Where are the Gorilla 3D tutorials when you need them? (Anyone remember those excellent tutorial vids? I can't find them, or I'd link them. :( ) They were excellent tutes that targeted the most basic 3D modeling principles with wonderful precision and easy-to-understand language and examples. If anyone finds those, please link them!

As far as "learning to model" goes, I can't see why anyone who enjoyed 3D wouldn't jump on the chance! However, it's not as easy as it looks in the movies... The most important thing any new 3D modeller needs is a tool that is friendly to a learning 3D modeller. Unfortunately, Blender would be last on that list, in my opinion. Blender is a powerful program with outstanding capabilities. But, it is not an easy application for a learning 3D modeler to use.

I would recommend Hexagon. I say I "would", because it could be difficult to use on some newer computer systems and it's not really in "active" development. It's just sort of plopped down in DAZ's inventory, not doing much. However, if you don't mind shelling out a few bucks and then getting it up and running, it's the best and most powerful "newbie modeler learning tool" out there and I've tried 'em all. (Wings3D and Animator were nice little packages when I tried them, but Hexagon is much better.) Sure, it has its issues, like sometimes wonky UVMapping and its resolution limitations for producing a uv image, but that can be overcome by using the free UVMapper proggy, which has been around forever. (There are also some crash issues, here and there, with some machine configs. I get around those problems by running it using a basic Intel chipset option and it works fine, apart from some screen-clipping on occasion. )

The important thing is that Hexagon gives you immediate and intuitive access to every single basic 3D modeling tool and process that you will need. A new modeler MUST have easy and frequent access to such tools in order to be able to learn how to properly use the skills they are trying to develop. It's extremely difficult to learn how subdividing effects a model, for instance, if you have to go through eighteen steps and then sacrifice a goat to your computer in order to get the program you're working in to produce a sub-d'd mesh. Want to move just one vertice? Some programs make you go through a different option every time you want to move on a different axis. How in the world can anyone "learn" having to struggle with fiddly problems like that? A learner must have the option to use the tools they're learning with, frequently.

In my opinion, the issue isn't that learning how to model 3D objects is "hard." It's that the program the OP is using is not intuitive and is not friendly to a new modeler, so that makes learning basic skills a real chore. A "learner" must have easy and frequent access to the tools they're learning with. One can "doodle" complex objects quickly and easily in Hexagon, just in order to learn the basic skills of pushing verts around and what "not to do."

Should one learn 3D modeling? Absolutely. I do it for fun and a general interest in 3D modeling going way back. I enjoy learning "why" just as much as I enjoy learning "how." That made it a simple choice, for me. But, even for people who are just enthusiatic renderers, learning how to model your own objects can save hundreds of dollars, perhaps even thousands, that would otherwise be spent on other people's products, products that weren't "exactly" what was wanted. There isn't anything I can't model and if I want it and really want to enjoy it, I create it myself. (There are some things that I won't model, though. :) )