Thank you. Yes, I am well know around the sites.
Well one thing to stay away from is Mark Bells building tutorials. They were written way back before MM came out and the info is dated and much of if wrong. So much more has been written since then. Don't get me wrong here. Mark was a pioneer for file making and made some nice files but ZT also changed things in the expansions and since then we have learnt a lot more about what works and what doesn't.
Start with something simple like bathrooms or attractions.
Jay and I have been working on a bunch of new tutorials which will be posted at the Designers Guild eventually.
I suggest you get APExp from the ABC site. There is an english version as the site is in german.
APExp
As for Zoot and Makhor - They are in this thread at the Designers Guild.
Here
Makhor is one of the best creations MarkBell made but a lot of people have trouble getting in to work in xp. Although I have. Neither are auto rotation programs. They just make it a lot easy than doing it in Winhex.
They belong to Zoo Admin so will be available there too when we get the files all uploaded again.
Before you make a building you need to be able to make it as scenery and have it looking good ingame.
Have fun.