New trees for planting set?

[AJ Allen]

I have decided the time has come for me to make a reall effort with updatnig trees grasses and bushes beyond what is available with the default planting sets or extracted from other courses.

I have always used Adobe Frireworks for my graphics program (actually back before Adobe owned it, and it was called macromedia) ad while it does some things very well, I just ca't get it to do masking as well as I know Photoshop can. Plus tutorials are everywhere for PS, not so many good ones for Fireworks, ad they only cover things I know already anyway.

Havent has PS on my laptop for years, but I downloaded a copy of the older C2, you can get that for free. While it's old and not updated, it should be capable of doing what I want. So I'm studying all the tutorials on Youtube to learn the different ways to create good masks, remove halos and fringing etc. I had forgotten just how complicated PS was and why I never used it!!

I have found that using trees from other courses can be a bit hit and miss. Some great ones, some OK, and some are pretty bad or too low resolution to use aywhere but off in the distance. So, I'm going to try to build up a set of high quality ones. Not just for me, but anyone that wants some new trees or bushes that they don't see on other courses. Not sure how I will go, it might take me a while to get good eough to create stuff I'm happy with! But once I do, I will of course make them available to anyone that wants them.

So if you have any requests for trees that you don't have, or can't find, let me know. I have noticed there are plenty of some types (pines in particular, and maples oaks etc) ad not many good examples of willows, or wattles.

Cheers, AJ

[milwsteve]

cypress trees

[AJ Allen]

cypress trees

Do you think you could be a little more specific than that? There are all sorts, from swamp cypress (though doubt you would see those on most courses!) to clipped Italian types. Do you mean something like the one Im just doing now, see screenshot.

Cheers, AJ

[pmgolf]

How about this kind of cypress? This is the cypress tree on the Pebble Beach logo.

Pebble Cypress.jpg (223.26 KiB) Viewed 6940 times

and this:

Cypress 2.jpg (1.21 MiB) Viewed 6940 times

Pete

[milwsteve]

Yes the ones at Pebble Beach Cypress Point Spyglass Hill Torrey Pines North and South course and Kiawah Island

[Danny D]

Hi AJ...

I'm not an expert on tree types, but I will be needing lots of these. And thanks for your efforts and contributions to the game. Always appreciated!.

Dan

cdl_02.jpg (71.21 KiB) Viewed 6928 times

cdl_01.jpg (173.14 KiB) Viewed 6928 times

[AJ Allen]

Well, doing these new trees is a lot of fun... maybe as much as actually building a course! Learning heaps over the past few days. I started with Lez's video, which was creating trees usig the magic wand removal method. That's fine for simple trees and shapes, but just not workable for more intricate and involved shapes, like big branchy trees with heaps of sky poking thru the branches. So I have had to learn a heap of other methods with masking, channel selections ad so on. Still learning the best ways to do various things.

What I have done, is create a 1 hole course (need to have a hole so I can view things in practice mode). And Im planting all the things I am creating in there. That way, once I have a good number, anyone could just import the trees into their own course. I'm hoping to do a good selection of tree types, but also flowers, bushes shrubs and grasses.

Some of the stuff is not done entirely by me... images grabbed from some transparent png download sites, and then fixed up, remasked, sharpened etc. I foud a lot of those images arent quite up to scratch, having some halos and fringing, but they make a good startig point for some stuff. And some other stuff is from pics I have managed to collect then edited.

I have attached a couple of screenshots... hopefully they show that I'm aiming to have as high quality as I can manage with the 1024px image restrictions APCD imposes. One of the screenshots just shows a few on the trees planted, and the other shows one of those trees (a silver birch) against a sunset sky.

Cheers, AJ

[pmgolf]

AJ, do you have those trees with no background?

I found some good ones on the internet:

Cherry tree 01.jpg (46.84 KiB) Viewed 6889 times

Pete

[AJ Allen]

Yes I do Pete. If you look at the screenshots I posted, see that silver birch I put over a sunset bg? That was just to show the tree, you can see it actually in the links game in the other screenshot, on the left side.
Cheers, AJ

[AJ Allen]

I'm wondering whether poplar trees are commonplace on golf courses other than in NZ where they are pretty common. You can see some of the ones I have created in the screenshot. The tall thin trees. I know them as "Lombardy Poplars" but maybe they have other names? Anyway, are these something people might want to use on their own course designs? I thought I would do some as they seem to be in short supply as trees to use so maybe people just don't want or use them? Let me know if you would use them yourself. The other type Im trying to build up is the cypress ones. Also, looking for good willows and birches.

Cheers, AJ