3D Model Course Designing

If you are using  3D Studio Max then go to 3DStudio Max Tutorial.

The new advanced GGS golf course design method is a radical change to the current basic method of using a large single texture file for the course hole.

The basic GGS design method required only the use of a normal graphics tool which allowed users with limited graphics experience to create course designs easily. However, for more demanding and professional golf course designers this method was lacking in detail and clarity.

The advanced method will require the use of a 3d modeling tool. (ie Vue 5 Infinite, WorldBuilder, 3d Studio Max, Maya, MilkShape etc.)

Note: 3d Studio Max and Maya are professional 3d graphic modeling tools costing upwards of $3000. Fortunately there are very good alternatives that cost a lot less or are free of charge. MilkShape is a very good example that is free of charge and can be downloaded from the web at www.milkshape3d.com

Main Basic / Advanced design method differences include:

1. All surface textures are now assigned to the terrain within the modeling tool. The method generates very clear textures and texture mapping boundaries and elliminates the need for the large texture map file so that course loading in GGS is also now very much faster. The level of detail of textures can be individually set for any and each surface area.

2. The complete terrain can be made within the 3d modeling tool. This allows you to apply as much detail as you like to the terrain. (Especially helpful with bunkers and greens etc). However, you can still use a gray scale height map for the basic terrain and import it into the modeling tool and then add the detail later. 

3. The water reflection maps are also now done within the modeling tool and elliminate the need for a reflection map file. The new rendering method for this is not only far more detailed and exact but also much faster . 

4. Lighting and shading are now an integral part of the GGS graphics engine elliminating the need for a light map. Light source (sun) position can be user set.

Basic Concepts

Height matrix and co-ordinate system

The GGS graphics engine uses a 1024 * 2048 (or 1024 * 2560 for long holes) floating point terrain height matrix to determine the height of the ground at any x,z co-ordinate on the course.

This information is used to render the terrain and to determine the ground level at any x,z co-ordinate so that the golf ball follows the terrain. The terrain height of points lying within the base integer co-ordinates are calculated using all four surrounding base co-ordinates. ie to find the true height at co-ordinate x (514.638) z (1056.269) the values are weighted and use surrounding point heights at base co-ordinates (1)x(514) z(1056), (2) x(515) z(1056) , (3)x(515) z(1057),  (4)x(514) z(1057) to determine the correct height.

Terrain Rendering

When rendering (drawing) terrain each element (square or quadrant or polygon) in the matrix is rendered  seperately. To render the entire terrain will then require 1024 * 2048 = 2,097,152 polygons to be rendered.(In actual fact it is double this value because the quadrant polygons are split in two to make two traingles).

The inherent problem with this method is that the rendereing is uniform. That means no matter how complex or simply the terrain is at a particular area the rendering is being done with the same resolution so that  too many polygons are being rendered where high resolution is not required (e.g. on flat ground) and not enough polygons are being rendered where high resolution is required (e.g Pond or Bunker banking).

3D terrain modeling frees us from this restriction because we can now define more polygons where needed and less where not directly in the model. This is known as Level of Detail or LOD.

What is a 3d Model?

A 3d model consists of a number of polygons assembled in such a way as to reproduce a 3d image of an object. An object can be anything from a simple cube to a complete outdoor terrain. 

Each polygon consists of a number of so called vertices (or points).  A true polygon consists of at least 3 vertices. A triangle is the simplest form of polygon consisting of 3 vertices. A square (or quad) will have 4 vertices and an octagan 8 and so on. (2 vertices will only produce a line and 1 will be just a point.)

The above image shows a large number of triangle polygons joined together to produce a terrain model.

If we hide the polygons then you only see the terrain with a gray skin. Here light and shade has been applied so that you can see the terrain more clearly.

If we then apply grass textures to the model and perhaps add a few trees and pond water relections then we have a rather more realistic model of a golf course hole.   

In order to do all this will require the use of a 3d modeling tool and some degree of experience in using it. 

Vue 5 Esprit is such a modeling tool especially designed to produce landscape models.

WorldBuilder is also a very good tool in the same vein.

However, for this tutorial we will use the MilkShape modeling tool. 

GGS is now being shipped with this tool but in case you don't have it you can download it free of charge direct from the developer at www.milkshape3d.com.

To continue go now to the 3D model design tutorial