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~Naeddyr:iconNaeddyr:

Kristian Järventaus  

  • Status: Member
  • Hack
  • Male/Finland
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  • Deviant since Sep 23, 2006, 8:06 AM
  • 22 Deviations
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Tools digest: Flex Projector, yWriter 4, Inkscape

Journal Entry: Sun Apr 13, 2008, 9:10 AM
So yeah, all this searching and I never found anything better for map projection than good old NASA's G.Projector. Which was nice and all, but not the most useful tool re: resolution of the images it processed.

And then cctoide showed me Flex Projector [link] . My god. This program is perfect for my needs. I've already used it once, for the Steamopera Earth map (for which I already had equirectangular bases and whatnot read), and am going to continue using it for new maps of Venus and Mars, so keep your eyes on this space for l'updates.

Caveat: When you wish to convert your raster image of a map into another projection, it isn't viewed in the program itself, but it does a conversion into a .tiff as an import-export process. The base-map (if it's not special in some way I haven't tried to figure out yet, probably some sort of metadata tags etc) needs to be 2x1 in size to be projected at all (otherwise the program will fail the projection), and in the equirectangular projection (also known as plate carree, equidistant cylindrical, geographical and etc. projection) to be projected correctly.

The MOLA Mars maps and Venus topographical maps are equirectangular: Finding large equirectangular maps of Earth that shows nations and rivers and such is hard to on the internet, but some programs, like MICRODEM [link] will be able to generate a map in the right size and projection for you.

For MICRODEM, you first Open Vector Map > Choose (click twice) Equidistant Cylindrical as the map projection > OK, and then Manage Overlays in the map window (which will be blank) and choose to view the World Outlines overlay (which has the largest rivers, Cold War era nations and land outlines). There's also other geographical information available on the internet from some US agencies and whatnot which I've used, like the rivers of North America and some adjacent areas, which was indispensable for the redrawing of the North American borders in the Steamopera world map.


In other news, I started on a short story some weeks ago. This also was because of a tool I'd found on the internet.

For a while now, I've been interested in text-writing tools other than plain text and WYSIWYG editors. Surely there must be things like code-writing software or whatnot, except aimed at fiction writers, and yeah, turns out there's a small industry centered around over-priced "novel-writing tools". Well, I am a well-known lazy cheap-skate who doesn't even bother pirating stuff like that anymore, because sooner or later someone's going to drop a freeware or open source version in front of me: and lo and behold, we have yWriter 4 [link] , from Spacejock Software.

This had been what I'd looked for, and it's pretty good at what it does. Basically, the text of your story is presented as chunks, instead of a constant stream: scenes instead of a whole book. It also has stuff like character-name highlighting, some small location/item database functionalities (not as much as with characters, though), meta-info stuff and some rudimentary spell-checking capabilities. The meat and bones, though, is the visualisation and... work-space presented by the scene-chunk-chapter method. I've found it somewhat enlightening to use it, because it lets you concentrate on one thing at a time, but not necessarily in that order. Scenes and chapters can be shuffled around with ease, and, though I've not done that much, writing scenes from random places as your fancy takes should be easy this way.

There's also some word-count tools, daily word-count goal meters, etc. The Scene menu also has a small > Writing Help tool, but all that does is flash you with an ok-dialog presenting the same advice as last time: which is fine by me.


I've also been using the new version of Inkscape yesterday, and it feels slightly different. Ctrl-A and the Node tools are woefully slow, though, which is strange. Otherwise, rendering is much faster. The tools and tool dialogues have a new system, and the whole thing has become more of all-in-one-window thing and un-GIMPier. The GUI has become a bit vulnerable to graphical glitches and artifaction of the tool-bar - it's gone "white until you roll your mouse over it" on me twice already, when switching between programs.


I've also been using my new tablet I bought some months ago. It's a cheap A3-size Aiptek Hyperpen (a hundred bucks), and perfect for my clumsy monkey hands. Who needs a 3000e wacom tablet anyhow? Not me!

  • Mood: Helpful

Devious Information

  • Current Age: 22
  • Current Residence: Helsinki, Finland
  • Favourite band or musician: JS Bach
  • Favourite genre of music: classical
  • Favourite poet or writer: Pratchett
  • Operating System: XP
  • MP3 player of choice: Winamp
  • Wallpaper of choice: Black

deviantART Notice

Devious Comments

*Rorkas:iconRorkas: 1 day 20 hours ago
Thanks alot :)

--
Ink runs in my veins.
~fabienmater:iconfabienmater: 2 days 12 hours ago
Hi thanks for the fav!
*Ky--Kiske:iconKy--Kiske: 2 days 21 hours ago
Thanks so much for the fav! :3 ♥

*takes it upon herself to peruse your gallery*

--
The DA Soundtrack Project: Music of your Art ♥ Check it out!
~lindbloem:iconlindbloem: May 5, 2008, 6:24:44 AM
thank you for the fave :)

--
is dying her petticoats red and packing her bags
~Steampunk-Girl:iconSteampunk-Girl: Apr 26, 2008, 3:00:38 PM
Thanks for the fave :)

--
Good form indeed!

Smee: How are ya feeling?
Hook: I want to die...
Smee: Oh, no, don't say that!
Hook: I don't have more adventure...
Smee: Ya call this adventure?!?
Hook: Death is the only adventure I've left...
~Zeithion:iconZeithion: Apr 24, 2008, 8:26:55 PM Mood: Triumph
Thanks for adding my art to your favorites!
*NymAulth:iconNymAulth: Apr 23, 2008, 1:56:57 AM
Thanks very much for faving my art! :hug:

--
"I neither affirm nor deny the immortality of man. I see no reason for believing it, but, on the other hand, I have no means of disproving it." ~Thomas Henry Huxley
~Kipestshin:iconKipestshin: Apr 18, 2008, 2:55:46 AM Mood: Delighted
Thank you so very much for the favorites ^_^

Looks like you have a very fun story idea. *peaks at your work*

~Kip
~kchuu:iconkchuu: Apr 17, 2008, 4:47:55 PM
Thanks sooo much for the fave~

--
♥好きにしろうよ♥

Kiriban at 3,333~ Catch it for a free CG~:heart:
~Silly-Sil:iconSilly-Sil: Apr 16, 2008, 8:44:09 AM
Thanks for the fave!
~ClockworkMouse:iconClockworkMouse: Apr 13, 2008, 6:25:01 AM
Thank you for the friend add :). Love your Steamopera!
~Roger-the-ranger:iconRoger-the-ranger: Apr 11, 2008, 4:26:41 PM
Thanks for the :+fav:!

--
:tux: Co-General of the Penguin Army :penguin:
Join at ~PArmy, or you will be crushed before our penguiny might!
Also, I am the Father. Interested? ~Equilibrium-club
~woxy:iconwoxy: Apr 6, 2008, 11:53:10 AM
Thanks for faving my steampunk mech:)

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BEHOLD!
~Paimonerra:iconPaimonerra: Apr 2, 2008, 6:10:38 AM
Thanks for the watch! <3

--
"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world."
~ Oscar Wilde
~avaruus-apina:iconavaruus-apina: Mar 30, 2008, 4:59:18 AM
kiitti favesta

--
Tänään menee ehkä huonosti, mutta varmasti paremmin kuin huomenna.
~Smaggers:iconSmaggers: Mar 24, 2008, 9:41:35 AM
Thanks for the everything. [tips hat]

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Tentacles - Never a good sign...
*athanasius:iconathanasius: Mar 15, 2008, 9:41:37 AM
LOL. as for the devi name it, like probably most of the people on here was from a character name.

Plus I like the word.
~kaneburton:iconkaneburton: Mar 14, 2008, 11:55:23 AM
hey thanks 4 the fave of legion air, 2 answer ur question about the swastika, yeh its meant 2 b British looking, essentially i think i was going for it being a fictional history in which the events of the 1920s panned out differently, perhaps seeing a merging of nazi germany and britain
~LewisBush:iconLewisBush: Mar 9, 2008, 3:51:07 AM
Thanks for the favourites, love your gallery!

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Cheap digital thrills ~LewisBush
Film photographers are endangered ~Disphotic
A photo a day, for the ~SakeofProgress
*kundrys-inner-world:iconkundrys-inner-world: Mar 8, 2008, 10:09:57 AM
Thank you for putting me in your faves!
~avaruus-apina:iconavaruus-apina: Mar 8, 2008, 5:16:37 AM
ja toisetkin

--
Tänään menee ehkä huonosti, mutta varmasti paremmin kuin huomenna.
~Alyxium:iconAlyxium: Mar 7, 2008, 2:36:27 PM
Thank you for the fave on my Link pic :]

--
Get the bird, catch her, shoot her, I dont care,
Get the bird, bring her down to the ground from out the air,
Gotta tear her apart, let me at her first,
Sink her to the level of the rest of us that inherit the earth.
=Starlitdragon:iconStarlitdragon: Mar 6, 2008, 9:39:45 PM
Thanks for the watch! :)