Armchr Arch Cont... Judges; the moment of truth is NIGH

[Garland Bayley]

I'd really to know if there's a method for designing more grade level tees and varying the slopes of bunker faces. In CAD programs you just set data points along the edges and move accordingly...

I find putting the golfer up on a stage each hole to be so objectionable.

Yes, I wanted to make my teeing areas like Chambers Bay, at grade level. I figured I would simply just draw extra fairway to encompass them.

[Charlie Goerges]

Good idea Garland, that will work.

For everyone: If you don't find that you can make things look exactly the way you want, don't worry about it. For example, if you've got 16 perfect holes and the 2 holes that are perfect but for a flaw that could be fixed by shaping, you don't have to re-route everything, or try to get the shaping to look right. The judges will take into account that you might have a good routing that gives the most good holes possible, and that some "earthmoving" would be required to complete the design. If you want to try to do some shaping, go for it, but try to worry about the things you can control for the most part. That's just advice, not a design directive or anything, because the point is for you to have fun with it, whatever part of the process you enjoy most.

[Reef Wilson]

Just giving a shout out to say I am giving this a whirl. Thanks for the huge effort Charlie. Even for a techie it's a bit overwhelming, but I am tackling it a bit at a time

[Garland Bayley]

I haven't figured out how to get things to drape yet.

[Michael Dugger]

I cannot get to drape either.  "hovering" does not do anything for me.  In the few instances I have got the "bar" across the bottom to start moving, it gets to like 30%...40% then freezes indefinately.

About ready to throw my laptop in the river.

[Charlie Goerges]

About ready to throw my laptop in the river.

Don't Do It!!!

On a more serious note, the drape is one of the more processor intensive operations that can be done. If you're getting the bar, then you're doing it correctly, the machine is just not keeping up. Provided that you've tried adjusting the OpenGL settings (explained in an earlier post w/screenshot), the next thing is to make sure that you have as few other programs running as possible. Basically that means no applications when you open the task manager. With sketchup, on an older machine, I found it necessary in some instances to perform the drape function and then not even move the mouse (much less click on anything, nor minimizing the sketchup window).

Worst case scenario: you'll have to email me your undraped file and I'll do the drapes for you. If anyone decides that this is what they want to do, I'll probably have you make a backup copy and then delete the map and the 3d mesh in order to keep the file size down for email.



Also, if anyone else is having these kinds of problems (or if you're having no problems at all) it would be helpful to know, as it would let me know if I need to hurry along the advanced tutorial and change it up a bit.

Sorry for the difficulties guys, you have my support.

Charlie

[Charlie Goerges]

Alright, I've made a bit of a boo-boo as far as the location of the clubhouse on the actual course. So feel free to design over that area and the last part of the access road. I don't want to say too much about how this happened as it may give away the course (or reveal my stupidity?) but suffice it to say, you've got more free reign in the design than originally stated. And there is one additional small wedge of land that's available. Basically it's just below the largest marsh area. Draw an imaginary line from the corner near the bottom-right of the marsh straight to the dark green forest area at the bottom and that's what you've got.

Also, if others are having the same trouble as Garland and Michael, please let me know, there may be a common thread there. If you are having trouble, it might be best to post the specs of your computer if you know them (RAM, processor speed etc.). And again, if you are having no trouble or if you are participating I'd like you to check in so that I can get an idea of the scale/scope of the difficulties.

Thanks again,

Charlie

[Pat Burke]

I cannot get to drape either.  "hovering" does not do anything for me.  In the few instances I have got the "bar" across the bottom to start moving, it gets to like 30%...40% then freezes indefinately.

About ready to throw my laptop in the river.

Michael, if it helps, I found that my Callaway PW very effectively moved my Gateway laptop from my kitchen table, to the floor, and out the sliding door
By the way, par for that was 5

[Ian_L]

Charlie, so does this mean we can design pretty much up to the edge of the driving range?  Can we move the range around a bit if we want (keeping it in the same general area)?

As for me, I'm just finishing up my general routing, I have a few decisions to make since I have 19 holes right now...

[Charlie Goerges]

Feel free Ian. I'll make sure the Judges know that the original client instructions were not quite right, and that you guys have more freedom than originally stated.



All,
I haven't heard much from the contestants lately. Is everything working properly? Michael and Garland, are you getting the drape function to work properly? If not, you can try sending me your file, and I can try to see what the issue is.

Otherwise, I'll assume everything is going properly.

Charlie

[Mike McGuire]

Will there be issues using your files with mac os x?

[Garland Bayley]

Mike, I am by no means technically talented (just ask Charlie), but I had almost no problems with Sketchup.  Charlie made a PDF tutorial for the earlier activity which was very good...

Where is this PDF? It has become very clear to me that there is too much background left out in the videos for a novice to understand what is going on by just watching the videos.

[Charlie Goerges]

Garland, here is the link to that tutorial. I did it with a different map, so don't be surprised when it doesn't look too familiar. Let me know if this helps at all.

http://cid-f73fd6728c175582.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Armchair%20Architecture%20Contest/simplified%20tutorial.pdf



Mike, there is a version of sketchup for Mac OSX that will read the sketchup files. The issue might be with which version of OSX you have and if that version is supported.

Here is the link: http://sketchup.google.com/download/gsu.html Just make sure to select the radio button for OSX. I see that it requires version 10.4 or higher.

[Ian_L]

I can't remember, is there a video of the draping process?  If it's not in the video tutorial, that might be a good addition if you have the time.

[Charlie Goerges]

I believe one of the videos shows how to do the drape. But if anyone need some more info, let me know.

[Andy Levett]

Hi Charlie,

First off thanks for putting a lot of effort and expertise into this. It's a lot of fun.

I was a little late starting but have got as far as flying around the 3D landscape in Sketchup, looking for possible golf holes. I love that part – like having your own infinitely patient copter pilot but without the noise and the bills.

Though my routing’s not finalised I’ve viewed your videos and had a go at drawing a hole, and have a query about modifying the terrain. If, say, you wanted to chop the top off a ridge to make a green how would you do that? I’m all for minimalism but even the Old Dead Guys would move a little dirt.

Cheers
Andy

[Charlie Goerges]

Hi Andy, Glad you're aboard! You can take one of two courses of action with your example.

You could do nothing. The judges will be taking into account the fact that many won't be able to do any earthmoving (due to lack of familiarity with Sketchup), and so will judge based on the best routing with the idea being that earthmoving may be required to complete the design.

You can try the smoove tool. You'll need to right-click the 3D terrain mesh and click Edit Group. Then select the Smoove tool. You select the diameter of the tool by typing it in and pressing Enter. Then click and drag on the area you'd like to edit. Bear in mind that the judges won't necessarily award you a higher rating because of the earthmoving.

Best of luck and if you have additional questions, post them here.

Charlie

[Kirk Gill]

Charlie, I think in running the drape command I have added something to the mesh layer that I'd love to get rid of. There are now all kinds of straight lines on that layer that weren't there before - zig zags on hillsides and the like. I think this was "hidden geometry" that is now annoyingly visible. And I've already made sure that viewing hidden geometry is unchecked. The lines appeared after I did a "drape" operation. Any ideas? This is frustrating, but still enjoyable, even though I may never have a course finished !

[Charlie Goerges]

Charlie, I think in running the drape command I have added something to the mesh layer that I'd love to get rid of. There are now all kinds of straight lines on that layer that weren't there before - zig zags on hillsides and the like. I think this was "hidden geometry" that is now annoyingly visible. And I've already made sure that viewing hidden geometry is unchecked. The lines appeared after I did a "drape" operation. Any ideas? This is frustrating, but still enjoyable, even though I may never have a course finished !

Kirk, I had a response typed out, then went to test whether it was applicable, and it wasn't. I have seen this issue before, but I am not quite sure what might be causing it. If you'd like to email me the file just to troubleshoot it, I can have a look at it tonight. Once those lines have appeared, I'm not certain they can be removed, unless you have not saved and closed the file. If you haven't closed the file yet, just start clicking undo under the Edit menu until the file returns to it's present state. You can also check the backup file. This is the .skb file that sketchup creates. Change the file name to something different, and change the b in .skb, to a p. Then open the file and see how it looks.

[Garland Bayley]

Kirk,

I've got the same problem. Another problem that makes me scratch my head. I have drapped holes and the terrain is reversed with the ponds on the top of hills.


The inconsistency of this tool reminds me of yesteryear and using very immature software.

[Michael Dugger]

My machine keeps crashing during drape so I'll have to shoot it over to you, Charlie.  I'll do that asap.

[Charlie Goerges]

Kirk, Michael, Garland, Feel free to send your files to me at ccgoergesAThotmail.com (replace AT with the proper symbol) and I'll take a look at them. If I find a common thread, it may make everyone's life easier.  Sorry for the trouble you've had.

Charlie

Oh, and if you can't load up an email attachment that size, just save a copy and delete the map layer and then try again. If that doesn't work, delete the Contours and Mesh layer and send me just your hole designs.

[Steve Lang]

 

Can you give us the latitude of the course? Northern or southern hemisphere?

Can you tell us how much rainfall and snowfall the site gets?

[Charlie Goerges]

Steve,

Northern Hemisphere, I'd guess that it gets a few to several feet of snow per year. Not a ton of rain. The season is between 6-7 months+-. It gets 10-20 inches of rain from May 1 to Oct 31.

[Steve Lang]

  Charlie,

Just got everything downloaded..

thanks.. you've given us more challenge than most want.. 

on the map_02 jpeg..  I can't seem to make out the scale.. is it :

|___|________|________________|
|      100 ft      300 ft                       900 ft


Also map_01 seems to be an inverse view of the topo map..  is that correct?

Are you defining any soils at the site?  You could really get folks going with a SCS type soils map.  I assume there's plenty of clay near those marshes..

Where does run off drainage go currently when it crosses site boundary, other than to marshes and their discharge points.. is regional drainge to N, S, E, or W?  Is there run-on?