I think all of this is good advice.
And donāt feel bad; this does seem a pretty competitive, sometimes combative site. Iām having difficulty with my own thin skin.
But, if you have trouble finishing something and are not sure where to start, why not try thinking in terms of making short animation? Animation is a great venue for your creative CGI work, and YouTube and all the other sites out there are all about making videos.
So start there.
First, come up with a simple story, a basic idea, something you want to get across visually.
Then, and most importantly, WRITE A SCRIPT. It doesnāt have to be Shakespeare, and it doesnāt have to be perfect. But it will make you focus on every shot you want in your short. Writing a script is the time when you just sit down with a pad and pen, brainstorm, write down dreams youāve had, write anything you want. It doesnāt matter if itās weird. Thatās probably better. Iāve read that writers write so that they can find out what they think.
Then, start making your animated short.
Along the way, watch as many tutorials on as many different topics in animation as you can. Go on YouTube or Vimeo and do a seach on āBlender Tutorial.ā Youāll be shocked how many great tutorials there are out there.
Making an animated short will encompass every part of Blender. And you can do the whole thing in Blender.
Along the way youāll learn modelling, the game and physics engine, lighting, rendering, rendering formats and outputs, animation, editing, the Video Sequence Editor, texturing, nodes, the whole shebang.
Donāt be afraid to ask questions. Make friends. Post a lot in the forum and try not to blow your stack when people on BA misunderstand you. Watch more tutorials.
I wouldnāt be surprised if someday you start making tutorials yourself.
And lastly, experiment! Thereās no reason to feel bad if youāve started a lot of projects that never seem to end up as practical, tangible whatever. Iāve learned a lot by just going into Blender, trying to do something crazy, finding out it didnāt work, but realizing that I figured out how to do something neat that Iād never seen anyone else do in a tutorial.
Did you know that Thomas Edison went through 20,000 lightbulbs before he figured out how to make one that didnāt go POP!?