On Wed, Apr 5, 2017 at 8:05 PM, Keith Lofstrom <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I am considering Inkscape as a technical illustration

Thanks to Serguei, Andrew, and Ron (and responses arriving
after those) confirming that Inkscape is worth investing
effort in.  I will also become more adept at "make".  
Makefiles support comments like my prior kludgy bash
scripts; without comments, I forget how things work.

My illustrations are mostly mechanical, electrical,
process, etc.  I don't do flowcharts and boxes connected
by arrows, so Dia may not be applicable.  Xfig is a
durable workhorse, but scalable vector graphics (SVG)
helps me move between screen, paper, and animation
environments.  Seemingly, Inkscape can be automated by
scripts, which is handy when I rescale components.

I also use Povray for raytraced 3D; that is pure text
parameterized input, so the "display" is in my head until
it emerges (as a bitmap) on the screen.  I make PNGs and
flash animations from that; I should learn to make SVG
and HTML5 animations instead.

I dive down into libgd from time to time, to make detailed
animated pixel plots that Gnuplot can't make, for example
  http://server-sky.com/gsr02link
Being able to make SVG/HTML5 animations like that from
enormous data files and supported standard tools would
be nice.

Gnuplot of course.  It does SVG now, time to make that
transition, too.  

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          [log in to unmask]