Reply To: Your CG routine – how do you keep up the pace ?

Thank you for this question. This is a question I have been asking myself. I wish I could easily grasp the many aspects of 3D computer graphics, but I can’t. Maybe its my age, disability, or process making it more difficult to learn then it had been in the past for me. What I do know is that if I start a lesson here on CGCookie and am interrupted missing several days with no using Blender to experiment with what I was shown in a lesson or not watch more of the lesson videos I have to watch the videos again. Because of this I am trying to commit at least 1 hour a day to CGCookie and one hour to “Lab time” using the skills covered by the lessons.

If I find I am having issues with grasping what is being shown to me in a lesson I listen and watch the lessons and grab the Blender manual to help me try to grasp how to complete a task. If I’m starting to get disappointed or frustrated by not be able to complete and exercise I’ve put it on a shelf for a while and go on to another lesson or lessons. Also being such a noob here I’ve been reaching out to the other beginner videos which is helping me to stay motivated. Also, I’m finding it is helping me to get a better grasp on the processes I need to go through to complete a desired task. None of this is easy. Reminding myself this by saying this to myself some days over and over again is helpful too. Knowing that if this was easy everyone would be making their own games and animations.

Some aspects of this stuff comes so easy and other of the processes seem impossible to do. I figure the more time I spend playing (experimenting) with what is being covered in the lesson and knowing I am not going to completely understand everything the first time I go over it but I will be able to better understand the processes better the more time I spend using the software and keeping close by notes of the steps to perform certain task and using them can only help.

Summary:

1. Commit to a set time to lessons and a set time to software practice time.

2. Complete all quizzes

3. If stuck completing a exercise don’t obsess over it allow yourself to move forward. Try to seek out help and or see if there is another course that will compliment the exercise having difficulties with.

4. Use Blender Manual, CGCookie community, and notes.

I don’t know if this will be useful for anyone other then myself. I do know as I just said answering this question has been quite useful for me. Thank you again for the question. And more importantly a very big thank you to the CGCookie team for all that you offer here and the many hours you’ve spent creating a very useful education tool for CGI. Marke R