It’s very difficult for new users of Pano2VR Pro 4 to find the information they need in order to understand the new features.
The tutorials for features unique to Pro 4 are not clearly marked in either the User Guides, Tutorials or Tips sections of this web site. Currently, the tutorial links are hidden in the News/Blog section, which to me, is not at all logical.
Judy
Pano2VR Pro 4 tutorials difficult to access
Thanks, Judy!
We are aware of this and are working on a solution. The user guides are a beast and do need some love and attention in regards to Pano2VR 4 and Pano2VR 4 Pro.
In the meantime, perhaps a sticky in the forum with links to all the tutorials would be sufficient?
We are aware of this and are working on a solution. The user guides are a beast and do need some love and attention in regards to Pano2VR 4 and Pano2VR 4 Pro.
In the meantime, perhaps a sticky in the forum with links to all the tutorials would be sufficient?
Hi Karyn,
A sticky on this forum with a links to Pro4 tutorials would be a good stop-gap measure.
I’m not sure what to recommend, but I know that I and other forum posters have had problems finding specific information. Perhaps color-coded icons next to topics in the help pages would make it clear which version is applicable. Perhaps the user guides, tips, etc., could be searchable using tags, so only guides applicable to the tagged version will be displayed.
As an example of the difficulty finding information, take the fact that in Pro 4, polygon hotspots are linked to the skin through node markers. That’s not obvious to a new user, and is only mentioned in one forum reply by Hopki. It’s a basic function that I can’t find documented elsewhere. Using the main search feature (left column under the language flags), if I search “polygon skin” I get forum questions, bug reports, examples, roadmap, posts that apply only to beta versions, and old tutorials that do not apply to Pro 4. Where to start looking? It’s a dog’s breakfast. I hate wading through old forum posts by users who are as confused as I am. I end up even more confused. Perhaps you could offer a way to refine the Google search function through check boxes.
I personally like a video tutorial and user guide combined in a single page. I can watch the video to familiarize myself with a topic. Then, when actually working on the feature in one of my tours, can quickly consult the written instructions on the same bookmarked page. I’m impatient. It’s painful to have to sit through nine minutes of an already-watched, ten-minute tutorial to find the one little piece of information that’s needed.
There are some terrific new features in Pro4, but they do need clear and searchable documentation.
Judy
A sticky on this forum with a links to Pro4 tutorials would be a good stop-gap measure.
I’m not sure what to recommend, but I know that I and other forum posters have had problems finding specific information. Perhaps color-coded icons next to topics in the help pages would make it clear which version is applicable. Perhaps the user guides, tips, etc., could be searchable using tags, so only guides applicable to the tagged version will be displayed.
As an example of the difficulty finding information, take the fact that in Pro 4, polygon hotspots are linked to the skin through node markers. That’s not obvious to a new user, and is only mentioned in one forum reply by Hopki. It’s a basic function that I can’t find documented elsewhere. Using the main search feature (left column under the language flags), if I search “polygon skin” I get forum questions, bug reports, examples, roadmap, posts that apply only to beta versions, and old tutorials that do not apply to Pro 4. Where to start looking? It’s a dog’s breakfast. I hate wading through old forum posts by users who are as confused as I am. I end up even more confused. Perhaps you could offer a way to refine the Google search function through check boxes.
I personally like a video tutorial and user guide combined in a single page. I can watch the video to familiarize myself with a topic. Then, when actually working on the feature in one of my tours, can quickly consult the written instructions on the same bookmarked page. I’m impatient. It’s painful to have to sit through nine minutes of an already-watched, ten-minute tutorial to find the one little piece of information that’s needed.
There are some terrific new features in Pro4, but they do need clear and searchable documentation.
Judy
Thanks a lot for your feedback, Judy.
I agree that we need a better searchable guide and a good separation between Pro and Normal versions.
Unfortunately for now, we must make do with the limitations of the wiki. I'm a big fan of tags. We do have Categories in the wiki. They aren't as powerful as tags, but at least the articles are grouped. We're just missing one for Pano2VR Pro.
They live at the bottom of each page and are probably easily missed. For instance, you can find everything about tour building here: http://gardengnomesoftware.com/wiki/Cat ... r_Building. But, then again, there's no clue that tour building is a Pro only feature.
Adding chapter markers to the tutorial is a great idea and I'm checking into it for the YouTube player. (I think earlier, this wasn't a possibility, but now it seems there are tricks to do this.)
Thanks again!
I agree that we need a better searchable guide and a good separation between Pro and Normal versions.
Unfortunately for now, we must make do with the limitations of the wiki. I'm a big fan of tags. We do have Categories in the wiki. They aren't as powerful as tags, but at least the articles are grouped. We're just missing one for Pano2VR Pro.
They live at the bottom of each page and are probably easily missed. For instance, you can find everything about tour building here: http://gardengnomesoftware.com/wiki/Cat ... r_Building. But, then again, there's no clue that tour building is a Pro only feature.
Adding chapter markers to the tutorial is a great idea and I'm checking into it for the YouTube player. (I think earlier, this wasn't a possibility, but now it seems there are tricks to do this.)
Thanks again!