Hello,
I am using OmniGraffle 5.1.1 to draw diagrams pertaining to physics apparatus and concepts (for a book I am writing) and have a few questions; any help would be much appreciated. I am moving from an expensive CAD program which has a superb user interface (when I retired I found that I was no longer entitled to use the version of the program which i purchased on a grant and I can't afford to purchase a commercial copy). So far, I am very pleased with OG as a potential replacement for the CAD program (for 2D line drawings) - it requires a different approach and is actually fun to use.
The magnet philosophy is a little puzzling. I suppose magnets are placed on shapes and only "attract" lines drawn with the line tool. I have been creating a new stencil for optical and electronic components (I have searched Graffletopia and haven't found everything I need). Some of the parts have lines which form, for example, the leads for a photodiode. I find that I *cannot* connect a line *to* a magnet on my part but *can* connect the line *from* my part. In general, lines generated by the line tool don't seem to behave like shapes so far as connections are concerned. Is there a way to get a shape which is also a line?
Another problem I have with magnets is that shapes don't seem to connect directly to other shapes using magnets (this is a little unphysical...) . Is there any way around this?
I am occasionally getting persistent redraw artifacts when I rotate or resize objects, particularly composite shapes (made by grouping). Is there a way to refresh the screen to get rid of these? (I am on OS X 10.5.6 on a Powerbook G4).
Finally, I am using the standard version of OG. I find that the one feature I miss terribly is favorites and I might need to buy the pro version to get these. I often use a number of tools repeatedly: the circle, arc, rectangle and parallelogram tools in the shape menu and the straight and orthogonal lines in the line tools. Is there a way to quickly access these using the standard version of OG?
Thanks in advance and sorry for the length of my request.
Cheers,
Warren Nagourney
I am using OmniGraffle 5.1.1 to draw diagrams pertaining to physics apparatus and concepts (for a book I am writing) and have a few questions; any help would be much appreciated. I am moving from an expensive CAD program which has a superb user interface (when I retired I found that I was no longer entitled to use the version of the program which i purchased on a grant and I can't afford to purchase a commercial copy). So far, I am very pleased with OG as a potential replacement for the CAD program (for 2D line drawings) - it requires a different approach and is actually fun to use.
The magnet philosophy is a little puzzling. I suppose magnets are placed on shapes and only "attract" lines drawn with the line tool. I have been creating a new stencil for optical and electronic components (I have searched Graffletopia and haven't found everything I need). Some of the parts have lines which form, for example, the leads for a photodiode. I find that I *cannot* connect a line *to* a magnet on my part but *can* connect the line *from* my part. In general, lines generated by the line tool don't seem to behave like shapes so far as connections are concerned. Is there a way to get a shape which is also a line?
Another problem I have with magnets is that shapes don't seem to connect directly to other shapes using magnets (this is a little unphysical...) . Is there any way around this?
I am occasionally getting persistent redraw artifacts when I rotate or resize objects, particularly composite shapes (made by grouping). Is there a way to refresh the screen to get rid of these? (I am on OS X 10.5.6 on a Powerbook G4).
Finally, I am using the standard version of OG. I find that the one feature I miss terribly is favorites and I might need to buy the pro version to get these. I often use a number of tools repeatedly: the circle, arc, rectangle and parallelogram tools in the shape menu and the straight and orthogonal lines in the line tools. Is there a way to quickly access these using the standard version of OG?
Thanks in advance and sorry for the length of my request.
Cheers,
Warren Nagourney