Diagram drawing software - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: bogdan2014
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2018, 09:38:50 am
content: I'm looking for some software to draw schematic diagrams, as in the picture. They're mostly for newtorking, but also electrical diagrams (not to be confused with electronic diagrams).I know AutoCad might be suitable, but does it have any parts libraries?

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2018, 10:56:03 am
content: Would Microsoft Visio or LibreOffice Draw do the job?

author: bogdan2014
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2018, 10:57:05 am
content: Quote from: TERRA Operative on September 13, 2018, 10:56:03 amProbably, but I'd have to draw everything by hand since there's no parts librarySent from my Mi A1 using Tapatalk

author: mikerj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2018, 11:08:47 am
content: Take a look atDraw.io. I've been using it for block diagrams and flow charts for a while and it's done a fine job.

author: Berni
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2018, 11:19:26 am
content: From the old say SmartDraw was popular. I tend to use Corel Draw for diagrams.But for something free draw.io does seams to be quite nice:https://about.draw.io/features/examples/

author: Naguissa
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2018, 12:11:08 pm
content: http://dia-installer.de/index.html.enExtra shapes library:http://dia-installer.de/shapes/index.html

author: cncjerry
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 14, 2018, 01:27:45 am
content: Most companies I've worked for have visio libraries of their parts. That has included Cisco, Juniper, HP, IBM, Symbol, Oracle, Novell, EMC, etc.There are also generic libraries out there for networking and servers. All in visio.Jerry

author: Nitrousoxide
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2018, 01:59:59 pm
content: If you have access to Matlab/Simulink, they can produce quite nice (and functional) block/signal flow diagrams.

author: eev_carl
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2018, 03:09:20 pm
content: Quote from: Berni on September 13, 2018, 11:19:26 amDid you create the symbols yourself or do you have a vector library or font? I read that Corel 12 might have had some but nothing's coming up in the latest version when I search Connect.

author: tpowell1830
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2018, 07:48:52 pm
content: The drawing that you are showing is a basic interconnect drawing. It appears you are drawing the elevations of different equipment that you are interconnecting. There will be no drawing packages that have libraries of your particular interfaces. These elevation drawings can often be provided by the different manufacturers of the product, however, in many cases, you will have to draw the elevations yourself and add them to your library.With that said, Autocad will do nicely for these drawings, as well as Dassault Systems (the people who make Solidworks) has a 2d package called DraftSight that is excellent. The other side of the coin is to use a 3d modeling program, such as SolidWorks, to model your different interfaces and then pull elevations from different sides as needed in 2d. However, in order to complete your interconnection diagram, you will need a 2d program to do so.MS Visio can do this, but it is not as concise as Autocad or DraftSight. Visio will take in DXFs of the elevations, however, as well as Autocad and DraftSight.If pricing is an issue, DraftSight is the less expensive of the 3 that I mentioned.You mentioned schematics, and all of the above mentioned can do schematics, but for parts libraries, you would probably want DraftSight or Autocad. The libraries that come with packages is always lacking, however, you should be able to find suitable electrical/electronic symbols that are DXF or DWG type files all over the internet to add to your library.Hope this helps...

author: bson
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 15, 2018, 08:40:39 pm
content: Quote from: mikerj on September 13, 2018, 11:08:47 amI second this. Perfect for internal, informal engineering documentation. No need for a bloated office package. Integrates nicely with internal wikis.

author: admiralk
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 16, 2018, 12:14:23 am
content: Quote from: bson on September 15, 2018, 08:40:39 pmUnless you already have one. Or, want to collaborate with someone who does. Or, use it in a portfolio where it will be shown to people that do.In other words, if it is just for yourself, use whatever gets the job done. If you plan to use it in a presentation, it would be better to use a format that your audience will be able to view, which would more likely be Visio, autocad, or something along those lines.

author: mikerj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2018, 11:41:50 am
content: Quote from: admiralk on September 16, 2018, 12:14:23 amDraw.io diagrams can be exported as an image, an SVG file, a PDF file, a VSDX (Visio) file format, and HTML or XML file. Additionally Draw.IO works straight through a browser, so anyone can access it for reading or editing in it's native format.TBH if it's going into a presentation then it's likely an image file is needed anyway.

author: Berni
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2018, 11:57:22 am
content: Quote from: eev_carl on September 15, 2018, 03:09:20 pmI just draw the symbols myself.If you use CorelDraw for a bit you get pretty quick at drawing such simple shapes from scratch, for more complex things you can copypaste them from somewhere else since it can open PDFs and a bunch of other formats. But most of the time i just need mostly rectangular shapes and lines anyway. I even use it for some 2D planning stuff by drawing things in 1:1 scale. For example i used it for planing furniture layout in a room by simply representing furniture as rectangles and then playing around with it by dragging them around the rooms outline. It may not be the best tool for doing diagrams but it gets the job done every time and gets it done quickly for me.If its for anything relating to schematics then i just draw it in Altium Designer since that's my electronics CAD package of choice.