Tracing GolfLogix Green Contours...

[Danny D]

I use both the terrain painter and add vert tools

I've used the terrain painter too Glenn, but I get really frustrated with the way it pulls some of the edges back out of lines I already created. But the one thing that really ticks me off most is when it shoots out 2 or 3 verts next to each other, especially when working in tight areas such as the contour maps. I hate that...

Also, I didn't mean that I start popping the verts into the center first. What I was implying was to set up your green like a wagon wheel before you begin popping in the verts. At that point you can start somewhere out on any edge and work your way across, or up or down. It really doesn't matter at that stage.

Dan

[pmgolf]

I use both the terrain painter and add vert tools

I've used the terrain painter too Glenn, but I get really frustrated with the way it pulls some of the edges back out of lines I already created. But the one thing that really ticks me off most is when it shoots out 2 or 3 verts next to each other, especially when working in tight areas such as the contour maps. I hate that...

Also, I didn't mean that I start popping the verts into the center first. What I was implying was to set up your green like a wagon wheel before you begin popping in the verts. At that point you can start somewhere out on any edge and work your way across, or up or down. It really doesn't matter at that stage.

Dan

That's the kind of info I was looking for, Danny. Thanks!

Pete

[braden1308]

Danny,

I see what you mean about the wagon wheel theory and it sounds interesting. I actually get started with the green fringe and once the green is laid out I just start applying the contour lines. I use the extra verts that were already on the green as anchor points for my new verts then move them around as needed. I also go crazy with the terrain painter but you just have to pay closer attention to what the darn thing will do to the work you have already done.

Glenn

[wojo]

I looked into get StrackaLine, but my course has never been laser-captured. I did figure out a cleaner method for using GolfLogix contours. First you make a TG of a green, making sure you have the long axis pointing in the same direction as your course. GolfLogix has a 5 foot grid printed over the green images, so you can easily size your image correctly once you apply it to a green.

I created a flattened green with a vertex at the center and about 20 perimeter vertices... being sure to move a vertex over to the points where contour lines intersect the perimeter of the green. Then I dragged the center point of the green down into the lowest area of the green. Then I picked all the intersections of the radial lines where they crossed the first contour line. Then same for the next highest contour and so on. I worked on one contour line at a time... deleting points when it looked like I was getting too many polygons (by dragging a few points over to a neighboring point and did a nondestructive delete. I kept marching up the hill picking intersections and keeping the number of polygons manageable.

Once i got a good set of points I selected all the points on and above the contour line wanted to adjust the height. GolfLogix has 3" contour lines, so I dragged the points upward in 3" intervals. Again, I repeated the height adjustment process... marching uphill until I reached the highest set of contour line points.

I don't know about StrackaLine, but GolfLogix includes a little area outside the green edge which helps getting the lips of the sand traps right too.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
Wojo

[dorse72]

Here is Winged Foot West's #3

1) Bring the hole into Photoshop via screenshot, TRACE around the contour lines, every 2 or 3" with a bright color, save as .tga

2) Bring into APCD scale correctly

3) Flatten green and surrounding fringes and rolloffs, say 3' off the green to the height of your very front contour line at entrance to the green - rolloffs matter so important to get the surrounds correct as in falling off usually or rising up - very important. Delete all your verts except for a few. It will look terrible but that's ok.

4) Start at the front and start tracing the line with the spray painter, easy as pie. sure the painter lays down doubles every now and then, just delete them. the terrain painter lays down doubles because there are too many verts where your painting, deleting most of the verts solves this fairly well. Really, it doesn't take that long, and your getting a perfectly contoured IRL green, which is important.

5) Select the entire line of verts and move it to your exact height, double check your contours before and after to make sure your staying on track.

6) Move your way up the green from front to back and watch your green take shape. there are always tricky parts where the contours go back down are winds itself backwards, these are important so follow the line closely and be sure you know if the next line is up or down.

7). forgot to mention, then tie-off course to your properly contoured verts on the edge of the greens without moving the contour lined verts.

my 2 cents - btw, hope you have your shortcuts setup with the hotkey assignments, you can go 3x as fast

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