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Xdraft drawing editor

This web page describes my drawing editor, still a work in progress.

New: Version 0.13 released. This fixes package dependency problems introduced by Ubuntu 8. This new version will probably not install on Ubuntu 6 and earlier systems.

A short tutorial has been written. This is still in the very early stages and feedback is welcome.

Currently working on: Library items. Attribute editor. More input modes and intersections. Improved keyboard acceleration.

Also, pattern fills still need to be added to postscript output.

Still to be done: .dxf file format. Path objects. Attribute editor. Once these are done, I'll release version 1.0.

I have had a report of someone getting a core dump at startup; has anyone else seen this? Let me know if you have.

First practical use of xdraft. I've built a cabinet that was designed with xdraft.

I see there have already been over 1000 downloads and it's not even released yet. Not bad.

I just released 0.11; if you download it, please post a note to let me know any of the following:

• Problems building
• Problems running
• Bugs
• Ways the user interface could be improved.

Thanx in advance -- Ed Falk

• Overview
• Features
• Tutorial
• Download
• Project Page

Overview:

I tried to use some of the available free Cad software (Xfig under Linux, TurboCad-2d and others under Windoze) and came to one inescapable conclusion: They all suck. You'd think that the people who wrote them had never taken a drafting class in high school. Xfig came the closest to being useful, but its arc-definition mode was too limited, it didn't have any trimming functions, and most importantly, there was no dimension function.

Oh well; that's free software for you. I'm sure the professional stuff is much better. But no way am I paying $2000 just to enter the plans to a $500 telescope.

Next, I tried installing Catia [note: web page requires javascript -- foo] at work, where we have a license. I used Catia back in college -- it is without a doubt the finest Cad software ever written. If you've ever ridden in a modern airliner, you've ridden in something designed on Catia. Pratt & Witney designs their engines with Catia. Your car was probably designed with Catia.

But have you ever tried installing and administering Catia? Forget it. Requires a trained professional. Actually, I am a trained professional, and I still got nowhere. Catia administration requires a full-time person with extensive experience with IBM mainframes and who studied at Dassault in France for two years to learn how. Took me a week to install it, and I never did figure out how to run it. The next engineer after me tried to install it too, and didn't get any further. I think they're sending him to France now.

So what do I do? I decided that if Unix is 30 years old and still doesn't have a decent drafting program, it was time to write one. This program started life about 15 years ago. I wrote it in college to drive Imlac PDS-X vector displays connected to Pr1me-500 computers. None of the original source code remains (it was written in Fortran.) All that remains are the design ideas and philosophy. It incorporates the XFIG file format, and some ideas from XFIG, Catia and whatever crumbs of good ideas I got from the other Cad software I've played with.

I'm about 75% done.

Features:

• Free software. Uses GTK+ widget set.
• Reads and writes xfig files. I plan to add other formats. In fact, I'll have to -- xfig format doesn't do everything I want. DXF format is in the works.
• Multiple ways to define vertices and enter data:
  • Point and click with the mouse. All drawing editors have this feature, but if you've ever really tried to use CAD software to do real drafting, you'll realize that this is the method you'll never actually use.
  • Enter X,Y coordinates -- either or both may be relative to the previous point, or absolute.
  • Enter length or angle.
  • Enter any combination of X, Y, length or angle; Xdraft will figure out what to do.
  • Any combination of X,Y, length or angle may be "locked" to their current value.
  • X and/or Y values may be copied from any vertex in the model.
  • Length may be copied from any edge or radius in the model.
  • Angle may be copied from any edge in the model.
  • Conventional grid snap may be enabled.
  • Conventional vertex snap may be enabled.
  • Conventional angle snap may be enabled. Some drawing programs call this "Manhattan" or "mountain" geometry.
  • Naturally, all constraints have hot keys, so you need not move the mouse to change them.
• Extremely powerful grid snap. Most drafting programs have grids fixed at some interval, or if you're lucky, allow you to choose between 1/8", 1/4" and 1/2". Xdraft allows you to set *any* interval. In addition, Xdraft allows you to set the grid origin to anything you want. Even more, the grid need not be square, or even rectangular. See this screenshot to see the grid-definition dialog, with an isometric grid currently in use.
• Powerful angle snap. Some drawing programs call this "Manhattan" or "mountain" geometry and limit you to 90-degree (or 45-degree if you're lucky) intervals. Xdraft goes much further and allows the user to specify angle snap at any interval. Default is 15 degree intervals, but 30 degrees is great for isometric drawings.
• Numeric values are entered as algebraic expressions. If your units are feet, and you want to enter an inch, type "1/12".
• Multiple layers. Layer 999 is designated the "construction" layer. It's drawn all in one color, and may be quickly toggled on and off. If you've ever done real drafting, you know that construction lines are the key to getting the job done.
• Multiple ways to enter each kind of element:

  Points:

  Enter coordinates.

  Enter an offset from some other point.

  Intersection(s) of two elements.

  Limit points of an element.

  Evenly spaced between two points.

  At the midpoint (or any other ratio) between two points.

  In a rectangular grid.

  Lines:

  Single line segment defined by two points.

  Polyline defined by multiple points.

  Parallel to an existing edge.

  Perpindicular to an existing edge.

  Join multiple lines into one polyline.

  Break a polyline into individual line segments.

  Trim one or both lines at their intersection.

  Boxes: Defined by corner points or center point and corner point.

  Circles:

  Defined by center and radius.

  Defined by three points on the circle.

  Ellipses:

  Defined by center and radii.

  Defined within a box.

  Arcs:

  Defined by center, radius and two angles.

  Defined by three points.

  Dimension lines:

  Horizontal.

  Vertical.

  Parallel to an edge.

  Radius.

  Text: Simply type and place.

• Pre-select highlighting. With most editors, if the image is crowded, you point, click, and hope that you got the right element. In Xdraft, whichever elements is closest to the cursor is drawn in a bright color to let you know that this is the one you would pick if you clicked right now.
• Editing: Delete, hide, show, copy, move, 50-level (configurable) undo/redo buffer. Coming soon: move, delete, add points in a line or spline. Coming soon: rotate, scale, flip.

Download:

There's an rpm file which has been tested under RedHat 7 and 9 and will probably work on other versions as well. You probably won't need to build xdraft yourself, but if you want to compile it yourself, follow these steps:

• Install GTK and Gnome (see above, they're probably already installed).
• Edit Makefiles if necessary.
• make

If you have problems compiling or using Xdraft, you can send me email.

See the file Todo for a list of current bugs and things that still need doing. See Developers for a list of source files and descriptions.

For now, I'm most interested in the following:

• Devleopment help
• Comments on the user interface, in particular, I need to make better choices for keyboard acceleration.
• DXF file handling.

-Ed Falk, Nov 2004

Screenshots

[ Tutorial | A practical example | Project Page ]