I decided to create a tutorial video, this is a test. I would love some honest feedback on it, I want to create a series of vids which allow someone with zero level design experience to easily learn how to map in a short space of time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BisleGBgQ4w 

 

Ok I set it to unlisted public. 

Do an intro. Something that lasts 10 seconds and has a logo with a cool name.

Script it; you tend to repeat words a bit. Even if you throw the script out you'll be more fluid and comfortable because you have practiced.

Divide it into sections;
Tools
Compiling
Editor Setup
Engine
Brushwork
Lighting
Entities
etc.
At the start of each of these would be a good place to show your cool logo again as a type of intermission. This will help users pause, come back to it, try things out etc. and keep their mental place in the video.

Don't start with the func page - this should be something towards the end 'you can get help here'.

Show a map in the background near the start before you get into the detail, like 'You're going to be able to build this by the time we finish'.

Finally, finish with a preview of what the next video will contain. Maybe even break it up into lots of shorter videos covering the various topics above. This would allow viewers to jump back and forth and get to the video that explains the problem they're having. 

First of all, thanks for supporting TB, and a tutorial video is certainly quite welcome.

That said, I agree with everything ijed said. The video needs more structure and a script. I think if you plan ahead a bit more, you can make a much better video.

Also, I noticed that you don't use orbit at all (Alt + RMB drag on an object). I think you it would do your editing speed wonders if you try and use orbiting more. I myself never look around without orbiting anymore - it's just so much more useful than strafe + look. 

I actually created a bunch of tutorial vids with a friend about a year ago and they were much better than this. He helped me do all the structuring and scripting (he makes films), but he's also very slow at making stuff and terribly unreliable at releasing things. I'm basically throwing myself into the fire by trying to make videos (I spent 3 hours trying to figure out why I was getting lots of noise and feedback on my mic).

The reason I posted my test video here was to get feedback on what I need to work on. I wanted to make the first video a very quick "set up and make your first map", I find if you get very quick results and feedback from learning something new then you'll want to stick at it. If you have to watch several hour long tutorials without getting any kind of results or gratification then the time invested will feel wasted for the pupil.
Getting that first hurdle overcome will mean I can spend more time helping people refine their ability with TB.

As for using orbit, I generally forget about it most of the time. I find the tool very situational due to the nature of mapping for quake. If it was solid space mapping that back culled the outside faces then it would probably feel far more valuable to me. I'd much rather have a forward/backward movement that I can make as fast or as slow as I wanted (and smooth rather than the incremental feel that it has now) and a smoother strafe. 

http://spawnhost.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/pixel4.jpg

Did a test for someone about making a pixel art FPS.

Map format : FBSP (512x512 lightmaps, dirtmapping)

Texture format: 32x32 TGA file, RGB (but indexed to quake palette along the way), using an image by Moondrunk

Torch from SJ. :-s Sorry, I was too lazy to make huge square particles, but it's quite possible.

Engine: FTE (SJ) 

Why does everyone think that pixel art is about big square pixuls and nothing else? 

The torch looks sexy, really. 

don't
fall
in 

M.C.Escher style is great! how do you navigate in there? Are you rotating the whole thing in game?
Or..? Just curious 

there's probably no real good way to navigate that in the fashion you would like to. I could imagine a set up using portals in unreal but it would have been tricky to do. 

yes, Madfox gets even crazier!

Will your trademark animated machines be included?

I have yet to see any game pull off an escher-esque environment (ie people shooting at you from different alignments) - I think Prey was probably the closest. 

-@mfx :
I saw the quake level of the villa of Escher and became so pleased that I wanted to try the other. Print through the animation master, I found a project of Buce Vo, which had a 3D version of it.

Although it looked complicated, I made a model of Pepacura, and I was a little obvious. After I came out a couple of times drunk out of GtkRadiant I began to shift sections. Turning parts can work, but it pointing my eyes to my nose.

-@5thfant :
It looks a bit, but sometimes it is difficult to. Using wrong buttons if the screen is vertical, putting a ladder against the ceiling.

@-Tronyn :
Good idea, from now I'm thinking in func_trains that go my misfits way. Why not make it a giant harmonica that jugs from top to button like a LunaParc? 

That pulled off the "escher-esque environment" pretty well.

Or is this single player only related? 

I tried my hand at textures a few nights ago:

http://killpixel.com/textest.jpg

From a picture of a rusty baking pan, I cut out horizontal bars and applied bevel/emboss to each one.

The cool part is you just use the eraser to make the worn/distressed bits and the bevel/emboss as automatically applied.

Slap on some grime and blend as you wish, shrink, sharpen, adjust hue/saturation and brightness contrast, index to quake palette and BAM, speedy textures.

This set took about 1.5 hours total.

Now that I know how to make textures I'm going to experiment with less generic designs. 

Beautiful! You might want to team up with http://forums.inside3d.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=5442 , which looks super promising. 

Really interesting and nice texture set !

Keep it up ! 

Standart Photoshop effects such as Bevel and Emboss are cool for some quick results. Although it's quite important to not rely on them too much. Sometimes they can be a bit too obvious.

Ah, Inside3d. I noticed it's quite hard to get there. After around 2 months of waiting I finally gave up hope that my account will be activated in the current decade. 

@Spirit, thanks!

@JPL, for the amount of time, thought and effort that went into them I think they turned out pretty good.

@dwere, agreed. However, using any effect or method injudiciously will look amateur.

If this was anything more than "learn how to make textures" I would have fixed the glare atop the "1138" sign to dim as it moved away from the light source, among other things.

I also understand these textures are about the easiest to make: Simple, geometric shapes with a noisy surface in shades of brown... kinda hard to mess that up. 

dwere: Your account should be enabled now. 

Why, thanks! 

Well, i�ve been waiting much longer now for a account there, and gave it up finally.
My questions were answered without account.

@KillPixel Cool textures you made there, i like the rusted pan "approach". made me smile. 

dwere, I fixed the rendering glitch for your model: http://sourceforge.net/p/quakespasm/patches/19/

I'd like to ask on inside3d if the change I made is reasonable, I basically just randomly removed a 0.5 offset from gl_mesh.c, and the results looked good :-)

KillPixel: nice start on the texture set. 

Interesting.

They probably added this offset for a reason. But no matter what the problem was, their solution seems rather hacky.

Thanks for bringing attention to this oddity.