Tuesday 16 July 2013

Yet another project, and, a side-project

Here's a little teaser of something I decided to start working on - a Powell River/Eldred Valley bouldering guide.
 A new guide book is currently in the works, by the person by-far most qualified to make it. I told her I'd help out with the bouldering part, and so far have only produced a hand drawn map...time to step it up! My recent trip to Squamish, and purchase of the new bouldering guide book got me super inspired.

The Stacks: SeaSide Boulder
1. Old School - V3    2. Middle School - V4/5    3. New School - V3

Since my budget is 0.00$, I'm attempting this project entirely with free software. So far the main challenges are creating decent maps without photo shop. I use GIMP, but I have a huge learning curve to deal with before getting good enough to illustrate decently with it.


My plans to head up the Eldred tomorrow may not work out due to car problems, but, here's a pic from my last time up there where some actual climbing went down. Matt H on the mega project, Dog Day Boulder, B Branch.
Projecting in B Branch

For the guide, I'm hoping to be able to use icons (crimpy, reachy, highball, etc) the same way the Squamish guide does, but may have to find away around that as well. I just want to make a printable PDF really, but of course want it to be quality. Wish me luck!

 I just found enough free-ware to build my own version of Adobe Creative Suite! I'm currently using BetaCreator to overlay images with lines and starting points, GIMP to add text/format images/edit photos/create maps, LibreOffice for text drafts, and Scribus for 'publishing' it all together into a book format.

 Thank God for all those people out there who want to make the world a better, freer place! 

Here's my first draft, trying to figure out how to use Scribus.  (*PF stands for personal favourite, I've decided not to use the classic star rating system, for reason which are explained in the guide) Also, the names and First Ascents in the sample below are likely to change, as I still have to do some research.

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