Digital Instruction Animation (useful or not?)

mrlegoman

Hi I wanted to start a discussion on the usefulness of digital instruction animations. Some feedback I have received from people has indicated it helps them understand the build process. This is probably especially true for less experienced people and/or kids, but do you think they are worthwhile for more experienced builders as well?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve3nw0El11Y

mrlegoman

Sorry I wanted to include a selection of animated instructions so people could comment accordingly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PDV2-WeGC4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KZOBWPcMv0

CCC

For me, not at all useful. Terrible music, too fast to copy the build yet too slow to be interesting to just watch. I prefer looking at instructions than animations.

mrlegoman

Thanks for your comment. Just wondering is there a version of build animation that you would find interesting to watch? Like a really quick speed build?

Huw

Nicely done, but I can't see a use for them.

These are infintely more watchable but I still wouldn't waste time doing so regularly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ4zDpn14YY

CCC

mrlegoman said:

Thanks for your comment. Just wondering is there a version of build animation that you would find interesting to watch? Like a really quick speed build?

Not really. Videos of how something like play functions work are more useful to me instead of how it is built. I can see how it is built using the digital instructions (if I am considering buying it). 

mrlegoman

CCC said:

mrlegoman said:

Thanks for your comment. Just wondering is there a version of build animation that you would find interesting to watch? Like a really quick speed build?

Not really. Videos of how something like play functions work are more useful to me instead of how it is built. I can see how it is built using the digital instructions (if I am considering buying it). 

Cheers. Appreciate the feedback from you. I am currently doing an animation of one of the Mario sets showing the different functionality as I do recognize that the instructions are more of a one watch video for those that do watch them. This feedback from experienced builders like yourself is really useful to me thanks.

mrlegoman

Huw said:

Nicely done, but I can't see a use for them.

These are infintely more watchable but I still wouldn't waste time doing so regularly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ4zDpn14YY

Thanks for the feedback. I am interested in what you find more watchable by the fade in technique in the video you posted rather than the moving animation I have done. Or is it more that mine is digital and the one you posted is a stop-motion?

mrlegoman

Actually just another point - would older retired Lego sets be of more interest to show an animated build of?

Huw

They are sort of mesmerising, you almost can't stop watching them!

Astrobricks

It’s like if Brickheadz were made of those super compressed sponges that expand when you wet them  :)

CCC

mrlegoman said:

Actually just another point - would older retired Lego sets be of more interest to show an animated build of?

Not really, if instructions are available.

Presumably you have statistics about how many people want to watch your digital builds. Maybe ask them why they watch them to understand why they are useful to that group.

mrlegoman

CCC said:

mrlegoman said:

Actually just another point - would older retired Lego sets be of more interest to show an animated build of?

Not really, if instructions are available.

Presumably you have statistics about how many people want to watch your digital builds. Maybe ask them why they watch them to understand why they are useful to that group.

Yes definitely something I plan to do - although I might upload a few variations of the same build to see what the feedback is on the different options. Thanks again for your input

mrlegoman

Huw said:

They are sort of mesmerising, you almost can't stop watching them!

Yes they are really cool - I might try and see if I can get close to something like this with an animation. 

mrlegoman

Astrobricks said:

It’s like if Brickheadz were made of those super compressed sponges that expand when you wet them  :)

I will try and do something similar to see what the outcome is like. Thanks for your comment

Cyberdragon

mrlegoman said:

Actually just another point - would older retired Lego sets be of more interest to show an animated build of?

Maybe for really old sets, as in early Lego (like Samsonite era) where the instructions were rather obscure and not always clear (like the blueprint ones) it could be useful, but I think anything 70s and onward has clear enough instructions.

mrlegoman

Cyberdragon said:

mrlegoman said:

Actually just another point - would older retired Lego sets be of more interest to show an animated build of?

Maybe for really old sets, as in early Lego (like Samsonite era) where the instructions were rather obscure and not always clear (like the blueprint ones) it could be useful, but I think anything 70s and onward has clear enough instructions.

Hey Cyberdragon - thanks for your reply - I agree that here are good instructions available - one of the issues is some people find it hard to interpret them and find the animations helpful to understand where and how pieces are put together. I get this isn't for everyone which is why I am interested by the different opinions. The really old sets might be an idea to try and see if they get some special interest

mrlegoman

Based on the responses in this thread, which have been really useful, I have put together a video showing three different methods of animated builds. I would be interested if any of these are of interest to people and what you like/dislike about them?

https://youtu.be/YbMG2yprKzU

pxchris

If your goal is to try to provide animated building instructions, you need to focus a lot more on the quality of the brick renders. They were frankly awful in this last video you posted (I didn't watch any others). That alone was distracting enough to make me want to turn it back off right away. I'll echo some of the other sentiments that I really don't see the potential use for these. The build animations from Artifex are indeed mesmerizing to watch (I've watched many of them) but they're not "useful" for building instruction. Their quality is also far superior to what you're producing currently.

mrlegoman

pxchris said:

If your goal is to try to provide animated building instructions, you need to focus a lot more on the quality of the brick renders. They were frankly awful in this last video you posted (I didn't watch any others). That alone was distracting enough to make me want to turn it back off right away. I'll echo some of the other sentiments that I really don't see the potential use for these. The build animations from Artifex are indeed mesmerizing to watch (I've watched many of them) but they're not "useful" for building instruction. Their quality is also far superior to what you're producing currently.

Hey thanks for replying. Point taken on the renders I do need to spend more time on these - on the flip side I had a few people stating they weren't as interesting when I attempted better renders and were more interested in the CAD like renders. But yes even at that the last video is below par. I will definitely take on board what you are saying and try to find some improvement and more engaging ways of getting attention.

CCC

I think you have a technique looking for a problem to solve, rather than solving a problem that an audience has. I doubt the numbervof people that have a problem following LEGO's instructions is very large and that will limit the number of people watching. They are the sort of thing that people might watch one, but once you've watched one, do you really want to sit through another.

The only full build video I have ever watched in its entirety was for the LEGO Hub birds set, as printed instructions were not available. I found it incredibly tedious to build while watching, as it was watch for 5 seconds, pause, build, watch for another five seconds, and so on. Then if you missed a pause, you have to jump back and rewatch 10 seconds. I would never build from a video if I had the choice of printed or pdf instructions.

Plus you don't have to have the awful music.

mrlegoman

CCC said:

I think you have a technique looking for a problem to solve, rather than solving a problem that an audience has. I doubt the numbervof people that have a problem following LEGO's instructions is very large and that will limit the number of people watching. They are the sort of thing that people might watch one, but once you've watched one, do you really want to sit through another.

The only full build video I have ever watched in its entirety was for the LEGO Hub birds set, as printed instructions were not available. I found it incredibly tedious to build while watching, as it was watch for 5 seconds, pause, build, watch for another five seconds, and so on. Then if you missed a pause, you have to jump back and rewatch 10 seconds. I would never build from a video if I had the choice of printed or pdf instructions.

Plus you don't have to have the awful music.

Thanks for taking the time to comment and for the constructive feedback. I definitely have to take this on board and produce content that will appeal to people. Maybe more on the educational side of things, learning gears etc.

Cheers 

mrlegoman

I took on board some of the comments above and tried to come up with a more interesting build approach and better render - I am still working but here is the first try. What do you think?

https://youtu.be/8-YVABbrEpk