@Rich-O-Brien How much do you think my EMD SD45 is worth?

@Rich-O-Brien I look at that Contrail SD45 smoking a splif and thing "WTF that's magnificent.

@Rich-O-Brien I think "real estate" has been taken over by capitalist vultures that just don't care for rendering and it's all boiler plate venture capitalist trends. Mostly burning money.

I was looking at some of my recent renderings and wondering, how is it that I'm not getting work? Well, here's my latest attempt.

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I've been using a Logitech K350 for years now. Still have a new one on backup. Mouse is Logitech Performance MX which I clean every so often. I still have a Logitech MX Master 3 in a box. Not too crazy about it but overall it's OK. I also have a Corsair K100 RGB Optical-Mechanical Gaming Keyboard which is way to jittery and sensitive. Happiest with the K350 and Performance MX combo.

Biggest problem has been dropping liquids on the keyboard once a year. Have to be careful with that. I have gotten replacement feet for the Performance MX mouse if I've opened it up a lot to clean. Have to make sure I'm stocked. I still have a bunch of Allsop "Raindrop" x-large mouse pads which they discontinued. Drives me nuts when they discontinue the good stuff.

@Rich-O-Brien said in Bending plug in:

McTwist

McTwist again like we did last summer!

Use a regular arc and Taper Maker plugin.

I exaggerated the diameter difference for clarity.

Taper Maker | SketchUcation

Draw a tapered extrusion in SketchUp using Taper Maker. Any SketchUp line drawing tool can be used to create a path.

(sketchucation.com)

I blew up a C2 Flexicoil truck which is used on the Burlington Norther and Conrail SD45.

Some of the innards aren't finished or perfectly accurate but since they're not visible from the exterior view I let it go. I got carried away as it is.

Nice work! Did you win?

Where did you get the landscape elements from?

Thanks Mike and Rich. I did this version pretty quick. I have a lot of spare parts. I'm settled on a weathered look and tall grass for most everything. Was tinkering with it some more and finding small things to fix or change.

@Rich-O-Brien Thanks. Decals from D5.

Here's the EMD SD45 lined up in Conrail, Union Pacific and Burlington Northern liveries.

Conrail EMD SD45. Same model, moving things around for the Conrail configuration. Minor Photoshop/Gimp work for decals.

My trains folder is almost 81 gb!

My UP truck is too shiny. Good enough for who it's for.

Thanks everybody. Wasn't expecting this response.

Here's some more. Might not be a WIP by now.

This is similar to my Union Pacific SD45. Differences overall being different Flexicoil trucks; antenna location; safety light, Nathan horns; and a snow plow/pilot at the front end.

Renderings are "ink sketch" post effect from D5 Render.

Initial sample:

UV Toolkit² has "Fit Texture To Quad Faces." If that's what you're looking for.

SketchUp Plugins | PluginStore | SketchUcation

SketchUp Plugin and Extension Store by SketchUcation provides free downloads of hundreds of SketchUp extensions and plugins

(sketchucation.com)

@Bryan-K Thanks. Beehive as in neighbors that manage to be loud even with concrete floors? Slamming doors. Slamming kitchen cabinets. Dropping 100 lbs objects on the floor. Kicking a soccer ball against a party wall. Setting off fireworks from the balcony. Constantly partying. Skate boarding in the apartment...

Check your SU preferences and the location of your templates folder and see if it exists.

It may sound odd but since I had a left over install of SU I had to create a dummy users folder for my install. It's a backwards fix but it worked just fine for me.

@ntxdave

Dave,

Open up your SU preferences and see where the template files are located. This is mine in SU 2022. Should look the same in 2025.