Applications of Beziers; A Learning Resource Page

[dyarosla]

For those unfamiliarized and looking to start adopting beziers, the Primer's layout, length and depth may be off-putting from a learning resource perspective.

The layout makes it seem like you have to learn all of the parts in sequence which isn't the case. Depending on a person's use case, it could be that, for example, only 20% is applicable and found in sections 1-3, 17, 20-23, and could be learned without going through all the sections in-between. Someone totally new to beziers wouldn't know where to start making the distinction for which sections apply to them and give up entirely.

Think you could create an "applications of beziers" page which lists common bezier use cases? eg. Draw a curved path. Animate using easing. Animate along a curve. Animate along a curve with an ease. Then link from there to only to the sections you'd need to learn and apply to get to that application? It would be infinitely more helpful to new learners.

The Primer would then remain a great resource as a standalone. And the Applications page would be a great navigation and learning resource page for people looking to start.

[Pomax]

Hm, the whole reason this primer got written was because there as no detailed, single page, long, in-depth website out there. So you're correctly flagging "what it is" =)

The more interesting part is the suggestion that this layout implies you need to know all of it. If that is the case, then we're missing a section that should go between the preface and section 1 that explains (a bit like a traditional text book) which sections are relevant to people who are looking at "something specific". This is not a tutorial, though, so I don't think adding a separate site that shows off full application examples is within the scope of this primer. Not in a small part because the internet is a vast resource, and there are actually tons of other sites that already cover the whole "if you want to do X, let's learn how to do that", whereas there are no other full length in depth "if you want to know more about Bezier curves than you thought you could learn, get some coffee and let's go" interactive ebooks (which this effectively is).

And of course creating a separate site requires having the time to create a separate site. The reason the primer's updates are slow but steady is because I have to find some time every few weeks (and sometimes months) to sit down and work on it a bit again =)