I agree this is going really fast when it is all new, and a lot to take in at once. Like many of us I guess who came to this course after dabbling in Blender for a while without real progress, this is probably one of those hurdles to take. No reason to give up though. I will go through the lessons a second or even a third time, take more notes, try it out myself, look things up, until I get some confidence.
This many complaints is something we're definitely taking seriously. With Blender 2.8 coming down the pike, it'll make sense to begin re-recording portions of our curriculum.
The brick wall my brain runs into is how to better explain this for beginners. Unfortunately those that don't understand the material aren't able to offer advice for what could make the subject less complex. If they could they would of course understand the material in the first place. And this was my best effort to teach these complex concepts in the most basic terms possible...that's the conundrum I run into. So sure I can re-record the course, but I can't think of a better way to teach it.
I think this every time I see this thread..
That's very helpful feedback - thank you @brushllama. While I would argue there isn't an ideal linear flow for best learning computer graphics, we tend to order it in a production pipeline format. Perhaps we should revisit the order and that could make it more understandable. Like putting the Intro to Rendering course before texturing.