Who Can I Turn To?
Some of this is true both for getting help as in “how do I do this thing?” and as in “I need professional help!” but this section is mostly about getting help to assist you in figuring out how to do a thing (mental health is important though).
Ask your friends and colleagues. We have a pretty good shared rolodex of collaborators.
Beyond that - some folks are willing to be transparent about what they know if you ask them nicely. I am one of those folks. Some people aren’t. But generally: the vibe is to help out other people because everyone benefits from shared information.
This Almanac is a great place to start. Just do a search for a keyword. If you’re having issues with or want to understand projector lenses; search for “lens” or “projector” or take a look at the document outline which breaks things down into sections.
Some forums are really good.
The best, though, is probably the Vectorworks forum. Their user base is incredibly active and knowledgeable. And shockingly responsive!
The Redcine forums are good too, at least I remember them being good.
Garagecube’s MadMapper forum is good, too, but it tends to be you communicating with the developers or other mega-dorks in deep niches (this is true, also, of Isadora).
Adobe’s forum is a mixed bag. The Adobe employees there aren’t always helpful (eg, the response of “submit a bug” to the memory hole isn’t super helpful). There are some lifers on there that are helpful (you have read things by me and not known), but it’s amazing they do anything else.
Rick Gerard is an MVP. If you spend any time on there, this will feel familiar;
Some email support is good too.
support@figure53.com (QLab)
support@garagecube.freshdesk.com (Madmapper)
supportinbox@boxxtech.com (Boxx)
support@borisfx.com (BorisFX)
Don’t underestimate the power of picking up the phone and calling a manufacturer.
Some phone support is also good.
OWC - (866) 692-7100
Epson - (562) 276-4394
Barco - (866) 374-7878 / (866) 992-2726
Panasonic - (877) 655-2357
FujiFilm - (800) 800-3854
If automated, a quick way to get through support gatekeeping is repeating “representative” or “sales” over and over again.
I can also recommend strategic use of written tutorials. By that I mean, if you can find a written solution to your problem, you might solve it faster than watching hours and hours of tutorials. That said: video tutorials made by the companies that developed the software are usually pretty good. I’ve gone through the same VWX training twice (60*2 hours) in 3 years because of how helpful it is in making my workflow efficient.