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Electronics => Beginners => Topic started by: jm_sanz on August 22, 2022, 09:16:18 am

Title: Schematic drawing editor LaTeX compatible
Post by: jm_sanz on August 22, 2022, 09:16:18 am
Good morning everybody,

First post over here  :popcorn:,

I am currently doing my PhD in power electronics and as many of you know, publications are a must for pursuing the title.

This brings me to the need of a proper editing tool for creating the schematic for my papers. I am currently using a Inkscape extension which is LaTex compatible and pretty useful:

https://github.com/fsmMLK/inkscapeCircuitSymbols
 (https://github.com/fsmMLK/inkscapeCircuitSymbols)

(https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fsmMLK/inkscapeCircuitSymbols/master/docs/images/Examples.png)

However I would like to explore different possibilites that you maybe know and could be better than this one.

Thank you in advance  ;D,

José Miguel.
Title: Re: Schematic drawing editor LaTeX compatible
Post by: tszaboo on August 22, 2022, 09:22:37 am
No engineer would use something like this.
Title: Re: Schematic drawing editor LaTeX compatible
Post by: jm_sanz on August 22, 2022, 09:44:31 am
Enjoy your day :)
Title: Re: Schematic drawing editor LaTeX compatible
Post by: Andy Watson on August 22, 2022, 10:00:38 am
No engineer would use something like this.
... unless they cared about their presentations.

For full schematics I would use somethign like KiCad and import the image into LaTeX. However, publications and theses usually only require snippets of the circuit to illustrate a concept - this should not be too difficult using tikz in LaTeX.
Title: Re: Schematic drawing editor LaTeX compatible
Post by: ledtester on August 22, 2022, 10:17:59 am
Do a web search for "publication quality schematics". Some programs which are frequently mentioned include:

- MS Visio
- Xcircuit
- Ycircuit - a rewrite of Xcircuit -- still in progress but apparently usable:

https://bitbucket.org/siddharthshekar/ycircuit/src/master/ (https://bitbucket.org/siddharthshekar/ycircuit/src/master/)

- circuitikz -- a LaTeX package (also search for "circuitikz gui") Also check out overleaf.com - an online LaTeX environment - for an interactive interface:

https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/CircuiTikz_package#A_working_example (https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/CircuiTikz_package#A_working_example)

Here is an old thread on this forum:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/eda/publication-quality-electronic-circuits/ (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/eda/publication-quality-electronic-circuits/)
Title: Re: Schematic drawing editor LaTeX compatible
Post by: voltsandjolts on August 22, 2022, 10:57:11 am
No engineer would use something like this.

Seems I'm the oddball to prove you wrong ;D

Inkscape is great for front panel layouts, block diagrams, assembly instructions and small schematics (like this example (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/juntek-dpa-2698-10mhz-signal-amplifier-digilent-analog-discovery/msg3649978/#msg3649978)).
It's well worth the effort to learn the basics of inkscape.

For schematics, pick a grid size and stick to. I just make my own symbols, nothing tricky. Makes for nice clean concepts or small schematics for presentation. Doing anything large would be a bit silly of course.
Title: Re: Schematic drawing editor LaTeX compatible
Post by: jm_sanz on August 22, 2022, 12:52:08 pm
Thank you very much for your contributions.

I knew Visio but definetly not liked it, found too many bugs. On the other hand, I had no clue about ycircuit. It looks like a really good solution. However, it seems like it is abandoned as most of the links on their website are not working:

https://siddharthshekar.bitbucket.io/public/ycircuit/ (https://siddharthshekar.bitbucket.io/public/ycircuit/)

I give it a try anyways to see how it goes :)

Title: Re: Schematic drawing editor LaTeX compatible
Post by: tszaboo on August 22, 2022, 01:58:32 pm
No engineer would use something like this.
... unless they cared about their presentations.

For full schematics I would use somethign like KiCad and import the image into LaTeX. However, publications and theses usually only require snippets of the circuit to illustrate a concept - this should not be too difficult using tikz in LaTeX.
I can literally just copy from Altium and paste it to word, or outlook or whatever, pastes it as a picture.
No, before you ask, I don't use Latex because aint nobody got time for that. Put it to word, send it to the team that is responsible for typefaces and publishing, and the very important tasks of selecting colors that synergizes with the company's vision.
Title: Re: Schematic drawing editor LaTeX compatible
Post by: jm_sanz on August 22, 2022, 02:47:59 pm
Very busy person :)
Title: Re: Schematic drawing editor LaTeX compatible
Post by: Terry Bites on August 22, 2022, 02:55:17 pm
www.schematics.com (http://www.schematics.com)
Title: Re: Schematic drawing editor LaTeX compatible
Post by: rstofer on August 22, 2022, 09:42:25 pm
I would ask around among the other candidates and post-docs.  In addition to getting a recommendation, you might also find a source of help for those times when you are stuck.  Does your advisor have anything to say on the subject?

Title: Re: Schematic drawing editor LaTeX compatible
Post by: mathsquid on August 23, 2022, 01:15:54 am
This brings me to the need of a proper editing tool for creating the schematic for my papers. I am currently using a Inkscape extension which is LaTex compatible and pretty useful:

Can I ask what you mean by LaTeX compatible? Specifically, the LaTeX graphicx package can import the usual image formats (png, jpg, eps, pdf) into a LaTeX document. Does this Inkscape extension do something more integrated? 

Years ago I used xfig to create graphs for my papers, and xfig would allow you to put LaTeX'ed math inside the image, for labels and such. I'm wondering if your extension does something similar.
Title: Re: Schematic drawing editor LaTeX compatible
Post by: jm_sanz on August 23, 2022, 09:29:25 am
Hello,

I meant that the names of the variables are written with the LaTeX font.

Enjoy the week and thanks for commenting.