Breault Research innovates in video education

TUCSON, AZ—Engineers and managers at optical design software company Breault Reseach Organization (BRO) are finding themselves in starring roles in the new BRO multimedia educational video library. The BRO Multimedia Gallery (www.breault.com/movies) has more than 55 videos totaling over six hours of rich-media content—a huge leap forward in helping those interested in optical software get to know the features related to their unique applications. “With dozens of subject-matter experts in a diverse array of optics fields, BRO was perfectly positioned to be the first optical software provider to provide demonstration and training materials in a rich-media format. Leveraging the expertise of our engineers, we went far beyond the cursory user-interface tour and into the many fields of engineering that intersect with optics,” says Michael Stevenson, BRO’s director of marketing. “BRO Multimedia Gallery visitors can observe optical engineers as they discuss features and applications of optical software tools. Initial feedback and site statistics indicate that prospects and customers are taking advantage of the opportunity to watch our movies on demand, whenever and wherever it’s most convenient for them,” Stevenson adds.

Topics covered in the multimedia video gallery include display design, illumination engineering, imaging systems, geometrical and wave optics, stray light analysis, and more. “The multimedia ‘format’ lets us do a few things traditional media can’t,” says BRO’s senior graphic designer Tom Madrid. “For starters, it lets us introduce our people to you. You can see and hear from the very engineers and developers that work with ASAP software. It also lets us demonstrate concepts and procedures in a method that goes beyond a step-by-step document or white paper, again by the very people who know the information intimately. Finally, it gives people who are new to ASAP the opportunity to answer their own questions about it, quickly and with a great deal of detail.” Madrid says that on the aesthetics of the project, BRO decided to use a visual style similar to a show you might see on the Discovery Channel. “We use the movies to communicate complex information in a simple and personal manner without resorting to the over-produced quality of an infomercial,” says Madrid. “We also understand that optical science and engineering is frequently a serious business, and we treat the material as such.”

In an international sales environment, innovation in video education cannot be underestimated. “We sell worldwide, oftentimes in a virtual sale environment where demonstrating the merits of our product can be challenging,” says Wayne Hall, COO of BRO. “With these new multimedia tools, we are able to communicate in various levels of detail how ASAP operates.” BRO’s international software representatives are embracing the innovation: “The DVD and Web movies are very good sales material. Customers like the ASAP DEMO DVD and find it useful! And the Internet player system is wonderful,” says BRO’s Korean software representative from I&A Technology, Richard Cho. “Do you know that Korea has one of best Internet environments in the world? We prefer this kind of educational database extension.”

But it isn’t just BRO and its employees and representatives that are excited about the new product. “I had a chance to view some of the tutorial movies on the BRO website and wanted to let you know that I have found them very useful,” said Bob Czajkowski, principle engineer at Federal Signal (Oak Brook, IL), a BRO client that designs and manufactures integrated security solutions for municipal, government, and industrial customers. “The movie on using the BRO Light Source Wizard was very helpful. Seeing someone go through the process of creating a light source really helped me understand the steps needed.”

For those who do not have the bandwidth to stream high-fidelity Flash files, BRO has compiled a DVD with 55 movies that can be requested free of charge at www.breault.com/DVD. “For about a year now, Breault Research employees have been very, very hard at work preparing text, pictures, examples, and videos for the launch of BRO’s new Multimedia Gallery,” says BRO chairman Robert Breault. “With the new gallery added to the existing Knowledge Base, I feel we’ve achieved the goal of making Breault.com the best site on the Internet for optical software users. Take the time to look and you be the judge.” —Gail Overton