Massive progress has been made on 3DS Rainbow Road since the last release. I have spent the last few weeks working to implement the visuals from the 3DS version of this track into the existing model, and this is the result.

Something that makes this update unique compared to my other projects so far is the update from the alpha version to this version was modelled almost exclusivley in Blender, as opposed to SketchUp, which I have used up to this point. The changes that needed to be made to the model to work with the 3DS visuals would have been much harder in SketchUp, which is why I went with Blender for this update. After making this update, my skills with Blender have increased dramatically, moving from only really knowing shadows, vertex colors and basic UV mapping to kmowing much more about UV mapping (which I had to redo for almost all the 3DS elements), transforming existing geometry and modelling new geonetry (although I don't think I'm quite at the level where I can make the full switch). The help that I got from ZPL, _tZ and others was one of the main reasons why I was able to get so much better at this software, so I would like to thank them for teaching me many of these tips and tricks with Blender.

Despite this being a massive update from the previous version, there are still many things I would like to add (hence the version number). Things like the chain chomps, MK7 boost panels, the star gates and floating asteroids, just to name a few, are still to be added. Additionally, there are a few bugs in this version, most notably some enemy routes being weird and the lack of character shadow on the main road material. I would also like to make the model less flat looking in the future, adding shadows and the cool boost panel effect on the saturn section, but that will have to wait until after I finish some of my other projects.

Huge thanks to the following people as well:
Zatchi and Riidefi, for helping to fix issues with the road material
Bladestorm, for the mushroom model
_tZ, for helping me to port the 3DS visuals and for making the road material

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