Schematic format

Toby Seckshund · 2009-08-02 10:09

Many times I would have liked to have put up a cct diagram to explain something. The drawing packages I have access to use their own formats and would require the viewer to have that package too.

What it the favoured package and format that suits the forum ?

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Style and grace : Nil point

BradC · 2009-08-02 10:12

Toby Seckshund said...
Many times I would have liked to have put up a cct diagram to explain something. The drawing packages I have access to use their own formats and would require the viewer to have that package too.

What it the favoured package and format that suits the forum ?[noparse][[/noparse]/quote

Just use a pdf or png. That way everyone or anyone can view it.

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lt's not particularly silly, is it?

Toby Seckshund · 2009-08-02 10:31

So, short of doing ascii art, what program allows you to output in those formats. EAGLE does .sch, DipTrace does .dch ... or is there a freeware CAD that puts out those options ?

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Style and grace : Nil point

Nick Mueller · 2009-08-02 10:42

EAGLE:
Print tp PDF or a screenshot.

Nick

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Never use force, just go for a bigger hammer!

The DIY Digital-Readout for mills, lathes etc.:
YADRO

SamMishal · 2009-08-02 10:52

Toby Seckshund said...
So, short of doing ascii art, what program allows you to output in those formats. EAGLE does .sch, DipTrace does .dch ... or is there a freeware CAD that puts out those options ?

You can always just press the PrtSc button on your keyboard, then go to any Picture Editor
e.g. PaintShop, Paint, etc.· and then do a Ctl+V to paste the picture.... edit and crop as needed
then save it to a JPG or BMP or Gif etc. and post that.

This would be the best since anyone can always view any of these universal formats
on any system.

Sam
·

Toby Seckshund · 2009-08-02 11:02

Thanks for all the tips.

I have never done much with EAGLE having got used to FreePCB. I am just starting to play with DipTrace and it was that which started me thinking about being able to upload cct diagrams, and the format problems.

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Style and grace : Nil point

BradC · 2009-08-02 11:29

Sorry, I assumed. All the pcb/schematic programs I've ever used have had a print option. All my machines have a PDF printer installed.

Screenshots are another way of doing it I guess.

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lt's not particularly silly, is it?

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) · 2009-08-02 15:07

I use DesignWorks Lite. When I post schematics to the forum, I copy the portion I want to post to the clipboard and paste it into Corel PhotoPaint. From there, it's saved as a GIF.

BTW, one should never post a schematic as a JPEG. The lossy compression really takes its toll on image quality. Always use either PNG or GIF.

-Phil

Toby Seckshund · 2009-08-02 15:56

Yes I know what you mean about compressions verses quality. As an ex broadcast engineer tasked to provide the best quality possible, always, it makes me want to cry with the stuff that is sent out now. Fantastic, as long as nothing moves. A cct diagram can be fuzzed, without any movement !

I have plodded through the DipTrace tutorial and there is a bitmap option so with some cropping etc something should be possible.

I was unsure if I was missing something easy, to get the schematics uploaded but as everybody has shown it is a matter of doing the cct in one package, editing/converting in another ...

Thanks for the help

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Style and grace : Nil point

Bob Lawrence (VE1RLL) · 2009-08-02 17:20

I use a free PDF driver(PDF Creater) and print it to a PDF file. You can then use the zoom feature. Anyone should be able to open a PDF. Here's a diptrace example, attached:

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Aka: CosmicBob

Fred Hawkins · 2009-08-02 20:35

Best is a gif, which uses run length encoding to minimize their file sizes. Jpegs are second best, but you will get artifacts and smudging and it will further degrade if you rework the image. BMP's are simply useless -- 2 megabytes for the simplest image is common. No one likes a bandwidth hog.

Win tip. If you have a nice editing program that no longer accepts Microsoft cut and paste·of a PrtScr call after win95, paste the PrtScr·to Paint and copy again.·Now paste·the new copy into your old program, it'll work. (Proud user of MGI·Photosuite 8.05 for win95, keeping it going 11 years later.)

SamMishal said...

Toby Seckshund said...
So, short of doing ascii art, what program allows you to output in those formats. EAGLE does .sch, DipTrace does .dch ... or is there a freeware CAD that puts out those options ?

You can always just press the PrtSc button on your keyboard, then go to any Picture Editor
e.g. PaintShop, Paint, etc.· and then do a Ctl+V to paste the picture.... edit and crop as needed
then save it to a JPG or BMP or Gif etc. and post that.

This would be the best since anyone can always view any of these universal formats
on any system.

Sam

WBA Consulting · 2009-08-03 00:59

I use Visio or DipTrace for schematics. I like Visio when I need to throw something together really quick because I have been using it forever, so I can draw a schematic in a few minutes. I use the free program CutePDF to "print" them to a PDF file for sharing.

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Andrew Williams
WBA Consulting
IT / Web / PCB / Audio

Peter Jakacki · 2009-08-03 01:11

Fred, you are behind the times [noparse]:)[/noparse] PNG is the new GIF in that it is the preferred format for lossless graphics. GIF is still ok if it's really small or animated, otherwise PNG. On Linux systems a screen/area capture results in a nice PNG graphics file saved to the desktop.

As to which program to use it looks like Diptrace is a winner due to it's ease of use yet it seems to have all the features you would expect plus there is a huge huge library of parts that are actually useful.

*Peter*

P.S. Diptrace even has the Propeller chip!

Post Edited (Peter Jakacki) : 8/3/2009 1:26:54 AM GMT

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) · 2009-08-03 02:43

Peter,

Somehow, I find it incongruous to see Fred Flintstone stating that someone's "behind the times". I'm just saying ...

-Phil

Peter Jakacki · 2009-08-03 02:54

Yeah, well my little pcb logo was boring and there was Freddy staring at me from an ANSI text screen and he seemed a little too colorful to hide away, just needed a cap. So you can tell Fred's "with the times" now, prop cap n all [noparse]:)[/noparse] down Dino down.

*Peter*

Cluso99 · 2009-08-03 03:51

Yes I lol when I saw your new logo Peter - nice one

Express Schematic is easy and free and runs the same way as Express PCB. I also use Protel but that is not free.

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Links to other interesting threads:

· Home of the MultiBladeProps: TriBladeProp, RamBlade, TwinBlade,·SixBlade, website
· Single Board Computer:·3 Propeller ICs·and a·TriBladeProp board (ZiCog Z80 Emulator)
· Prop Tools under Development or Completed (Index)
· Emulators: Micros eg Altair, and Terminals eg VT100 (Index) ZiCog (Z80), MoCog (6809)
· Search the Propeller forums (via Google)
My cruising website is: ·www.bluemagic.biz·· MultiBladeProp is: www.bluemagic.biz/cluso.htm

Toby Seckshund · 2009-08-03 11:13

@ Peter

Is that Prop in version 2 ? I only have 1.5 and didn't see it. That was going to be my tutorial on creating lib entries. I did find all the Xilinx and Zilog stuff, more Nascom1 dreams!

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Style and grace : Nil point

Schematic format

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