You’re very welcome, Fowdy; thanks a lot for your kind feedback.
To pull from a good source is critical, as you do. Be aware that some material might not be well researched on the web, which could give you some grief.
If one thing is sure, in terms of learning Cinema 4D, it is for everyone a little bit different.
The next point is that since it can be used for so many different areas, it is difficult to give any general advice.
With that being said, the best way is to understand where you are right now. Which is often the most significant obstacle. More about that later.
Let me explain. A few years ago, I did a survey from posts (direct questions) and the tutorial requests over the same period (two years). It took me two weeks, but the result was clear, what was asked for the immediate needs was not what was in the tutorial requests.
Another observation (I help people for 16 years in this regard, while using it for a quarter century, so I feel comfortable saying it): There is a particular idea to do cool stuff, and post it on YouTube, Vimeo, Pinterest, etc. Often question come from that motivation (nothing wrong with that!!!). I absolutely understand the idea of creating something to be proud of.
However, there are three states where one can be. If you jump too quickly to level three, there might be a point where a certain burn-out effect arrives.
The first, learning all the single tools, one by one. Using them as instructed.
The second part is to combine more and more of these essential tools, functions, etc.
Third, ignore what belongs together and combine widely, fail with that from time to time, but get something absolutely new based on that.
Let’s say we have 1,500 single essential items to learn (level one). We combine them with another item, results in TWO million+ combinations. (theoretically), more or less.
Third, we mess around with everything and get an option for infinite solutions; hence, something new shows up every day somewhere.
Which means there is a lot to discover. Do you need to learn all of that first (level one), then move on and then three? Nope. You can do whatever you want.
However, the more you are familiar with all the little basic tools (level one), the less they will be in the way when you combine wildly.
Even better, the more you know about all these basic things, the faster you have a library at your fingertip. This allows you to remember that you could combine this and that, and all of a sudden, there is that magical point where all works together, and you get something no one else has done before.
I hope that will motivate you to stick around, exploring the little and simple things. It is the base for that magic, not the copy of some tricks some shares. (also here, nothing wrong with that either!!!) Have fun and kick the rules out of the window; this is your time - and it should be fun.
So, what to have an eye on? Understand that it is all about information flow. What do you produce in terms of information that can be used elsewhere?
When you see something in a tool interface (Attribute Manager), you can check if you know all the parts in it. Remember: basic stuff is all there is to it. Complex things are built with simple things. The information flow might get tricky. But you will understand it better, what happens when you have muscle memory with the basics. (Broken record hereā¦: sure!)
In a nutshell, stay curious, stay motivated, and if something makes no sense, will not work, drive you nuts, please ask, whatever it is (Cinema 4D based)
If you have a problem, others will have too. My philosophy is, a problem comes back until it is solved. Hence my many suggestions even to a single post. There is often more than one way to do things. It is good to be not limited.
Thanks for reading my long text. Since I don’t know what direction you like to got, I have kept it in a general way.
ENJOY