Do you use tutorials, and how!

YellowYeti

Ok this may sound like an extremely stupid question and i know it's very opinionated due to everyone learning differently. But i just like to get a feel for how everyone does something. So i'd like to know for those who use online tutorials or classes and what not, how do you watch them? Do you just watch the whole video through and try to do it on your own? Or do you try to break it into pieces and then watch segments then try it on your own and continue? Since i'm currently using DigitalTutors i prefer to watch about 1 or 2 videos depending on how well i grasp the subject and then try it on my own and follow along.
Thanks for any replies! Always like to learn about different methods.

.nL

I'll be searching for a specific piece of information, and generally skip to the part I need, then watch it at 2x playback until I've got what I needed.

If I really want to sit down to learn something new, I'll go to read an full article, and scrub through a timelapse of someone working on whatever it is I want to learn (not necessarily a tutorial, just something for visualization's sake).

People talk to slowly in videa tutorials, imho. Though I could (do) just have an awful attention span for non-interactive things.

YellowYeti

.nL i might just do that, because just like you i've always thought i have a horrible attention span and would always think of ways to keep me invested in watching the very slow tutorials.

claydough

the future is now...

"The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn."

- Alvin Toeffler ( futurist and supercool being )

"I don't know everything... But I know where
to find everything."

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Kelly-Dempski/e/B001K7PCIC"]-Kelly Dempski[/ame]

being an expert is for losers ( realize yer reference, stock and documentation database strategy )

Video tuts are nice but my organized polycount, tao forums and various blog articles cataloged are probably more important to me
( not to mention all of eric chadwicks hardwork on the pc WIKI )

YellowYeti

claydough wrote: »

the future is now...



"The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn."
- Alvin Toeffler ( futurist and supercool being )

I'm not saying that i can't learn the material or that i don't know how to learn, i just like to see what everyone else does, call me nosy or stupid, i just find it interesting how everyone approaches something differently when they are not being taught something all the same method from traditional schooling.

Edit: I'm also trying to unintentionally see if people will talk about different places they go to learn new things such as your forums and blogs.

DavidCruz

Trial and Error.

When I started yes, now I find you find your own techniques and ways to go about things and push yourself to learn more about the app you use.
HOWEVER if I get stuck or are strapped for time I will attempt to look up how to go about the results I am after but I am a trial and error guy 1st if time allows.

When I did use tutorials I would make something apart from the tutorial so I could should off a piece that "nobody" would make, I.E. the follow along mesh.

So I would use the teaching in the video on my own designs so I can both learn and pimp a piece using the examples and not make a replica of the design that the majority of people who also took the same tutorial and created the same design.

Take for instance my latest designs (link in sig) I just winged it I never made anything like these guys and it is awesome.

I ironically created the robosam backpack and it moved into this piece, so I would say I am progressively learning as I create and using what I learn in my new projects, I didn't plan to make transformers but it worked its self out that way (which i found to be pretty cool.)

Also I never made my own rig to boot I don't know if anyone made it the same way I went about it but it works perfectly for those transformer designs, pretty sweet but then again i've been doing this for a while and just remembering what I've learned and using what I thought I knew and creating the results I have now.

Hope that helps (if not i'll try to get the point across better) but yea I would say if you can make something apart from the guides you learn do it that way.

YellowYeti

@DavidCruz No i understand you perfectly and want to say thanks for the feedback, it's very useful!

DireWolf

I like to follow along project-based tutorials, trying to replicate all tevhniques shown.

DavidCruz

Just to add though there are standard ways to go about getting results quick but I have nobody to speak with in regard to learning new things so for 10+ years I've been winging it, landed gigs and all that paid flights cars ect so yea its working for me.

Glad it helps good luck.

Besides anything/one on polycount that responds to my threads/questions.

RaptorCWS

Ill watch tutorials in my spare time to get an understanding on some things. work on my own project later and if i run into a problem I reference something i have seen before in a tutorial or look up something that covers it then. every now and then i will follow along with a tutorial and then play with different settings to understand what each tool does so I understand why the person is using a specific setting over another. I pretty much try to absorb as much information from all resources out there that I can.

weee

watch it once or twice, then start your own project, every time you are stuck, go back to watch that tutorial until you finish it

Joopson

I used to follow them a lot; both video tutorials and written tutorials. Now I've gotten to a point where little techniques help me way more than whole project tutorials ever could, so I don't watch them so much anymore.

Earthquake's posts on Polycount about Normal Maps, and everyone's posts in the "How you model dem shapes" thread have helped me immensely.

When I used to watch them, I tended to watch a good chunk of the tutorial, and recreate it. And then watch another chunk, and recreate it. I'd scrub through to refresh my memory, too, while working.

Fwap

I like to think my skill set is a bit beyond copying a tutorial step for step, but in saying this i watch tutorials all the time.
I generally just like to hear people talk while working on my own stuff, but for the main part its usually when im learning a new software for example world machine.
And i'm generally just watching to see other peoples workflows see if i can optimize mine in any way.

WarrenM

I spent a few years watching tutorials before I went to sleep and in my spare time. Soak up some knowledge, then try it out on whatever I was working on at the moment.

Nowadays, I find I can watch an entire modeling tutorial and not pick up anything new. I'm basically watching someone work and getting irritated because they keep doing things I KNOW they could do more efficiently if they would only listen to me! heh.

YellowYeti

Wow thanks for all the replies they are all really useful and a nice perspective on the matter. ALso @joopson do you happen to have the links for those polycount helpers?

heyeye

I think my favorite "tutorials" are the ones that show the process without any narration.

Videos like this one are great. I love seeing the creative ways people utilize certain tools to get a specific look.

SonicBlue

WarrenM wrote: »

I spent a few years watching tutorials before I went to sleep and in my spare time. Soak up some knowledge, then try it out on whatever I was working on at the moment.

Nowadays, I find I can watch an entire modeling tutorial and not pick up anything new. I'm basically watching someone work and getting irritated because they keep doing things I KNOW they could do more efficiently if they would only listen to me! heh.

Same for me, I tend to spot errors, like when they leave geometry inside the mesh or their mesh is not properly connected, and feel very irritated when they build something crooked and spend the whole time fixing it instead of using the damn grid snap in the first place.

That's why I watch tutorials for stuff that I don't know, like drawing, character sculpting so, with my little knowledge I can't correct them.

Tripl3M

At first, i used to follow up step by step but now i skip to the point, watch the whole thing and Then use what iv`e learned.
ooh DigitaltTutors most of their tutorials are boring xD... anyways it doesnt matter how you Watch a tutorial all what matters is that you learn what youve watched and memorized it

iadagraca

I'm extremely project focused, it's hard for me get into learning something if it's not for a specific project or goal to work toward.

So when i do tutorials it's with that in mind, i want to make something and i'm following this to make it.

Add3r

I personally like to watch tutorials on random game development fields outside of my own, such as advanced effects creation, tool building, HLSL/Shader talks, etc. It helps broaden my understanding of the entire process. That being said though, I do pretty consistently hoard tutorials and what not just to watch people use different techniques, anything interesting really. Combining tutorials from other studies + the field I work in, can result in using out of the box ways of tackling a task which can help be more efficient or just plain fun. Being repetitive in my routine is the quickest route to burnout.

cookedpeanut

I'm a tutorial hoarder if there ever was one. But I use tutorials all the time, even at work and when I'm working on projects. No shame in searching something, and the internet is there to be used and abused as a personal dictionary.

I use tutorials all the time...

MrOneTwo

At the beginning I had the tutorial phase. Watched everything I could. In the meantime I tried what I saw in those tutorials. I couldn't watch whole tutorial at once since I became sleepy fast :P After some time you don't need tutorials. You know your way around. Even when you use new software you just skim through it's manual/youtube tutorial and you mostly know what you are doing.

Now i watch tutorials when I'm starting to learn something I haven't touch. Like animation. Recently I watched few tutorials. After just a few tutorials I feel comfortable to experiment by myself. You just need to build knowledge. How you should do it ? That's not the best question. Don't think about how you should be learning. Learn how you should learn by learning... and making mistakes.

kanga

I find webinars for certain apps really incredibly helpful. You tube has a good selection and there are new ones appearing pretty frequently.

kernersvillan

WarrenM wrote: »

I spent a few years watching tutorials before I went to sleep and in my spare time. Soak up some knowledge, then try it out on whatever I was working on at the moment.

Nowadays, I find I can watch an entire modeling tutorial and not pick up anything new. I'm basically watching someone work and getting irritated because they keep doing things I KNOW they could do more efficiently if they would only listen to me! heh.

So maybe its time you start making tuts then?