Free diagramming tool

Black-Shadow_Hawk · February 14th, 2009, 5:06 am

It has occurred to me that none of the members of this site are aware of a free program that has good diagramming capabilities. Unless, of course, these people do not mind paying $800 USD for a diagramming program. Well, I hope that the average-income people on this site can now have their wish: a free program capable of diagramming.
This program is actually an image manipulation program, but diagramming is essentially just that.
This program is called GIMP.
http://www.gimp.org/downloads/ This is where it can be downloaded. There are many 'mirror' sites, which enable you to download it from the country closest to you.
http://www.gimp.org/docs/ User manual, available in A LOT of different languages.
The tool that I use to diagram (yes, I diagrammed with it) is the paths tool. I also used the grid. I will add more to this post later.
Please note, I am not in any way indorsing a commercial product advertised as free that will threaten your computer. I have downloaded this and I trust this program.
Cheers!

ahudson · Post by **ahudson** » February 14th, 2009, 8:13 am

Inkscape is also free, and MUCH better suited to diagramming. I use it, and I know several others do as well.

The big difference between GIMP and Inkscape is that GIMP is a raster graphics editor, and Inkscape is a vector graphics editor. This means that GIMP is built to deal with things on a pixel-by-pixel level, which takes up much more space and is geared towards photo editing and realism instead of the somewhat abstract, minimal aesthetic that good diagrammers aim for.

Inkscape, on the other hand, is built to deal specifically with scalable vector graphics, which produce much smaller files that can easily be exported to .pdf. Vector graphics also look much neater because they don't work on a pixel-by-pixel basis. They're also easier to edit, in the long run. In my experience, Inkscape is much, much better for origami diagrams.

I've never seen anyone successfully use a raster graphics program to make good diagrams. All the other programs that are used -- Inkscape, Freehand, Illustrator, CorelDraw, even AutoCAD -- are vector graphics editors. Could you show us yours?

Ondrej.Cibulka · Post by **Ondrej.Cibulka** » February 14th, 2009, 9:53 pm

Diagramming by using GIMP?

You are very funny.

Black-Shadow_Hawk · February 21st, 2009, 3:55 am

ahudson wrote:...

I have checked out Inkscape out, and would LOVE to download it, but it's 30 some Megabytes big, which would take, at a conservative estimate, 4-6 hours, which would be fine if our Internet connection doesn't drop every 2 hours.

And I would love to show you my diagrams, but I have no site/blog/Flickr/bog to put my diagrams in. I tried to submit them to the ODB but it says something about timing out. (It must be taking an eternal coffee break.)

Ondrej.Cibulka wrote:...

It worked! Not book-quality, but legible! I was even able to make it into a PDF.

Moderator Comment: merged double post, please use the EDIT button

ahudson · Post by **ahudson** » February 21st, 2009, 6:02 am

The reason we're laughing is that Inkscape is 1) much easier to use and 2) produces a much better result with less effort.

GIMP is pretty big, ~15 MB if I read correctly... Anyway, you should try downloading the package at a library or school, they generally have faster internet. Then either write it to a CD or use a USB drive to copy it over.

In terms of diagramming, I found Microsoft Paint (the default windows draw program, for you mac users) to be more useful than GIMP. But maybe I'm just weird.

Black-Shadow_Hawk · February 21st, 2009, 8:02 pm

That sounds like a good idea.
This is how I do it, and one of you might want to give it a try.
Open a blank document.
Turn the grid on. I don't quite remember, but I believe I used 16x16.
Select the Paths tool. And make sure that the 'snap to grid' option is turned on.
Now, use the Paths tool to make a 4x4 square. Then open the Paths dialog box (or press SHIFT+2) and press stroke path. If you press SHIFT+2, it will open automatically. Then choose whether to stroke it with mountain fold line (dash-dot-dot), valley, solid et cetera. And if you are careful and make the shape enclosed it will be able to be filled with a color, so you can make it shaded, too.
Need me to explain more?

insaneorigami · Post by **insaneorigami** » February 21st, 2009, 8:58 pm

lol, I was about to download it until I read the comments....... ....I like inkscape now that I know how to use it

ahudson · Post by **ahudson** » February 22nd, 2009, 10:25 pm

Black-Shadow_Hawk wrote:That sounds like a good idea.
This is how I do it, and one of you might want to give it a try.
(snip)

I know. I've used GIMP a lot to edit photos and make posters (Last year I was seriously considering a college major in Graphic Design) And it works fine for that sort of thing.

BUT for diagramming, Inkscape is MUCH easier and more versatile. Technically you COULD make diagrams on any program you wanted to (I've even seen PowerPoint used...) But when it comes down to it, it's not worth your time to use a program that's not built for vector editing.

Ondrej.Cibulka · Post by **Ondrej.Cibulka** » February 22nd, 2009, 10:27 pm

You are right, GIMP or Paintbrush can work, for example Petr Stuchly made diagram for his salmon in Paintbrush (approx. 100 steps!). But, as you said, it is not suitable for books. And for me it is essential. If someone do not need it, OK. But I am sorry about his time and work.

notefolds · Post by **notefolds** » February 24th, 2009, 3:05 am

There is also OpenOffice.org Draw. It works very well and it is free. Give it a try, it is very easy to use.

I think using Photoshop or GIMP to diagram is not so great because these programs were designed to edit photographs, not create drawings.

mrsriggins · Post by **mrsriggins** » February 24th, 2009, 9:16 pm

I downloaded inkscape and had it on my computer for a whole whopping 2 days before deleting it because I couldn't figure out how to do ANYTHING on it.

I guess I will just stick to good ol' photo diagramming.

Jonnycakes · Post by **Jonnycakes** » February 25th, 2009, 2:13 am

That is a shame-Inkscape is a fantastic program. It does take a little bit of work to get accustomed to how it works, especially if you are not familiar with CAD programs or similar interfaces (as I am not), but the results are well-worth it. I only use a handful of tools for diagramming (grids, snapping, lines/bezier curves, cut path, and occasionally circle/ellipse), and it is not that involved to learn just the tools necessary for origami diagramming-all you really need to do is manipulate lines. It is important to know that Inkscape defines lines and other objects by a set of points, so you cannot just erase part of a line like you could with pixel-based images. Mrsriggins, I hope you will give Inkscape another shot sometime-I don't want to force it on you, but I think it is a great (free) tool that is very useful if you want to diagram.

Black-Shadow_Hawk · Post by **Black-Shadow_Hawk** » March 13th, 2009, 3:18 am

ahudson wrote: BUT for diagramming, Inkscape is MUCH easier and more versatile. Technically you COULD make diagrams on any program you wanted to (I've even seen PowerPoint used...) But when it comes down to it, it's not worth your time to use a program that's not built for vector editing.

You can see my diagrams now!
http://db.origami.com/diagramlisting.asp
By Chris Smith, called Fat Flower!

insaneorigami wrote:lol, I was about to download it until I read the comments....... ....I like inkscape now that I know how to use it

I'd still recommend GIMP; it works wonders.

Ondrej.Cibulka · Post by **Ondrej.Cibulka** » March 13th, 2009, 1:47 pm

I still do not recomend any processor different of vector-processor. You will see in the future.

oyster · Post by **oyster** » January 2nd, 2010, 2:12 pm

how can we draw in a accurate way with inkscape in the following cases?
1. angular bisector
2. divide a line into N parts. this line can be not the paper border, not a vertical or horizontal line, so the grid does not help very much
3. to snap on arbitrary line endpoint