Planting last?

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AJ Allen
Posts: 170
Joined: May 12th, 2020, 9:43 am
Location: Victoria Australia

Planting last?

Post by AJ Allen »

Just wondering what experienced designers do, leave the planting as the last job? Seems like it is logical, get everything in place first especially elevations. It's just so hard to resist having the hole look nice, and planing the surrounds as I go. :laugh:

I saw lez's video where he said he just plants one tree type,l so he can see more or less how it looks, then deletes that later. Maybe that's the best way to approach it. if only I can resist making holes look pretty until the very end of the design.

Cheers, AJ
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EJ55
Posts: 95
Joined: January 26th, 2020, 3:01 pm

Re: Planting last?

Post by EJ55 »

All a personal preference AJ and I can think of positives and negatives of both and have approached it both ways.

You can delete all objects on the course and start fresh at any time.

My recommendation is plant as you go, mainly you can play test and look for errors as well. I don't forest trees but hand plant and even that I end up with repetitive trees that need changed. When working in APCD I look at it as your design is constantly evolving, why not let the planting set be a part of that from the very beginning? I can understand where others may differ in their approach.
bmumma
Posts: 44
Joined: April 9th, 2020, 6:56 pm

Re: Planting last?

Post by bmumma »

Zero repetitive trees? You are a more patient man than I am! I like the plant-as-you-go idea as you outline it though. Helps to see the hole as it will appear, which can dramatically change how it is experienced.
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Stephen Sullivan
Posts: 314
Joined: August 26th, 2019, 8:42 pm

Re: Planting last?

Post by Stephen Sullivan »

I've also done both ways of planting. Sometimes it's good to get bushes and trees in especially if they are in prominent places.

Another thing I have done is set up a test plot, especially of the deep grass and forest areas, so I can get a good match for the grasses and underplanting to the textures.
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Danny D
Posts: 1107
Joined: August 27th, 2019, 1:09 am
Location: SE Missouri

Re: Planting last?

Post by Danny D »

Here's yet a different method.

I complete the entire course construction, and save the planting for last. I also use a fresh new APCD copy just for planting and I build up my planting set for that specific course...

The best way I could think of to avoid repetitive trees, (which is almost impossible), was to create a tree category in the planting set with hand picked trees that I chose to use for that course. Around 30 to 50 different trees usually does the trick. Then as I plant a group of trees, I just run down the list and start planting them one at a time next to each other as needed. If its a real course, I like to try and plant them in the same places as shown on Google Earth. By the time I get all of them on the list planted, I'm usually far enough down the course to repeat the cycle. The first batch of trees sorta hides the second batch. Then during final testing I spend one round doing nothing but looking for obvious repeated trees that stick out and are noticeable. The ones that usually show up are generally on opposite sides of the fairway. There are times when going in opposite directions that some will end up near each other on opposite sides.

:cheers1: Dan
Completed Courses
Real Courses: The National Golf Club of Kansas City - Wakonda Club - Coeur d'Alene Resort Course
Fictitious Courses: Northern Lakes - Golfcom Tees
Southern Oaks - Hometown 9 hole real course with a fictitious back 9 added
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