More schematics, please.

t06afre

Joined May 11, 2009
5,934
Out-dated? Masochistic? C'mon guys, no excuses. If your method is better than mine, I expect to see half a dozen schematics a day, that I didn't do, posted for the benefit of our noobs.
Yay, AAC!:rolleyes:
I draw for the site and myself, never felt the need to impress anyone. While my schematics can not be simulated, they do look attractive because I take the time to draw them right. They do what I intend them to do, show people clearly what I am talking about. I also store a large number of schematics on my albums, which I believe is the largest of any out there
There there people. I did not mention with one words that Paint schematics look bad, have less information value, or are less good because they are made Paint did I? Maybe I am spoiled but to me a ACAD or any CAD system will be useless if it is based on bitmaps. For me futures that are associated with vector based CAD system like proper snap and grid, and working with objects. Are indeed important to me, and not to mention hierarchical organization of larger designs. If I was forced to use Paint as my ECAD system it would have been a very awkward experience borderline masochism. Not to mention very time consuming. I would rather be using pen and paper (which I often do) and published it as photo. And that is the reason why I encourage new user to use the pen and paper technique. Because it is very fast and in most cases produce more than enough information. If a beginner try to make a schematic in Paint. My experience is that they often are a mess and plagued with errors. In opposite to hand draw schematic
 

t06afre

Joined May 11, 2009
5,934
But, schematics about what? Just amass a large AAC boilerplate of parts?

But, say I want to use Eagle for my schematic needs. Your MSPaint schematics are useless to me and vice versa.

Am I missing something here?
I think they are meant to function as some sort of a template. Equivalent to your Eagle libraries
 

djsfantasi

Joined Apr 11, 2010
9,156
I've used PaintCAD as well as ExpressSCH (from ExpressPCB). It ha a good component library, drag and drop editing and snap able connections.

 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
Bitmaps? That is so Win95. I use .gifs and .png files.

Pen and paper sound good, but ever try to revise a drawing, let alone erase? That is the real strength of any CAD package. You can take what you've done in the past and build on it. Don't make the mistake of declaring a personal preference and making it global. I do use other packages, I have to, but for shear simplicity and speed PaintCAD gets me where I need to go. I have literally thousands of drawing using it.

For me it is not time consuming. It is the easiest way to present a concept I have, and on this site I still challenge any other person that has done more in the way of drawing than I. I also suspect folks don't have a clue how many computers I have used to do this over the years, it is a global program like no other.

Not bragging, just fact. :)
 

t06afre

Joined May 11, 2009
5,934
Bitmaps? That is so Win95. I use .gifs and .png files.

Pen and paper sound good, but ever try to revise a drawing, let alone erase? That is the real strength of any CAD package. You can take what you've done in the past and build on it. Don't make the mistake of declaring a personal preference and making it global. I do use other packages, I have to, but for shear simplicity and speed PaintCAD gets me where I need to go. I have literally thousands of drawing using it.

For me it is not time consuming. It is the easiest way to present a concept I have, and on this site I still challenge any other person that has done more in the way of drawing than I. I also suspect folks don't have a clue how many computers I have used to do this over the years, it is a global program like no other.

Not bragging, just fact. :)
First bitmap is a common generic term for images are comprised of pixels in a grid. Each pixel or "bit" in the image contains information about the color to be displayed. Common bitmap-based formats are JPEG, GIF, TIFF, PNG, PICT, and BMP.
Second to use any CAD tool require some experience. But most of us are able to draw a simple schematic by hand quite fast. It is only to ease the job for the beginner. I recommend the beginners to use the latter method. As long as any schematics posted on this site are fairly readable. I can bare with them. The more experienced member would for sure prefer to use some sort of drawing tool. For reasons you mentioned
 

ErnieHorning

Joined Apr 17, 2014
65
Not that I’m playing favorites but the P-FET that #12 posted is slightly more recognizable than the one that Bill posted. :p

I’ve used Paint for making and modifying schematics and while I can make them very presentable, they don’t lend themselves to easy modification or ease of use.

Just about any schematic capture is better than hand drawing a bunch of dots, even if you’re copying and pasting for other sources.
 

Attachments

Brownout

Joined Jan 10, 2012
2,390
I've used PaintCAD as well as ExpressSCH (from ExpressPCB). It ha a good component library, drag and drop editing and snap able connections.
Not bad. I'm looking for a good free (or low cost) schematic editor. I desire as many features as possible, but most importantly is hierarchical design and integration with downstream tools. I'm looking at Orcad Lite, Kicad, TinyCad, and Cad Soft. Haven't considered the two you listed.
 
Last edited:

Thread Starter

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
For me it is not time consuming. It is the easiest way to present a concept I have.
For me, I can present a schematic faster than 2 people can talk a circuit into existence. It still takes time, but when I get done, there is nothing left to ask about (unless I made a mistake). Great way to close a thread: Hand him everything except what kind of box to put it in. :D
 

THE_RB

Joined Feb 11, 2008
5,438
Corel Draw for about 12 years now. The best to me.
Same here. :)

I have little symbols at a standard grid size, and set Corel to "snap to grid" so they are very easy to move into place. And ctrl-D instantly duplicates whatever symbol is selected.

It's reasonably quick and easy, although nothing beats the speed I can work with paper and pen.
 

atferrari

Joined Jan 6, 2004
4,764
Same here. :)

I have little symbols at a standard grid size, and set Corel to "snap to grid" so they are very easy to move into place. And ctrl-D instantly duplicates whatever symbol is selected.

It's reasonably quick and easy, although nothing beats the speed I can work with paper and pen.
Yes. Once I went from the pen+paper version to Corel, further changes are done always there. Mostly minor changes adding / elliminating things.

Once ready, it is "printed" as PDF and, exceptionally, the PDF actually printed for the use in the bench.

It is good because I have been using Corel in my job for sketches even for unusual surveys I have to do from time to time. As with most of specific softwares, once you learnt it, you fel it being "intuitive". It isn't. Just practice.
 
Top