Playbook Hut's custom route engine equips you with the ability to create and save custom routes that you can draw once and then insert multiple times throughout the plays in your playbook without having to redraw the intricacies of the route each time you insert it into a play.
Note: For information on how to draw routes on the field using the Play Designer, visit the Route section of the guide's Play Designer page.
Purpose of Custom Routes
In a similar way to how custom formations can help coaches save time and ensure consistency, custom routes also allow coaches to quickly deploy plays and provide consistent appearance to complex route designs.
- Saves Time: When a lot of your plays utilize the same routes, creating and saving your favorite custom routes allows you to rapidly develop your playbook and draw more plays by quickly inserting your custom routes into plays with the tap of a button.
- Consistency: Every time you implement a certain route into the plays in your playbook, you can simply insert the route by loading one of your custom routes from the routes menu. Therefore, having the same route drawn the same way in each play will ensure that your playbook will be clear and consistent.
You no longer have to drag and draw the lines of each route onto the field for each of your plays. Now, you can simply create and save a custom route one time, and it can be reused for every play you create going forward.
Create a New Route
Navigate to the Routes page by clicking the "Routes" link in the side panel.
While on the Routes page, scroll down to the bottom and click the "+ Add Route" button.
The route designer will open up and you can begin drawing the route on the field to create your custom route.
Note: For information on how to draw routes on the field using the Route Designer, visit the Route section of the guide's Play Designer page.
Edit a Route
Open up a custom route by first navigating to the Routes page which can be found using the "Routes" link in the side panel. Once on the formations page, you can simply click on a route to open it up and begin editing it.
Once you have opened up the route, you will be able to draw the route on the field by using the route designer, rename the route, duplicate the route, and/or delete the route.
Draw a Custom Route
When using the Route Designer, there is one immovable player located in the middle of the field. This player should be used as the template player from which to draw routes.
Drawing a route in the Route Designer utilizes the exact same mechanics as drawing routes in the Play Designer. To learn more information on drawing routes, visit the Route section of the guide's Play Designer page.
Smart Distance
Each time you save a custom route, you have the option to enable or disable the Smart Distance feature for that route.
When Smart Distance is enabled, it will automatically adjust the route length based upon the line of scrimmage.
If enabled, this will automatically apply an additional route stem to the route if the player is not positioned directly on the line of scrimmage to ensure a consistent route distance. For example, a 10-yard out route will be run ten yards past the line of scrimmage regardless of how far behind the line of scrimmage the player is initially aligned in the formation.
The Smart Distance feature is specifically built for routes that are intended to go forward for a specific amount of yards downfield. Therefore, do not enable Smart Distance for routes that go sideways, backwards, or do not require a certain distance downfield.
You can find the Smart Distance setting by opening up the "Route Settings" section found underneath the Route Editor. In the Route Settings section, you will find the Smart Distance setting where you can enable or disable the feature on a route by route basis.
The Smart Distance feature is enabled by default on each route until you disable it by unchecking the Smart Distance checkbox.
Insert a Route
Insert a route into a play by accessing the Route Menu in the Play Designer. Accessing the Route Menu can be accomplished in two ways:
- When Route Mode is activated, right clicking on a player will immediately open the Route Menu.
- When Route Mode is deactivated, you can either left click or right click on a player to open up the player menu. When the player menu is open, simply click the route icon (as indicated below) to open up the Route Menu.
Once the Route Menu has been opened, you will find a variety of routes listed in groups within the menu.
There are rows of default routes that are available by default. These default route groups include Posts/Corners, Outs/Ins, Stops, and Blocks, among others. Some positions, such as Quarterback, will have specific routes available to that position when a player's position has been selected.
The Route Menu also includes a list of your recently selected routes (if you have recently selected routes) in order to help speed up your play designing process by immediately providing you with your most recently used routes.
In addition to the default routes and recent routes, the Route Menu also contains all of your custom routes. Custom routes are found by scrolling to the bottom of the Route Menu. The custom routes group is the last group to appear in the Route menu.
When inserting routes, the route that you select will be inserted for the currently selected player. To insert a route for multiple players, you must individually select each player and navigate to the route that you want that specific player to run. After you have inserted a route, it will be attached to the currently selected player.
Flipping Routes
When the route menu is open, you can flip the direction of the routes in order to have the route be displayed exactly to your liking as you insert it into the play. Simply click the "Flip" button found at the top of the route menu in order to flip the routes. The routes will be inserted onto the field exactly as they appear in the menu.
Rename a Route
Renaming a route is simple and can be performed in two separate ways.
Firstly, you can rename a route when you have opened the route to edit it. At the top of the route's page, you can click on the route's name in the header, to rename the route. When you hover over the header, a textbox will appear around the route's name to indicate that you can edit the name directly on the page. When you have entered the new name, hit the "Save" button to update the route's name.
Secondly, you can rename a route from the Routes page where all of your custom routes are listed. Simply right click on a route to open up the context menu, then click the option to "Rename Route" and a new dialogue box will open up that allows you to rename the route.
Duplicate a Route
To duplicate a route either open a route and click the "Duplicate Route" button at the bottom of the route's page or right click on a route from the routes list on the Routes page and then select the "Duplicate Route" option in the context menu.
When you duplicate a route an identical route is created with the word "(Copy)" appended to the end of the name so that you can distinguish between the original route and the newly duplicated route.
Delete a Route
To delete a route, you can either navigate to the quick access button at the bottom of a route's page that says "Delete Route" or you can right click on a route when looking at the list of routes on the Routes page and then select the option to "Delete Route" in the context menu.