creating a new assets for Trainz A New Era and Trainz 2019 plus reskinning

[DELETED-HhO4h0nQyIZz4q5]

I am trying to learn how to do reskinning of engines,cabooses,rolling stock and passenger cars along with creating structures like passenger stations,like the one in Des Moines,Iowa on the ex Rock Island,the swing truss drawbridge in Sabula,Iowa on the ex Milwaukee Road,and how to animate a pair of Griswold EM Gate Pedestal Mount Crossing Signals With Wishbone Gate Arms to use in Trainz A New Era and Trainz 2019,I have photos of all the things I want to use like the Griswold crossing gates,the swing truss drawbridge and the passenger station I just want to learn how to convert them to 3D mkodels so they can be used in the Trainz A New Era and Trainz 2019.I need to know how to change the painting on engines,cars,cabooses and passenger cars and how to do the lettering and the heralds and dimensional lettering on the rolling stock,cabooses,engines and passenger cars the billboard lettering is a challenge for Milwaukee Road units and also how would you create a Milwaukee Road SDL 39 and SD10? I am planning on doing these things myself so any help would be appreciated so I can do this myself,Thanks in advance.

 

[schweitzerdude]

There is so much to this question.

But let me add a question to get the OP pointed in the right direction: "For someone (the OP) with no experience in 3d modeling, which software do you recommend?"

Is Blender still the top rated choice, or one of the others such as (3ds, GMAX, I don't know what else is out there but probably Sk****up won't be recommended")

 

[K4andT1lover]

You are facing a very long learning curve to do all that you mention in your post. Reskinning is the easiest - provided you have some experience with computer graphics software, like Photoshop, Gimp, or something similar. Next, you need to learn 3D modeling software to make buildings, structures, etc. Then finally are the rolling stock and locomotives. Plus the proper setups and configurations for everything to work inside Trainz. Start with online searches and YT videos. Start slow - you have a long road ahead.

Edit: I checked YouTube, and there are tutorials on reskinning and on modeling with Blender (for Trainz). Good luck with your efforts.