3D Model Planting Tutorial 

You plant 3D models in much the same way as you plant trees. 

Pressing ctrl/M to go into 3D Model planting mode.

The top left hand image window shows the current 3D object. Use page up / page down keys to select a 3d Model.

Use all 4 arrow keys to position planting pole.

Press the Ins key to plant the current 3D model at the planting pole position.

As opposed to the standard 2D trees and other objects, 3D Model Objects can be rotated. Use shift/Left/Right arrow keys to adjust rotation.

Use ctrl/arrow keys to move and reposition in x,z directions..

Use ctrl/page up/down keys to adjust scale size.

Use shift/page up/down keys to adjust height above ground

When you position the planting pole near an existing 3D object on the course, then the object detected window (bottom left of screen) will pop up. 

If you want to remove the object then press the Del key to delete .

Press Esc key to finish.

3D Object Model libraries.

3D object libraries are currently being produced and will be available from ProTee. However, you can also make your own 3d Models from a 3d Modeling tool like MilkShape or 3D Studio Max 8.

Model files must be in the 3DS format (.3ds) and be placed in a sub-folder of the images/3dModels folder with naming convention Model + Model number.. 

ie images/3dModels/Model1/, images/3dModels/Model2/, images/3dModels/Model3/ etc ...

The file name must also be Model + Model number. ie. Model1.3ds, Model2.3ds, Model3.3ds etc...

Also any textures you use for the model must be placed in the model folder. These can be jpeg or bmp  format files.

You should also make a screen shot of the model so that it can be presented when in the model planting mode. It should be a bmp format file, size 256 * 256 pixels and the file name convention must be Model +  Model number. ie. Model1.bmp, Model2.bmp, Model3.bmp or Model1.jpeg (or jpg), Model2.jpg, Model3.jpeg etc... 

Note: 

Coordinate system

GGS uses the above shown coordinate system as does Microsoft and Milkshape which seems very logical. However, most other 3D modeling tools reverse the y and z axis because it's supposed to be internationally acceptable. Beats me why this should be but you should be aware of it because if you create 3D models in one of these other tools, your model will be displayed on it's side when rendered in GGS and Milkshape. In such a case you will need to flip the model from it's side to upright.

You can flip the model over directly in MilkShape:

To flip the model from it's side we need to reverse the y and z vertices with the MilkShape Rotate tool. To do this first select the entire model, press the Rotate button and enter 90 in the Y and Z edit boxes. When you now press the small Rotate button on the right the model will flip over correctly. Save the file via the export, 3ds option.