QUOTE(Joojaa @ 01/09/06, 03:22 PM)
mikes right! But heres a additional point who exactly is going to decide who konws enough?
{Edited to insert point #3}
I'd say some rules of thumb are:
1) They specifically state they don't have time to read the manual. Or that they're too lazy to read the manual. Or they ask a question that's specifically answered in the manuals. (I'm not counting a passing reference on page 752, I mean a concept that's specifically addressed in one of the several manuals.)
First, it's simply a bad sign if someone won't take the time to try to answer their own question first. Second, the manuals are all in PDF format and it's easy to search them.
2) They do not clearly explain their question. I don't mean explain it in expert terms as if they should know the answer, but take the time to learn SOME terminology/concepts from the manuals and take some time to be careful to specify details even if they don't have the exact industry/shake terms for something. (And I'd be a little puzzled by a serious Shake user who does not have some background in 3D or editing or compositing or something that gives them a bit of a base to build a coherent, sufficiently-detailed question.)
3) If they spell out what they've tried already, that gives me more interest in helping. That is, someone posting, "Help, I've just got a job and they want me to make the image look like an ECU of a video playing on a TV screen! How do I do this?" demotivates me. THey accepted a job to do something they don't have a clue about and they evidently haven't even sat down for an hour to try some experiments, haven't done a Google search, etc.
On the other hand, if they say, "I'm working on making a video look like it's playing on a TV screen in extreme closeup and I've done blah-blah and while that's close it really doesn't look right and looks like it's going to strobe on me. I downloaded the SuperTV plugin for Shake but it looks like it's Windows-only and I'm on a Mac." That person I want to help. They're sharing helpful information even in the process of asking a question.
4) Perhaps a FAQ is called for (if it doesn't already exist). It takes list-discipline to have one or two people say "It's in the FAQ, question #10" and the rest of us ignore it, but I've seen groups where that works.
It's late and I've run out of ideas, but I think it's not all that hard to tell if someone's trying to help themselves and turn to the list after a valiant attempt or if they're being greedy/lazy and turning to the group instead of stooping to crack the manuals. (Or perhaps they've cracked the app and have no manuals.)
P.S. I spent some time the other day using a Warp to cover over a jump cut in a talking head shot. Not sure if that's unique or not. If it is, maybe I'll have to try to whip up a tutorial or something.
