Post by gamesdecent on Jun 18, 2020 10:34:49 GMT -5
One of the things I always struggled the most with, that a few other guys always seem to nail, and I finally found a technique that helped me plan out my sightlines while I was working on Pastimes and make sure I don't block any good long views. This works best if you lay your holes out and finalize all your sculpting before planting anything, which is how I work, but it can also work in reverse if you're okay deleting a lot of planting you've already done.
All I do is take the measure tool and draw cones of vision from the back tees to the places I want to make sure are left open. These lines then become lines that define what areas of the course I plant, or where and how tall I make my trees. An easy example is the par 3 fourth hole. From the overhead the cones look like they are going straight into the trees on the left. However, the good thing about the measure tool is it rises with the sculpting of the land, so you can see from the second pic, that the left sightline actually goes over the planting in the barranca to another greensite in the background. The right two lines go to two different areas of holes behind #4 in that direction.
The trick is to then plant larger trees outside of these cones to help frame those specific views, and bonus points if you can get a peek at a bunker or two in the cones to really drive home that you're seeing another hole in the distance. This is what #4 looks like from the tee with those views opened up. Notice the barranca is still planted, just not at a height where it affects the sightline, and the larger trees are right on the line to frame holes in the background.
I used this on the approach shot into #8 to the extreme. It's the shot into a green from a high point on the course that has views to many of the holes on the course behind it. It's the picture on the course screen in game, it's the picture in my signature, and it's probably my favorite shot on any course I've made, and planning it in this way is what allowed me to do it. Here's the overview, birds-eye, and perspective for the 2nd shot on #8. The same principles above apply here.
A lot of great courses take you to a high point like this, and there's so much in the background to see that's interesting, you really need a way to force the eyes to focus where you want them to when they're up there taking in that view. I drew these cones on all 18 of the holes at Pastimes to show exactly what I wanted people to see on each tee and a couple approaches and I think it made a huge difference in the quality of the course. I think it's better than any other course I've made by FAR and it only took me 15 courses to finally feel like I understand sightlines lol. Hopefully it will help somebody else too.
All I do is take the measure tool and draw cones of vision from the back tees to the places I want to make sure are left open. These lines then become lines that define what areas of the course I plant, or where and how tall I make my trees. An easy example is the par 3 fourth hole. From the overhead the cones look like they are going straight into the trees on the left. However, the good thing about the measure tool is it rises with the sculpting of the land, so you can see from the second pic, that the left sightline actually goes over the planting in the barranca to another greensite in the background. The right two lines go to two different areas of holes behind #4 in that direction.
The trick is to then plant larger trees outside of these cones to help frame those specific views, and bonus points if you can get a peek at a bunker or two in the cones to really drive home that you're seeing another hole in the distance. This is what #4 looks like from the tee with those views opened up. Notice the barranca is still planted, just not at a height where it affects the sightline, and the larger trees are right on the line to frame holes in the background.
I used this on the approach shot into #8 to the extreme. It's the shot into a green from a high point on the course that has views to many of the holes on the course behind it. It's the picture on the course screen in game, it's the picture in my signature, and it's probably my favorite shot on any course I've made, and planning it in this way is what allowed me to do it. Here's the overview, birds-eye, and perspective for the 2nd shot on #8. The same principles above apply here.
A lot of great courses take you to a high point like this, and there's so much in the background to see that's interesting, you really need a way to force the eyes to focus where you want them to when they're up there taking in that view. I drew these cones on all 18 of the holes at Pastimes to show exactly what I wanted people to see on each tee and a couple approaches and I think it made a huge difference in the quality of the course. I think it's better than any other course I've made by FAR and it only took me 15 courses to finally feel like I understand sightlines lol. Hopefully it will help somebody else too.