The basic SketchUp have very limited tools compared to other more professional ones, however there are a lot plugins (that I never used) that could rival even the more professional ones. I like SU since it's the least complicated among the many 3d softwares, IMHO.
The final render is done outside SU.
P.S. my colleague's 10yr old son modelled a small city using SketchUp out of fun (some details were taken from SU warehouse but the majority were original), unfortunately I don't have a copy of the file.
And that's how I got into SU, lol. Challenged by a kid...
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