Hi Vasile, try with inkscape, is a free vectorial software able to generate whatever extension you want (even .eps and .pdf which i think you are interested in).

Try Google Sketcher or Creo Sketcher, both are free, or you can use GIMP 2.0 its free to and generate high quality jpg images.

Try Sketchup, FreeCAD, SolidWorks and DoubleCAD XT. Out of all these FreeCAD is free. DoubleCAD XT jpg quality is quite impressive but please let us know which AutoCad you are using, if its 2004 then you may update it it to the latest for good resolution results.

I am using AutoCAD 2009.

Hi Vasile, I have variously used Inkscape, SketchUp and Microsoft Powerpoint for each of these.

I would generally use Powerpoint for simpler figures while using Inkscape for more complicated figures.

Hi, speaking as someone who has had a couple of books published, I would advise you to put as much effort as possible into producing your figures. Whatever software you use, try to avoid producing bitmaps but, rather, produce vector graphics. The best software for this is probably Adobe Illustrator, however anything that produces vector images is fine. Vector images can be resized without any change in quality while the same is not true for bitmaps.

Thank you all for your answers.

Luca I am testing now Inskape.

Bryan your post is very useful. It is possible to insert a vector image in MS Word? I am a slave of .doc files and jpeg and bitmap. I'll soon make the transition to LaTeX and SVG.

What do you think about Corel Draw?

Hi Vasile

You can find some useful info on using vectors in word here:http://atastypixel.com/blog/inserting-vector-graphics-in-office-documents/

Vector images typically look terrible on the screen in Word but print out really well. Bitmaps are more or less the opposite (look OK on screen but terrible when printed).

It really depends on what you want to achieve. If you are only creating the word file to give to your publisher as a manuscript then you could simply convert the vector images to *.png files and insert them in word. Later on when your publisher is typesetting the book they will require high quality images and you can simply supply them with the original vector images.

Hope this helps.

I normally use AutoCAD. I do not have any problem with it, because you can generate a vector based output and not jpeg by using the mwf option. That way you can generate images that can be properly embedded in Microsoft word without any problem. Let me know if you need any further assistance.

LibreOffice (or OpenOffice) drawing package. It's not as pretty to use as Microsoft, but you end up with some thing a lot better defined and exportable. I use it for practically all my diagrams - including those in MS Word documents.

Use a page per diagram, once each is done select all (on that page) and "Export" to eps format. Excellent for LaTeX figures. The preview may be a bit rough but the final result is good anywhere it is printed - to PDF or most printers - use something like ghostview if you want a bitmap.

Also make sure when you create the Autocad drawing using the line width judiciously so that the proper line thicknesses can be seen. The Also check the line width display option before exporting to wmf option. That will get the line thicknesses properly. Let me know if you have any questions. I can send you a few examples just in case, as I use it all the time for many of the books that I have published.

Mr Paynter thank you for your replay. It isn't clear for me if Open Office have a drawing package, or you use the drawing options from the text editor.

Mr. Posinasetti your post is very interesting. I never use before the .mwf format. I tried to export from AutoCAD in .svg fromat, but I can't import the result in Word. The control of line width is ok. Il will tray your suggestion. Some examples from you would be very helpful. Thank you.

Please find an example of a figure as wmf. This can be easily imported into Word document using the Insert Picture from file. Then you can crop, and resize as required inside Word.

You can add vector graphics to Word file directly, I use this trick all the time. Just export your drawing as WMF (Windows Metafile) and include it in your document. The only downside is the use of fonts but, if you use fonts that were installed with your base system, you'll be fine.

Try Visio!

It is a vector graphic producer, It is generalized for every need and it is very simple to use with a search tool for any graphics. and it can easily produce very good quality graphics in very low size image files (TIF with LZW loss-less compression), which would be really appreciable if you think about hundreds of high quality images for a book!

The only matter is that if you draw a 3D Figure in Visio, you can not have another point of view for it (or rotate it)!

Thank you Budo for your suggestion. What software do you use to create the drawings? AutoCAD?

Thank you Amin. Visio is an interesting idea.

AUTOCAD is the best

Here is a word documents with imported wmf files from AutoCAD. Here you can see the quality and you can print the file to see how good the image is.

Another option I sometimes use is Autodesk Inventor which will allow me to bring 3D illustrations directly into Word. If interested in that option for more sophisticated illustrations, let me know so that I can show some examples.

Thank you Mr. Nageswara Posinasetti. I am satisfied with the quality of images from your examples. What version of AutoCAD do you use?

What thickness did you use for the two types of lines?

Regarding to Autodesk Inventor, do you make ilustration in the .ipt file, or do you make part views in the .idw file? In what type of file do you export the image from Inventor?

Mr. Nunziante your answer, coming from a professor of solid mechanics is very appreciated. I think I need to improve my skills of exporting the images from AutoCAD. Thank you for your replay.

Thank you mr Cojocaru. I wrote the book Scienza delle Costruzioni, edited by McGraw-Hill , that is mostly appreciated in all Universities in Italy.

If you need further suggestions in writing your book, do not hesitate to contact me, privately too. My e-mail is [email protected] .

Best regards, good luck

Luciano Nunziante

Thank you Mr Cojocaru.

I am currently using AutoCAD 2012. The line width that I normally use is 0.4 mm for most part. Sometimes you may have to experiment with it based on the dimension of the objects. I use all the thick lines to be in the same layer so that I can experiment with minimum problems till I get the correct line thickness.

Inventor I create a drawing .idw and then export it to AutoCAD as .dwg file. The advantage is I will have more control in AutoCAD in any additions that I have to make for final appearance.

Another point about AutoCAD.As a student/faculty of an education institution you can download thesoftware for practice and use in teaching from

http://www.autodesk.com/education/student-software

I hope you are familiar with it.

At this point I am inclined tothe combination LaTex + AutoCAD (and Inventor if necessary). What do you think is the best way to import AutoCAD drawings in Latex? I tried already with pdf export, but are some problems with the text.

I agree with AutoCAD. you can download it too

Inkscape for 2D and Blender for 3D pictures.

Blender for animations

For instance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RasemoYzsFA

Mr. Harnois has provided a very good info for your need.

inkscape as well as blender are great, free and light weight alternatives and available for both windows and linux.

Inscape is the best for the purpose (it creates pictures with vector graphics approach by default)

Yes, I agree Bhaskar , I too use inkscape for drawing the figures. It is having lot of features and directly we can save it .eps format.

I suggest you to use Sketchup software. It has a lot of material libraries.

Another free software which is a good alternative for AutoCAD is "LibreCAD". Enough tutorials are available in internet.

The base Is ever the Autocad