothing happening. When you talk about launching FRED2, maybe also just show going to the folder and launching it - otherwise we're sitting and staring at a static screen.
2) Check out something that shows what keys you press. I use ShowOff: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Keylogger-Monitoring/ShowOff.shtml
3) I think you could also do tutorials on the view controls - maybe include it in this one? Start really really low level, and try to convey theory as well. So for instance, instead of starting with how to place ships, how about you do a general overview of the interface, camera controls, then talk about putting ships. When you go into the Wing Editor, say like "Wings are used for grouping enemy targets in Freespace 2", etc.
Hope this helps, keep up the good work! :)
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1) I thought about showing FRED launching but I figured that between the long load time and the fact that it's not particularly interesting I wouldn't bother. Maybe I'll just start with FRED iconised down instead though.
2) That's not a bad idea, downloaded.
3) The quickstart (for both FS2 and Diaspora) is all about teaching someone how to make a mission really quickly. Basically it's for those who only want to make a few quick dogfight missions to check out who would win between a heavy raider and a raptor, etc. That's why I didn't bother explaining the interface or the theory behind mission design. People who just want to slap together this kind of mission are either only ever going to be dabblers in FRED or are worried that FRED is too complicated and want to make something really simple first. When I make the proper walkthrough, I'll explain all those things.
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1) Do you have access to After Effects or something like that? You can speed up the time to account for that sort of stuff.
3) I'd still really recommend going over the view commands and super basic stuff - you'd be surprised at what you know and take for granted, where a brand new user might have no idea. View controls are a big one, as is the basic interface. You want to give users a foundation to build on. Check out this video I made for an even simpler software package for what I mean: https://formlabs.com/support/software/set-up-your-print/
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1) I don't think it's worth the massive hassle it would be compared with simply uniconising a "Here's one I opened earlier."
3) I'm not turning the quickstart into a proper tutorial. It defeats the point of having a quickstart in the first place.
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Sure Kara, do whatever you want - it's your content. You asked for feedback and I gave it, I'm not going to argue with you over my suggestions. You win, congratulations. :)
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Well I'm making a proper walkthrough later and that one does need that sort of thing.
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Assuming that you might still want help with this project...an effective strategy that I use for developing any educational content is to start with a list of learning objectives. This helps me to organize my thoughts and are a useful reminder for what information and abilities I'm trying to teach.
As an example, here are some learning objectives for a 3D Printer repair/maintenance class I teach:
Students who pass Basic Certification will be able to:
Explain the FDM 3D printing process to the public.
Identify shared features and parts of FDM 3D printers and what they do.
Understand the Design-Prepare-Print workflow.
Be able to set up the printers for the day and shut them down for the night.
Be able to set up parts & run prints for patrons completely unassisted.
Be capable of explaining proper print orientation and give advice on splitting large parts.
Be able to do basic maintenance tasks such as changing the filament and cleaning jams.
Understand basic safety protocols of using the printers.
Know best practices when using the printers.
The project's up to you, but maybe by sharing these, other people can find ways to contribute.
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First, you write a script, then fire up FRED2 Open, and follow the script, line by line. Record it. That's all.
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Nobody asked you, Bryan. You just want to insert yourself everywhere to try to seem smart and relevant. Well you're neither. You're idiotic and annoying. Butt out.
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Well I'd rather have useless advice than no one actually watching the video at all.
But still, if no one else has comments I'll just get started on making the other tutorials.
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Teach how you'd teach a normal class. Just use Fred docs basic dogfight tutorial as a lesson plan ;)