By nature, I’m not a person who jumps into new things. A decade ago, I was telling my son that E mail was a pretentious novelty that would soon disappear. Nonetheless, I’ve been talked into trying new things that have proved to be useful and fun, such as this blog. A year ago, I recorded a test set of tutorial videos. Judging from user messages and website hits, they have become popular. In consequence, 2010 will be the year of the videos. We have significantly upgraded our video software, and we are going to replace the initial effort with a comprehensive set of high-quality tutorials. Here are some of the changes:
- The current files in AVI format are large and take a long time to download. The new video files in MP4 format will be much smaller.
- The user will have the option to download individual files or to view a sequence of them directly on the site.
- The old files ran reliably only on Windows Media Player. The new videos will run under all media programs (like VLC) and on Macs as well as mobile devices.
- The web page to load and to view videos will be organized to show relationships between the resources and to lead the user through sequences for specific programs.
- Ultimately, the video set will cover the full range of applications for our programs.
- With smaller files, there is less pressure to keep the video lengths very short. There will be time to include useful tips on field and particle calculation techniques as well as step-by-step program instructions.
- With the new technology, we can add nice features like transitions and callouts. Furthermore, we will be able to edit the videos to correct errors or to incorporate user suggestions.
- Considering the possibility that finite-element tutorials could go viral, we will also post them on YouTube.
Developments at Field Precision proceed slowly but inexorably. The projection is that the new videos will be completed in early summer of 2010. In the meantime, we will post them as available.