Looking for some 2D, 3D-drawing software

[VietDao29]

I wonder if anyone has some nice drawing softwares, that they can recommend me.
I used to draw everything by MS Paint, and it's way too hard for some complicated figure :frown:. And now, I think I must find another way to go about this irritable problem.
I am currently looking for some software that can draw something like triangles, circles, blah... blah... blah... (yeah, just some basic stuff). If it can find the locus of a point, that would be nice.
And I am also looking for some software that helps me draw 3D objects, like a sphere, or stuff...
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I searched on Google for a while, and came across Sketchpad. Is it good? Does anyone here use it?
Thanks, :smile:

[Janus]

Check out POV-Ray, Which you can get at http://www.povray.org as freeware.

[darkar]

Software drawing 3d objects is going to be expensive.

[neurocomp2003]

vtk,openptc,ogre3D are open source.

[GregA]

You want to look for a vector drawing app *such as* (try to find non-brand name ones :) ) Adobe illustrator or coreldraw (cheaper) for drawing basic shapes. MS paint is a raster (bitmap) program ie: a circle is defined as a number of pixels coloured in such a way that it looks like a circle (thats why they look cr*p when you scale em or rotate em...and they really don't lend themselves to accuracy or intricacy)..In a vector app it is simply a circle of specific size, colour, position etc...

For tasks such as loci, drawing 3D objects etc... you may be far better off looking for a monthly computer mag that has some 5 year old freebie CAD software on it's cover disc (same applies with vector drawing apps). Or find a bookshop that hoards these types of magazines :smile:

*edit* only brand name CAD software I can think of is Autocad...don't know the details but very expensive...3D software can be even more expensive...you're looking at $1,000's for a standard copy of Maya.

[sid_galt]

2d objects - GIMP is one of the best opensource softwares out there for 2d.

3d objects - Use gmax (its free). To make jpeg images, you could use Print Screen and then paste and cut in Paint, although I am not too sure of the legality of this.

[hypermorphism]

I second POV-Ray as it includes many mathematical functions and can render isosurfaces and parametric objects. The scene help file is beyond complete, going into implementation details as well as explaining what may be obscure ray-tracing terminology to the beginner. Animations, logical loops and common fractals are supported natively as well. The output is as of high quality as you have time to render.
If you want to dynamically manipulate complicated objects before rendering them, you can use one of the many free modellers available for POV-Ray. K3D-Surf (http://k3dsurf.sourceforge.net/) is a simple mesh generator for POV-Ray where you can graph in 3D and manipulate the graph in realtime using the mouse or commands before generating the POV-Ray mesh object code.

[VietDao29]

Thanks guys a lot, :)
However, I still have some more questions.
Check out POV-Ray, Which you can get at http://www.povray.org as freeware.
POV-Ray looks professional, and I have looked at its help files. It's way too big, and I don't really feel like reading it on the computer screen (my eyes won't stand looking at the computer screen for a long time). So I just wonder if anyone have a PDF version of it, or any version that allows me to print everything on paper.
vtk,openptc,ogre3D are open source.
I've tried vtk, but I dunno how I can play arround with openptc, and ogre3D. :confused: They somehow do not have an installer... Are they just libraries for programming or something?
You want to look for a vector drawing app *such as* (try to find non-brand name ones :) ) Adobe illustrator or coreldraw (cheaper) for drawing basic shapes. MS paint is a raster (bitmap) program ie: a circle is defined as a number of pixels coloured in such a way that it looks like a circle (thats why they look cr*p when you scale em or rotate em...and they really don't lend themselves to accuracy or intricacy)..In a vector app it is simply a circle of specific size, colour, position etc...
Thanks, I'll check the 2 out :)
*edit* only brand name CAD software I can think of is Autocad...don't know the details but very expensive...3D software can be even more expensive...you're looking at $1,000's for a standard copy of Maya.
Maya looks cool, but it's soooo expensive... :frown:
2d objects - GIMP is one of the best opensource softwares out there for 2d.

3d objects - Use gmax (its free). To make jpeg images, you could use Print Screen and then paste and cut in Paint, although I am not too sure of the legality of this.
GIMP looks good, but I dunno why it often crashes. Is it just me, or the programme is malfunction?
If you want to dynamically manipulate complicated objects before rendering them, you can use one of the many free modellers available for POV-Ray. K3D-Surf is a simple mesh generator for POV-Ray where you can graph in 3D and manipulate the graph in realtime using the mouse or commands before generating the POV-Ray mesh object code.
K3D-Surf looks cool. Thanks.
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Thanks, :)

[Janus]

Thanks guys a lot, :)
However, I still have some more questions.

POV-Ray looks professional, and I have looked at its help files. It's way too big, and I don't really feel like reading it on the computer screen (my eyes won't stand looking at the computer screen for a long time). So I just wonder if anyone have a PDF version of it, or any version that allows me to print everything on paper.
----------------
Thanks, :)

Go to http://www.povray.org/download/ and under "Documentation", you can down load the POV-Ray documentation in PDF form.

[VietDao29]

Go to http://www.povray.org/download/ and under "Documentation", you can down load the POV-Ray documentation in PDF form.
Thanks a lot, Janus. :smile:

[jamesrc]

You can get a free stripped down version of Alibre here:

http://www.alibre.com/xpress/software/alibre-design-xpress.asp

I haven't had a chance to see how much functionality they take out in the free version yet, but Alibre itself is a professional grade 3D CAD solid modeling program with associative 2D drawing capability (which may be more than you need).

[VietDao29]

You can get a free stripped down version of Alibre here:

http://www.alibre.com/xpress/software/alibre-design-xpress.asp

I haven't had a chance to see how much functionality they take out in the free version yet, but Alibre itself is a professional grade 3D CAD solid modeling program with associative 2D drawing capability (which may be more than you need).
Thanks a lot, :smile:
Alibre looks cool. It's a pity that they only provide a 30-day trial version of it. :frown:

[jamesrc]

No problem,

I thought that the 30-day trial was for the Professional version. I didn't think there was a time limit or a catch on the Xpress version; I could be wrong though...

[VietDao29]

No problem,

I thought that the 30-day trial was for the Professional version. I didn't think there was a time limit or a catch on the Xpress version; I could be wrong though...
Nah, I was wrong. I've downloaded the Express Edition, and it's 1 year free. Yay!!!!
thanks a lot, jamesrc. :smile:

[neurocomp2003]

are you looking for software to use with a 3D interface or software to use that you have to code with...both ptc and ogre are prebuilt graphics libraries and thus you'd have to code them...ogre is used more for game development

if your just looking to draw triangles and circles it rather easy to learn opengl and used there embedded coordinate system provided you know
math. www.libSDL.org, www.ogre3D.org...

how did you find vtk?

[VietDao29]

are you looking for software to use with a 3D interface or software to use that you have to code with...both ptc and ogre are prebuilt graphics libraries and thus you'd have to code them...ogre is used more for game development

if your just looking to draw triangles and circles it rather easy to learn opengl and used there embedded coordinate system provided you know
math. www.libSDL.org, www.ogre3D.org...

how did you find vtk?
Thanks for the information. :) Exactly what I guessed, they are libraries...
Meh, I'm soooo bad at programming. I haven't been able to create anything good with my programming skills! :frown:
I found vtk (http://www.vtk.org/) by doing a bit of Googling. :)

[dduardo]

Here is another 3d modeller:

http://www.blender.org/cms/Home.2.0.html

[VietDao29]

Here is another 3d modeller:

http://www.blender.org/cms/Home.2.0.html
Thanks, dduardo. :)