Coming Soon -- J.W. Fickett's School of Golf Course Design

[Sassy Lady]

My main problem with the GNCD is constructing bridges. It takes forever for me to get the sections aligned. It looks just perfect but when I press the ENTER key (Don't want to touch that mouse once the position is set) it's misaligned so I have to undo and try again.

[thrangar]

I don't use the GNCD but have used cad programs over the years

Is there a snap to grid setting you are not seeing, or snap to object

also is there a nudge left/right/up/down option?

[Mitchblue]

Oct 26, 2014 13:40:51 GMT -5 thrangar said:

I don't use the GNCD but have used cad programs over the years

Is there a snap to grid setting you are not seeing, or snap to object

also is there a nudge left/right/up/down option?

Don't believe there's a snap to object and the only nudge goes one way.. At least on the ps4.

[Sassy Lady]

I've not seen a snap to grid or object. I with there was.

[guitardude_324]

I don't know what it's like for the consoles, but on PC, I'm usually able to zoom in up close to the bridge, and line them up. If I can't it to fit perfectly, usually a little bump on the rotation controls will help the bridge look connected. It's such a small change in direction, that zoomed out, it won't even be noticed.

[Sassy Lady]

I zoom in as far as I can. And it always looks right when I hit the Enter key, but it seems like it's a POV issue. Fortunately I don't think I'll have to do any more bridges on the course I'm working on.

[reebdoog]

I love seeing what other folks do. I do very little planning ahead of time. I just kind of look at the land and say "that way looks interesting..." Then I plop down the hole, play the auto generated one and see what there is to work with.

However...I've also drawn out holes before... There's really no right way to do it and that's why I love it.

I'll tell you where I struggle... Greens. Shaping greens is a pain for me. Not sure why. I never get the shape that I quite want or I leave too much room on one side or the other. *shrug* Hasn't stopped me though!

[Sassy Lady]

Well, I use the auto-gen to give me ideas, but I always lay my own fairways, rough and fairway bunkers. Usually lay my own greenside bunkers too, but If I like the way the auto-gen looks, and I see no way to improve on it, I'll use what the program suggests and then work on the depths of the bunkers. I've gotten some really deep ones you don't want to go into. Can't even see the flag from the bottom.

[BMann1976]

Multiple tees help would be nice.

[jwfickett]

I haven't forgotten about this. These tutorial videos are in the works and will be coming soon!

[Peachezz]

Greens Greens Greens, I feel like I'm creating tough (realistic) greens with this course I'm creating now but I can't seem to nail the different tiers or breaks. Maybe I'm using the wrong brushes, so an idea of brushes you prefer? How much break is acceptable because I play on some greens in RL and they have big changes in elevation and really penalise and when I create what I think is the same in the GNCD then it looks over the top..

[Sassy Lady]

I would say just don't have any red grid except on the sloping between tiers. I'm doing a course and on 1 hole, the shape of the land makes anything I do seem too easy. The green, when laid, will flatten the land somewhat, but it will still leave subtle breaks. In one case I had to actually raise part of the green because it sloped sharply into the water. Definitely not a good thing.

[Deleted]

Oct 25, 2014 9:52:40 GMT -5 @ichaozxd said:

i feel that bunker shapes would be a good thing to talk about

and the "over doing" the depth of the bunkers! 

[reebdoog]

Bunker shaping is interesting. I've found lately that Grabbing a brush with a shape you like and starting from there is the way to go. Throw that bad boy down. Now forget the rest of the shapes and Go grab a circle bunker. This is what you'll be "painting" with. Think of it that way. You're painting now and this is your brush. Change it's size...move it around. With this brush you can do just about anything. Create multiple "fingers" or a grass "island". Use your imagination.

For bunkers with different shapes:

As for forming the land around the bunkers...I tend to raise the land where I'm going to be putting the bunker ahead of time. Not a ton...just enough to make sure the bunker is visible from the angle I'll be playing (just a little. Doesn't have to show the entire thing).

Once the bunker is down I go to the "raise" tool and grab the long soft brush (2nd one from the left I believe) and start lowering the bunker into the ground. If you're using bunkers with "fingers" then do each section individually. Make sure the soft edges of the brush are WIDER than the bunker is and lower it down. I find that 1-1.6 is deep enough for most and give is the right "feel" when you're in the sand. Before you press A or whatever you're going to press on your system try rotating the brush both ways a little. You may find you like one side slightly higher than the other. Maybe not but always try it. If you have rounder sections of a bunker then switch to the soft round tool instead.

Once you've lowered all of the bunker the way you like take that SAME tool and start going around the outside of the bunker and RAISING a little at a time. Raise the fingers, raise the edges where the lowering tool made it to shallow. Make the ground rounded off around the bunker as best you can so that it has some character when viewed even up close. Sometimes you can do this and you'll find a place where continuing a little "bump" in the terrain into the fairway or further into the rough makes the bunker look more natural.

For a round bunker (not really a pot bunker...just a round bunker that's got a bit of depth)

This one's easy. Throw down your bunker...grab a flatten tool and then flatten the sand about 1.5 or so. If you want it deeper...go for it. Now here's the fun part. Take that round soft flatten tool and pick a side. place the tool away from the bunker a bit so just the "soft" part is touching the bunker. Press A once...press it again if you need to. This will lower one side of the bunker a bit without losing it's edge. You can even do this on all but one side if you like. No biggie.

General thoughts, be consistent. If you're going to have heavy rough around the bunkers just make sure they are all that way. If light rough...all of them. There are times when this won't work. That's fine. Just try not to have the terrain CHANGE in the middle of a bunker. Keep it consistent all the way around the bunker. Also, don't put them TOO close to a terrain break or you'll end up with sharp edges and odd bumps. Around greens don't get too close. If you want to get close do it with shaping rather than distance. In other words move the bunker out a little bit but lower it so that the terrain feeds into the bunker. That's much better than jamming it up next to the green.

Bunkers are hard. You wouldn't think they would be so difficult...but they are. A lot of folks are afraid of putting bunkers in locations where they may not always come into play. why? Use them as a visual aid...use them to enhance a hole where one side is boring...use them to simply be intimidating. No problem.

[Sassy Lady]

This is good stuff, reebdoog. I always laid the bunker and then use the "Raise" tool in the sculpt land section. I'd find a brush about the shape of the bunker and then contract it to it's minimum size. Put it in the middle of the bunker, go down .5 to .8 and apply. Expand the shape brush by 2 clicks of the mouse wheel, go down not quite as far as before, apply, enlarge and repeat until the shape tool would exceed the bunker size. Got some fairly deep bunkers that way, but if you don't do it right, and I have a few I haven't, it looks like a hole in the middle of the bunker.

I'll try your method. Seems like it would be a lot easier.