How should I go about learning Blender?

Hello everybody,

I’d like to get into Blender, with a view to possibly do CAD with it because I see it’s now - at least partially - a thing.

I used to work professionally with SolidWorks in 2008. Then I changed jobs entirely. But I’ve always liked doing CAD: I love making complex working mechanical models that move accurately.

I’ve also always wanted to do animations - something SolidWorks could do back then, but not very easily. I tried to get into Blender many years ago, but it was… let’s say a steep learning curve, to be kind.

Fast-forward to today:

My company bought a Prusa 3D printer. That thing is fascinating. 3D printing is also something I’ve wanted to get into for years, and this too seems to have matured into a really good, mostly trouble-free technology.

And then I watched a really interesting video yesterday from one of my favorite Youtuber, Animagraffs, in which he shows in details how he uses Blender to create his marvellous animations. In his video, Blender looks sooo much better and so much more stable and complete than what I tried years ago.

Finally, I’m almost exclusively a Linux user. I could swallow - barely - the cost of a SolidWorks license, but I’ve always hated to have to use Windows to use SolidWorks. That’s mostly what kept me off of using it again since I changed jobs.

After all those years, it seems like all those technologies have matured enough that a reasonably clever but not exceptionally bright dude like me can actually hope to create animations, model printable parts and possibly do 2008-level parametric CAD in Blender.

And so I think it’s time I finally invest the time to learn Blender. I feel it’s one of the essential generic skills a well-rounded computer user should possess, like editing photos, audio or videos, and it seems like I could build on Blender skills to finally get into 3D printing and do CAD again, all in my favorite OS. And even if I can’t do CAD with it yet, it seems that it’s not too far off.

How woud you recommend I go about learning how to use Blender? I don’t want to do complicated things, just learn the basics properly and build solid foundations.