PRINTABLE MANUAL : When I started learning C4D, I missed the printable version of the user manual (abandoned since R10). I also found that large parts of the new documentation are circumlocutory, too convoluted to be directly understood without simultaneously testing features in C4D.
I started rewriting C4D documentation, adding pictures that illustrated C4D features in a better way and formatting it to a compact format that could be printed without wasting too much paper. I am also a visual/writing learner - I memorize the most efficiently when I write down the text and illustrate it with my own graphics. When I just read the text or watch a video tutorial, the next day I might forget most of it.

PROBLEMS WITH C4D MANUAL :

Unprintable : C4D User Manual format is not printer friendly - it is almost impossible to have it printed in a usable format. One may ask, who needs printed documents in XXI century? But I needed it - I like learning while relaxing in nature, away from my computer. Also on paper, I can easily add notes, mark parts I should focus on etc... It wouldn't be possible with an electronic version. In C4D original manual, numerous illustrations are just screenshots of the dark interface - undecipherable while printed in B&W.

Circumlocutory : While old parts of C4D manual were pretty good - brief, substantial, the more recent parts are way to wordy for me as if it was written by someone who was paid by text length. Quite often I couldn't understand features functionality by just reading the manual and I had to perform extensive testing in C4D.

Interface related : C4D manual is structured in the same way as features controls - e.g. it describes each tool item, as they are arranged on the screen. There is little focus on function. Various tools can perform similar job: Softimage Manual focuses more on a specific task and mentions various tools useful to perform that task.

From various manuals I have studied, I think that Softimage manual is the best written.

Here is a sample of my printable version of C4D manual in .doc format :

DOWNLOAD

Let me know if such printable version of C4D manual would be useful.

If a lot of people become interested in it, I'll ask MAXON if they would be OK in making it available to C4D users.