1. OpenOffice/LibreOffice Draw

OpenOffice Draw and LibreOffice Draw are two separate software but since their usage and functionality is very similar, I would mention them together. These are the closest and the biggest open source competitors of Microsoft Visio. Draw is an all purpose drawing, diagramming and charting tool. The feature that I love in Draw is the grouping feature. You can easily group different objects together and then do different actions on the group like moving the group, connecting with other groups etc. In addition to other formats (XML format is the default), you can also export your diagrams as SWF Flash files.

Download OpenOffice Draw

Download LibreOffice Draw

2. Dia

Dia is an open source software very similar to Microsoft Visio. When you start it for the first time, you will see that the user interface resembles with Visio a lot. The feature set of dia is also very similar to Visio. You can create UML diagrams, flowcharts, network processes and architectures, entity relationship diagrams etc. easily with Dia. The default file format for any file created with Dia is .dia but there are a lot of file formats that you can export your diagram including Microsoft Visio vdx format.

Download Dia

3. LucidChart

If you are looking for a web based alternative to Microsoft Visio, LucidChart is the perf5 Best Free Alternatives To Microsoft Visioect choice. It provides a drag and drop web interface to draw any kind of diagram. LucidChart gives you an option to build your diagrams in collaboration with your team. Multiple people will be able to work with the same diagram making it the perfect choice for small teams. One of the great features of LucidChart is that it can export or import Microsoft Visio vdx files very easily in your LucidChart account. One thing that is missing in LucidChart is the built in categorization of different shapes for different areas like networking, engineering etc. You don’t need to signup for an account on LucidChart. You just have to open the site and start drawing.5 Best Free Alternatives To Microsoft Visio

Visit LucidChart

4. Diagramly

Diagramly is another web based diagramming and mind mapping software. It has a very responsive and easy to use interface with the tools on the left hand column and the drawing on the right hand column. You don’t need to signup for an account to use Diagramly. You can just visit Diagramly and start working on your diagram or mind map. When finished, save the diagram in an XML file locally on your computer. If you need to edit the diagram again, just visit Diagramly again and open your locally saved file for further editing.

Visit Diagramly

5. Pencil Project

Pencil Project is an Open Source alternative to Mcirosoft Visio which is actively maintained by the development community. Their goal for Pencil Project is to make it a tool to make diagramming as easy as possible and usable for everyone from a newbie to an expert. It is very similar to other desktop based tool with a distinction that it can be installed as a Firefox extension so that you can easily create your diagrams while browsing the Internet.

Download Pencil Project

I hope you will find these free alternatives to Microsoft Visio very useful and I would like to have your thought on how much these free software have been able to replace Visio in your work?

Image credit: Big Stock Photo

iDraw has the tools you will want and need and has them arranged in a way that is basic and organized well. The Properties window is where you control the aspects of the canvas, coordinates and size of an object, how it will be aligned and arranged, the path and spacing. These functions are also found within the menu and sometimes at the top of the window as well.

The objects are created with the help of the tools located on the left of the canvas. I was asked to create a logo for a DJ service, and it was easily accomplished with these tools and shapes. I simply drew it with rectangles, polygons, circles and lines. While in an app with more options, such as Adobe Illustrator, I’d be creating the complex shapes by cutting and moving the index points, it’s created here with the eraser tool. The earpieces of the headphones started as circles, and I simply “erased” to make the flat edges on either side.

The look of all the objects and text is controlled in the Appearance window. The line weight and sharpness of ends is controlled here, and the brush size and shape can be set within this window as well. For shapes, the fill color is set here, albeit with limited color choices and no options for CMYK or RGB. Additionally, shapes can be set to be filled with gradients and images as well.

Text is handled in the Appearance window as well. Font, Size, and Alignment is handled in this window. After your text is set the way you want it, you can use the option to Convert Text to Path to treat your text as objects allowing you to do things such as fill the text with an image. The functions are limited here as far as the text. I was not able to set the text to a path or objects other than a basic text box. To accomplish the curved text, I put each character in a separate text box, then rotated each one separately, the same way I would have in the early days of graphic design before such options were made available. Text could also be set in a text program and saved as an image and imported in if more distinct text styles are required.

When the project is completed, it can be exported into a variety of formats including JPG, GIF, PNG, SVG, and others. Saving as a JPG allows for you to set the quality of the image as well as an option for including the background and a grid. Those who are unsure with all these options are helped along with short explanations onscreen of each different exporting option.

Every image manipulation option from other apps isn’t included in iDraw, but if that more extensive creativity is needed, it would be best to spend the money and get a more expensive app such as Adobe Illustrator. However, for more simple image manipulation, the much cheaper iDraw will certainly suffice.

Installation

Sweet Home 3D is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. There is also an online version that you can use directly from your browser. To install the desktop software, go to Sweet Home 3D site and download the version for your operating system.

In Ubuntu, you can easily install via the Synaptic Package Manager, Ubuntu Software Center or with the command:

sudo apt-get install sweethome3d

User Interface

When you open the application, all you will see is a blank window with four sections.

The top left section is a list of 3D model (furniture) that you can drag and drop to the design pane. The top right section is the design pane where you can drag, move, rotate and resize your furniture and arrange them in the preferences you want.

The bottom left section show the description and attributes of individual item and the bottom right section is the 3D preview of your house design. You can change the view by dragging and rotate it around.

Getting Started

The first thing you have to do is to create the layout of your house. If you already have a digital copy of the layout plan, you can import it at “Plan -> Import background image“. Alternatively, you can start from scratch by going to “Plan -> Create Walls“.

Once you have created your layout, you can start to drag and drop the furnitures from the top left section and move them around in the layout. When dealing with the furniture, you can use the corner actions to change its appearance:

• Top left corner – rotate
• Top right – change elevation
• Bottom left – change height
• Bottom right – resize

At any point of time, you can drag your cursor to change the viewing angle at the Preview pane. You can also use the scroll wheel to zoom in/out of your layout.

3D Models

The furniture library is rather limited in the desktop version. What you can do is to import (Furniture -> Import Furniture Library) the extra library of 3D models from here.

Once you have finished your design, you can either save it for future editing (with .sh3d extension), print it or save as PDF. The layout that you created can also be exported to SVG format.

Conclusion

If you need a simple home design software that doesn’t require any technical background to use, Sweet Home 3D is a good choice.

Note: Sweet Home 3D is built with java and require java to be installed in your machine before you can use it.

Image credit: BigStockPhoto

Another great feature of Google Docs is the collaboration feature which allows you to invite multiple people to view or edit your documents. If you have a team or a small group of people and want to collaborate on a document, presentation – Google Docs is the easiest and most versatile tool to choose from.

But not many people know that Google Docs makes it very easy to create and collaborate on a drawing or diagram. This has several advantages:

1. You can invite a group of people to view your drawings and share ideas which can not be represented on a word document or a PowerPoint presentation.

2. You can collaborate with multiple people and create flow charts or network diagrams, this is again very useful when you want to decide the work order of your next project, the roles of different team members and so on.

In this article we will learn how you can create a drawing or graphical representation using Google Docs and collaborate with multiple people on the same drawing.

The Basics of Google Drawings

To use the drawing feature in Google Docs, go to docs.google.com and sign in with your Google account. Next, click the “Create New” dropdown menu and choose “Create a Drawing” as shown below:

This will open a blank canvas page in a new browser tab where you can start adding objects, text items and create the drawing as you want. Here is how the canvas page looks:

Using Templates: In case you want to use ready made templates for your drawing, you can choose the option “Create from Template”.

The Google Docs template gallery contains a wide range of user submitted templates, so it would be better to search for a template and see whether a design matches with your requirements.

There are a whole bunch of templates out there – from UML diagrams to flow charts, from Network diagrams to sequences. If you are unable to find a suitable template for your drawing, create one from scratch.

In the canvas page – you will see a small toolbar with different buttons. The toolbar consists of the following main buttons:

• The Select tool:  Allows you to select an item e.g image or shape.
• The Text Box tool: Allows you to add textual content to your drawing.
• The Zoom tool: Allows you to zoom within the canvas.
• The line tool: Allows you to create a simple line.

To use a tool,simply click the corresponding button from the toolbar and add the items to the drawing canvas. There are other buttons too, their usage is discussed in the following section.

Add Different Shapes in Your Google Docs Drawing

To add different shapes in your drawing, click the “Insert” button from the menu and hover your mouse cursor on the last option called “Shape”. You will now see more options ( just like Microsoft Word) – just select a shape and drag the cursor in the canvas to insert the shape in your drawing.

Once the shape is in place, you can select it using the select tool and resize it by dragging the cursor at any corner of the shape. As soon as you select the shape, you will notice new buttons on the toolbar, namely Fill color, Border Color, Border width and so on. You can use these buttons to customize the shape the way you want.

Add Images and Elements in Your Google Docs Drawing

To add an image in your drawing, click the small image icon and then choose the location of the image file. Here you have three options:

• Choose an image from your computer.
• Choose an image from a public URL.
• Choose an image from Google image search.

Similarly, you can select other options in the insert menu to add different elements in your drawing. This includes adding rectangles, polygons, arcs, curve or an arrow.

Invite Other people to View or Collaborate on Your Drawing

This is the most interesting part. When you want multiple people to edit the same drawing, click the “Share” button at the right top of the browser window and select “Email editors”.

Then enter the email address of the person in the next window and you are done. The editor will then be able to edit the drawing in the same way as you edit, both the people would be able to communicate through a chat window and share ideas, while adding elements to the drawing.

You can also use the other options to either Email the drawing as an attachment or publish it to the web for public viewing.

Finally – Download or Print the Drawing

When the drawing is complete, click File and select the “Download As” option to download the drawing in your computer. The available formats are JPEG, PNG, SVG and PDF.

You can also print a copy of the drawing on paper using the “print” option as shown above.

All in all, Google Docs Drawings is a really fun and useful tool to tinker with. It’s a great way to share ideas which can’t be penned on paper. College students and project members can use it for laying out ideas, determining a flow chart, planning, graphical representation and  so on.

Have you ever used a collaborative drawing tool? What do you recommend? Let’s hear your ideas in the comments.

Believe it or not, one of the Windows softwares that I missed most when I first moved to Mac, aside from Minesweeper and Freecell, is MS Paint. So, for the nostalgia sake, I compile a small list of simple drawing application for Mac.

1. Paintbrush

I think it’s best to start the list with this app because Paintbrush claimed to be “the clone” of MS Paint. This one is a very simple drawing application with minimal tools. That’s why it’s fun and perfect for quick doodling.

2. MacPaint X

MacPaint X is a basic drawing tool for Mac which is based off the original MacPaint that was created by Apple. It comes with many other small applets such as a auto saver and updater which makes it one of the good alternative drawing application for OS X. The simplicity of MacPaint X makes it fit for everybody, from children learning how to draw on their first computer to adults doing a quick sketch.

3. Tux Paint

If you are (or have) children ages 3 to 12, then you have to try this award-winning multi-platform drawing application. The app combine easy-to-use interface and fun sound effects to encourage children to draw. There’s also the cartoon mascot which will guide kids on using the program. But even if you’re not young anymore, this program could be a fun time waster. We all have the little child inside of us, don’t we?

4. Drawberry

It is a free vector drawing software application for Mac OS X. This one is an alternative to the free but bulky: The GIMP or Inkscape. With DrawBerry, you have all the possibilities the vectorial drawing offers you in a free, easy to use and powerful application. At the time of writing, the developer’s web showed near-blank page, so I get the app from one of the Mac download sites.

5. HeliosPaint

This one is a bit more advanced, but not too complex. Maybe somewhere above Paintbrush and (way) below Photoshop. It’s written in Java so it would work on every OS. But as most Java apps out there, HeliosPaint is a bit sluggish.

Of course there are other drawing apps available for Mac and there’s no way I could list them all here. Which one(s) do you use? Share your thoughts below.

Free Licence?

General computer user might have never even heard about this piece of software (the price tag usually scares them away – do googling for “Archicad price” and you’ll see what I mean), but I’m sure the name is very familiar for architects (professionals, students, teachers, wannabes) and everybody else related to this field all over the world.

What most people don’t know is that you can try this application for free for 30 days, and if you are a teacher or student, you can have the education licence to use the software for one full year for free. (Moreover, the process of getting the educational licence is not that strict. So…) The only catch is that education version will bear watermarks in the final result. But for personal use or educational purpose, this limitation is acceptable.

Complete Multimedia Tutorial

Basically, using Archicad is similar to building the real thing. You start with the floor, walls, roof, then adding other elements such as windows and door. Amazingly, everything that you draw in the floor plan will also appear in the elevation and 3D view. Archicad is also able to do simple task for everyday use like drawing vector lines, and curves and turned them into three dimensional object. If you want, and have a lot of spare time, you can even create a 3D Model of a Battle Robot. (I sometimes use it do design 3D logos, and the precision is amazing).

Explaining how Archicad works require a book-length text (or more), so I’ll let you go directly to the developer’s site. They have already provide users with complete tutorials (pdfs, movies) on how to use this software. Visit their Interactive Training Guides page to get every tutorial available. Users can choose which format of the tutorials is suitable for them. The options range from choosing the operating system (Windows or Mac), languages, and measurement format. But please be warned that the sizes of these tutorials are also “heavy”.

So, if you are planning on redesigning your house or even building a new one yourself (or just curious after looking at several images above), why not try this virtual building solution?