VectorStyler tutorials on YouTube unintentionally doing more harm than good

[William Kansepa]

Please counter these amateurish presentations with quality tutorials on YouTube. Urgent!

[Subpath]

@William-Kansepa

?
Do you have any link ?

[William Kansepa]

@Subpath https://youtu.be/pYw94UN_AvE?si=X4bncosYSMu6JGY4

[Subpath]

@William-Kansepa

Well, to counter such presentations might be too much.
Everyone started somewhere, so let him work and learn.

I agree with you, of course, that it would be nice if there
was a VectorStyler YouTube channel with videos.
But that would require a lot of work, though.

[William Kansepa]

@Subpath Yes, you are correct "counter" could be too strong a word to use in this instance but, there is an undeniable urgent need for damage control. You will notice that these mediocre presentations have failed to generate even the slightest interest to graphic designers who potentially might be interested in VectorStyler if they were made to understand what it's all about.

To add fuel to the fire, you also witness some half-baked and biased VS reviews from some questionable characters with doubtful intentions masquerading as "experts" on YouTube. Someone tries out this extensive application for a month and decides that they are now qualified to present a review . Instead they project their inadequate opinions to simulate an actual review. Remember, perception is reality.

I believe it's high time that VS comes out of the shadows and establishes a dedicated YouTube channel. One way to do this is for Numeric Path to assemble a team of talented designers and content creators to run with this project. The team should be able to articulate and showcase the true capabilities of VectorStyler to the graphic design community at large through exciting and quality presentations.

VectorStyler has not been able to make a deserved impact in the design and print industry due to it's lack of aggressive marketing. With it's first rate features, one would expect this magnificent application to have been the talk of the town by now. Unfortunately you only read of VS mostly on this forum and the occasional reference in Affinity forums. I accidentally got to know about it through the Affinity forums. How is that for marketing...

Note that most potential users will not be found in the VS forum. Attracting more users will also result in fresh, diverse and multiplied input. As a result, VS inevitably becomes a better program.

[Subpath]

@William-Kansepa

Well, nobody is against VectorStyler being shared.

I think if a graphic designer knows what he is doing, he will stop a video from
such a reviewer after 1 to 2 minutes. Without VectorStyler being damaged.

Such reviews exist not only about VectorStyler, but also other graphic programs.
One should also not forget that YouTube is not only about providing information,
but also about generating followers.

A graphic designer will, in my opinion, take the time to look at the program himself
and check whether it meets his wishes and requirements and decide then.

Of course, videos are helpful for people who are new to VectorStyler and want to
know how certain features work

[debraspicher]

Honestly, just a really good video on how to use the Pen/Node/Path tools would be enough to gain a lot of traction. I could make my own videos on other topics if I could just master that part of the program.

I'm trying to use the manual, including the PDF manual, to pick up advanced techniques with the Node tool. Especially for things like modifiers. I can't tell if it's just not working properly or I'm doing something wrong. It's just not doing a lot of what it claims. So it's hard to learn the advanced parts of those tools from just straight documentation because of the way things are described are not matching up with the screen. Like holding Alt with the Node tool gives me duplicates instead of doing what it claims in the manual... just an example.

Having simpler videos helps to at least show how the programs should work. I think that's probably the biggest benefit is that it helps with any sanity checks when picking it up for the first time and coming from other applications. (and helps new users to provide accurate bug reports, obviously)

[debraspicher]

@Subpath said in VectorStyler tutorials on YouTube unintentionally doing more harm than good:

Well, nobody is against VectorStyler being shared.
I think if a graphic designer knows what he is doing, he will stop a video from
such a reviewer after 1 to 2 minutes. Without VectorStyler being damaged.

I agree with this, FWIW. Seasoned users are accustomed to Youtube filler and having to do a lot of digging through documentation and experimentation to figure out the best use case for each function. Especially when the programs are newer. It's to be expected most media is going to be very basic until more people gets hands on with the program who have the ability to put out quality content.

[VectorStyler]

@debraspicher said in VectorStyler tutorials on YouTube unintentionally doing more harm than good:

can't tell if it's just not working properly or I'm doing something wrong. It's just not what doing a lot of what it claims.

Sometimes the manual could get out of sync with the ap due to these small changes between versions.

I will try to find fix this.

[Subpath]

@debraspicher

... I can't tell if it's just not working properly or if I'm doing something wrong....

I think that's probably the question that goes through a VectorStyler user's mind.
It still happens to me today.

Since my main program was Coreldraw, I couldn't draw on concepts that others knew
from Illustrator. Although I knew many vector graphics programs (not Illustrator, I didn't
like the UI), Vectorstyler was a very foreign world to me. It helped me to keep an open mind
and put familiar concepts aside for the time being.

I have to say that I rarely look at the manual, thanks to @freggern work, (PDF Manual)
searching for a specific topic in the PDF manual is much easier. But I find the Manual a
somewhat daunting desert of text.

Another point, there are also people whose native language is not English. I am German,
for example. I can speak a little English (self-taught) and need the help of Google
Translate or DeepL to translate. But these translations often don't make things much
clearer either. Which is another hurdle compared to the others.

Well, I accept all this because VectorStysler offers features that allow me to
indulge my passion for experimentation. And because of its developer, who is never
at a loss for a well-structured answer to user questions.

Of course videos could be helpful. But there is someone needed who make them.
This will take Time and Energy and it is easier to view a video then to create one.

[VectorStyler]

@Subpath If there is anything in the document that does not seem up to date (does not work in the app) please post it on the forum and I will correct these.

[Subpath]

@VectorStyler said in VectorStyler tutorials on YouTube unintentionally doing more harm than good:

@Subpath If there is anything in the document that does not seem up to date (does not work in the app) please post it on the forum and I will correct these.

Of course I will.

Maybe you misread my post above a little bit. I don't have any problems with incorrect text
in the manual and i dont read the manual very often.

As a non-English speaking user, I have problems understanding some, at least for me, unfamiliar concepts
in plain text form. Therefore, I read the manual very rarely and only in very small parts.

So translated manuals can be a great help

[debraspicher]

@Subpath said in VectorStyler tutorials on YouTube unintentionally doing more harm than good:

Of course videos could be helpful. But there is someone needed who make them.
This will take Time and Energy and it is easier to view a video then to create one.

Yes, and with the programs changing so much, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to make a series of videos, unless that user is very interested in documenting development (and being forthright about potential future changes). It would be counter-productive, otherwise.

That's why I said just making that one video that focuses on the core would be very helpful, because then it makes project-related videos more tangible. I get the sense the tools can do way more than I am currently doing, but even with the PDF manual it's still difficult to pick up what I'm missing (at times, anyway).