stephencrs:
Hey Guys, i'm wondering if anyone else has a problem with the Avatar, especially when putting. As its the most difficult and frustrating part of this game i find it even more difficult when the avatar isn't standing square to the ball in relation to the line. Anyone with some help please.....
Yes, it is something we've all learned to deal with. The view from behind the ball to the pin is seldom dead on line. However, while putting, the reverse view from the pin to the ball is always closer to the line from ball to the cup.
At the risk of making Lizzie's head hurt again, here's how I think they took the photos of each pin location. See the picture below.
Create a spider web-like circular grid with the cup in the center. Each radii are 15 degrees apart. Each circle is 5 feet apart. (I'm estimating 5', probably different).
WGT has a photo looking towards the cup location from every spot where the radii intersects the circles.
In this example, only going out 15 ft from the cup, there would be 72 photos!
The blue dot on the photo above represents our ball, 11 feet from the cup. Somehow the game knows the best two photo choices for the view behind the ball are Camera Position 1 (CP1) and CP2. It somehow chooses CP2 because its Point Of View is closest to the blue line shown from our ball to the pin. It is not perfect as it is slightly left of the ideal line. The view would look something like this.
When we click on or hit the space bar to get a Reverse View (Zoom) the game has selected a photo from position RV, only 5 feet from the pin, where the offset to the ideal view line in blue will be less. (since the radii are closer together) In the Reverse View picture below, the view is nearly dead on the ideal line.
The further from the cup, the more offset we see since the radii (and photos at that distance) are further apart at a greater distance. See below for two examples of 30 foot putts.
These examples were shot on Kiawah #1 and Kiawah was the first full course that WGT photographed. The offsets are more pronounced IMO opinion on Kiawah. Could be the photos were taken at 30 degree intervals on Kiawah and they changed to 15 degree intervals on BPB, the second full course.
I hoped this helped at least understand why there is an offset on the camera views. Think of the amount of photos taken for 3 or 4 pin locations!
(Perhaps my assumption on photos every 5 feet is too much work. Its possible photos are taken at a greater interval, say 10 or 20 feet, and then each photo is zoomed-in on for closer distances)