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New Learn area is here: Now with added YouTube.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Aurore, Mar 20, 2013.

  1. Docman

    Docman

    Unity Technologies

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    Hi guys. I'm Hugh working on the Docs at Unity.

    From time to time I hear people asking for docs in PDF format. I can't quite understand why you'd want them like that, but we're listening.

    Currently we are working on some new processes to generate the docs internally. This is connected with a restructuring of the docs that we are planning, and also creating workflows that will make translation of the docs a simpler process.

    The new process uses XML as an intermediate format, so this should make it a relatively painless process to create PDF docs. So keep watching this space...
     
  2. Stilghar

    Stilghar

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    Any news on an updated edition of the book? I'd love to see (and buy) a new edition that tackles Unity 4. Maybe even some chapters on the use of the most popular plugins from the asset store (NGUI...) :D
     
  3. mgear

    mgear

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    ps. Give us "api" access to that XML,
    or raw download of the xml files, so we can make our own (online/offline) documentation systems..
     
  4. I am da bawss

    I am da bawss

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    Because PDF is the defacto standard around the world for people to read eBooks??!!? Especially in office environment???!!

    I can't understand why you guys can't understand this very basic need?!!!?!?! (And this is been requested numerous time for years!!!!) :D

    I have worked in over 5 different offices so far and every one of them use PDF for reading and exchanging specs/drawings/documentations/manuals. And almost every computer hardware like DVD drive/ monitor/graphics card and majority of the softwares will almost always ship CD/DVD with PDF for manual. Lastly, it is very convenient when you just want to read it offline on iPad.





    Good to hear! I am eagerly looking forward to this.
     
  5. I am da bawss

    I am da bawss

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    Of course there is the option of using download helper to capture those videos, but why would UT want to make it so inconvenient to help new users learning Unity? I am sure most of the tertiary institutions like universities and colleges (and corporate offices) that teach/use Unity would want to have downloadable video tutorials so they can stream the content inside their own LAN/WLAN to avoid bandwidth cost (and also cut down bandwidth load).

    This is also benefitial to UT as well since it should dramatically cut down the bandwidth requirement if users just download the video once and watch it offline instead of streaming it repeatedly and increase the bandwidth cost and server load on UT's end.
     
  6. joshimoo

    joshimoo

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    @willgoldstone What is unity's plan in terms of all the old resources?
    Could there be an archive section where we can still download all the old stuff?
     
  7. Mikie

    Mikie

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    Nice job Unity. But the videos are broken up at times. PDF format would be great.
     
  8. willgoldstone

    willgoldstone

    Unity Technologies

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    Hi there, so yes indeed, you were totally right, not sure what we'd put in our coffee that day, but the video was incorrect. We have now recreated this and its updated on the site, thanks for the feedback, we'll do our best to ensure nothing else like this happens again.

    http://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/modules/beginner/scripting/delta-time
     
  9. willgoldstone

    willgoldstone

    Unity Technologies

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    @joshimoo and others.

    I see a few of your would like the old resources, so we'll try and find a place for these. Currently they are stored on the asset store, so its not like they've been deleted. The main issue with these is that -

    i) they're very outdated, they'd need bringing up to modern standards and removing lots of deprecated code - to the extent of including lots of our newer systems, and at some point you have to say 'let's just make something new'.
    ii) the artwork too is outdated, at the time it matched Unity's best rendering but several years later things have changed.

    I'm happy to provide these somewhere in a 'legacy tutorials' area, but for now, they're on the asset store, hope that's enough?
     
  10. squidbot

    squidbot

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    Any idea on a timeline for transcripts or cc so the hard of hearing and deaf community can use these?
     
  11. SevenBits

    SevenBits

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    The tutorials are excellent. I hope it will let people learn a thing or two.
     
  12. willgoldstone

    willgoldstone

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    Really? come on.

    But yes I totally understand why people want downloads - for me the point is having our official stuff out there, potentially outdated in other locations, but I guess as long as our links are up to date it doesn't matter. The other reason we didn't consider this is we had minimal time web development wise - we have loads of features to add and expose in the coming weeks and months. With our system, our source footage is converted to many formats so it shouldn't be hard to retrieve and create download buttons for offline viewing. We'll let you know once we've figured it all out.
     
  13. willgoldstone

    willgoldstone

    Unity Technologies

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    hi squidbot, we'll still be a few weeks to add this feature, its not just transcribing, its part of a localisation effort too, sorry that in the meantime we don't have support for you, we'll get to it as soon as possible, our video player supports subtitling, we just need to find the right way to do this, and third parties to help us out.
     
  14. jeffweber

    jeffweber

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    I'd love to see a section dedicated to Assets in the asset store.

    The developers could create the content and Unity could "Approve" it. I use a LOT of assets and currently the videos for them are scattered across the web. If each substantial asset and a video tutorial linked from (or even embedded on) the Assets store page, that would be perfect.

    -Jeff
     
  15. Tiles

    Tiles

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    Just curious, why would this be a bad thing? This would spread the word even more. The more the learning videos come around the bigger the effect. And that would be a good thing for Unity.

    I can of course see the issues with the content. You can`t change a video when it becomes outdatet by a new feature when it is not longer in your hands. But you can for example since a very long time include Youtube Videos in a forum when you want. Youtube provides even the link especially made for that. I would see a benefit in doing the same for the learning videos from Unity here. And while at Youtube, you find tons of outdated Videos there already ...
     
  16. willgoldstone

    willgoldstone

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    I have to disagree with you here. Whilst I'm happy to a) provide downloads for people to watch offline and b) allow embedding for blogs and forums to use the content online, people posting ageing copies of our tutorials does not help users and isn't a good thing for unity - it simply creates a fragmented eco system for new users who start on google - find some place that has a few bits of our content and then have a frustrating first experience trying to get into game dev / unity. I believe its better that we do what I outline above, and then work on our SEO to ensure that users find the best experience with us - plus lots of our community members make their own tutes for their sites, so why not let them continue.

    @jeff weber - excellent idea, I'll think more about this and discuss with our asset store team.
     
  17. Tiles

    Tiles

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    Yup, the relevant fragment as an answer to a forum question for example. Even here at this forum :)

    You can always include a link where you can find the rest of the unity tutorials. But yeah, it was just a thought :)

    I cannot see how the one thing would affect the other thing. When i find a need to create a Unity tutorial then i create it :)
     
  18. BIG-BUG

    BIG-BUG

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    It's nice to see the video fixed so fast, thank you. I think the whole concept is thought out well and like how it is split in small topics. So one can just rewatch the video on a specific topic if it wasn't clear the first time.
    And it's always great to get new free assets :)

    I'm looking forward to see some advanced topics.
     
  19. willgoldstone

    willgoldstone

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    working on it, not to include plugins though, too hard to keep relevant.. unity is enough of a moving target for me!
     
  20. Tiles

    Tiles

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    May i ask what software you have used to create the videos? I still search for a useful sceen recording software :)
     
  21. Aurore

    Aurore

    Director of Real-Time Learning

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    Screenflow I think
     
  22. Tiles

    Tiles

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    Thanks :)
     
  23. hike1

    hike1

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    quote
    Of course there is the option of using download helper to capture those videos
    unquote

    Flashgot plugin for Firefox ;)
     
  24. AndrewGrayGames

    AndrewGrayGames

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    Hi again! I have a specific request that may sound strange at first, but may make sense when you've read it...

    Despite the fact that Unity is geared towards graphic artists - which is a great thing - there's a number of users like myself who are non-graphic artists. Something that would really help is at least one tutorial on efficient art workflows, since the terminal state of any workflow is going to be inclusion and use in Unity. From my limited experience (compared to some), I've seen incredible amounts of interconnectedness between how an asset is created, and the performance/use of your game.

    This may fall into a 'best practices' category, but it would help indie developers like myself and countless others to have some insight on effective ways to create 3D or 2D art assets for Unity.
     
  25. Member123456

    Member123456

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    Just wanted to give my $.02. I thoroughly enjoy the videos and the content they provide. I can't stress enough how getting to the point is key for me. While there are many great topics and videos on the 3Dbuzz site, they are so bloated with chit-chat that I can barely stand to watch them. So please, keep the videos just to the point and things will turn out great. Thanks!
     
  26. joshimoo

    joshimoo

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    I have a dual screen setup and when I am watching full screen on the left screen.
    If I then do any action on the right screen (mouse click) full screen will be canceled.
    Anybody else has that issue?


    System: Windows 7
    Browser: Firefox (19.0.2)
     
  27. mgear

    mgear

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    Yes..

    This works for firefox (about:config, set "full-screen-api.exit-on-deactivate" to false)
    http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/927294

    Other way to keep it bigger, is to view source, copy video player url and play from there..
    for example,
    http://video.unity3d.com/v.ihtml?to...87140ed4c1122ea&source=embed&photo_id=7009030
    http://video.unity3d.com/v.ihtml/pl...91800e981e9f587140ed4c1122ea&photo_id=7009030
     
  28. Member123456

    Member123456

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  29. RGKD

    RGKD

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    I would love to just watch them... I get the following error and I have tried all that it suggests:

    "This webpage is not available. The server at video.unity3d.com can't be found, because the DNS lookup failed. DNS is the network service that translates a website's name to its Internet address. This error is most often caused by having no connection to the Internet or a misconfigured network. It can also be caused by an unresponsive DNS server or a firewall preventing Google Chrome from accessing the network."

    I'm on Windows 7 using Chrome and have ADSL2+ here in Australia. Any further suggestions from the team to get them working would be greatly appreciated.
     
  30. ronan-thibaudau

    ronan-thibaudau

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    It could be that your dns provider sucks

    1) open a commad prompt and run : ipconfig /flushdns
    Then reboot and see if it's fixed
    2) try to use google's dns server instead of your isp and see if it fixes it
     
  31. Zeblote

    Zeblote

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    Feb 8, 2013
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    I found a problem with one of the tutorials.

    http://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/modules/beginner/physics/assignments/bouncing-ball

    This tells you to download some asset package, and then open a scene called Empty, and then create a bouncing ball.
    However the Empty scene in the asset package is not the one used in the tutorial, as the whole scene misses colliders so following the tutorial leads to a ball falling through the ground while it doesn't do so in the tutorial.

    This can however be fixed by adding a mesh collider to the env_robotLab_static, with the mesh env_robotLab_collision_001 from the Models/Collision Meshes folder.

    Can the asset pack / the tutorial be edited so that the start scene used in the tutorial is the same as the one in the asset pack?
     
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2013
  32. Gigiwoo

    Gigiwoo

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    Are you looking for specific feedback on tutorials? If so, here's some thoughts on the "Audio Listeners and Sources" tutorial.

    #1) Around 2:37, discusses 'minimum distance'. Where is that setting in the UI? There appears to be no way to set it other than the sphere control.

    #2) From 2:30 to the end of the video. Several values are discussed without moving the mouse to the corresponding area. As a listener, I was confused.

    #3) Discuss some topics that are confusing to new developers. For instance, what does a '3D' sound mean? Why would you force an audio clip to mono? Explain what types of sounds to use for UI's, and which to use for game objects.

    #4) Add discussion of 'Load Type'. For instance, 'Compressed in Memory' is great for Mobile devices, but it won't allow you to use AudioClip.GetData(). For that, you'll need 'Decompress on Load'

    #5) Explore 'compression'. For instance, 64 or 96 Kb might be sufficient for voice, but 128 or higher is generally used for music.

    I like what I'm seeing so far. Keep it up.

    Gigi
     
  33. Gigiwoo

    Gigiwoo

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    You know? The Cameras tutorial was really good! Detailed, specific, and included some things I didn't know. Thanks for that one!

    Gigi
     
  34. JamesB

    JamesB

    Unity Technologies

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    @Zeblote: Thanks for letting us know about that. The learn team is at GDC this week but we'll make sure to change this as soon as we can.
     
  35. dxcam1

    dxcam1

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    When are the mechanim tutorials gonna be up?
     
  36. JamesB

    JamesB

    Unity Technologies

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    @Gigiwoo2
    #1) The minimum distance is under 3D settings. Drop it down and you should see it.
    #2) Thanks for the note, we'll try and make sure that we avoid doing that in the future.
    #3) We'll be doing more lessons on Audio before too long and we hope to cover these topics in those lessons. We wanted to have an introductory Audio lesson when we went live but this will be expanded upon.
    #4) and #5) While these will be discussed, some of the more detailed things that you mention (AudioClip.GetData() for example) probably won't be covered until Intermediate.

    @dxcam1 The mecanim tutorials are high on our to-do list. We don't have a date for when and we have some conferences over the next few weeks but we will do them as soon as we can. In the mean time, some of the videos on the Player of the project cover how mecanim works. There will also be more of these videos for the Enemy later on in the project.

    @Video-haters I very much understand your point of view with regards to article over video content. However, if you are looking for pure article content then please check the Reference, Manual and Scripting Reference. One of the reasons we're using video for these earlier lessons and assignments over article is that we want to show the concepts and features of Unity in very visual and contextual way. We believe this is best way for beginners to learn.
     
  37. LilWiebe

    LilWiebe

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    I do love me some professorial, educational, free videos! However, your video player is quite simply broken. I don't know if it's just me, or if it's a bandwidth issue, but the player randomly hangs and just generally doesn't seem ready yet. For the moment it would be nice if you used vimeo or something.

    Hope that wasn't too harsh...
     
  38. dxcam1

    dxcam1

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    The tutorials aren't working for me anymore, it keeps throwing me a 502 error.
     
  39. Aurore

    Aurore

    Director of Real-Time Learning

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    We have had some issues with the videos loading and we are looking at solving the issue.



    Which video are you referring to?
     
  40. RGKD

    RGKD

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    How do I got about attempting 2)? It seems the videos are causing issues for a lot of people so maybe I should just leave them and come back once Unity has it setup and running smoothly. Is there a reason they just wouldn't simply be hosted with YouTube?
     
  41. dxcam1

    dxcam1

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    All of them, and yes I'm using Google's DNS.
     
  42. Steven

    Steven

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    Hey all.
    First up is a huge thank you to everybody involved in the creation of this content - I especially like the small module format, makes things much easier to follow and lets me run over a topic multiple times if (when) it is hard for me to grasp.

    I have just started the first project section, and am wondering how much the disparity between pro/free features will impact the direction of the videos. I am currently at the light mapping stage, and despite having pixel lights set to six as in the video(it was not working at the default eight either) lights are not rendering on sections of the floor while walls are lit etc, and on top of that the 'Bake Scene' button is grayed out - Every chance I screwed something up here, but would some pro only settings cause this?

    Also I was wondering if there will be(or is) a section on the forum to discuss the videos/projects etc? Hopefully common hiccups would come up and be available for the masses.

    Edit - Directional lightmaps are a pro only feature.
     
    Last edited: Apr 3, 2013
  43. willgoldstone

    willgoldstone

    Unity Technologies

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    This is now fixed, please update your project via the asset store.
     
  44. willgoldstone

    willgoldstone

    Unity Technologies

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    we will be adding comments to each page so eventually discussion will be in context.
     
  45. Aurore

    Aurore

    Director of Real-Time Learning

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    As requested we've changed video providers, we are now using YouTube, all your video loading issues will magically disappear.
     
  46. RGKD

    RGKD

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    Indeed they have. Thanks for making the transition ^^ One thing you also might want to consider is disabling the comments on all the YouTube videos since I've read mention that you're planning to have comments for each module on the actual Learn pages anyway. I've known a few other companies that use YouTube to host videos but leave comments disabled and drive the community back to specified locations, stops the fragmentation and ends up producing more a constructive back and forth.
     
  47. outtoplay

    outtoplay

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    Aurore,
    Just to clarify, will new vids still show up in the UT Learning Section just be hosted on YouTube? Or will you guys no longer be updating the Learning section with new material?
     
  48. Aurore

    Aurore

    Director of Real-Time Learning

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    The comments will be disabled when we eventually transition to allowing comments on the Learn site.


    Yes the UT learning section will still be the main place to watch the videos and eventually track your progress. We are just using YT to host those videos now instead of whatever it was we used before.
     
  49. Mikie

    Mikie

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    Dec 27, 2011
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    Great job. The movie quality has improved.