Eiderdale by Blakeley [New Course]

[sandwedge]

Things I liked about this course - has some good strategic elements, greensites fairly well done, has some nice tee areas, thought the 3D houses were okay actually and worked well with the fencing.

Things that made me go hmm - grass and bush plantings seemed out of proportion and out of place, water was not level, the colors were a bit too contrasting for my eyes

All in all this is a decent effort worth taking a look at. The designer shows in this offering that he knows something about the architect and is developing a flair of his own. Thanks so much for your effort.

[Joe the UFO]

I just wanted to thank everyone who downloaded the course, gave it a test drive, and then took the time to share their thoughts with the community. Without your dedication to the game I certainly wouldn't be able to improve my designing skills. I also wanted to thank sandwedge for taking the time to try out the second course, especially after your initial shock from the first course (Xavier). I appreciate you giving me a second chance and a second look, and, as always, I take your keen observations to heart.

I didn't use the fall pano or textures because the look on the course is early autumn (when grass is green and some trees are still green) not late fall (When grass is brown and trees are past their fall glory).

Yeah, triangle tees....what was i thinking!!

Sometimes its impossible to level water with the architect program, and when i encounter this issue, i make a 'bunker' water trap, using a two shape drop to lower it in order to give the illusion of flatness, so, good eye sandwedge, most of the water on the course isn't flat... it only looks that way.

>sigh< i really liked the houses on the course, especially on the 2nd and approach shot of #4. Also, you can catch a well placed house in the well placed background on various looks on various greens, which i thought looked pretty cool. What i need to do with houses in the future is add more eye candy in proximity to the buildings. BBQ's, picnic tables, etc...

I also thought the grass in the distance helped show off the contours of the surrounding elevation work, and gave the open look quite a bit of depth, so I'll defend my use of it on the course.... perhaps there was too much in the immediate vicinity of the fairways and greens for the commentators comfort zone.

I agree with the comment about the yellow and brown patches of bushes on the course. It did seem a bit out of place, but i needed to put something on the course to enhance the autumn look and add depth to the grass/bush landscaping, and that was my solution. Although I'm not distracted by its presence, and don't see it as an abrasive contrast to the remainder of the fall look on the course, i certainly could have expanded its use to help players be more comfortable with it as they golfed. As a whole, I actually thought the yellow/brown bushes were complimentary to the look, not distracting.

[Indy Anna Jones]

Joe, leveling water is still a real bugaboo for me also. I have no idea when/where I learned this but I've found it pretty helpful.

1. If you're doing a stream or creek, it's not necessary to have it perfectly flat; after all water runs downhill. Sometimes drawing an oval and flattening a small section at a time then working your way DOWNHILL will prevent the slanted look this is distracting, but still gives a nice natural look. (I used this on #9 on Cougill's; the little stream runs DH after 5' to the pond.
Doing a pond or larger body of water:
1. Lay your texture, making it a little smaller than your final intended shape. BEFORE you flatten, go around the perimeter and make sure you don't have any big differences in heights (unless you want large steep banks.) Build some small hills to prevent big drops or rises.
2. Flatten to minimum height, then once again check your perimeter for problems. If you have "above the bank" areas undo and build up those places then flatten again.
3. "Use as a shape" and expand about 1ft., then flatten to minimum again.
4. Expand about 6" and repeat, then delete that shape.
5. "Use as a shape" and reduce a couple of feet then drop it. Change the outter texture into bank, mud, rock... whatever you want it to be. Then using the 2-shape slope or hill tool, drop your water down 6-12." You should now have a nice flat water object with a slight slope (bank) down to it and normal terrain above that.
6. If you want a wall, reduce the water texture maybe 3-6" and drop it. Now 2-shape and drop the inner shape however deep you want the wall to be above the water.

[Joe the UFO]

Thank you. I will most certainly give this a try on my next project.