Noob needs HELP!

[Lee Knight]

Gday all,
Could someone please help me get started building a track,I dont even know where & how to go about it.
The track I wish to build is the circuit used for Australia's 1st motorcycle GP, the 1924 Bungonia GP near Gouldburn measuring approximately 84km(52miles) per lap.
My first stumbling block has been how do I trace the track out?
Ive tried doing this in Google Earth but can only go so far before the page needs to be scrolled on, which is when the line/polygons disapear.
Is there some way of doing this through Google or should I be using the GPS set up?
If it is to be done through GPS,do I have to actually drive around it or can I just download a GPS map?
My track preferences have always been towards road race circuits such as the Isle of Mann, Irish & New Zealand Road Racing and the old Australian road circuits as typified by Woochoo incarnation of Longford (which I cant wait to try). Any & all help would be appreciated.

 

[clova4]

use BTBHD at this link (http://btbhd.microvoxsoftware.com/install.htm) to load into BTB... What you have to do is make a path in google earth, then save path as .KML file and make it somewhere easily accesible... then use BTBHD and it will gather all the path data including height and it will make a similar file and save it in the same place, adding "out" to the original file name... then From BTB go to import/google earth/ allpoints or nodes and load it in... it may take a while to do for such a large track, bit if u have patience u will be fine... for other info there is more on this forum at... (http://forum.racedepartment.com/bobs-track-builder/22351-btbhd-now-beta.html)

 

[Sub]

Going to YouTube and watching through the many BTB tutorial videos there is also a great way to get into it. It's good to just watch them all first, and think of the possibilities before digging into anything. Once you're ready to start building, you can go back and refer to the individual videos that cover what you want to do first. That was how i went about it and the skills came quickly.

 

[woochoo]

BLeeK, sounds awesome mate! Are you doing a period or modern version?

Not to dampen your enthusiasm but you might want to try just a small 500m fictional track with some big elevation changes or something just to get yr eye in. You don't have to release it or anything but it will help you get used to/learn some tricks/limitations with terrain editing, track nodes, track sections and such. It could save you having to re-do various things later on, but only 1/160th of the work. I started a fictional track before Longford and i'm still learning stuff, but the initial laying out of the circuit and terrain could have been better, and i've had to redo vast chunks of terrain, and i've still got more to redo (only 7km though). It depends on how you feel about redoing stuff you've already done i guess. Then again, you might not have to. Who am i to delay this awesome track!?! Get to it

edit: as Sub mentions, watch the videos too.

 

[woochoo]

one such tip might be to use the track segments tool to set the camber of your road, rather than the camber tool itself. The camber tool tilts the road from the centre of the path but it seems most camber on roads leaves the outside of the curve at more or less the same height while digging out and lowering the inside. The camber tool will lower the inside a little and raise the outside a little. The track segment tool gives a more natural feel and you can adjust the camber all the way across the profile of the road. No doubt you'll have lots of crown in Bungonia too. I had used the camber tool for Longford initially but now it's track segment camber and it feels much more natural. You might like to dial in the smallest possible amount of vertical randomness to the nodes of your track segment too, just to give it a bit of life.

 

[Lee Knight]

Reply to all those helpful people out there

G'day to all
Thank you all for your promt response,it is greatly appreciated.
Ive already tried an 2 experimental tracks around the back streets of Taree to check whether
it was me not understanding BTB or Google Earth or just me. So far I'm fine with BTB, it
appears to be “an incompatability issue”with me & G E,it doesn't seem to wish to create a path
larger then the on screen page at the time. The problem comes when its time to move on to the
next part of track and I try To pick up from where I left off,my path just dissappears!
Hence why I sent out the appeal for help, and again thank you very much. If none of you mind
I will keep in touch to keep you all appraised of my progress and any further assistace as
problems arise I'll also forward on my Eh-mail address to y'all.
Just as a quick side note, Ive always been a racer and while I appreciate awsome scenery,Im in it
for the drive and prefer the longer milage laps with a more flowing road like quality (sill trying to
find the Isle of Mann on rFactor)as apposed to modern GP tracks with single apex radiused
corners joined by drag strips.
My plan for the Bungonia track is to make the rce surface somewhere between I.O.M. &
Nuremberg Nordschlief with that typical Australian country road feel that Woochoo has
captchured. As for the scenery Im hoping that it'll be a slightly more modern version of Longford
by which time I'll probably make it available for interested parties to work on.
Unfortunately when this track was originally used it was ALL dirt(they were certainly brve lads
back in 1924!),so Id like to think of it as a modern interpritation of what it could be if Closed
Road Racing was still allowed in Oz for motorcycles.
Well Ive probablly rambled on long enough now, thanks for your time away from your projects
and now its time to get back to mine with your invauble help. I dare say you will be hearing from
me in future.
One last line,if anyone wishes for details on the history of this curcuit & others in the Gouldburn
area send your Eh-mail address and I'll be shore to forward on any I have managed to aquire.


BLeeK

 

[Kris Vickers]

I think using the arrow keys scrolls the page in GE. Its been a while since i used it though, so i could be wrong.

 

[chub_pearson]

The problem comes when its time to move on to the
next part of track and I try To pick up from where I left off,my path just dissappears!

I found I needed to use the arrow keys to scroll around the track in GE when making a path, I had the same problem as you when trying to move around with the mouse.

edit: oops, didn't see Festa's post!

 

[Kris Vickers]

I found I needed to use the arrow keys to scroll around the track in GE when making a path, I had the same problem as you when trying to move around with the mouse.

edit: oops, didn't see Festa's post!

LOL, he has no excuse now, he`s been told twice!