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Show HN: A stop-motion video of an engine

howacarworks.com

91–100 of 197 posts

Re: Show HN: A stop-motion video of an engine

#91
Really nice work!

I did have a slight giggle when the promo at the end says you explain everything about 'modern cars', while you are working on a car introduced 27 years ago.

Of course I understand that disassembling a new car does not make financial sense, I'm not trying to be negative here.

Re: Show HN: A stop-motion video of an engine

#92

This is neat, but based on the title, I thought this was going to be a bit more informative about _how_ engines work, and how each subprocess contributes toward the end goal. What I saw instead was a subset of subprocesses in isolation from each other, presented in an admittedly artistic fashion. It's impressive, and maybe the purpose is more to whet one's appetite for more information rather than be informative in i…

Yeah, it's an ad. A pretty effective one, though, I think.

Re: Show HN: A stop-motion video of an engine

#93

This is neat, but based on the title, I thought this was going to be a bit more informative about _how_ engines work, and how each subprocess contributes toward the end goal. What I saw instead was a subset of subprocesses in isolation from each other, presented in an admittedly artistic fashion. It's impressive, and maybe the purpose is more to whet one's appetite for more information rather than be informative in i…

Point taken that explanations are more important than descriptions but really there are thousands of places that explain the principles of how the internal combustion engine works.

This is the first time I've seen an engine physically taken apart so I can see roughly what goes where. I'm reminded of 'Danny The Champion of the World' who, at the age of seven, could take a small engine to pieces, and put it back together again. Pistons, crankshaft and all.

Re: Show HN: A stop-motion video of an engine

#94

This is neat, but based on the title, I thought this was going to be a bit more informative about _how_ engines work, and how each subprocess contributes toward the end goal. What I saw instead was a subset of subprocesses in isolation from each other, presented in an admittedly artistic fashion. It's impressive, and maybe the purpose is more to whet one's appetite for more information rather than be informative in i…

> I thought this was going to be a bit more informative about _how_ engines work

Agree. I was ready to upvote it [1] literally based on the title which I didn't do and don't ever do. Then I watched and was let down (contrast principle at work).

[1] And I wonder if that is why it's the top story on HN when I viewed.

Re: Show HN: A stop-motion video of an engine

#98
post #34

Really cool idea but my eyes actually hurt watching the end though and had to stop the video.

Agreed, the glitch effects were a bit overdone on the second half. Looks like incredibly high-quality content, though. I'm seriously tempted even though I'm not a petrol-head and have trouble changing turn signal lamps without breaking anything.

Re: Show HN: A stop-motion video of an engine

#99

This was originally a "Show HN": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4974055 And this was Alex's follow-up a year on: https://www.howacarworks.com/a-year-on Very well done Alex!

Thanks - that seems an incredibly long time ago. When responsive design was noteworthy!

Re: Show HN: A stop-motion video of an engine

#100

IMO what is really clever about this is that it is a "sales" video - except you dont realise you are being sold to until the end, by which time you've enjoyed the video so much, the pitch at the end is reasonable. And you've shown what the value is long before I asked myself the question "how much" - which I usually ask early in the process - but not here. At least that is how I found it... great work. Would be inter…

I can't really share conversion stuff yet. But one interesting observation off the top of my head is that my customers MASSIVELY prefer paying with Paypal to Stripe, even though I deliberately steer them towards Stripe. It was a massive pain to implement Paypal and I hated every moment of it but it produced an uptick in payments.

I already have a PayPal account linked to my bank account. I wouldn't keep a balance in my PayPal account, but it's the most frictionless way for me to pay online. I haven't set up a Stripe account yet for no very good reason.
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