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Xfig

mcj.sourceforge.net

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Re: Xfig

#31

Post by SemanticStrengh »

dubya wrote: post #13
russtrotter wrote: post #5

I used to often reach for xfig for a quick tech diagram (boxes, circles, lines, etc). The "fig" file format, being text, is easy to drop into source control. It's fast and gets the job done. The feeling I get from peers, especially those who've never understood that unix/linux on desktop has long been a thing or really lived that far out of the Win32/MacOS ecosystem, look at you sideways when the file extension isn't…

The simple text format also makes it somewhat scriptable, so you could make more complex figures than you could make with a mouse, without learning Postscript.

What are fig advantages over SVG though?

Re: Xfig

#32

Post by SemanticStrengh »

hulitu wrote: post #30
pjmlp wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess xfig could be considered modern when twm was young, and I was playing with IBM X Windows thin clients on our university lab.

Well, xfig does its job well without getting in the way (like for example the new MS Visio). And twm was looking old some 20 years ago. Now, compared with Windows 10, it looks modern.

I can't wait for skeuomorphism to come back

Re: Xfig

#33

Post by marcodiego »

s1291 wrote: post #21
marcodiego wrote: post #9

I'd love if Inkscape implemented Xfig technical drawing features.

Could you mention some CAD features that are available in Xfig but are missing in Inkscape?

Arc from 3 points, add tangent/normal to a curve on a determined point, measure length of polylines and splines, measure area of polygons arcs and ellipses, measure angles, library of elements, all the 8 snapping modes and indication of what each mouse button will do.

Re: Xfig

#34

Post by s1291 »

marcodiego wrote: post #33
s1291 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you mention some CAD features that are available in Xfig but are missing in Inkscape?

Arc from 3 points, add tangent/normal to a curve on a determined point, measure length of polylines and splines, measure area of polygons arcs and ellipses, measure angles, library of elements, all the 8 snapping modes and indication of what each mouse button will do.

* Arc from 3 points: There is a Live Path Effect for that.

* tangent/normal to a curve: there is an experimental Live Path Effect for tangent (You can get the normal by just rotating the tangent 90 degrees)

* Measure length: Many ways to get that: e.g. the measure tool. or you can use the Measure segments Live Path Effect.

* Measuring the area: There is an extension: Extensions > Visualize Path > Measure Path.

* Measuring angles: again, you can use the measure tool.

* Library of elements: Inkscape has symbols Objects > Symbols. You can also add you own symbols. See also https://github.com/PanderMusubi/inkscape-open-symbols

* Inkscape snapping is way better (See the new smart alignement snapping in version 1.2).

* Inkscape also prints instructions on how to use tools on the status bar

Re: Xfig

#35

Post by marcodiego »

s1291 wrote: post #34
marcodiego wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arc from 3 points, add tangent/normal to a curve on a determined point, measure length of polylines and splines, measure area of polygons arcs and ellipses, measure angles, library of elements, all the 8 snapping modes and indication of what each mouse button will do.

* Arc from 3 points: There is a Live Path Effect for that. * tangent/normal to a curve: there is an experimental Live Path Effect for tangent (You can get the normal by just rotating the tangent 90 degrees) * Measure length: Many ways to get that: e.g. the measure tool. or you can use the Measure segments Live Path Effect. * Measuring the area: There is an extension: Extensions > Visualize Path > Measure Path. * Meas…

Nice! So, I think the UI must make these features more obvious.

Another thing I miss in inkscape (in case you know): I sometimes did some very interesting interactive live geometric demonstrations with Kig. Had inkscape had the same features, I'd use it.

Re: Xfig

#36

Post by marcodiego »

Brian_K_White wrote: post #19
hwc wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this. Also, I wrote a small library that lets me programmatically generate SVGs with Python. This lets me create very precise vector images. This fills some of the same needs.

There you go, 2d openscad. I want that.

What I really want: wings2d.

Re: Xfig

#37

Post by eschaton »

JadeNB wrote: post #26

With macOS making it harder and harder to run X11 programs—I don't even know how, these days—is there anything that allows you to run an Xfig-alike on macOS? (I've seen recommendations for Inkscape, and I'll give it a try, but I was really practiced with Xfig and would like to be able to draw on that muscle memory if possible.)

XQuartz still exists and is still being updated, and you can either download and install it via an installer or install it via a package manager like MacPorts or Homebrew. It works just fine.

Things aren’t any harder now than they were when X11 was first unbundled and became XQuartz.

Re: Xfig

#38

Post by s1291 »

marcodiego wrote: post #35
s1291 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

* Arc from 3 points: There is a Live Path Effect for that. * tangent/normal to a curve: there is an experimental Live Path Effect for tangent (You can get the normal by just rotating the tangent 90 degrees) * Measure length: Many ways to get that: e.g. the measure tool. or you can use the Measure segments Live Path Effect. * Measuring the area: There is an extension: Extensions > Visualize Path > Measure Path. * Meas…

Nice! So, I think the UI must make these features more obvious. Another thing I miss in inkscape (in case you know): I sometimes did some very interesting interactive live geometric demonstrations with Kig. Had inkscape had the same features, I'd use it.

Sorry, I don't know anything about Kig. It seems that it is similar to GeoGebra?

Anyway. You may find this post interesting: https://castel.dev/post/lecture-notes-2/

Re: Xfig

#39

Post by dubya »

SemanticStrengh wrote: post #31
dubya wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The simple text format also makes it somewhat scriptable, so you could make more complex figures than you could make with a mouse, without learning Postscript.

What are fig advantages over SVG though?

SVG wasn't an option at the time. Now, support for TeX labels might still be an advantage. These days I just use PGF/TikZ.

Re: Xfig

#40

Post by hulitu »

s1291 wrote: post #29
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, I've had inkscape (1.0.2-4 on up to date debian testing) crash on me so many times in the last week, in ways that cost me several minutes of work each time. So I've stopped using it for anything. I appreciate the exhausting amount of work that goes into something like Inkscape, but holy crap. Segfaulting on me. Or leaving a foregrounded window open with no content in it that I can't close and that blocks the rest…

You're using an old version. there were 3 release after that (1.1, 1.1.1, and 1.1.2). The 1.2 release is expected in a few days (and it has many features with a ton of bug fixes).

This is not a reason to crash. Last i looked, fvwm 1.24 runed just fine.
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