Using the Baseline Method

Creating a course diagram for course builders

To create a course diagram for course builders to use for building a course using the "baseline method", two things must be done:

1. Ensure that there is a "baseline" (central coordinate axis) showing on the course. To do this, use the "View / Background Lines..." menu item to show the "Background Lines" dialog box. Ensure that "Boundary and numbered grid lines" is selected. To show a vertical baseline, select "measure horizontally from center", and "measure vertically from bottom". To instead show a horizontal baseline, select "measure horizontally from left", and "measure vertically from center".
2. Show the obstacle coordinates by using the "View / Obstacle Coordinates" menu item. Showing the obstacle coordinates will slow down operations such as moving and rotating shapes, so it is recommended that this step be taken only after the course is essentially completed.

The universally accepted convention in mathematics is that in each pair of coordinates, the first coordinate always indicates a point's horizontal position, and the second coordinate indicates the point's vertical position. Course Designer 3's initially defaults to using this standard mathematical coordinate ordering. However, when a vertical baseline is used, many people prefer to display the vertical coordinate first, so that the coordinate displayed first will be the first coordinate used by course builders. You can choose which coordinate ordering to use by using the "View / Obstacle Coordinates" menu item.

If you choose to use the standard mathematical ordering for displaying coordinates, it is recommended that you use a horizontal baseline, so that the coordinate displayed first will be the first coordinate used by course builders. Since Course Designer 3 initially defaults to using the standard mathematical ordering for displaying coordinates, Course Designer 3 initially defaults to using a horizontal baseline.

"Setup" version of a course

Many agility organizations don't allow a judge to send a complete course diagram to the club holding a trial before the day of the trial. However, it is often allowed to send a modified version of the course diagram, in which the order and perhaps the position of the obstacles is obscured. This enables the club to build the first course in a ring the day before the trial, saving time on the morning of the trial, but without giving the course builders an undue advantage in learning the course.

You can create a modified version of the course for this purpose with the "File / New Setup Copy..." menu item. This will create a copy of the course with obstacle labels, paths, people, and dogs removed. If required by the sponsoring organization, the non-contact obstacles can also be moved to corners of the course, to further obscure the layout of the course. Obstacle coordinates will be displayed for all obstacles in the copy, including coordinates for the original locations of moved non-contact obstacles.

See also: Viewing Differences Between Two Courses