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Since I was mindless on where to go on Feral Monumental (and I need to actually learn 3Ds before I start on a 3D heavy ride), I started looking for other rides I could try out that would incorporate simple 3Ds, such as tunnels and trenches.  Soon enough, I was found looking at un-ltdcoaster's Enemy topic.  I always had thought of creating terrain inverted coasters that were like Nemesis, but never had.  I felt that now was the time.

Next thing you know, I'm starting up on an intense ride.  After looking (and watching) MANY Batman inverted coaster drops, I replicated a complex multi-zone first drop that is pretty accurate to the drops in real-life.  The loop following is wildly tight as well, pulling in excess of 5G's in the front car for a split second.  This is normal though for such a small inversion.  And I liked that I was pushing the limits...

Later, I started getting more daring with the design.  While 5G's aren't on every part of the ride, much less intentional, they happen.  And I don't care.  The trackwork is great, and with crushing positive G's, this ride will be truly terrifying.  The tunnel testings are VERY close.  The wing-over you see hopping over the lift in the above image took 3 hours to position correctly.  With so much speed from the cobra-roll and such little width of space to work with, the banking going into that wing-over is one of the most extreme parts of the ride.  Just the way I like it.

After finishing the mad trackwork (and riding it for pure enjoyment), I hopped into the Construction Kit and exported the track for 3D modeling.  I was in dread of beginning this stage, but since the coaster's layout was so fun to ride I felt like I was obligated to complete the project.  And without trenches, the ride just isn't natural.

After spending 3 days trying over and over to work out the beginning trench (probably the worst trench there will be in terms of difficulty), my SketchUp skills went from bar-none to at least horribly mediocre.  Nonetheless, structures are up, and the ride is taking shape.

One thing about this ride are the close clearances.  So close that there is no space for the dive to be covered from the pre-dip.  Rather, the zero-G roll is rushing to get in the hole, and the pre-dip is allowing just enough room.  This is where the ride picks up, and, in the tunnels, gets the name.

The tunnels, well, they'll be more mysterious, probably even secret until video release.  The coaster may not even be uploaded to an exchange because I want the audio, video effects, and overall atmosphere to be present when the ride is experienced.  Not just some NoLimits wind effects.

I really am excited about this project.  I look forward to working on it each day, even when it takes the SketchUp file ONE HOUR to load (it really does) so I can work on it.  I haven't had this feeling in ages.

Stay tuned,

 - AJClarke0912

This looks epic! I always love underground coasters in NoLimits. 

Haha, if you like underground stuff (and surprises), you'll probably end up liking this coaster. 

Thats looks pretty f-in sweet. May I ask what 3d modeling program you're using?

^ Sketchup

Wow, I really like those pictures and how you explain your work! It's not even really started that we have a lot of info and curiosity about it! I'm excited as much as you are about this project!

May I ask you to make a small tutorial on how do you make those tunnels? When I was working on Fusion, I thought of adding those to the ride, but I failed obviously. Anyways that would be really helpful if you do it!

It helps if you model tunnels and buildings all in one file.  Again, using the Construction Kit, I exported the track and terrain into SketchUp.  Then, I deleted all the terrain that was useless (doesn't have track go below it), but LEAVE the terrain that has track going under it.  This is so that the terrain above the tunnel is actually 3D work and the terrain below (out of view) is the real land.  Then you build your buildings, tunnels, and everything under one file, and finally delete the coaster track.

After texturing and such, import the 3D object to NoLimits, resize fully, and save.  Then open the Editor's terrain tool or the Terraformer to lower chunks of land that the 3D object covers so that you don't get that ugly land fill in your way.  Without smoothing on, you can just make the section of land practically vertical and just "dodge" the tunnel, then rise back up when the 3D object land is over.

Above is somebody else's tunnel from an NL-E thread, but you can kind-of tell where the 3D part is.  You can see the little more obvious texture tilings, but it's still hard to tell.  I plan on doing the same with my ride.

This is looking really good, i never thought of doing tunnels that way before lol one tip though when you do eventually start to use more 3ds and make it more complex remember not to go too overboard... I've found capturing video with 3ds in can cripple your fps and ruin the video so keep  it as simple but effective as you can.

This is just incredible! This ride looks so real and fantastic i cant even put a word on it. I cant wait to see this finished. Good luck

It's looking cool. It's not as much of a terrain coaster as Enemy, but it's close.

Dave: if you use the NoLimits in-game recorder, the FPS doesn't matter, which is the advantage to the recorder.  Randomman4 (NL-E) has a computer that runs NL at 5 fps STANDARD, and he made a high-detail coaster with 3Ds (because it had 3D'ed GRASS) and by using the in-game recorder (and rendering a video for 5 hours because his computer is bad), the video was uploaded to YouTube fine (other than the parts where he used slow-mo, but that's obvious), so I'm not too concerned.

un-ltd: it may have less "mountainous" terrain, but it has more deep tunnels and trenches.  Terraformer-wise, less.  3D-wise, more. 

Again thanks for comments...I do read all of them.

Could you imagine a dueling coaster with trenches? A coaster like Dueling Dragons would be insane, you should try something like that sometime?

Also, all of this sketchup and the construction kit stuff sounds confusing, but looks simple to do. Is it easy to use?  

^Haha, well...

...if you've never done 3D modelling, SketchUp is pretty hard to learn at first, even though it's usually titled as the easiest of the 3D modelling software out there.  Quicker to learn than NoLimits though, as you could probably get pretty comfortable after a month of practice.  NoLimits takes like...oh...a couple years. 

Construction Kit is easy to do actually.  You just open the track file and press "Save as Model", check the things you want included (track, terrain, supports, water, tunnels) and bam, it's a 3D model!

This 3D stuff makes me a little sick.  But I'm getting better, and more comfortable! 

Looks nice, I never had the skill or paitence to make 3Ds files. I feel like some people use them to cover up shotty build quality. Although im sure you're not one of them.

This ride looks really epic! And just a question, how long have you been using Sketchup? I've been using it for maybe 2 months so far, however I keep having invisible surfaces. Mostly custom made Stations. Do you have an idea how to fix that? 

Anyways, i'm pretty excited about your latest project! 

I'll work on that, it looks hard to make those tunnels but anyway thanks a bunch for the tutorial.

EPICLY AWESOME

AJClarke0912 at December 7, 2010 at 4:05 PM

Dave: if you use the NoLimits in-game recorder, the FPS doesn't matter, which is the advantage to the recorder.  Randomman4 (NL-E) has a computer that runs NL at 5 fps STANDARD, and he made a high-detail coaster with 3Ds (because it had 3D'ed GRASS) and by using the in-game recorder (and rendering a video for 5 hours because his computer is bad), the video was uploaded to YouTube fine (other than the parts where he used slow-mo, but that's obvious), so I'm not too concerned.

un-ltd: it may have less "mountainous" terrain, but it has more deep tunnels and trenches.  Terraformer-wise, less.  3D-wise, more. 

Again thanks for comments...I do read all of them.

Mountainous terrain?

It's actually a coaster that does travel below ground! Trenches, the works.. but pretty nice wok on the 3Ds work.

Looks very good, Great idea of making tunnels in Sketchup. Knowing that Sketchup really isn't for big, high poly objects; It's good to see someone else approaching 3D.

^^Well, I guess not "mountainous", but more hilly.

^Thanks!

Mini-Update.  Halfway done with the first tunnel.  Didn't have much time to work on it today, but it's going well.  I'm excited! 

I don't like to say this, but I really hate SketchUp.  It really isn't professional compared to all the other 3D modelling programs out there, and it has unusual controls (no control of dimensions after placement, awkward push/pull techniques, etc.).  I really am not used to using SketchUp, but I can say that there are so much better alternatives than using this toddler-friendly software.  This is only my opinion, sorry to get a little off topic.