What tutorials are users looking for?

[chris]

I'm just wondering what tutorials seasoned users or new users of Inventor are looking for. With the vast user experience that I am sure is spread throughout the Inventor user base it seems like covering all areas of the software would be a relatively easy thing.

Often times when I'm working or figuring out new template tools I wonder if other users might benefit from a tutorial about what I'm designing, but then when I do post videos on youtube I don't see a lot of views or comments.

It would be nice it Autodesk could add a share screen or something like a Zoom function so that when "we" are working on stuff that is not proprietary those of us with audio and video setups can live stream a design process and other users can join in if they like. I often times share in "After Hours, which is a 24-hour Zoom meeting of industry professionals in audio, video 3D, and graphics, my screen while working. 

So, with that said, are there any specific tutorials that the user base wants to see... or contribute?

[Gabriel_Watson]

I think you're underestimating the rate at which engineering design is rushed these days.

@James_Willo and others had way more popularity on youtube short videos, while you tend to post stuff that is too long or too in-depth for many users to seek and watch through. Especially livestreaming, you see on Twitch people that play role-playing games get way less views than the typical condensed shorts they record for tik-tok.

It is a tough market out there for content creators, so my best advice (since you asked) is to seek out "best practices" or "learn Inventor XYZ module in 10 minutes". Those are neat tricks @Neil_Cross has picked up on and managed to make a living out of (even though he seems to take his time now and not care anymore about video length, or total views).  If something is new/hot, make a short video out of it, and also keep in mind your audience... nowadays I think most new Inventor designers are abroad (Asia-Pacific) and can barely understand when you speak your fluent English (so, maybe add subtitles?).

I would also keep up with some new transformational trends, such as the migration towards automation (iLogic and API tools), AI-generation, and interoperability (blending with Revit or Fusion workflows, as well as PLM and ERP integration). If you pair up, let's say, a common design of iParts/Model State-based parametric furniture, with something new, that should help a lot of people and thus provide more value.

P.S.: something I haven't seen much out there is picking each of the free (or cheap) but VERY useful tools/plugins in the Autodesk Store to demo/go over in detail... we often stumble upon a problem here in the forum until someone sees a perfect tool has already been made that saves tons of hours. Another idea is to record and speed-time side-by-side something hard done in Fusion versus the same design made in Inventor... comparisons with Solidworks perhaps too.

[chris]

Just to be clear, I'm not looking to "create content", I'm not trying to create a youtube channel... I asking what tutorials that users want to see to learn Inventor, not so I can get views on a YT channel and get subscribers, but so those new to IV can learn how to do the things that they might be struggling with in their current projects.

[Gabriel_Watson]

Gotcha. Here's what myself and dozens of intermediate to advanced users I've worked with would love to see in video/courses/demos:
1- Importing geometry and repair environment tools (applying heal, transfer surface, boundary patches, stitch/unstitch, mesh enabler, etc.), when to call it quits and when to use other applications/plugins as intermediary translators/exporters;
2- Effective model state usage for "levels of detail": best practices when simplifying parts/assemblies for lower levels of development/detail, in particular for library components.
3- How to use iLogic in templates to automate notes/tables/views in drawings, fed straight from MBD.
4- How to use NASTRAN in-CAD for day-to-day mechanical design checking.
5- How to quickly create simple presentations and simulate movement for machine design reviews.

[Neil_Cross]

I have nearly 10 years of skin in this game, that's a long time observing trends and communicating with the people looking for what you're talking about.  

First of all though, @Gabriel_Watson I couldn't be further from having made a living off it, a video with 2000 views, which is a lot in this field and maybe took several hours, or 4-5 days to make in some cases, will earn me a fat stack of $4 or $5, sometimes less.  Even after 9+ years, several videos with over a quarter million views later, the total income accumulated over those 9 years wouldn't even cover just my household energy bill.  So quite the opposite, I've sacrificed a living from doing this.  My day job pays more in 1 day than this does working 3-4 full months.

@chris I can respect your intentions but you would need a platform to host/stream up onto, and the only feasible one is Youtube.  Any other site i.e. Twitch or Rumble, you just won't find an audience there, Youtube is where people go.  And when you're on there, you start out where everybody starts, yelling into a void.  Often for months, or indefinitely for some.

All the topics raised above are things that some people generally look for, I'll stop short of spilling out all my years of observations and thoughts on Youtube content creation as it'll take hours, but all I can say is... if you can make your peace with doing this out of the goodness of your own heart, at your own expense of both time and money, go for it.  But to find an audience of people who potentially might want to hear you, Youtube is the only place, and you then become subject to the same algorithm, expectations and mentality of how things are over there as everybody else.

[chris]

Hopefully, this helps explains better what I am talking about

[Neil_Cross]

I'm 4-5 minutes in, now I understand what you mean.  What you're describing so far is what Discord is used for, there are dedicated Discord servers set up for exactly this i.e. the Fusion 360 Discord, or mine even, I have an Inventor focused Discord server but it isn't very busy.  You're bound to the hosting limitations for storage on Discord but sharing screens and communal chat, even free voice chat, is exactly what its for.  They're just not discoverable though, so you generally need a platform already to spread awareness.  My daughter is here right now so I'll finish off the remainder of the video later tonight and see if there's anything else to comment on.

[chris]

@Neil_Cross  Yep, I'm on a couple dozen Discords (C4D, MODO, Photoshop, Blender, Octane, Office Hours, etc. and if I'm stuck someone always seems available to jump into a screen share channel/room. The "guild" I mentioned in the above video ran 2 hours a day, first hour was general questions the second hour was a subject of some sort... but the real awesome part of the "Office Hours" was the 22 hour open Zoom room after the show until the next mornings show, the Zoom room was open for members, most people were in there, some with cameras on, some just audio, but during that 22 hours A LOT of issues got solved because people were in there to help others, it's hard to explain, but at any given time there were 20-30 people in the After Hours Zoom room hour 10-12 hours, and there was hardly ever a question or issue that could not be solved. After Hours is/was very unique, but it was very so useful! 

[chris]

@Neil_Cross where is the link/invite to your Fusion and IV discord?

[Neil_Cross]

I stopped promoting/linking to it about a year ago as I was struggling to find the time to be as active in there as I wanted to be, try this one though https://discord.gg/r9fwR668RF thats a link I just found in an oldish video.

There's a good group of folk in there but it's far from highly populated, I've been recently mostly using it for InvMark feedback.