Drawing Software

[milanlad]

I'm looking for a piece of software to draw basic diagrams, using rectangles, circles, lines of different thicknesses, text etc.

I used to use Autocad a long long time ago but don't need anthing that complex or expensive.

Any thoughts?

Cheers

[chrestomanci]

Inkscape

It is a free, mature GPL editor for SVG files (the W3C approved standard for vector graphics).

[Spud1]

Visio?

Standard 2003 version can be had for around 90quid, or the student and teacher for less I think..

[schmunk]

I'm sure The GIMP (freeware) could be used to do this sort of thing, although it's really more of an image manipulation tool...

[directhex]

GIMP's suport for vector is iffy. inkscape's the better bet

[stytagm]

Open Office's Draw program could do this too. I've drawn a few flowcharts and activity diagrams in it without too much bother. http://www.openoffice.org/

[5lab]

mspaint ftw.

[chrestomanci]

I have used open office draw, and if you just want to do simple shapes it is adequate.

I would not recommend it if you want anything more complex such as blends, transparency or complex curves, If you want your drawings to look artistic, or if you want to export or import drawings between other image formats.

[MadduckUK]

coreldraw for the old-school win

[Borbus]

Inkscape is great and free. If you do have money to spend, Visio is probably the easiest, since it is designed specifically for drawing diagrams. Illustrator and Corel Draw are general drawing programmes that you can make anything with. They have more features but are also a lot more expensive.

[stytagm]

I'm looking for a piece of software to draw basic diagrams, using rectangles, circles, lines of different thicknesses, text etc.

I suddenly remembered "Dia". It's a tidy little open source diagram tool. Great for things like flowcharts, class diagrams etc. You can download Dia here

From Inskape's own FAQ:

What's the difference between Inkscape and Dia?

Dia is for technical diagrams like database charts, class diagrams, etc., whereas Inkscape is for vector drawing such as logos, posters, scalable icons, etc.