Beginners circuit design program for free?

[Tipsy]

I have searched the site, then downloaded and tried several recommended programs but cannot find how to output the diagrams in a common format (jpg,bmp etc) with those I've been able to use.

Any more recommendations please?

 

[gabeNC]

You can take a snapshot of your desktop by pressing cntrl-prtscreen then pasting it into a graphics program.

 

[MrDEB]

what are you trying to do?
draw a schematic or simulate a circuit?
then print it out?
need more info on EXACTLY what you want to do.

 

[ericgibbs]

I have searched the site, then downloaded and tried several recommended programs but cannot find how to output the diagrams in a common format (jpg,bmp etc) with those I've been able to use.

Any more recommendations please?

hi T,
Download the free expresspcb comes with a circuit drawing and pcb layout program.

also the free ScreenHunter5

A quick Google will call these up.

 

[killivolt]

Take Eric's suggestions on programs. I have Foxit as my viewer. I've suggested it to 15 people.

Thanks Eric.

 

[3lectrokid]

can export schematic files as jpg and can be used also to design pcbs

 

[MikeMl]

I use LTSpice. When I have something on the screen I want to post, I use Cntrl-Print Scrn to put the bitmap on the clipboard.

I then launch IRFANVIEW, and do a PASTE to dump the clipboard into the window. I use CROP to trim off the excess, and then SAVEAS xxx.PNG. IRFANVIEW has the ability to save as JPG, GIF, PNG, and about a hundred other graphics formats.

That creates a simple graphics file suitable for posting here: EXAMPLE i posted just this morning

 

[AllVol]

I use LTSpice. When I have something on the screen I want to post, I use Cntrl-Print Scrn to put the bitmap on the clipboard.

That creates a simple graphics file suitable for posting here.

I do the same, except tranfer the screen shot to Microsoft Paint, which has all the elements you describe and is already on most computers.

Paint is also good for creating schematics, etc., because you can create standard component symbols, then just copy and paste them into your project.

 

[ericgibbs]

I use LTSpice. When I have something on the screen I want to post, I use Cntrl-Print Scrn to put the bitmap on the clipboard.

I then launch IRFANVIEW, and do a PASTE to dump the clipboard into the window. I use CROP to trim off the excess, and then SAVEAS xxx.PNG. IRFANVIEW has the ability to save as JPG, GIF, PNG, and about a hundred other graphics formats.

That creates a simple graphics file suitable for posting here: EXAMPLE i posted just this morning

hi Mike,

I use ScreenHunter5, a free download.
Saves the full screen or clip box as gif or bmp format.

There are other useful free image programs on this link

Wisdom-soft Downloads

 

[MikeMl]

I've tried the SNAGIT and other screen clip savers, but I like IRFANVIEW (also a free download) better. I use for everything involving graphics and photography anyway, and know how to use it. It has great capability for sizing, compression, and format conversion.

 

[Tipsy]

Lots of recommendations for me to investigate, thank you everyone, I'm sure I'll find something I'll be at ease with.

MrDEB for now, I just want to neatly draw circuits with the ability to publish them on forums such as this for troubleshooting purposes.

 

[KMoffett]

I vote with eric. ExpressPCB has a schematic export to .bmp function. I use the 300pixcel per inch setting. Pretty big file though. Always 867Kb, because it exports the whole frame. I open the .bmp in Microsoft Office Picture Manager, crop to just the schematic, and export to a .gif format. Brings it down to 10Kb to 50Kb. I also like it because it's easy to make new components.

ken

 

[Hero999]

To create PDFs under Windows I always use PDFCreator which is free.

For schematics I use various programs: LTSpice, Crocodile Clips, Electronics Workbench and Tina.

I paste screenshots or schematics into the Gimp (a free image manipulation program), reduce the colour depth if a appropriate and save as a PNG.

Reducing the colour depth makes PNGs much smaller and doesn't it effect the quality if they're just schematics which only contain a few colours. MS-Paint can do the same thing but you only have a choice between full colour and monochrome.

See the example below, the first image is saved as 24-bit truecolour, the second is 1-bit monochrome. The first images takes 4.5k, the second only 823 bytes, yet both images look the same because they're just line drawings, the savings is more obvious for very large drawings.

 

[Space Varmint]

I have searched the site, then downloaded and tried several recommended programs but cannot find how to output the diagrams in a common format (jpg,bmp etc) with those I've been able to use.

Any more recommendations please?

MWsnap3 is good.