Hey Luk every one dnt knw graphic sftwares so they used powerpoint..........

I think most of the time it is just laziness. I have to admit that at least for teaching purposes I also use LibreOffice for figures, but not for papers.

I do but it is not easy. The big problem is the PPT works differently on different computers. The difference between Macs & PCs is notorious but even if you use PCs the presentation that works fine on your PC laptop might not work very well on the lecture theatre computer.

I am an expert in Graphic designing. Have been working in Adobe Photosohp, Flash and Illustrator, Eon Vue, Cambridgesoft BioDraw since years.

But since I am in a lab i need to use a format that other people can also handle in my absence. My guide and my seniors use to follow powerpoint. And i am bound to use them. Slowly they are shifting to Illustrator and Corel for ongoing vector and resolutino problems. But powerpoint is not too bad when it comes to handiness. Moreover poerpoint 2013 is coming with great new features and i hope they are doing something with it. EMF (Enhanced metafile) format is copyrighted format introduced by Microsoft for graphics made in these softwares, yet this vector file is not as handy as eps and svg format which are universally renderable to higher resolution on demand. Moreover EMF format when exported to tiff and JPEG causes Jaggy images, poor curvatures and sometimes bad color gradients, yet it supports multiple level grouping and layering but still only microsoft editors like powerpoint and word.

I suggest Flash as alternative to illustrator coz its much easier to handle and its library nature for designing where a symbol could be used multiple times unlike illustrator where you need to copy and paste a design in case it is used more than once (Like boxes of ATP in a metabolic pathway. Flash skills moreover can be extrapolated for creation of interactive animations or videos.

- because it is possible

- because it is available (everywhere)

- because it's vector graphics => big improvement over using Microsoft Paint for the average user!

@Friedrich Menges

Powerpoint exports vector graphics only in emf format which works great only if exported through powerpoint itself.

for instance we use MEGA for tree generation and to avoid problems in backtracing in future, we export emf vector. but when editing option are enabled in MS office, the dendrogram of tree is distorted and deviates heavily from original picture. Since it was experiment to shift from need to Illustrator than need to powerpoint in vector graphics., it was not a big deal. We still using EPS for that.

moreover EMF format is not accepted in all scientific journals.

Hi Marcelo,

This is probably made with a vector drawing application like Adobe Illustrator or similar. Does that help?

GIMP and Inkscape are great software tools that are for free. Maybe this can help you.

I'm also distributing a free library of science and medical illustrations. Feel free to have a look. All these images are optimized for PPT presentations. Here is the link with more info: http://www.somersault1824.com/science-illustrations/

Cheers,

Luk

HI Luk Cox- ---powerpoint offers the advantage of creating  illustrations for doctors-who are not professional illustrators and for those who cannot afford to purchase illustrations online, or for those who can make their own images without the need for costly software.I usually create my own images including 3D and photorealistic images using powerpoint alone- you may   view some of these on my facebook page -MAGIC MEDICAL ART

https://www.facebook.com/Zachs.medical.art/timeline?ref=page_internal

Dear Luk and Sanoop,

I agree partially to the points raised by both of you. I agree ( with Sanoop) that powerpoint is often the easiest way to make illustrations , as we are generally more used to it to make presentations on the regular basis. But, on the other hand, the graphics made in illustrator look more appealing and elegant (at-least to my eyes !). 

And Luk, thanks for the link for downloadable illustration - they are terrific and i'm finding it very helpful.

Best wishes to both.

MS Powerpoint is a software, which is readily available and user-friendly software. I used powerpoint for my Ph.D. work, and still I am using. 

Recently, I came to know about GIMP and Inkscape software. I will try for that. 

I do most of my scientific graphics in powerpoint. From excel I export metafiles and paste in powerpoint. I insert jpge files into PPt and I add text with powerpoint. I take snapshots from the monitor and then insert them in PPT. I edit, draw lines and vectors with PPT. Yo can do almost all things with PPT.

The great advantage of using PPT is that the same file can be used for both, for giving a seminar and the same can be used for publishing.

I am not aware of giving a lecture, a seminar with either GIMP, photoshop or illustrator. You cannot make different slides, give talks nor can you record audio with photoshop. So because of its strengths for presentations and versatility, PPT is ideal to prepare Figures for scientific manuscripts.

I also agree:

- because it is available (almost everywhere)

- because it's vector graphics => big improvement over MS Paint