Materials In Unreal Engine 4

After a lecture and a walk through of playing around with UE4 I am still unsure about materials and UE4 in general. I understand how materials work, multiple textures compiled to produce a specific effect and look. At this point 3D is starting to become really confusing to me and while I had fun playing around with the editor when it comes to actually making something in engine I'm not sure how confident I will be with it.