Documentation Strategy

[vitamin]

I'm sorry if this isn't right thread but I'd like to ask about tutorials that can be found on Wikibooks:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wings_3D/Tutorials

There are very few tutorials available there but as I'm totally new to 3D modeling I find that kind of tutorials (showing how to model a specific thing) work best for me. So I hope that someone will add some more of these and also update/fix the existing ones. BTW, I really like the Blender Design Course by Neal Hirsig:

http://gryllus.net/Blender/3D.html

Every lesson has some introductory videos which show how to use some program's features or tools and also there is always a very practical tutorial (in PDF) where user can actually use the knowledge learnt from videos. I think it's a really very good way of learning modeling. Maybe Wings 3D could use some of those ideas? It would be great.

[greytery]

Hi,
The (current) intention with the Wings 3D User Manual is to move/adapt the material in the old manual which included some of the original tutorials - to these pages. The wikibooks version contains some of those tutorials plus some updated ones. They need to be updated because Wings has moved on a lot over the time period. All are aimed at the 'getting started' stage so there's a hell of a lot more intermediate or advanced topics that could be addressed.
I agree with you about these working best (for me too) but there are many different styles, including video tutorials on YouTube - search for Wings tutorials, or see other pages in the forum for pointers such as FonteBoa's videos. There are several good step-by-step 'babytuts' on puzzledpauls pages (see links on the webpages). {We could do with organising a good stuctured list of links}
From experience I know that creating a useable tutorial is a lot of work and needs time - probably more time than writing the software in the first place!!

gerytery

[vitamin]

Of course I'm aware that making quality tutorials is a difficult and time consuming process but on the other hand I just wanted to say that those tutorials on Wikibooks also need an update just like user manual. There are very few tutorials for Wings 3D, so please do not forget about them. Adding some new ones would be a great thing but I guess first of all it's better to update and fix (maybe add some more details too) those already existing as they are really quite good.

p.s.
And yes, making some kind of list of tutorials for Wings 3D and learning resources for sub-d/box modeling is a great idea indeed.

[Patriick]

I used to use Wings3D a lot when I was a teen and this software got me into the world of 3d modeling, but I haven't used it all that much recently. I have come back to it after a few years after referring a friend to Wings as being an easy no BS approach to creating 3d models and since then I've found myself in the application fairly often.

I would like to donate some time to this...

I haven't seen many updated documentation materials or articles and I often feel like Wings3D is overlooked as a choice for 3d modeling, maybe it's due to the lack of newbie friendly "getting started" materials or perhaps people are just instantly referred to Blender nowadays with its animation support and flashy new GUI, I'd like to support Wings and help where I can...

I don't have an abundance of free time, but I would like to donate my free time to creating up-to-date documentation and tutorials on using Wings3D. I've made tutorials and posted them to friends and YouTube in the past that had some great feedback and I've been planning on starting a new YouTube channel geared towards creating 3d art and game development related topics. I've been wanting to get some video tutorials out for Wings which might help with this. Of course when features are updated the videos would require updating which isn't as complex as it sounds, you could make a simple note on the previous video that it is now defunct and link to the fresh overview of the feature, but as of right now I am more wanting to contribute in the form of written documentation, I think it would help a little more right now than a ton of videos that I wouldn't have the time to produce (currently)

I know there are a few materials floating around already for some form of documentation, but I would like to work up a full on set of documentation from the overview approach mentioned in this post to an actual "getting started" with a project based approach to showcase how you can utilize certain features in a real use case scenario.

I don't know if this is still required or if there are some other documentation files I just have yet to find as I know this post is quite old, but I would like to help with this if there is still any kind of need for it.

I would be happy to spend time updating the documentation I create based on feature additions and edits as frequently as I can which should hopefully allow the documentation I output to be kept as up to date as possible.

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Also I have never taken part in the wings community until now too... I have no idea how active these forums are or if anyone will see and reply to this anytime soon, but I will be sure to check back and I have the email notifications on.

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Kind Regards,
Patrick.

[Nova]

Welcome aboard! It's a pretty small community, but I'd say it's somewhat active. I check up on it pretty much every day, because I use Wings3D every day. And I want to thank you in advance for your contribution

[Patriick]

Thanks and I'll be working towards this shortly, I have a little work to clear up but I am going to try and invest two hours a day minimum into writing things up for this.

I was initially writing a book on 3d modeling for games but I decided to put much of the usual "introduction" content on a website instead of wasting pages in the book introducing people to 3D. So that is still being worked on right now but what I aim to do in my attempt at assisting with this documentation for Wings is give an overview of wings and then a few articles on how to use it in the form of "getting started with wings" and then will move on from there. I think the overview of the initial documentation will be needed and then links to more detailed explanations such as the "tweak" documentation that has already been created. Something like that could work well as I've seen mentioned here in the past.

I've seen some of the other documentation stuffs from other members which I have been linking to people I've referred to Wings in the past but hopefully I can help create a more complete and up to date set of documentation with even some tutorials or something.

If anyone else around here has some ideas or things they would like to say to me while I work this up, feel free to contact me... I'll be around most days at my computer and working on this until it is done I would definitely like to get some feedback in time once I have things a little further along and more presentable, at that time I will create a new post with links to the materials and such though.

I've already started blocking things out in a document already...


Regards,
Patrick.

[oort]

Patrick,
This is great news that you want to work on this.I imagine you are aware of the Wings3D Handbook. See it in the topic just below this one...

tkbd has just recently finished converting the Wings3D Handbook to HTML. The original file was lost when my external hard drive died. Yes, I should have backed it up somehow...

The HTML version is at the top of my Wings3D page My Wings3D Page. I will check with tkbd to see if it is OK to add a direct link in the thread below.

As you see the Wings3D Handbook is unfinished and needs lots of updating. I am planning to work on the YafaRay section which will replace the old Yafray section. I also want to add info to the "Getting Started" section about "Conditional Deselection". The OpenGL Render info needs to be deleted. As I said, there is lots to do.

If you want to co-author the Wings3D Handbook you could. If you want to do your own book that is cool too.

Yes, more people need to know how great Wings3D is...
Thanks,
oort

[Patriick]

Yes I am aware of that I saw that it was recently made into a html page too, I actually thought that was pretty nifty!

I understand how that goes with regards to losing files, I've learned the hard way that I should back everything up as much as possible.

I did check and look around for what others had done for the documentation before I decided that I would help contribute to that and I did read over your handbook too. I would love to work with you on that as opposed to almost "competing" to the same end goal.

I can honestly say that as far as the rendering and yafray side of wings goes, I know relatively little anyway so perhaps me assisting to flesh out the current handbook might be more beneficial anyway.

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Beyond the handbook, I was planning on writing up a small set of tutorials that I would directly translate into videos shortly after too, I didn't think it would be good to include those directly in the book I was going to work up either, I think linking to those in a "further reading" or "resources" section would suffice.

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I don't know how we might go about working on that together right off the top of my head but I am sure we can figure something out. As I've said in my previous post, I have probably close to two hours a day that I can use to contribute to this for the time being. Maybe a little more here and there but ultimately that will be my availability outside of work and everything.

Hopefully once we get this sorted out and ready it might make using Wings3D a lot easier for newcomers and general people interested in using the software!

Thank you for the reply, I had no idea you were still working on the handbook as I saw the date it was posted was quite a while ago, I was curious of the update date on the html page though, which is why I posted here in the first place.


Regards,
Patrick.

[oort]

Patrick,
The HTML version by tkbd was just finished on March 20, 2015, so it is a very new thing. It is the reason I started thinking about making updates.

We have not worked out the process for updating the Handbook yet. I think I would write the information and he would add it to the appropriate section.

Assuming that is how it worked, you would do the same. Send a PM to tkbd to see what he thinks. As is the case with all of us, we are busy with the real world so he may not respond right away...

I wish I had more time for Wings3D. If we could get the Handbook updated by the end of the year, I would see that as great accomplishment...

I know very little about AutoUV, which is why that section has not been started. Since you mention game development, I assume you are skilled in that area.

Yes, Linking to a set of tutorials instead of having them in the Handbook sounds like the better way to go.

Thanks,
oort

[Patriick]

I will reach out to tkbd soon and see, thanks

Edit:
Also, yes I have experience with making game assets and things like that.