Software for drawing simple objects and vectors (free body diagrams)?

AI Thread Summary
The discussion focuses on finding a user-friendly drawing tool for creating simple figures with vectors and angles, specifically for free body diagrams. The original poster expresses frustration with complex software like Photoshop and Inkscape, which they find inadequate for their needs. They mention discovering Ipe, which initially posed installation challenges but ultimately proved effective after downloading necessary libraries. Another user recommends GeoGebra as a free and easy-to-use alternative that meets the requirements. The thread emphasizes the need for specialized software that simplifies the process of adding vectors and angles in diagrams.
Hernaner28
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Hi. I'm looking for a drawing tool which may help me draw simple figures with vectors and angles. I've tried many but they're so complicated... e.g. Photoshop, Power Point, Edraw, and some others. The ideal one would be one which is designed for this... I mean a program that has a tool, for example, which makes you add a vector with a name automatically.. without having to reinsert a text box apart from the vector... Or for example, a tool which adds two lines and a curve between these two indicating the angle θ. I just cannot find one and there are a lot out there. If you know anyone like that please tell me! It would be much easier to post here with my drawings! THANKS!
 
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I've just tried Inkscape and it's horrible... it has no vector drawing tool! I just wonder why so many people reccomend it so please if you were going to reccomend it please don't.
 
Hernaner28 said:
Hi. I'm looking for a drawing tool which may help me draw simple figures with vectors and angles. I've tried many but they're so complicated... e.g. Photoshop, Power Point, Edraw, and some others. The ideal one would be one which is designed for this... I mean a program that has a tool, for example, which makes you add a vector with a name automatically.. without having to reinsert a text box apart from the vector... Or for example, a tool which adds two lines and a curve between these two indicating the angle θ. I just cannot find one and there are a lot out there. If you know anyone like that please tell me! It would be much easier to post here with my drawings! THANKS!

Hernaner28 said:
I've just tried Inkscape and it's horrible... it has no vector drawing tool! I just wonder why so many people reccomend it so please if you were going to reccomend it please don't.

I tried doing a Google Images search on Free Body Diagram Drawing Software, and got what look to be some good hits. I didn't follow the links, but maybe if you have a look, you'll see a package that you didn't know about:

http://www.google.com/search?tbm=is...57l21l21l0l8l8l1l312l2091l0j7j2j1l10l0.cfis.1.

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Aw yeah! Believe me, I've been doing image and text search for half an hour and I just cannot believe I cannot find the program when there're so many of them. I expected to find one of these instantly. I'm just asking for vectors tools and that basic kind of stuff. All those images in google search are amazing but they are images which are already done, they are not related to a software drawing page. I really need one, it's extremelly hard to explain my attempt at solution without a diagram. Thanks anyway
 
I found one which seemed pretty good.. almost perfect.. it's called Ipe. But I downloaded it from sourceforge and I got about five folders and I don't know what to do with them! There's no install file... I read sth that is necessary to compile it. Why do they make things so hard?

Ipe6_screenshot.png


If anyone got it working please tell me how! THANKS!
 
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I got it working and it's amazing! In the page it says all you need. You have to download the libraries apart from it and then you copy them into the directory of Ipe. Now I'm trying to incorporate latex.!
 
I recommend GeoGebra. It does everything, is free, and easy to use.

http://mathematicalmarvels.webs.com/Geo1.jpg
 
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