Forum discussion for a particular course
in General
Is there an easy way to see all discussions regarding a particular course? Rather that reask a question that someone else probably already asked - it would be nice if the discussion forum was categorized per course or if there was an easy way to be involved in a discussion for one course.
I'm currently watching "How to make a monster puppet - rod and cable puppetry". He seems to skip some stuff. I'd love to be able to look at all comments and discussions about this course with one link. The link in the video overview just goes to the home page of the forums.
My complaint is that suddenly he's already made parts that are integral to making a rod and cable puppet work. And then it's just "oh in between the last video and this video I welded these pieces and already made the armature." The whole point of the class in my opinion is how to make a rod puppet. Which in my opinion is how to design and create all the mechanical parts that make it work inside the puppet. So designing those parts should be part of the course. Instead we spend like an hour on the fiberglass mold making, which is good but is only one aspect of making the puppet. Then he actually skips parts of that as well, like cutting the mold and knowing where to cut it. He talks about doing 3 layers but I think we skip that so I'm not entirelly sure what that means. There's no explanation of the chemicals being used or what they do. More of an assumption that we already know how to do fiberglass, or that it's explained in another video that isn't linked to or referenced directly.
I get that some of the stuff is covered in other courses. But if that's the case you have to tell us WHERE and link to those courses. Compare it to the other class I watched on 3d printing an eye mech. By the end of that course I knew how to use fusion360 and how to design the eye mech and how to think about the design of the eye mech.
To be fair I'm only half way through the course. But so far I wish there had been more actual teaching in this class.
Overall I'm very very glad this site exists. Hopefully someone has some insight on how to at least seach and read through all the other comments on the class so maybe I can learn something from those. Thanks.
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Best Answer
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Chris Ellerby
Admin
Hi Michael,
Appreciate your feedback, and I'm happy to help answer any questions you have!
For forum question categorization, our approach is to let you openly ask questions about any lesson rather than creating individual discussions or categories for each lesson as that can clutter the forum if there is no active discussion on those topics. In the past we had created discussions around each lesson, but most people with questions would openly ask those outside of the lesson posts.
If you want to look for existing discussions on a topic, you can us the search feature on the forums to look for key words.
This is a lesson we typically don't get questions about, so feel free to create any posts you like, or ask any questions here.
For the rod puppet lesson, I understand your frustrations. Some of our earlier lessons may rely on having viewed other lesson content to understand certain materials or processes, as covering some steps may cut into lesson time. That said, if there are ever any steps you have questions about we can either answer them here or reach out to the instructor on your behalf to get the answer. We do have related lessons listed at the bottom of the lesson page, but at the moment we don't have other lessons that cover fiberglass. Though there are plans to film such a lesson in the future.
When the instructor mentions 3 layers, what he means is laying down 3 layers of fiberglass cloth. Each layer is saturated with resin and applied as shown. He does not show all 3 layers just to save time, as the process is the same for each.
As for the chemicals used when working with fiberglass, you typically only have one resin (Typically that resin is polyester, but polyurethane/epoxy resins can also be used), but some newer methods will use one for the print/detail coat and others to back it with fiberglass. My method of choice is to do the print/detail coat (material directly against the sculpture) with Smooth-On's EpoxAcoat then layer in fiberglass with EpoxAmite and follow up with some Free Form Air putty to bulk out the mold, and then seal it all with some more fiberglass/EpoxAmite.
Please let me know if you have any other questions, as we are always here to help, and thanks again for your feedback!
/Chris5
Answers