A friend needs some assistance on a 12v wiring task. I was going to do it for him, but have really locked myself down by suffering a slipped disc.
So I said I would draw it out or him, but cannot find a computer package that will allow me to draw coloured wires between connectors, and I don't have anything that will do brown or yellow if I was to it do it by hand.
Anyone got a suggestion ?
Thanks Rob
MS Paint (assuming Windows)?
Cheers, T i m
+1, I find Paint surprisingly capable and was very pleased that MS decided to keep it available.
Any number of 2D drawing packages available for free. Well worth getting to grips with one - as it can be used for pretty well any type of technical drawing. You might also find one that has a library of the commonly used symbols, although I've assembled my own for car stuff. I've not really investigated all the 2D packages for Windows, as the one I use is on a different platform. But can file share with Windows ones.
For complex wiring etc you're best to use a vector based prog which can be enlarged with no loss of detail. Many use a simpler bitmap based drawing which goes fuzzy as you enlarge it. And has a larger file size.
The on-line draw.io is my choice for drawing wiring diagrams. I've tried lots of others (MS Visio, dia, geda) but in the end have found that draw.io is, quite surprisingly, the handiest of them all.
Gimp is vastly better imho
Gimp is very powerful but it's not really aimed at 'drawing', there are better tools around for that. Gimp is for image manipulation.
Some possibles!
Cads (draw/print circuits) -
Here's an example of a schematic I drew using a 2d CAD prog.
If sending it to someone who didn't have a prog to view the native file, I send as a PDF. That retains the vector format and allows enlarging to any size you want with no loss of detail.
For something simple, anything at all probably works. But well worth learning how to use a prog that can do all such things, regardless of complexity. I did use DraftSight on the PC, but that no longer has a free version. But there are others.
But vastly more complicated.;-(
I've installed it a few times (for me and others looking for a Photoshop replacement) and given it a try but is just *way* too complicated for someone not experienced with it (or Photoshop etc, or at least not straight away.
Loads of the 'how do I do that' and 'where did that go' moments.
MS Paint is much much simpler meaning you can generally get going pretty quickly and has the invaluable 'Undo' button if you make a mistake.
'Of course' that also means it's limited but it's better to be able to do something than not do anything because it's overwhelming.
If I ever need to 'knock up' a simple diagram (a picture speaks 1000 words etc) then I generally use Paint, and you can even call it up from Irfanview (well I can here on XP anyway), good for annotating pictures etc. No substituted for a dedicated diagram type app of course, especially one with a good symbol library.
Cheers, T i m
Indeed. There is a good book for about 17 quid, with accompanying video tutorials. In fact, you can get it all free.
It's one of the few that relates to GIMP 2.10.
And it includes a PDF of the book.
To be honest, Word or PowerPoint will probably work fine.
Thanks for that Bob. I've bookmarked the link and downloaded the file in case someone else asks me about Photoshop in the future (and I normally point them towards Gimp). ;-)
I don't really have the need for photo manipulation myself, outside of basic cropping and rotation and Irfanview does all that and more for me.
My Dad was very much into photography (was asked to display some of his portraits at some fancy gallery in London) but not digital, whereas I'm really only a content / convenience / reference photographer and only digital.
He was in it for the craft and post processing (all sorts of lights and umbrellas / lenses etc) and I'm generally happy with what I've taken as it is (daughter often asks me to take pics for her as she's happy with my framing / composition).
That said, I would *like* to be able to use Gimp / Photoshop and I'm not someone who generally learns from a manual or a video, unless there is some sort of index so I can jump to the bit I'm specifically interested in at that instance.
I prefer the old mentoring way ... (given the opportunity). ;-)
Cheers, T i m
I didn't mention that he includes a set of files to tailor GIMP to look and work like PhotoShop as much as possible. And he is careful to poiint out the differences.
I have used it for years for simple cropping, etc. However, my sister found some old family photos which are in not-marvellous condition, so I decided to learn. I quickly found that the UI changed quite a bit in GIMP
2.10 and most of the books are useless.The online manual gives you that. But the book shows you techniques - quite close to mentoring. His teaching style is not what I would use personally, and it's a bit ponderous, but I found it pretty good. It really follows the book and demonstrates stuff.
Things like repairing photos I can now do (in a simple way). And the other day I was given an old manual with a nice front cover, with the owner's name etc. on it. I was able to scan it and then remove that signature, despite it having a background.
yup. You'd only need a small subset of its functions though
You do need to read a tutorial to get going. From then on it's very powerful & has an ok UI.
I've used gimp a lot for word processing. Never designed for it, or anything even close to it, but nothing else I've found does the features required or does it as easily.
NT
Always use GIF rather than JPEG when saving diagrams or anything that includes text as its compression algorithm produces better results.
GIMP is aimed at photo/image editing/manipulation.
You should look for a vector editing software for this task.
Far better to use a vector format. PDF will do this.
Quite. You are making a technical drawing, not art.
That's handy Bob (for those familiar with PS etc). Is it in the file I downloaded?
<snip>Was there a 'good reason' for such radical changes would you say OOI?
The thing is, if I was looking to 'learn something' I think it might be something I could be more productive with, like programming (for the Arduino etc), or be more efficient in Sketchup for my 3D printer, as in 'making things happen', rather than just looking different.
Don't get me wrong, I would like to be able to do that 'as well', and can often do enough for my needs in MS Paint! ;-)
Yeah, a mate is very into Photoshop, pictures and making videos (holiday video and stills on a DVD to give to his family etc) and some of the stuff he's done is pretty amazing.
He showed me a picture he'd taken of a lad with a donkey cart in Goa and when I say it I just say the picture for what it was. A sort of straight snapshot of the lad, donkey and area. Then he showed me the original and I then saw all the rubbish scattered about that he'd removed. ;-) Looking back at the picture he'd 'cleaned' you (well I) really couldn't see where the junk had been. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
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