SketchUp
SketchUp is a 3D modeling software similar to Maya and Blender, except it is not as complex and is more simplistic. I first started using it in the Spring of 2020 while I was at home on spring break, after I had enough experience with 3D modeling using Autodesk Maya for this online course I was taking at the time through Sacramento City College. Plus it is the program that I mainly use to model most of my custom scenery objects that I import into No Limits 2, which is a 3D roller coaster simulation program. I export my 3D models from SketchUp as COLLADA (.dae) files that I import into No Limits 2. I do this so that I can have my parks inside No Limits 2 look more realistic as if they were actual theme parks that existed. Plus, it would be cool if some of my roller coasters would interact with custom scenery objects like actual buildings, special tunnels, or even have traditional queue lines.
I have self-taught myself SketchUp from watching instructional YouTube videos from this one YouTuber who is an expert with the program, and his suggestions have been very helpful to where I can literally accomplish whatever I envision that I actually want to create inside the program.
Aside from obtaining a professional personal license for SketchUp, I have downloaded free extensions for the program that allows me to do certain things with certain objects that I would not be able to do without these extensions. For example, there is this one extension known as Fredo6_JointPushPull that has allowed me to push/pull curved surfaces, since normally you cannot push/pull curved surfaces without this special extension, and can only push/pull flat surfaces. This special extension has made it so that I could thoroughly model a curved freeway overpass as part of this one amusement park I have been working on for some time now.
Another cool thing about SketchUp is that you can apply your own custom textures all from images, which is awesome since you are not only limited to using SketchUp’s default textures for any creation. Anyway I am enjoying this program a lot!