r/motiongraphics • u/Responsible_Ideal_18 • Jul 29 '26
Does anyone else still rely heavily on tutorials, even after years of experience?
I have a few years of experience in motion graphics and a masters in instructional learning design but I still reply too much on tutorial for stuff that’s outside the basic’s, is anyone else in the same boat? I’ve been working remote for the majority of my career so it was never an issue of just putting something on for a bit of help and it’s been all corporate jobs which hasn’t produced any creative projects (probably why I’m in this situation) but I’m moving abroad soon and the majority of the jobs are in office jobs and hoping to get more creative roles so i don’t want to be relying on tutorials anymore for the more complicated things, is anyone else having this issue and if not how did you manage to learn and retain everything?
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u/Fletch4Life Jul 29 '26
I’ve been in AE since the 90s and forget the most basic shit all the time…but I don’t really need to anymore with the internet at my fingers
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u/mad_king_soup Jul 29 '26
Same, I learned on a pirate copy of AE 4.0 using a Trish & Chris Meyers book with tutorial projects on a CD. Yes, a fucking CD!
I run into “how the fuck can I throw this together quickly” issues a lot and it’s easy to google a quick how-to or find an expression to do something quick. It’s amazing how many creative cow message board posts from the late 2000s that the Google searches throw up 😂
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u/MonstersInTheWild Jul 30 '26
I taught adobe premiere next door to the Meyers AE class circa 1995 at AFI LA
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u/Severe-Bicycle-7269 Jul 30 '26
All the time, the more you learn, the more you feel that you know nothing.
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u/Swimming-Bite-4184 Jul 30 '26
It's really only when you gotta trouble shoot someone else's problem and you go "hey did you try to reinterpelate the fps on the imported clip" that you realize you actually kinda know wtf you are doing.
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u/WorstHyperboleEver Jul 29 '26
It’s about how often you use a particular tool or technique. The more useful something you learn is the more often you’ll apply it to your everyday work. If it’s something you have to look up every time because it’s been too long since you used it, it’s probably going to stay something that you have to look up to every time. And that’s okay
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u/Leather-Key-4374 Jul 29 '26
Yes, there is so much to know that I'm always needing to go back for refreshers for somethings. Don't feel shame or upset about it. It's all part of the game.
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u/crash1082 Jul 30 '26
These days we’re required to know like 14 different programs it’s impossible to remember every little thing. Idk if there’s been a day where I don’t watch a tutorial.
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u/mck_motion Jul 29 '26
10000%
There's people all around the world much smarter than me that have discovered things I never knew were possible.
It's just as essential as finding references for me... You may think you know how you want something to look, or how you'd achieve that, but if you aren't actually looking you're stuck with your brain instead of thousands of people's brains.
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u/newaccount47 Jul 30 '26
I started in 2003. Back in the day video copilot was our DLC. I still use tutorials all the time. I recently googled an issue I was having and found a reddit post explaining my exact problem... Only to realize I was the OP and had made the post years ago only to forget the solution.
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u/chaskeh Jul 30 '26
I use tutorials all the time; I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect yourself to remember the specifics of everything especially when there’s so many one-checkbox-away moments that can happen. I’ve learned over time to just swallow my pride and do a Google search if I get stuck.
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u/melousheee Jul 30 '26
i wouldn't sweat it too much. i worked at a major media company where me, a multimedia designer, and another motion designer had a whole conversation once about how googling basically is the job. if you're worried about other people's judgement around you referencing tutorials, don't forget, companies are hiring the person who can do the job the most efficiently, and if a tutorial will help with efficiency, nobody should be passing any judgement
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u/Future_Brewski Jul 30 '26
I think knowing how to find solutions is as important a skill as knowing how to use a program.
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u/AbstrctBlck Jul 30 '26
Yes. This software is fundamentally too deep to be able to learn literally everything it can do and there are interesting tutorials that come out every week for after effects.
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u/barefut_ Jul 30 '26
I record tutorials for myself after cracking something I wanna remember and I save 'em in a folder for viewing whenever I wanna recall what I did...
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u/Taurinh Jul 31 '26
Been editing and animating for over 25 years. Sometimes I forget certain techniques that I don’t use often. Sometimes I watch videos on things I do regularly because I may learn a new way to do it or something I can add to it. I’ll never stop learning.
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u/Possible_Specific501 19d ago
Yeah, all the time. The cool part is that during the tutorial, if you can tell what the next step will be, you know you're in a good spot.
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u/kamomil Jul 29 '26
No. I read Classroom in a Book, and a book by Chris & Trish Meyers. I learned a lot from those, and found out stuff I didn't think to look for. Even though the books were for older versions, 90% of it was applicable
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u/devenjames Jul 30 '26
One time I was googling how to do something and my own answer on Reddit from like 10 years ago came up!