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From: alarson@pavo.SRC.Honeywell.COM (Aaron Larson)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: Drawing tool comparsion (Re: painting/drawing)
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Date: 30 Jun 89 18:53:58 GMT
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FYI:

In article <JIM.89Jun23184319@kaos.Stanford.EDU> jim@kaos.Stanford.EDU (Jim Helman) writes:

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   From: jim@kaos.Stanford.EDU (Jim Helman)
   Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
   Date: 24 Jun 89 01:43:19 GMT
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   There are a number of alternatives.  Here are the ones I've tried:

   1) dxpaint.  Bitmap oriented painting program.  Just like a Mac
   running MacPaint.  Good for artists.  Lousy for drafting or preparing
   figures.  Stores paintings as bitmaps.  Source: Ultrix 3.0 (UWS 2.0)

   2) xpic 2.5 alpha. Object-oriented drawing program.  No compound
   objects.  Multiple fonts styles and sizes.  Variable line widths. No
   fills.  No rotation.  No zoom or scroll.  Monochrome drawing only.
   Drawings stored in "xpic" format.  PostScript converter available.
   Source: moraes@csri.toronto.edu

   3) xfig 1.4.3 Object-oriented drawing program.  Compound objects.
   Extremely limited text handling: one font, one style, no rotation.
   Single line thickness.  90 deg rotations.  No fills.  No zoom or
   scroll.  Monochrome drawing only.  Drawings stored in "fig" format.
   PostScript and other converters available.  Source: X11R3.

   3) idraw 2.5.  Object-oriented drawing program.  By far the best of
   these four for preparing figures.  Numerous fonts (extensible).
   Various line styles.  Arbitrary rotations of text and graphics.  Zoom
   and scroll.  Color draws and fills.  Drawing stored in PostScript.
   plot(5) to idraw converter available for annotating (or massaging!)
   plots.  Source: interviews-request@interviews.stanford.edu.

   Ease of use: idraw was best for me becuse of the four its UI is the
   closest to MacDraft, which is what I'm accustomed to using.  xpic was
   next but it uses a funny sequence (left click - right click) to end a
   polyline.  I had problems with xfig because rather than using "click
   and drag" for adjustments, it required a left click, move, middle
   click.

   The above are accurate only to the best of my ability to figure out
   how to work these dang things.  Each has a very different "look and
   feel."  There may be newer versions out on some of these.

   Your mileage may vary.

   Jim Helman
   Department of Applied Physics			P.O. Box 10494
   Stanford University				Stanford, CA 94309
   (jim@thrush.stanford.edu) 			(415) 723-4940	

   Disclaimer: Although idraw was developed at Stanford, I have no
   relation to the InterViews group.