Course design using Google Earth elevations

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Course design using Google Earth elevations

Post by Links Corner »

Thanks to Danny D for this tutorial.

Before reading this, I strongly recommend that you watch these two video presentations by Lez Marwick. Lez does a nice job of explaining the process that I illustrate in this short tutorial. For the most part, I'm simply repeating what Lez says in his video. The difference is, I go into greater detail on how to get the course more accurate.

Plus, I have volunteered to make the course overlays for anyone that wants to start a new course, provided the Google Earth imaging is sharp enough. I will create the overlay and then apply it to a plot, and size it, and then turn it over to the designer as a CRZ file. Then they just open it in the APCD and start setting the elevations, in the manner that Lez illustrates.

Les Marwick - Episode 24 - http://youtu.be/Esldq_re4KI

Les Marwick - Episode 25 - http://youtu.be/f3nsAF4s6mY





The following is a short tutorial on a method of setting your land elevations, before beginning to construct your course. This will be for those that choose to replicate a real course using Google Earth elevations. (hereafter called GE for short)

Assuming you have created the overlay, and applied it to your plot, and sized it correctly, I will start from there...

When your overlay is complete and applied to the plot, it will be flat and only have 1 vert in the center and 8 more around the edges like the ones you see here...

1544595155-start.jpg
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Make several copies of your overlay picture for backup. You might need them. Open a copy in Photoshop. Using your paintbrush, paint small round dots in every spot that you want to set the elevation. I preferred, and would recommend that you use a lot of them. I put them down the edges of all fairways, green, tees, bunkers, and I always lined the cart paths with them. Just remember, the more dots you create, the more accurate your creation will be in the end.

Here's a view of my entire plot. Note the red dots.
1544595224-NGC full.jpg
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Here's a closer view. Notice I have an elevation next to each dot.

1544595269-NGC close.jpg
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Now mark the entire plot with whatever color dots you prefer. Go to GE and take readings in every spot where you created a dot, and then type that number next to it, until you have all dots marked. When complete, save your file, and make an extra copy of it.

Use one of the copies for the APCD to replace the original overlay photo. Name it the same as the original overlay file name, and just tell APCD to replace it. It should fit back in the plot exactly like the one you replaced. Now your APCD plot will have elevation markers all over it. Plus, you have another copy just like it to use in Photoshop.

Once you make an elevation adjustment on the plot in the APCD, Use Photoshop to paint the dot that you adjusted a different color. This will help you to keep track of the ones that are already adjusted. Trust me, it can get complicated and you can easily lose track if you don't mark them off in some manner as you adjust them. It's a time consuming process, and I doubt you will get all of them adjusted in one session, so if you only do a small section of them at a time and want to quit, simply make a copy of the Photoshop picture where you left off. When you come back you can load one of those edited copies back into the APCD and overwrite the one that's there. Then your plot will match the Photoshop picture that you will again use to change the color of adjusted dots.



Before you start raising or lowering verts, note that your new flat plot, by default, is set to 100 feet above zero elevation. You might need to raise it to match the real elevation of the actual course.

As an example, on the plot that you are replicating, lets say that your elevations were falling in the 500 to 600 foot range, but your new flat plot is at 100 feet. Grab the entire plot using the vert move tool, and on the Z axis, raise it up to a middle level somewhere between 500 and 600 feet. I would set it in the middle at 550 feet. That way you will be both raising and lowering to make the whole thing more balanced, so to speak.

Now, using the Terrain Painter set like the picture below illustrates, place a vert in the center of every one of your dots. Do NOT place any verts anywhere else. Only in the dots that you have created. Just keep adding verts until all of your dots have a vert in the center.

1544595672-painter.jpg
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When you are ready to begin setting the elevations, use the APCD Perspective view and the vert mover set on the Z axis to raise or lower each vert to the elevation marked next to it. As you set that dots elevation, paint it a different color in Photoshop.

I'm going to repeat something I mentioned a little ways back. When you are tired of working, make a copy of your edited Photoshop image showing the ones that you have marked as complete, and load it into the APCD overlay texture to overwrite/replace the one that's there. That way you can easily spot the finished ones in the APCD while you do another batch. You can keep doing batches, and repeating the same process as above until you finally have them all adjusted and marked. Once you have all of your dots re-colored to verify all adjustments are complete, you can load the original unmarked overlay photo back into the APCD before you begin laying out the course shapes.

At this point, your land is elevated to reasonably accurate specifications. Now, as you begin laying out your course, the edges and verts will all interconnect with each other at the correct elevations, as you add them. Continue outlining all of your fairways, and greens etc around your entire plot until all construction work is complete.

When all construction is completed, before you start the planting, use GE to go over every tee box, fairway edge, bunker lip, bunker depth, green fringe, etc, verifying and tweaking, if necessary. Start at the first tee and work your way around the whole course. You may spot other things that need adjusting in areas between your markers. At this point, you're probably about as close to having accurate elevations as your going to get, using Google Earth as a reference.

You can also do close-up screen captures of each green, open them in Photoshop, and put dots all around the perimeter of the green, and scatter some thru the centers, and mark their elevations using GE, and then use that photo as a reference while adjusting them in the APCD. I find it easier to make and mark my own photos then I do trying to keep up with eyeballing and remembering places on Google earth. You can use whatever method you're comfortable with. Personally, I prefer logging it in Photoshop as I go.

It's time consuming, and boring at times, but put on some music, or put on a pod-cast of your favorite talk show to keep your mind occupied while you work. You'll breeze through it in no time. :)

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Removing the overlay for testing your course in Links

As you work with the verts, you will be creating the fairways and such. As they are created and you apply the correct texture to them, it will overwrite the overlay image until eventually all of it will be (and MUST be) overwritten. If even a tiny sliver of it is left on the plot, it will save it inside the CRZ when you do a S&V, and it will not be playable in Links.

To remove the overlay completely, you must select it using the SELECT ALL OF TYPE tool,

1544595863-alltype.jpg
1544595863-alltype.jpg (67.77 KiB) Viewed 260 times

and overwrite it by applying a different texture, such as rough for example. Once you have overwritten 100% of it, do a save & verify. The saved CRZ will then be clean of the overlay texture, and playable in Links for testing your course.

If you still need the overlay in areas that you've not completed yet, but you want to take your course to Links for testing, be sure to make a copy of your last saved CRZ file. Then open the copy in the APCD and overwrite the overlay. Finally, do a save & verify, and test that copy in Links. When you go back to the APCD to continue working on the course, open the original that you made a copy of. It will still have the overlay in it.

NOTE: You'll know when the overlay file has been removed from a saved CRZ file, because the file-size will be reduced by about 30MB.

I hope this is enough information and detail to get you started. Once you get involved, you'll catch on and it will go faster than you think.

Good luck and best wishes to all,

Dan

And a big thanks to Lez Marwick for his video presentations. That's exactly how I learned!

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