New Features in Course Designer 3

Viewing Courses

• The baseline method of course construction is fully supported. Coordinates can be measured from the left, center, or right of the course horizontally, and from the top, middle, or bottom of the course vertically. Coordinates of all of the obstacles can be displayed on the course. A "Set up" version of a course can be created, which shows coordinates of all obstacles, but obscures which non-contact obstacle goes where.
• The user can "zoom" in and out, to view the course up close.
• The differences between two courses can be automatically emphasized. Parts of the courses that are identical will appear more faintly than normal. Parts of the foreground course which are unmatched by the background course will appear normally. Parts of the background course which are unmatched by the foreground course will either be crossed out, or displayed in a different color.
• All obstacle labels (obstacle numbers) can be hidden or shown with one button click.

Manipulating Courses

• A course, or selected portions of a course, can be mirrored horizontally or vertically.
• The color of any shape can be changed.
• Selected shapes can be moved or rotated with the keyboard.
• Whether the dialog box for editing shape properties is displayed when a shape is created can be specified, on a shape-by-shape basis, for essentially all shape types. When the shape properties dialog box is not displayed when the shape is created, the new shape will in general have the same properties as was most recently specified for that shape type and organization.
• A course can be reversed, which involves automatically relabeling the obstacles, and reversing unidirectional obstacles.
• The technique for creating multiple instances of the same shape is now more intuitive.

Enhancements to Specific Shapes

• Open tunnels can be "bent" with the mouse to take on virtually any realistic tunnel shape.
• Obstacle labels (previously known as obstacle numbers) can now be circles or squares. There are now a total of twelve available automatic sequences: numbers, lower case letters, and upper case letters, in each of light circles, dark circles, light squares, and dark squares. Deleting an obstacle label will automatically relabel the remaining similar obstacle labels. Obstacle labels can be added in the middle of a sequence, optionally causing all later similar obstacle labels to be relabeled. Obstacle labels can contain up to three characters.
• Dog paths can optionally be "connected" to obstacles manually, or created automatically based on a sequence of obstacle labels. Dog paths can be changed with the mouse after they are created. Moving, deleting, or otherwise changing obstacles to which a dog path is connected will cause the dog path to adjust itself automatically. There can be one arrow, and one corresponding displayable length, for the whole path, for each obstacle, or for each non-jump obstacle. The dog path thus becomes a easy way to measure curved inter-obstacle distances. When not using metric measurements, path lengths can be displayed in yards, feet, or feet and inches.
• Text shapes can contain a mixture of different font sizes, and bold or normal fonts. The text can be set to wrap automatically at a specified width. The text is WYSIWYG when being edited. All text shapes marked as "hidable" can be hidden or displayed as a group.
• A "straight line" shape has been added. The size of the line can be changed with the mouse after it has been created. The line can be solid, dotted, or dashed, have 0, 1, or 2 arrow heads on the ends, and optionally display the length of the line. The line can optionally be constrained to be exactly horizontal or vertical. The line can also be "connected" to obstacles, giving a convenient method to measure the straight-line distance between obstacles. If an obstacle to which a line is connected is moved or otherwise changed, the line will automatically adjust itself.
• Panel jumps can be wingless. The panel jump is now more visually distinguishable from a double jump.
• NADAC A-frames are now 5’ high at the apex.
• The directionality of the seesaw and directional jumps is clearer now.
• The jump type of many jumps can be easily changed, for example, from a panel jump to a bar jump, or from a single jump to a one-bar jump.
• Handler and Judge lines can be changed with the mouse after they have been created. The length of the line can optionally be displayed on the line.
• The length of Start and/or Finish lines can be changed with the mouse after they have been created.
• A barrel jump has been added.
• A dog shape has been added.
• A "person" shape has been added, as the new way to represent a handler, judge, timer, scribe, etc. on the course. The shape consists of a top view of a person, and a label indicating the person's role.
• The unusable area shape is more flexible now, and can be reshaped or resized with the mouse after it has been created.
• Weave poles can optionally show training wires.
• Tire jump dimensions are editable.
• Long jump length and number of planks can be specified, as well as whether the planks are ascending or "hog back".

Miscellaneous Enhancements

• One of seven agility organizations can be specified. Only obstacles used by that organization will then be displayed on the shape toolbar. The obstacle specifications of the selected organization will be automatically used by default for all subsequently created obstacles. Even the names of the obstacles will reflect the names used by the selected organization.
• Courses can be saved as an obstacle list to a file, or copied as an obstacle list to the clipboard.
• Courses can be saved as a GIF image.
• Courses can be saved as an EPS image.
• When a course is copied or saved as an image, the size of the image can be specified.
• A partial course can be conveniently saved as a template, which is used automatically as a starting point for new courses.
• UKC-style obstacle labels can be created, and the standard UKC footer can be displayed.
• Obstacle specifications for AAC have been added.
• A new compressed course description format makes course descriptions take up far fewer lines, even though course descriptions now need to contain more information.