Free Vector Drawing Program for Deckplans

[DaveT]

Hi,

Long time lurker, first time poster, etc.

I found a nifty online free vector drawing program at:

https://www.youidraw.com/

I'm completely new to this kind of thing but after a bit of mucking around (grasping the idea of layers was a key breakthrough!) I knocked out this sample deckplan as a test:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0PdeSTamiSFb09oR1o1Q2cyXzA&authuser=0

With the free version you can only export as a PNG or JPG and the file has a watermark but taking a screenshot of your work in progress can get around that or just avoid using the part of the canvas where the watermark will appear and edit in a paint program

Going to have a go at a proper ship, maybe just modifying a classic deckplan so it's more to my liking.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Very cool start so far.

 

[AndrewW]

Could be ok. Personally I prefer programs that don't require one to be online to use them.

Completely free:

https://inkscape.org/en/

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Can anyone recommend a drawing program and I can use on a Tablet (Samsung Galaxy)? I have tried several of the free one suggested by others, but they all seem to crash during the install or don't work with the tablet software.

PS: I am NOT a computer science person, I am a computer USER, so I don't know much beyond point and click...

Thanks!

 

[IanBruntlett]

Can anyone recommend a drawing program and I can use on a Tablet (Samsung Galaxy)?

This is not a complete solution but... you could run Inkscape on a conventional computer and save the results as a SVG file. Then you could copy it to your Samsung Galaxy and view it on that. I've done a quick test on this computer (running Ubuntu Linux 15.04) and I created a SVG file in Inkscape and opened it up on Firefox.

 

[F33D]

Can anyone recommend a drawing program and I can use on a Tablet (Samsung Galaxy)? I have tried several of the free one suggested by others, but they all seem to crash during the install or don't work with the tablet software.

PS: I am NOT a computer science person, I am a computer USER, so I don't know much beyond point and click...

Thanks!

The problem you are encountering is that "Android" is simply an emulation layer and not a real OS. It rides on top of linux. So running intensive programs in it is slow and prone to crashes. Wait 'till next next year and get an Ubuntu Tablet...

 

[IanBruntlett]

The problem you are encountering is that "Android" is simply an emulation layer and not a real OS. It rides on top of linux. So running intensive programs in it is slow and prone to crashes. Wait 'till next next year and get an Ubuntu Tablet...

I couldn't wait for an Ubuntu tablet to arrive. And I basically needed a laptop anyway so I got a refurbished laptop from http://www.tier1online.com/, wiped Windows 7 and installed Ubuntu 14.10 on it.

 

[F33D]

The problem you are encountering is that "Android" is simply an emulation layer and not a real OS. It rides on top of linux. So running intensive programs in it is slow and prone to crashes. Wait 'till next next year and get an Ubuntu Tablet...

I couldn't wait for an Ubuntu tablet to arrive. And I basically needed a laptop anyway so I got a refurbished laptop from http://www.tier1online.com/, wiped Windows 7 and installed Ubuntu 14.10 on it.

I wiped Win 8 from my wife's laptop and put Zorin 9 on it for her (Ubuntu under the bonnet). She's much happier with it.

 

[Nobby-W]

Could be ok. Personally I prefer programs that don't require one to be online to use them.

Completely free:

https://inkscape.org/en/

They've also just released a new version that speeds up rendering quite significantly. IIRC older versions were quite slow on Windows, enough that you could see the redraws if you dragged a complex object.

 

[Nobby-W]

Can anyone recommend a drawing program and I can use on a Tablet (Samsung Galaxy)? I have tried several of the free one suggested by others, but they all seem to crash during the install or don't work with the tablet software.

PS: I am NOT a computer science person, I am a computer USER, so I don't know much beyond point and click...

Thanks!

You're still better off getting a laptop and running drawing software like Inkscape on that. This isn't due to the merits of Windows/Linux vs. Android, but due to there being some good, free or cheap options for drawing software that will run on the platform. The market for drawing software on PC platforms goes way, way back to the 1980s and the software is much more mature than anything for iOS or Android - even the predecessors to Inkscape are getting on for 20 years old.

If you want a cheap laptop, get something secondhand that's common on the ex-lease market off Ebay. I suggest something like a thinkpad T410-T420 or a Dell E64x0 as these are very popular with corporate leasing outfits and ex-lease ones come up on ebay in large numbers. You should be able to get one that will do what you want for about $2-300.

 

[AndrewW]

They've also just released a new version that speeds up rendering quite significantly. IIRC older versions were quite slow on Windows, enough that you could see the redraws if you dragged a complex object.

Well, January 30th, 2015. There's more to it then just the multi-threading support for the filters though.