[GTALUG] Software to draw illustrations?

[Giles Orr]

On Sun, 10 Feb 2019 at 08:37, Christopher Browne via talk <talk at gtalug.org>
wrote:

>
> On Sun, Feb 10, 2019, 12:52 AM William Park via talk <talk at gtalug.org
> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> What software do people use to draw illustrations that you'd see in
>> textbooks or presentations?  Eg. data structure, high school math, block
>> diagrams, etc.  I mean, I see them, but I don't know how to create them.
>>
>
> I almost inevitably head to GraphViz
> https://www.graphviz.org/
>
> That does the layout automatically.
>

Not to call out Chris or graphviz (in fact I use graphviz a fair bit
myself), but like many of the drawing tools mentioned, it has a very
specific domain.  It's excellent for what it does well - a particular type
of graphing - and no good for a huge variety of other kinds of drawings.
My broader point being that what tool you use should depend on what you're
trying to achieve.  The GIMP (which I'm quite familiar with) is a much more
general purpose drawing program.  You can draw graphviz-style graphs in the
GIMP, or you could draw a graph of a quadratic equation in the GIMP.  It is
TERRIBLE for both these things.  But it's able to do it (whereas it would
be essentially impossible in graphviz).

So what are you trying to achieve?  The GIMP is a fantastic general
pixel-based editor (primarily used for photos, but also for drawing).  I
understand Inkscape is excellent in its domain - vector-based drawing (no
good for photos).  Both have a wickedly steep learning curve - but are
worth it if you're going to be doing a wide variety of drawing types in
their domain.  Chances are neither of these is the optimal path for you for
what you're implying would be relatively simplistic drawings (although I'm
guessing based solely on your wording).

So - can you be more specific about the type of drawing(s) you want to
create?  If you have no idea what to call them, or what tool is better or
why, point us to some example images: we (not the royal "we," not
necessarily me, but TLUG) can probably figure it out and point you in the
right direction.

A classic Linux conundrum: there are actually too many ways to achieve the
same end.  And the corollary question is which tool to invest your precious
learning time in ...

-- 
Giles
https://www.gilesorr.com/
gilesorr at gmail.com
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