Drawing/Vector software

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Hi All,

I’m the Sysadmin for a medium sized architectural firm, and we are starting to get requests for vector-based drawing software for varous purposes. Mostly not-too complicated illustrations that need to be easily scaled for larege-format printing.

I’ve found Illustrtator, Freehand , and CorelDraw, of course. But these are huge, and fairly expensive packages. I’m wondering if I’ve missed the more value-priced packages?

I’ve known enough poor artists to know that most of them couldn’t have been putting down $500 for Illustrator .

Any ideas apreciated
Jim Helfer

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PowerPoint’s drawing tools create vector-based piles of shapes which can be grouped. PPT obviously isn’t as fit to purpose as the others you cited, but it’s something they might already have.

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PowerPoint’s drawing tools create vector-based piles of shapes which can be grouped. PPT obviously isn’t as fit to purpose as the others you cited, but it’s something they might already have.

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Knowing as little as I do about the innards of this topic, I ask: what about Paint Shop Pro? It purports to be capable of vector drawing and really doesn’t cost that much.

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Knowing as little as I do about the innards of this topic, I ask: what about Paint Shop Pro? It purports to be capable of vector drawing and really doesn’t cost that much.

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This is probably one of the premier vector drawing applications out there, but it is a bit pricey. Go here: Xara X.

I’ve been using Paint Shop Pro 8.0 and earlier versions for years and it handles vectors too, although not nearly as well as Xara X. There really isn’t that much difference in price, if I recall, between the two. If you are wanting a program that does it all within limits, then go with PSP. If you are wanting unlimited ability to create vector graphics, then you can’t do better than Xara X, IMHO.

Jeff

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This is probably one of the premier vector drawing applications out there, but it is a bit pricey. Go here: Xara X.

I’ve been using Paint Shop Pro 8.0 and earlier versions for years and it handles vectors too, although not nearly as well as Xara X. There really isn’t that much difference in price, if I recall, between the two. If you are wanting a program that does it all within limits, then go with PSP. If you are wanting unlimited ability to create vector graphics, then you can’t do better than Xara X, IMHO.

Jeff

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Something that might warrant having a play with is EVE – EmbeddedVectorEditor. It’s very small and available as freeware and payware (with SVG capability). The site contains lots of examples. One (not very good .jpg reproduction) of an architectural-style drawing being here.

Personally, I’ve used the drawing capabilities of Word for most of my requirements, then dropped the results into another tiny free app I use (mentioned in another thread somewhere) to save in .WMF format, for use in whatever other application I need.

Alan

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Thanks for the tips for software. I like the Xara X, and at $149, it’s a good deal cheaper than Illustrator! One problem that we are having is getting to the bottom of the real user need. Not sure what folks are going to use it for, but we are sure that as soon as one person gets it and word gets out, there will be more requests.

Jim Helfer

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Jim,

For further information and input re: Xara X, you might find this site helpful too: Talk Graphics

Jeff

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Thanks for the tips for software. I like the Xara X, and at $149, it’s a good deal cheaper than Illustrator! One problem that we are having is getting to the bottom of the real user need. Not sure what folks are going to use it for, but we are sure that as soon as one person gets it and word gets out, there will be more requests.

Jim Helfer

Reply | Quote

Something that might warrant having a play with is EVE – EmbeddedVectorEditor. It’s very small and available as freeware and payware (with SVG capability). The site contains lots of examples. One (not very good .jpg reproduction) of an architectural-style drawing being here.

Personally, I’ve used the drawing capabilities of Word for most of my requirements, then dropped the results into another tiny free app I use (mentioned in another thread somewhere) to save in .WMF format, for use in whatever other application I need.

Alan

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