Hopefully people notice that I do my best to remain positive, upbeat, and constructive on PTC Community. I tend to be pretty passionate about my work and the tools I use to perform my job. Having used PTC products for over twenty years, I've invested a half my life and most of my career in this software. While most days it's pretty easy to be a cheerleader... other days it's much harder.
Vladimir... thank you for posting the links to the video. I watched it... and the Best Practice Academy idea is something I've advocated for a long time. People need to know contextually how to use the software rather than simply learning the picks and clicks. Most of the respected books on PTC software just give you a tour through the functions without much explanation or discussion of WHY you use specific tools in specific situations. This has always been the missing piece to Pro/ENGINEER training. It seems like PTC is finally trying to address this need. This is long overdue.
However... and I am trying to be as constructive as possible here... that video was terrible. It was overlong, needlessly complex, tremendously boring, and of dubious usefulness. Assembly Methodology is a fantastic topic for a Best Practice Academy topic but the execution was sophomoric. The video starts with a nearly 10 minute long explanation of the Best Practice Academy concept. This should have been a separate video. We're treated to a constant picture-in-picture of the instructor which is needless and lends nothing to the instruction. In fact, it makes the screens and text so hard to read, they're just blurs even at full screen resolution. The information contained in the video approaches important topics but clearly needed a sharper focus.
Major flaws:
- No script. Having an expert "riff" off the cuff and stumble through the lesson as he fumbles for words is neither useful nor professional. This video could have been shortened by 7 or more minutes just by scripting the text.
- Overuse of whiz-bang video effects. We see the instructor on screen for no reason. He's in a box (which is so large it wastes 1/3 of the video screen. Then, later, he's choma-keyed over the model tree. Why? When I owned a video production business, there were always competitors who had fancy video effects. They'd always overuse them to the point of distraction under the flawed assumption that the effects made the video better. They do not. Effects should enhance the video. If there's no reason to use them... don't.
- Poor content. Lurching tone from topic to topic. The video was supposed to be about Assembly Methodology, not Best Practice Academy. Inclusion of dubious methodologies like Layouts muddies the focus. A simple video cannot cover everything in one monolithic episode, nor should it try. The content should be FOCUSED and specific.
While I applaud the concept, I have to characterize this attempt as a solid miss. I looked for a method or link to send feedback regarding the video directly to PTC. There is no such link. This is also a serious misstep. Again, I'm pleased they're trying something new but if they plan on putting out more videos like this, they're going to be disappointed with the reception they receive. I have less sophisticated video tools and I could produce a more useful, professional video on this topic with a run time of 10 minutes or less.
If anyone has a way to contact PTC regarding this video, please post it here or feel free to forward my comments.
Best regards,
-Brian
