Discussion: OCAD question

Hi, I am finishing a major course-setting project in 0CAD 8 and have a few questions that I would love to get answers to:

1) Cutting control circles that are very close together. I can't do this in objects mode, since then the change would apply each time those controls appear, and not just when they are next to each other. I can make up a new control with the same code, but followed by a "." or something, but that seems like a very ungraceful solution. Anyone know of a better one?

2) Map change. I can't find anything in 0CAD 8 that supports a map change. As a result, the last control number doesn't show up on the first map; the control descriptions are for the current part of the course only, and so on. Is there a way around this without buying 0CAD 9?

3) Clipping lines between controls when the course crosses each other. Sometimes this works fine, but sometimes the line disappears completely or appears in a different place on the map, or all sorts of other bizarre things happen. Is there a way to do this that actually works 100% of the time?

Thanks in advance for any answers you can provide! I am a relative newcomer to 0CAD, and I'm sorry if these are totally obvious things that I should have been able to figure out.

Hey Boris, after trying to do things like you in 0CAD, I recently succumbed to getting into the Condes software. MUCH easier to use, IMHO. What you're asking for is probably possible in 0CAD, but for a relatively cheap price, OK Linne could get a club version of Condes and you could probably save yourself a lot of headaches. Or maybe they already even have a copy....

Wil, I've used Condes before and like it, but it isn't the norm here, and it's hard to go against the grain in a club full of Swedes with much more experience than me!

"it's hard to go against the grain in a club full of Swedes"... Understatement for sure... ;-)

I have limited experience but have found workarounds for most things I wanted to do. For example, for a map exchange, if there are n controls on the first map, then I put an n+1st control (or an additional finish circle) off the map somewhere and in preview mode move the line connecting n and n+1 (or the finish) off the map as well. I suppose if you want the control descriptions for the whole course on both maps, you could put a set of dummy controls off the map that finish the course (and similarly for the start of the course for the second map). Completely inelegant, but it works.

I've never had a problem cutting lines as long as the line is the one generated automatically in preview mode. When I've created my own lines (e.g. to make the boxes for the stumble maps) then weird things sometimes happened. One thing that I found causes problems is trying to delete a line connecting controls in preview mode - then I would get the weird behavior you've indicated. That's why I move the connecting lines off the map.

Have you checked the 'tutorials' on the OCAD website?

Yeah, they don't seem to help. Will use Sandy's trick if I don't find anything better by tomorrow. Thanks Sandy!

How can a club use OCAD rather than Condes for course setting when only Condes comes with a club wide license?

OCAD 9 course setting has a map exchange capability built into it; OCAD 8 does not. With the demo version of OCAD 9, you can do course setting with a limit of 50 objects, so if you have many controls for many courses, you may need to create several different files.

I looked into this just last week when I was looking at how to print up maps for the map exchange for Red and Blue at the US Championships. I got everything set up ok and things printed out OK except that, very weirdly, the brown in the contours came out much fainter and perhaps in an altogether different tone. It also took a deadly long amount of time to print out a single copy--which may have just been a case of a newer, larger program overwhelming an older computer.

I've used a workaround before similar to that which Sandy suggested, and in the case of the races next weekend, I opted for another type of workaround that works, but which folks who have to have elegant solutions would hate.

In the category of not-so-elegant solutions, if your courses are close to final, you could just have separate course setting files where the courses with the close controls are in different files. You can start with both files synchronized by using the File, Save-As function but if you start making changes you thereafter have to make changes in both files.

Condes is helpful when breaking circles and clipping lines because you can choose to apply the break to a single course or to all courses using the control. I believe it also lets you start a course at numbers other than "1" for map exchanges. Our QOC course setters definately preferred using Condes last year. They found it easier to use though none of us have tried the new OCAD CS 9 course setting tool that OCAD's makers have released.

Though it may not solve your immediate problem, one other item to add which might convice your Swede friends about Condes benefits comes from an Orienteering Today (4-6/2006 November) article that David Onkst had originally made me aware of. The article chronicles the challenges that Danish organizers had when preparing for WOC 2006. A post event conclusion they made was that two trusted people should be involved in course setting using both a common OCAD map template and Condes files for course setting. In the article they state: "To us, it may have even been advantageous for us to live 80km apart and used CONDES so much for exchanging course layouts. "

BAOC has been using Condes for many years for all its courses. It is cheap, easy to learn and easy to share course ideas with vetters. Creativity can flourish. I must admit I have become a Condes addict, designing hundreds of courses that will never be run. Someone help me.