A New Set of Beginner Unity Learning Videos
This summer, I finally got around to re-recording my no-prior-knowledge, start-here, introduction to Unity videos.
Instead of one long lecture recording, I split things up as much as I could into videos as short as possible. The goal is for them to be review materials for my class lectures, and students can easily jump to the content they need.
Retrospective
In terms of wins, I like the aesthetic of sitting at a desk with the content behind me. It’s a nice mix of informal-streamer-chatting and formal-lesson video that I think lands well.
I’m also a fan of using our plotter to “print” out a drawing of a the Unity Editor interface. Drawing on that makes it clear to the viewer that they should watch the video and pay attention, and that this isn’t the “follow along” part where they split their attention.
As for what we can improve on, the video quality - a DSLR into a switcher at 1080p, cropping in to something closer to 720, is rough. The lighting on the greenscreen is awful too, but: Hey. I’m just working with what we had on had. Those are easily fixed by buying some more video gear.
What I really want to get better at is the delivery. I did my best to memorize the script in beat-by-beat extemporaneous sections, and make the direct address feel natural, but the first thing I did after we wrapped shooting and editing was buy a teleprompter. So, going forward… I’ll have a teleprompter. With practice, it should make producing more educational content much faster.
Anyway, here are the videos.