Hi Faunt,
The series with the “Chapter” in the name, were done way back in time, where the printed manuals (at least in Germany) had Chapters. My plan was to go through all parts, then to build up more advanced videos by referencing to the single topic video clips, while keeping the advanced versions short. The only culprit was, that even after over thousand clips I wasn’t even one time through. Then the interface changes, the tool changes, etc. Since then I hope my English has improved as well…
Anyway, the Material system has changed especially in the Reflection part, but some people who predominately work just with camera projection might not care, and some are even on older releases. Like usual, dive into a large network and be surprised what material you get. I think you know that only too well.
My tip, the channels in the Material are the shopping list, where ever you are, analysis the real object, what quality would go into each channel. This helps to gain a knowledge, which is relatively independent from the material editor, or even the nodal based options from 3rd party apps. I say that, as things have always changed, and the less your knowledge about materials got stuck with the “interface”, the more flexible you are.
What I got from you so far, I had expected more a question from the Substance options for your work. Google “the-pbr-guide-vol-1” for example. WHich is equally interesting.
I will have a look if there is a series that would fit more to your target, but what I got so far over the last two deacdes about this, it moves away from 2D and painting, to more photo-collages and 3D.
All the best