hi im new to blender. what do i have to do to get really good? Where are some good tutorials and how tos etc…
Hello, and welcome!
Here are a couple of links:
- Blender 3D: Noob to Pro
- Blender Wiki (see the Quickstart guide).
The blender wiki is the place to start
http://mediawiki.blender.org/index.php/Main_Page
http://mediawiki.blender.org/index.php/Tutorials/Links
If you can’t find something you want/need on these email this forum with something specific.
Good luck
Hi seano,
welcome to Elysiun! Hope you have a good time here! 
http://mediawiki.blender.org is the main page for Blender documentation and tutorials. It also contains links to many other tutorials. If in doubt, look here!
The search function is your friend! If you want to ask a question about a specific problem or want a tutorial about something particular, search here. You might be glad to know that, give it a few months, the search function will be greatly improved. But anyway, chances are that your question has already been asked!
Again, welcome.
Im probably going to purchase the blender book, is this a good idea? Is it useful?
Erm, the problem is that it’s a long way out of date at the moment. Many of the keyboard shortcuts and features will have changed since it was written back in 2.3 era.
will a new blender book come out? when?
Probibly, but not until the updates slow down. It’s only been a month and they already came out Blender 2.41.
Welcome to the community! Always nice to see a new member.
Once the learning curve is over, you’ll be able to use Blender create anything you want.
Here are some video tutorials to get you started
http://blender.org/cms/Video_Tutorials.396.0.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/bvidtute/
welcome aboard and have fun!
people provided links to blender related stuff, but here’s my 2cents, about this forum to keep a nice relation with all blender users plz read this!
common thread and post (so you don’t make double post and people get angry at you for that)
https://blenderartists.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39284
Think before you post (Do not take this as an offense you still didn’t make any stupid post and that’s good! but read this to be sure you know the basic rules of posting and all)
https://blenderartists.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36854
Also be sure to always read the stickies at the top of each forum section OR forum description under their name on the main forum page so you make sure you post in the right place!
Have a nice stay, hoping it will be very long, and full of fun! 
The Blender books are always behind because Blender doesn’t have fixed/planned releases spread out like commercial apps. As soon as the book hits the shelves it’s usually at least one version behind.
That said, like someone mentioned before, the current book is pretty far behind but can still be useful. I started learning with the 2.2 book and it was as far behind 2.26 (if not farther) as the current book is from the latest release, but it was still a jumpstart into Blender.
On top of that, buying the book helps support the Blender project, which is reason enough to get it until a new one comes out.
P.S. You can always use the version that matches the book for following along until you’re comfortable with the app, and then use the online documentation to adapt what you’ve learned to the latest release. However, I’d stay away from the advanced animation features (armatures, etc.) in the current book since you would almost be completely relearning those.
Hardwork + Determination
thanks so much for all your help!!! i can’t wait to start making things in blender!
can you guys direct me in some simple beginner tutorials?
Hey dude. Here’s a tutorial i wrote for the ultimate beginner. right now it only shows how to model, texture, and render but i’m almost done with the animation part of it. Hope u like it! http://penguinscore.com/basicsmodeling.htm
okay ive done that tutorial. What is a the next direction i should go?
See the links I posted, you’ll find the Blender Manual and links to nearly every Blender tutorial in existence.
umm some of these are kind of complicated any less difficult?
If you find them complicated, make sure you start here, and keep going in the same page order (you might learn something that other tutorials might have missed).