利用者:Metsys/Reconstructing the Blender Manual

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Proposed Idea

To fix many of the draw backs in the current documentation, in both the user experience and for those maintaining it, I propose that the documentation be split up into different volumes, but use the same outline so that the various volumes can be cross linked to each other. These volumes will include the User's Manual, a new Theory volume, tutorials, videos, reference material, and just about everything else currently on the wiki.

Theory Volume

The theory volume, which I'd like to add, will contain more wordy and easier to understand explanations of complex 3D theories and concepts (a more descriptive name than "theory" would be appreciated). A link to the corresponding page in the theory volume will be added at the top of each page in the User's Manual, so that new users can choose to read that before going on, while power users can just choose not to read it.

The mini tutorials that are littered in the documentation will be put in the tutorials volume, along with the rest of them. A link to the corresponding section in the text and video tutorial volumes will be added at the bottom of each page in the User's Manual, as well as links to other learning resources as appropriate to the subject.

Now that the fluff and mini tutorials are filtered, but not lost, and still easily accessible to users reading the User's Manual, it leaves the User's Manual purified and concise, making it easier to update, faster for migrating 3D artists to learn the software, and better for new users.

The User's Manual as the backbone

The User's Manual will be the backbone for all of this. People are generally more interested in what they learn rather than how they learn it. They should look up the chapter of what they want to learn in the User's Manual. That page in the User's Manual will link to the other learning resources as well. First will be the link to the theory page, then the main content, and will end with links to other resources like tutorials, reference sheets, and anything else that will help the information sink in.

This sequence of explanation, documentation, tutorials, and then reference material, is a solid way to each people anything, especially 3D software. People who already know the theory behind, lets say, UV mapping, can choose to not read the theory section. Some people will understand how to UV map something in Blender right after reading the documentation section; they can skip the tutorials, and then print out the reference sheets.

How this works for print?

The printed book should have these parallel volumes included. They won't be separate sections as it is in the wiki--which is mainly done to make it easy to update, and to keep the User's Manual unbloated--the book will start each chapter with the introduction (the theory volume), how to use the software (User's Manual), a few how to's (tutorial collection), and a reference sheet that you can cut-out or photocopy (hotkey sheets).

Now, that material is already included or linked to in the User's Manual in that order. The only difference is that we are printing it all out.

Benefits

The great thing about this is we, as maintainers of the documentation, won't have do a lot of work to do this, aside from the initial setup, which again isn't a big deal. We'll just be taking the content we already have, dividing it up into different volumes, which we have already, and then make sure they all fit the same outline so we can cross link them to each other. Again, we don't have to rewrite the entire thing, just filter out the User's Manual--which has already been discussed and agreed upon long before I proposed this--link each volume to each other, and that's it.

Proposed Outline

There has been talk about restructuring the documentation, and some things have been put on hold, waiting for a decision on this. Here is a proposed outline for the Blender Documentation. It is based on my experience teaching students how to use Blender over the past two semesters.

All of the volumes in the documentation (theory, manual, tutorials, reference, etc), should follow this outline for continuity. The order that the information is listed in is important, which is why I suggest we make some minor changes to the outline of the documentation.

The reference guide however, since it's geared more towards power users who just need to quickly find a shortcut key, can probably deviate from the outline a little bit. A reference guide is not organized to effectively teach you the software, it's organized to quickly get you the keyboard shortcuts that you want. Since the roles are different, the outline can be as well. I'll be putting more thought into this however. I don't have a solid solution yet.

Introduction

  • About Blender
  • Installing Blender
    • Installing the Binaries
    • Compiling the Sources

Understanding Blender

  • Interface Concept
  • Navigating in 3D Space
  • DataBlocks
  • Vital Functions

Modeling

  • ObjectMode
    • Basic Mesh Objects
    • Booleans
  • Edit Mode
    • Basic Mesh Modeling
    • Subsurfaces
    • Edge and Face Tools
    • Advanced Mesh Modeling
  • Curves
  • Surfaces (NURBS)
  • 3D Text
  • Meta Objects

Lighting

  • Lamp Types
    • Lamp Light
    • Area Light
    • Spot Light
      • Buffer Shadows
    • Sun Light
    • Hemi Light
  • Ray Shadows
  • Ambient Occlusion
  • Radiosity
    • Radiosity Rendering
    • Radiosity as a Modeling Tool
    • Radiosity Juicy Example

Materials and Textures

  • Materials
    • Diffuse Shaders
    • Specular Shaders
    • Materials in practice
    • Ramp Shaders
    • Reflections and Transparencies
    • Multiple Materials
    • Special Materials
  • Textures
    • Texture Channels
    • Map Input
    • Map To
    • Texture Buttons
    • Procedural Textures
    • Image Textures
    • UV Mapping
    • Bump and Normal Maps
    • Environment Maps
    • Displacement Maps
    • Texture Plugins

World Options

  • World Background
  • Exposure
  • Mist
  • Stars

Animation

  • Animation Basics
    • IPO Block
    • Key Frames
    • IPO Curves and IPO Keys
    • Following a Path
  • Basic Deformations
    • Hooks
    • Shape Keys
    • Absolute Vertex Keys
    • Relative Vertex Keys
    • Lattice Animation
  • The Armature System
    • The Armature Object
    • FK, IK and other Constraints
    • Skinning
    • Posemode
    • The Action Window
    • Non Linear Animation
    • Rigging examples

Special Effects and Physics

  • Particle Effects
  • Particle Interactions
  • DupliVerts
  • DupliFrames
  • Particle Hair
  • Build and Waves
  • Soft Bodies
  • Rigid Bodies
  • Fluid Simulation

Rendering

  • Antialiasing
  • Animations
  • Output Formats
  • Rendering Options
  • The Unified Renderer
  • YafRay
  • Preparing your work for video

Sequencing

  • Video Sequence Editor
  • Sound Sequence Editor

Extending Blender

  • Bundled Scripts
  • Python Scripting
  • Blender's Plugins System

Changes Worth Noting and Explaining

Lighting Before Materials

Materials define how light reacts with a surface. You can't have materials without light, but you can have light without materials. And no matter how good your material is, it won't do you any good if you have a terrible lighting set up.

Students really need to understand lighting first before they go into materials. There are terms and concepts that are a lot easier to understand when you are still working with gray cubes and spheres. Plus, on a difficulty scale, controlling light sources are a lot easier than making a material that mimics a certain surface correctly. So we should give them the milk before the meat. Also, it will also start them off on a good habit of lighting a scene first and then throwing in the materials. We should encourage a good process in their work.

Added DataBlock explanation in the "Understanding Blender" section

I've found that people really need to know what DataBlocks and how it relates to your work with Blender pretty early on. Understanding DataBlocks give the user a firm foundation to build on when they have to understand the difference between Edit Mode and Object Mode, how meshes, materials, and textures link to each other and what happens to them if they are unlinked.

I realized when teaching students that they didn't fully understand the difference between Object Mode and Edit Mode easily. That was the concept they had the hardest time with (second to that of knowing when to Right-Click and Left-Click). It wasn't until I explained how DataBlocks were associated to each other that they actually understood the concept that "In Object Mode I'm only editing the object data, and in Edit Mode I'm changing the mesh data." They understood what was going on under the hood and could easily comprehend why they have to take certain steps in order to do what they need to with Blender. And for those reasons, I feel strongly that it should be explained what DataBlocks are before they start switching between Edit Mode and Object Mode.

AO and Radiosity Moved to the Lighting Section

I went ahead and moved Ambient Occlusion and Radiosity to the Lighting section. Yes, I know why AO is put under the World section of the documentation, but it makes more sense to be to put it under lighting, because that's what it does. In the World section of the documentation we can put a link to Ambient Occlusion of course, in the same way that we can cross reference other parts of the documentation that relate to each other (i.e. Curves and IPO curve editing).

Thoughts on "more complete quick start/basics manual"

One of the wishes for the manual being restructured was a "more complete quick start/basics manual". First we should think about why we would write something like this; it's to help new users get started. These are okay for people that already have some previous experience to build on. Otherwise, it will confuse people. They often show too many features without explaining them adequately. New users really need to have something that they firmly understand before they learn the software, which is why I want to add the friendly theory volume to the documentation. That is made to help new users (and yes, I will write it).

In short, new users really need to have a well structured plan to learn the software. There are things that they need to learn first before they continue. It's the same reason why artists have to take foundation art classes before they are even given a paintbrush.

Crash courses, however, might be useful. I, like most computer savvy people, can usually learn a program like Photoshop just by playing around with it. We are confident with our ability to learn a program without opening the manual right away. Unfortunately, that attitude is what turned me off to Blender back in 1999. I couldn't figure anything out, and so promptly dropped it. People who already know 3D software, and are completely baffled by Blender's right-click select weirdness, could benefit from such a quick start guide that will go over what makes Blender so difficult to get an initial hold of, and then they can start playing around with it.

Conclusion

We can make a users manual for people on all levels, without rewriting a beginners documentation, advanced documentation, and so on. We can do it all without duplicating content if we follow this proposed reorganization.

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