Yeah, the tutorials are very useful IF you can understand the concept from doing those tutorials, and work your own magic int the mix later on, apply what you learn into your own projects. Of course the default 3ds max tutorials don't show you that important part, and what separates the good from the bad is just how the information is handled and understood. Mess around, play with what is available, and if you wanna learn how to do something, the best way (in my case that is) to learn it is to see whatever you want to learn, done visually, then follow along with it, and try to understand "What the heck is action REALLY doing, and how can I apply it with other things in 3D studio max", or some similar question like that, then apply the knowledge plus your own creativity into the mix by making something simple, and see that you have achieved something!
Every time I create a piece or animation, I learn something new, ALWAYS. Even if it's just little bits of information or just understanding a certain concept, or a big plethora of information, or whatever, you still learn something. Then, when you apply what you've learned into another piece after that, you learn even more! And it repeats... You see the trend I'm trying to make here? Practice makes perfect, and it's all because of this.
BuddyB's point is dead on. We both have a similar mind structure of how animations and renders and whatnot need to have in order to get "the look" that the big people up in Dreamworks or something get and understand, we talk to each other a lot ;D. Hmm, to put it best, the difference between "third-rate" and "first-rate" is thinking of "Well move camera here, then there, and uhhh, oh, tween this through the screen to make a nice effect, and I guess if the color matches, then it's alright, doesn't really matter, I have the texture to wood, so yeah, it should be fine" for a third-rate render or animation and thinking like "Well does the whole animation flow very well? Is the camera having really nice transitions? Does the materials fit in the scene very well, fit together? Am I utilizing the best possible way to show that the animation that I am delivering shows the story very well along having everything even with itself, nothing jerky or anything?". I like to put all of THAT kind of thinking like a professional and how it's all applied into an animation, all of that called
flow. The flow of an animation is of the upmost importance when it comes to ANYTHING. Notice all those 3D movies like Shrek, Monsters Inc., etc. are all so smooth and even and flow just like how we would flow in real life? It draws us into the animation, makes it feel "just right", very normal, cause that's how we in the world are animated. Any animation with jerkiness or uneven movement or whatever is subject to drawing away the attraction right there, and that's BAD for any animation. Just maintain flow in whatever you're doing, understand that concept, and you're one step closer to becoming a professional animator or artist or whatever
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(Oh, and if I babble like this, I may go off-course at times, if I have, I'm sorry, lol XD)