Attached Link: the video

However recently someone posted the following review on one video.

"It would have been a great tutorial if the instructor wouldn't mumble, his accent is too hard to understand and needs public speaking tutorials he has one tone throughout the tutorial. Sorry to be harsh,but if your going to do tutorials you must speak in a tone everyone can hear. it was like i had to adjust the volume up and up and still couldn't understand the poor guy."

Now I realise that this is not one of my finest works, the record volume seems to have been somewhat low, but....

My accent is my accent, I'm sorry if you can't understand it but it's mine and I am proud to be English and from North London Stock.  I am unlikely to change it for anyone.

Public speaking tutorials, are you serious? I do these things to be helpfull and the store voucher I get for the odd video is nice but hardly constitues a fee. 

Does anyone honestly believe that I or anyone else are going to go through Public Speaking Lessons before we contribute to the community in any way?

Ranty bit over :)

As to the people who posted supportive and balanced comments, thank you very much indeed.

I'm not mad or anything, just needed to voice my thoughts.

John

Being a North Londoner myself I understood what you said in the tutorial perfectly, the sound quality could have been better though, there was so much hissing going on it sounded like you had a bag full of snakes in the room with you.

John

I enjoy your tutorials and find them useful. However, they would be better if you used 'received pronunciation'. And I would like to be reassured that you wear a formal suit and black tie while making them.

I've never had any trouble understanding your tutorials, and I'm not even a native speaker.

Critics may be negative or positive, its to you to get the best of both ...

Personaly i prefer the picture tutorial, more explicit than a lower resolution of a video, i said that but without sound i've understant your tutorial, may be cause i've already use this system :-)

Dont focalise on that, sure your work help many peoples, it's done for that !

Quote - Being a North Londoner myself I understood what you said in the tutorial perfectly, the sound quality could have been better though, there was so much hissing going on it sounded like you had a bag full of snakes in the room with you.

Sorry about the hissing, I shall move the snakes to a different room next time ;)

John

Quote - John

I enjoy your tutorials and find them useful. However, they would be better if you used 'received pronunciation'. And I would like to be reassured that you wear a formal suit and black tie while making them.

I appreciate your thoughts, I shall get my best formal wear out next time, I think my ballgown is due back from the cleaners soon. ;p

John

Quote - I've never had any trouble understanding your tutorials, and I'm not even a native speaker.

Most kind Mr odf

John

Quote - Critics may be negative or positive, its to you to get the best of both ...

Personaly i prefer the picture tutorial, more explicit than a lower resolution of a video, i said that but without sound i've understant your tutorial, may be cause i've already use this system :-)

Dont focalise on that, sure your work help many peoples, it's done for that !

Thank you very much Miss A.

I will certainly not let it stop me doing videos when I find something exciting to show.

John :)

It was criticism but definitely NOT constructive.

I'm glad you won't allow that person to deter you. There are way more who appreciate your contributions than those who don't. :)

I'm a Yank and I had no trouble with the accent.  I did have to turn the volume up.

Nice tutorial-thanx!

I'm Canadian and I don't have an accent , and I understand you fine!  And I also enjoy your videos too!

Just take it with a grain of salt 

Fugazi you carry on making tutorials, I just sat & watched all 3 parts of your 3d-coat displacement tutorial, don't ask me why as I don't even have the program but  I did & it's made me want to buy it. not sure if I should thank you or curse you for that. :tt2:

Thanks all, very kinds comments indeed.

I'm not too bothered by the comments themselves, which is to say I am not personally offended.

What has tweaked my beard a bit is the apparant expectation.  It's a free resource for people to use or not as they see fit.  Not a professional presentation/training course that you have to pay for.

If it were a payed for resource I could understand and accept it, but it isn't so it kinda irks me a little.

John.

Quote - Fugazi you carry on making tutorials, I just sat & watched all 3 parts of your 3d-coat displacement tutorial, don't ask me why as I don't even have the program but  I did & it's made me want to buy it. not sure if I should thank you or curse you for that. :tt2:

lol, wait till I do my normal maps for Poser in 3d Coat tute, that will be even more annoying :)

John

Aw, that's just downright unkind. Was a very rude thing to say.

I used to watch a lot of PBS when I was a kid (I'm in the U.S.), so therefore I watched a lot of British programs ;o). My grandmother used to ask me all the time how I could understand what they were saying, so some people do have trouble with an accent that isn't their own. It wasn't hard for me, but it was for her.

I guess the person could have been a little less rude, but it could have been worse, so I suppose you're gonna have people like that whether it's fair/nice or not. Frankly, I enjoy accents that are different than mine. You can't get more boring than what I hear all the time here in Pennsylvania, U.S....lol. Unless, of course, you visit the Amish...lol. I like listening to them too ;o).

To quote a friend: "It pays to grow a thick skin" ;o). If you deal with people at any level you almost have to. And for what it's worth, almost everyone I know tells me I mumble...lolol.

Laurie

Quote - I'm Canadian and I don't have an accent , and I understand you fine!

What a coincidence! I don't have one either...lolol!

That was classic ;o).

Laurie

Quote - Aw, that's just downright unkind. Was a very rude thing to say.

I used to watch a lot of PBS when I was a kid (I'm in the U.S.), so therefore I watched a lot of British programs ;o). My grandmother used to ask me all the time how I could understand what they were saying, so some people do have trouble with an accent that isn't their own. It wasn't hard for me, but it was for her.

I guess the person could have been a little less rude, but it could have been worse, so I suppose you're gonna have people like that whether it's fair/nice or not. Frankly, I enjoy accents that are different than mine. You can't get more boring than what I hear all the time here in Pennsylvania, U.S....lol. Unless, of course, you visit the Amish...lol. I like listening to them too ;o).

To quote a friend: "It pays to grow a thick skin" ;o). If you deal with people at any level you almost have to. And for what it's worth, almost everyone I know tells me I mumble...lolol.

Laurie

:) My skin is much thicker than it used to be, since I started working with mechanical engineers who have all the social graces of a grumpy Rhino with flu.

John

Quote -

:) My skin is much thicker than it used to be, since I started working with mechanical engineers who have all the social graces of a grumpy Rhino with flu.

John

Got mine working with truck drivers and dispatchers...lolol ;o). Believe me, it was a must..hehe.

Laurie

your an English man speaking English. You don't have an accent, everybody else does ;p

I'm dutch and I could understand it perfectly, perhaps the person who critised you has a hearing problem he doesn't know of and should see an ear doctor.

Good tutorial BTW.

best regards,

Bopper.

Quote - > Quote - I'm Canadian and I don't have an accent , and I understand you fine!

What a coincidence! I don't have one either...lolol!

That was classic ;o).

Laurie

Haven't heard it - no sound card on this box - but as a Brit I'll say this much...

Diction helps a lot.  I have a very definite Sheffield accent but my diction is clear and crisp.  I also use my voice for emphasis and to give rhythm to my speech, in order to prevent a monotone.

 In short, you may need to brush up on your speaking - I can't say - because most people really aren't gifted speakers.

You should have heard my Nan when she was alive, broad Glaswegian accent that few could understand outside the family, think female version of Rab.C.Nesbit. :D

Like you say Fugazi, you're doing this to contribute and it's it's pretty harsh to critique the way you speak. I just watched your tut on the morph tool and found no problem with your accent.

Could the sound have been better? Of course! Would it have been more interesting if you'd got Ricky Gervais to appear as a celebrity guest star? I'd think so!

Does it matter? NO! It's a tut about the bleeding morph tool for Pete's sake!! ;)

oh yeah, and thank you very much for the tutorial. It opened my eyes regarding using the morph tool in Poser. Thanks.

Heck, I can't even understand you when you write! That accent, sheesh!

Just kidding...

I think this is a curse of the internet. Some folks have discovered that they can be rude, obnoxious and unkind anonymously.

I haven't seen all your tutes, but have thoroughly enjoyed the ones I have. Keep it up.

Please dont stop the tutorials.  I'm a southern boy from the US state of Arkansas,(originally) I have not had any trouble understanding your tutorials.

Thanks for putting your time and effort into helping the rest of us.

Quote - [...My skin is much thicker than it used to be, since I started working with mechanical engineers who have all the social graces of a grumpy Rhino with flu.

John

Surely, you are mistaken!

Mechanical Engineers have no social graces.  Civil engineers are the ones with the social graces.  They have to deal with outside "people" an' stuff.. You know, construction crews, politicians and contractors.  Well, almost real people anyway.

Electrical engineers.. well, nobody really sees those guys much anyway unless something blows up.  Then, they're right there in front of you explaining how it's all someone else's fault and you should have listened to them when they proposed Design Change #324B-1A-3C thirty minutes before the Project was due.

Quote - > Quote - [...My skin is much thicker than it used to be, since I started working with mechanical engineers who have all the social graces of a grumpy Rhino with flu.

John

Surely, you are mistaken!

Mechanical Engineers have no social graces.  Civil engineers are the ones with the social graces.  They have to deal with outside "people" an' stuff.. You know, construction crews, politicians and contractors.  Well, almost real people anyway.

Electrical engineers.. well, nobody really sees those guys much anyway unless something blows up.  Then, they're right there in front of you explaining how it's all someone else's fault and you should have listened to them when they proposed Design Change #324B-1A-3C thirty minutes before the Project was due.

I think that my accent got in the way of my meaning there :) what I meant was the mechanical engineers that I work with are so devoid of social graces and empathy that I had to get a thicker skin to withstand the daily torrent of bluntness and general abuse that showers on a member of any IT team :)

John

Quote - ... I'm not mad or anything, just needed to voice my thoughts.

John

Rule #1 - Don't get mad at teh intrawebz.

The internet is wonderful.  It affords billions of people the opportunity to interact, learn new and interesting things and voice their opinions on them.  It is also a statistical fact that as the internet becomes more ingrained in our culture, the increase in occurrences of socially inept, clueless or completely ignorant responders has a positive correlation.

As far as the vid is concerned, I, being from an intellectually and socially advanced culture in the Southern United States, did have some difficulty in being able to hear the various tortured English phrases being quietly murdered in the video. 

(Just kidding.  If you haven't heard a "Southern Drawl" from a Yank in the US, you may not understand the ironic jibe. ;) )

You have a deep voice and, coupled with the slight pronunciation differences, made it difficult to understand, especially in the trailing syllables and towards the ends of some sentences.  I suffer from a similar tone coupled with a slight Southern drawl. 

The solution: I'm not a Sound Engineer but maybe turning down the gain would help with the slight hiss and then putting the boom mic ( wearing a headset?) just below your bottom lip might help.  (Might be able to hear better hear sharper syllables then?) Good tutorial by the way.  All in all, there really isn't any reason for anyone to be critical of it.

The English and Americans - Two peoples separated by a shared language.  :D

PS - As you can see, Americans are fascinated by the "comma" and various ways to torture it. :)

How can you tell when an engineer is an extrovert?

He stares at your shoes instead of his own.

Another non native speaker here - and no problems as for the idiom. Perhaps the white noise in the background and the recording, which seems to be a little weak around the 1khz fq. could be a problem for some people. I just pumped up the volume - done.

However, thanks for the tutorial, I'm glad people do them.

hey, they didn't say anything about the video part...must be a frustrated audio engineer...;)

said in a perfectly exotic West Texas accent...;)