The Arrows in Diagrams

pnpurdue · Post by **pnpurdue** » September 2nd, 2005, 5:07 pm

I am currently trying diagram and am using photoshop as my diagramming media. Does anybody know how I can get the pointing arrows common in many diagrams? I don't want to manually draw the arrows. Thanks in advance.

Joseph Wu · Post by **Joseph Wu** » September 2nd, 2005, 5:34 pm

I would argue that this is the wrong tool for the job. Even if you want to have photos as your images, and then draw lines and arrows on top of them, a vector-based drawing program will give you better results, and be easier to use for this purpose.

Oh, and to answer your question, you'll either have to draw the arrows, or scan them in from some other source.

Post by **TheRealChris** » September 2nd, 2005, 6:10 pm

another possibility would be, to draw one arrow onto a white background and make a clipart with transparent background out of it.

but Mr. Wu is of course right, Photoshop is a bad choice for diagramming.

Christian

Julie · Post by **Julie** » September 5th, 2005, 3:32 am

And what do you think about AutoCAD ? I'm not very familiar with computer language like "vector-based drawing programs". Does AutoCAD is such a kind of program Mr.WU?

Joseph Wu · Post by **Joseph Wu** » September 5th, 2005, 3:45 am

Yes, Julie, it is. However, it's probably overkill for this sort of drawing. Diagramming is basically drawing in 2 dimensions (even when drawing 3D steps, it's still a 2D picture of them), and AutoCAD is designed for building an manipulating 3D objects. You can draw 2D pictures in AutoCAD, but it's a bit hard to do. (Of course, I've not used AutoCAD in almost 20 years, so perhaps things have changed since then.)

As discussed in this thread, the program of choice for diagramming is Freehand.

P.S. Please call me Joseph or Joe. Chris (and a few other forum members) insist on calling me Mr. Wu just to bug me.

Julie · Post by **Julie** » September 5th, 2005, 4:58 am

Thanks Joseph. I was asking it because Autocad is the only one drawing program i can use . I think was skill enough at it . I thought it could be good but i wonder, if I'd like diagramming my origami models, mabe to publish it a day, who knows, should I be better to right now try another drawing programs as Freehand or AutoCAD would do the job as well?

Joseph Wu · Post by **Joseph Wu** » September 5th, 2005, 5:05 am

Your English is fine, Julie. It's much better than my French!

If you are comfortable with AutoCAD, then use it. There's no reason to buy an expensive piece of software (Freehand) if you have something that will work (AutoCAD). Try it first, and if you decide it is too difficult, then try to find an old version of Freehand to experiment with. I think that Freehand version 5 is sometimes available for only a few dollars.

Post by **TheRealChris** » September 5th, 2005, 7:30 am

P.S. Please call me Joseph or Joe. Chris (and a few other forum members) insist on calling me Mr. Wu just to bug me.

do I? wow, that's interesting to read

so manners do bug the people in Canada?

Christian

Joseph Wu · Post by **Joseph Wu** » September 5th, 2005, 7:33 am

I know Wolf does it to bug me...somehow I thought you were doing the same. My mistake. Sorry.

Even though I'm going to turn 35 in a few days, I still think of "Mr. Wu" as my father...

Julie · Post by **Julie** » September 5th, 2005, 4:20 pm

Iâ€™ll try with AutoCADâ€¦ Soonâ€¦
Sorry I did not want to bug you!!

wolf · Post by **wolf** » September 8th, 2005, 5:18 am

The esteemed Mr. Wu wrote:You can draw 2D pictures in AutoCAD, but it's a bit hard to do. (Of course, I've not used AutoCAD in almost 20 years, so perhaps things have changed since then.)

I'm not familiar with the ancient versions of AutoCAD, but the newer ones can do 2D layouts just as easily as 3D ones - I'm using its 2D capabilities for everything ranging from CPs to kitchen planning to microchip design. With the multiple layering functions and snap-to options, it's relatively straightforward to churn out origami diagrams with AutoCAD. It's still tedious and repetitive though, but this is an inherent problem of origami diagramming rather than the software.

hermanntrude · Post by **hermanntrude** » September 8th, 2005, 11:26 am

maybe someone should design a purpose-built origami diagramming software? if anyone has funding for a scheme like that i have a friend who'd like the job ;o)

Post by **TheRealChris** » September 8th, 2005, 1:54 pm

using AutoCAD for drawing diagrams looks somehow to me like casting pearls before swine. I mean, it's horrible expensive and it's like a car with seven spare wheels in different colours.
as long as you're using AutoCAD at work or someting, it's of course usefull to take it, but when you're in search for a new program, you should probably use a less expensive.
regarding to amazon.com
AutoCAD Lt 2005 : 843,99$
Freehand MX : 399,99$
I know, Emule gives it away for free, but what about the people, that don't want to steal software?

Christian

hermanntrude · Post by **hermanntrude** » September 8th, 2005, 3:12 pm

$399.99 is robbery. if things cost that much then you'd think they could spend some of the profits on making it un-pirateable.

knowledge and tools should be shared. i don't condone breaking the law but sometimes i find i have to to be able to do what i need to. for instance i would never have been able to write my PhD thesis without pirated software... does this mean that only rich people should be allowed to get a doctorate? hmmm

wolf · Post by **wolf** » September 9th, 2005, 2:17 am

Knowledge developers need to eat and pay for their kids' education too.

Besides, if you're willing to put some effort into searching and tinkering, there's a lot of open source alternatives that can do the job just as well. So, instead of buying AutoCAD and Freehand, just go with CadStd and xfig. Sure, the learning curve is a bit steeper, but that's why companies can justify charging $399.99 for a piece of software - not for added basic content, but for the little things that make it more user-friendly (like, being able to use it right out of the box). Plus, these software packages aren't intended for one use applications. If you're going to buy Freehand just to make the occasional diagram, of course it ain't worth it, but if you use it regularly over four years, that works out to about 30 cents a year. That's not very expensive at all.

At the moment, I don't believe there's a large enough user base to make development of origami diagramming software worthwhile. It's been tried once or twice now and nothing concrete has come out of it yet.

And a PhD thesis can be written without pirated software. All you need is LaTeX, BibTex, vim, xfig, gnuplot and ghostview - which can all be legally obtained at zero or minimal cost. The final end product is more portable than something written using Microsoft Word as well.