Would video scripting tutorials be helpful?

Hey everyone. I am in the process of writing many many many tutorials on scripting in SL, and I was thinking that a video format might be very helpful for learning (it can even be displayed inside of SL itself for classes!) I have included a link to a Flash video I made as an example of what a video tutorial would look like. This one is about "Listening for Spoken Commands."

Listening For Spoken Commands

I just wanted to get some input on what everyone thinks about this. Would it be helpful to you? Would you actually use them? Is there anything about it that you didn't like? Any comments and suggestions would be helpful.

Also, please remember I did this quickly and kind of backwards to be honest in terms of the actual scripting, and I didn't spend a lot of time on the actual explanations. I am more interested in what everyone thinks of just the format itself.

Look forward to hearing your ideas. Thanks everyone.

Marc,

I used the same technique to add a video tutorial on creating transparencies in Paint Shop Pro using Captivate to the SLuniverse.com Knowledge Base, and the response has been incredbile to it. I receive IMs and comments all the time from people about how helpful actually seeing the steps in sequence are. Some people will always prefer text tutorials, some will prefer video, it really depends upon the person. I say the more options we have, the better. Great job on the tutorial.

http://www.sluniverse.com/kb/article.aspx?id=10218&cNode=3I5O3Q

That would be very useful for basic scripting! I'm working on some video clips for use in classes as a visual aid for CabinHead ...

I think this could work for scripting in the same way.. Contact me in world via IM or email me at [email]baba@slinked.net[/email] and we will chat ;0 Also think about contacting Schwanson Schlegel ! he's the one footing the bills for CabinHead

I like this.
It's helpful that you start from scratch, explaining each section as you go.
Keep up the good work!

This is brilliant. Will it be okay for us to link people to them from inworld?

I'm convinced that the best application of an inworld "library" is a collection of links to the real world where persistent information can be accessed randomly and presented in a useable format.

Excellent stuff Marc, love it

i volunteer to be your first student. Since, I know nothing about scripting.(clueless)..lol
Will the screen change as fast as it did? Can you set it so I can control how fast or slow you move ahead in the video?

Wow, I'm liking the responses I'm getting. Very enlightening. Jeska just recently added me to the instructors list, and I have been thinking about how I'm going to teach a class since I'm not the greatest standing up in front of people and giving speeches... so this will be my contribution to the Second Life world. Thanks for the positive feedback everyone!

Christiano Midnight: Very cool. I like that Yeah, Captivate works great. I just turn off all the crap it adds in automatically and then edit it myself afterwards. I believe I will be using Fraps though when showing something in-game, and then import that video into Captivate during editing.

Baba Yamamoto: Good stuff. Will definately have to meet up with the two of you to chat when I have a moment to spare.

Olympia Rebus: Glad you like that. I know that a big complaint about a lot of the classes is the instructors just go on and on and assume way too much, or they explain every little possible detail and bore those that know enough to get started. My hope is to actually create a hierarchy of video tutorials so that each tutorial has a "dependency" on another, so before you watch this video, you NEED to watch this video. That would turn this tutorial into a two-part... the first would explain what the default state is and go through the basic code that all scripts would build upon, such as state_entry, state_exit, and on_rez. The second part would be adding the listener to the code that was described in the first tutorial. I want to build a website in such a way that every tutorial literally lists the dependencies, and also shows those tutorials dependencies, and so on. That way if you aren't familiar with one particular thing, you can pick up on that, then come back to the current tutorial. Hopefully this would kill repetition, which is horribly destructive as far as productivity goes.

Khamon Fate: Yes, I have bandwidth for days and days and days because I run a hosting company, so if you would like to link to the videos from inside of SL, be my guest. If it becomes wildly popular, I might script an interface to access them quickly by table of contents or something from inside SL that will update itself as new tutorials are added (wishful thinking )

Hiro Queso: Thank you

nancy Muromachi: There is actually a pause button at the bottom of the movies that you can use to pause anytime you like, as well as being able to rewind or fastforward. Since LL has not yet implemented a way to interface with Flash movies in real-time from inside SL, I can't guarantee you a whole lot of control from within the SL world. I haven't really even thought about it, to be honest. I'm sure there are some tricks I could use to give more control, but that would again be a part of the interface script I write at a later time. In the meantime, watching them from the web will greatly improve your ability to pace yourself as you wish.

I'm going to try to work out a gameplan and get a bunch of these videos done this week when I have the time, as well as rebuild my website around the whole concept. Hopefully, I will continue to receive as much positive feedback as I have thus far. Thanks again everyone.

This is immensely useful! I was hoping to find something like this as someone beginning to learn scripting in SL. Fantastic Marc!

I made this about an hour ago ;0
http://media.slinked.net/tutorials/index.html


Ok, if anyone is interested in making some tutorials for building, scripting, texturing, or anything else related to SL basics or advanced please contact me via IM or at [email]baba@slinked.net[/email] ! Maybe we will create a group and shamelessly infringe on some rights by calling ourselves the "Video Professors" ;P

Also, anyone interested at all in helping newcomers to Second Life can visit www.cabinhead.com

Haha, nice man. Very well done. I'm impressed that your computer didn't die from trying to use Captivate with SL... must have a serious engine in that thing with a lot of nitrous. I might have to give it a shot. I still think I'm going to use Fraps though so it doesn't freeze up the video.

But still, very cool stuff! Looks like we might be onto something.

It actually went quite well

Athlon XP 2000+
512 MB DDR 2700
GeForce FX 5900 (not the ultra)


I recorded it at 800x600 and then resized it to ~620x480


Oh by the way, FRAPS does not catch the cursor That's why I went to Captivate

Thanks, Marc. That was VERY helpful. I'd very much like to see something even more basic, since I don't understand some of the terms that were used, but I think I leaned more in that little 2 or 3 minute video than I did in a year & a half of tinkering on my own. Please keep 'em coming.

Baba, yours was great too, although I'd suggest showing a timeline incase people need to pause or rewind.

I could do that, but I was planning on breaking it up and puting them in world. This was just a test

Whoa, no ideas. This is killer. Just give me more! I want to learn!!

Finally, hope for the script-stupid community.

Teeny Leviathan
Alpha Script-Stupid resident