So, I think I have been doing this all wrong lol. I pause after you make 10-12 clicks and I pause and try to replicate it as good as possible. I don't know if this is how people follow along the tutorials but I think this is the wrong way of doing this because I may not be able to make anything even simple if Just follow along every step! How do you recommend following along?
This is a very dumb question, sorry but I need to know.
Hey, that's definitely not a dumb question! The way I'd recommend watching something that is harder to follow in real time is actually twice - once to get a general understanding of the steps that you're going to be taking, and then one more time to actually follow along.
Try to practice replicating a 'task' rather than an exact set of clicks. E.G. instead of thinking "extrude these vertices, inset, then move slightly over", think "create the loop around the eyes" and challenge yourself to rely on what you already know to get you there. Think more about the bigger picture and trust yourself. Then, if you find that your version looks different, you can focus more on each individual click if you need to to see where the difference came from.
Thinking of a set of smaller steps as one single step is just something that happens naturally as you get more comfortable with modeling (or any skill) and it may take a lot of practice, but it'll come. Hope that helps!
Hey ssomethinglolz ,
Not a dumb question at all, everyone has their own way. I watch a lesson or even an entire course twice (sometimes a third), not because I'm a slow learner, but to learn what every click does. Not just focusing on where to click but what happens when the click is clicked, what happens when changing a setting. You probably won't learn much by copying every click as it happens.
I started like that pretty much, I followed a certain tutorial and ended up with a great looking donut, mmm donuts 🍩. But looking back I didn't really learn much, except how to change the color of the icing. I'm a little more experienced now, but I will still watch closely without even opening Blender to follow along and then open Blender and not follow step by step, but as a guide adjusting settings and even shapes to create my own version/style. A filled doughnut instead of a do...nut with a hole, maybe a UK thing.
Another point to note, when following courses using older versions of Blender, and you may not know where everything is within the UI, you can download the version being used from blender.org to avoid some frustrations where the UI has changed quite significantly over the past couple of years.
To be honest I learnt the most from the cookie crew here at CG Cookie, the knowledge, skill and teaching style of the tutors is far and away the best you will find anywhere. I will mention @jlampel , @theluthier and @waylow because they are living legends and watch there heads grow 🤣
Thanks! I was afraid to do that by myself, but I gave it a try and I think I nailed at least that part. There are some problems but I will try to fix them. I never usually follow along stuff, I am following along a tutorial after months! It's just the fear of not learning anything.
Thanks to both of you!!
When I started studying with CGCookie, there was a double wall in front of me: no idea of modeling at all and poor knowledge of English. I could watch one video just a few minutes long for over two hours, or longer. At the same time, I simultaneously "deciphered" the translation, and followed the instructor step by step, trying to understand everything he was saying. Yes, it was very slow, but exactly what I tried to understand and repeat each step gives results. So do not be afraid that at first it will be slow - the further it gets faster, more confident and more interesting :) And the instructors are really wonderful <3
Hi ssomethinglolz,
This is totally not a dumb question at all!
Learning is fun, but it's weird.
Sometimes when you learn a new skill, it can feel like you are getting nowhere.
But I always try to think about this...
It will take exactly as long as needed for you to understand and learn something.
Hopefully, that can help keep you calm in times of frustration - it helps me.
I would also like to mirror @jlampel 's advice.
Try watching it twice (or more). First to understand the general steps, and then a second time for the details.
Understanding the steps and why is 20 times more important than which buttons to push.
You can even take notes as you go through the first time so that when it comes time for you to do the task yourself you don't need to scrub through the video and try to remember what value you where meant to use.
It's like you are going for a walk. If you take a walk at you are looking at your feet the whole time, you are not really going to know how you got to where you ended up. But if you walk with your head up, you can see where you are going, all the things along the way. You will even enjoy it more. Plus you will be easily able to avoid bumping into all those people with their heads down looking at their phones ;)
One last bit of advice is to remember what skill level you are at.
You cannot jump from total beginner straight to expert in one step or even by doing something once. You have to level up little by little. So don't aim to be the expert and make something "perfect" (which doesn't exist). All you need to do is aim for the level above where you are now.
Hope this helps.
Good luck with your learning. Learning is fun!