2551 replies to this topic

[Kablammo11]

Not much happening on my end. Still, there was one thing bugging me a bit. I always felt that the general vista from this particular angle of my panorama was a bit "Meh…". This is it, as seen from the 17th fairway..

 

And this is the same view, some 18 minutes and 37 seconds later. Spot the difference?

 

 

What happened here will be the subject my next post, because I need a second post to defeat the image limit per post. See you in a few pixels for the creation of Mount Tara.

[Kablammo11]

I decided to fill the void in the landscape with a 2nd Terrain. 

So I created a new terrain and gave it the same, general overhead texture as the first one:

 

 

There was no need for this 2nd terrain to be as massive and hires as my Heath terrain. Here are the settings of Mount Tara:

 

 

Note that the heightmpa res is set at 257. Also note the billboard distance for trees being minimal. All the trees will only draw as 2D planes, not as 3D object. The extra cost to memory and processing speed is reasonably low, for this extra terrain. And with such a low height map resolution, sculpting it is very quick and easy:

 

 

At hm 257. every terrain is very malleable and offers less resistance to the terrain tools than a wet blanket would to a high-revving piledriver. A matter of seconds to raise a few hills, smooth them soft and then move and place the new terrain to the intended spot

 

 

All that's left is to plant a few trees. Here's a top view of Mount Tara docked onto the Willow Heath:

 

 

And all that's left to do is to survey visual benefits of this intervention… Mout Tara looming behind the 10th fairway  as seen from the 10th green. Works for me.

 

 

Mount Tara as Landmark, while Frida K. prepares to tee off on the 2nd… okay. 

 

 

And Mount Tara looming behind the 18th Green, beautifully reflected in the dark waters of Willow pond below… Uurgh! 

 

 

Guuuh… I despise that water… But the new terrain of Mount Tara looms nicely, is well in view from a lot of spots and has thus been made an official fixture of the project.

Have a nice Sunday y'all, and a good week.

[Keith]

You guys are kicking some serious butt w/the CF..awesome stuff. 

[IanD]

Excellent post K11... and nicely using the possabilities of Unity with that extra terrain too. Like it...

 

Wondering, and only a suggestion for that extra terrain... if at all possible... maybe shroud it in a little fog... ? If it gains the effect of having that distance look, I wonder if you could really make a haven of Mount Tara...! It could almost become a project (course) for the future too..

[Kablammo11]

I thought about adding some mist (or fog), yes. Especially on the Frida K. image Mt. Tara looks a little bit too crisp compared to the more distant hills.  We shall see… there's no hurry.

 

​Keith, thanks, but how shall I put this…. No CF involved in this whatsoever. That was a 100 percent Unity butt that just got kicked.

[TheBigYin519]

K11,

I've read your last post several times & have come to this conclusion.

It seems as if you might just be saying, that you just might be at a point ,where you might just be able to suggest, that all things considered, there are some things in Unity you might be willing to say, in a limited fashion of course, are, if not ok.  then at least workable within C.F..

TBY

[Kablammo11]

Come again? Got stuck on that one:   

[FixAmer1st]

I thought about adding some mist (or fog), yes. Especially on the Frida K. image Mt. Tara looks a little bit too crisp compared to the more distant hills.  We shall see… there's no hurry.

 

IMHO, and I'm not a course designer, but it looks just fine w/o the fog/mist in the picture. It seems so much closer then the ones in the course pano that I feel it would not display the fog/mist as the mountains further away do.

Jerry

[Kablammo11]

All a matter of degrees and personal tastes, Jerry… I will go and fiddle with the mist settings sooner or later, without any preconception of what will or should happen. Right now, with construction still underway, that is not a priority. 

[Kablammo11]

Another Sunday, another treat.

 

Time to breeze through the course, all 18 holes of it, and play a bit of mind- or pretend-golf while the landscape glides past. There is still so much to do, I know that, but this should give viewers a decent idea of what the course will feel like when it's finished.

Those familiar with the project may note the new, decluttered dry grass around hole 13 (still in prototype stage) and also catch a short glimps of garynormans "flag" up on the green. Kindly use the HD (720) option for a better viewing experience.

And have a lovely week!

 

[IanD]

Very nice my friend..

 

I can see you've got a few bits you'll likely tinker with, and the planting is likely to change and increase (I guess) regarding the grasses. It should add nicely to what looks to be a challenging course. It has all the element of long iron requirements, with small greens, needing accuracy almost everywhere. Not taking a full swing here..! But that's just a first glimpse of playing it..

 

Personally, I'd like to see more variations of the Willow useage.. I think enough has been said on that though. In terms of what you can achieve, I think you've done an exceptional job. I know you're going to keep us updated with further improvements, so i look forward to seeing it in it's proper glory when the time arrives!

 

If i may book a tee time in advance with yourself and Tara, i'd be keen to place a little wager on each hole too...

[garynorman]

Great idea that, doing the virtual tour...  Love the dramatic elevations on the course.  The 4th looks a beast!!!  Loving the drive on the 15th too.  I also think that the grass looks good on 13 and will really enhance the course when it's applied throughout

 

Good stuff

[TheBigYin519]

Excellent stuff,

Nice to see Tara out on the course enjoying a well earned break from all the hard work you have had her do.!

You are obviously still having problems with the grounds staff at Willow Heath, or you have some Scottish blood in your veins, as I only saw one flag on one green (13th).

Great work K11,

TBY

PS May all your Unity problems be little ones.

[shimonko]

That was Frida K.  Tara's the one with the flat chest. 

[Kablammo11]

Yep, that was Frida K. - she's given up surrealist painting, faked her own death in 1954 and stepped into a wormhole/time portal accidently appearing in Coyoacan, Mexico, only to emerge in the autumn of 2004 in Tara King's London flat - just as Tara returned from her own spacetime misadventure involving a self-made rocket (which she refers to - with a slight disgust in her voice and with flaring nostrils - as the "Steed incident" today). Anyway, they teamed up and Frida K. has lightened up a bit since her first career in the arts. She still refuses to ride a bus, though.

 

Thanks for the encouragement, guys.

[pingzing]

hi mate

well done buddy, thank you for your time and effort, appreciate you sharing this great work with us, can you tell me how many hours it took you to get his far with this course.

and any idea when you use course forge do you think if it will take alot shorter time, i did a few courses in tw08, each course took  well over 100 hours, 

thanks very much mate from downunder

[highfade]

I can't wait to play this course, looks real tough.

 

While waiting I would love to hear more about the antics of Tara and Frida K, sounds like there is much more to know about these two ladies.

[Kablammo11]

pingzing - I did use CourseForge for this.

 

It took me around 60 to 70 hours to work on this course, so far. But I didn't hurry, as this was as much an exploration as a construction project. I could have worked a lot faster and settled for less. My next courses should happen a little faster, since I needed to learn the ropes and get to know all the tools. Now that I can see what it takes and how to organize my workflow, I will be able to progress more quickly.

Still, even though you can work very quickly with Unity/CourseForge, why would you? If you still want to have a little something extra, if you are bold enough to retrace your steps to change and improve some stuff, if you go hunting for a particular feel or item, then the hours will pile up very quickly. What takes time is not so much the technology and its implementation, but the design process overall. For me, there is neither a point nor some merit in shaving a couple dozen hours off the total design duration.

 

•••

 

Highfade, I would like the Heath to be tough. The greens are larger than Ian thinks they are, but heavily segmented into small target areas you need to hit spot on to have a go at birdie - then again, they should allow players to use the slopes to help steer their apporach shots towards the target. And from my own TWO days, where driving was so ridiculously easy that you felt bored while the ball was in the air, I have developped the resolve to design fairways that are kind to percentage players and yet punishing to all the long-hitters who stray from the perfect line: doglegs, bottleneck, fiendish down- and sideslopes. There is no point in making a course brutally tough, imo. Even if hard to play, it needs to be fair above all, rewarding the good shots and punishing the bad ones. I wish I could say that it was tough, yet I can't. I would need to play the game to find out myself. 

[MERACE]

There is no point in making a course brutally tough, imo. Even if hard to play, it needs to be fair above all, rewarding the good shots and punishing the bad ones. I wish I could say that it was tough, yet I can't. I would need to play the game to find out myself. 

 

Which begs the question, is there any chance that the CF beta testers could have access to the game to test their course designs? 

 

 

-MERACE

[axe360]

Which begs the question, is there any chance that the CF beta testers could have access to the game to test their course designs? 

 

 

-MERACE

 

I posed that same question somewhere else but silence was the only answer I got.. Maybe you will have better luck?