What graphics software do I need?

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I want to create, for example, the slide rule shown below. I can do it in Photoshop, but it's not ideal. I really can't use Illustrator, because the version I have is very old and it's the Japanese language version, which I find a little difficult to use. I suppose a vector graphics program would be best, but which one? I'm clattering away on a Mac, which should limit my options!

rule_s.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: moribundman
I want to create, for example, the slide rule shown below. I can do it in Photoshop, but it's not ideal. I really can't use Illustrator, because the version I have is very old and it's the Japanese language version, which I find a little difficult to use. I suppose a vector graphics program would be best, but which one? I'm clattering away on a Mac, which should limit my options!


Since you have a licence for Adobe products, why not upgrade to Creative Suite 4 or one of it's components:
http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/creativesuite/
 
Originally Posted By: tom slick
a 2d CAD program could lay it out with lines very quickly but the numbering could a bit problematic.


Why would the numbering be problematic?
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow
Needs another pointer/line rotatable around the whole.


Nope. The inner two scales (black and green) are fixed to each other. The outer red scale turns.

1. Set the Index (64 -- in case on my particular application) on the Distance Scale to Angle Units (reticle units).
2. On the Target Size scale, find the target size.
3. Opposite of the target size, read the target distance off the Distance Scale.

Works accordingly if the target distance is known, while the object size is unknown.

I was going to make another post about how this works, but I guess this thread will do. I won't have time for this today, though.
 
Originally Posted By: CivicFan
Corel Draw. (If it still exists).


Corel anything was the biggest piece of do do.
 
LOL true but it did what Mori is asking for. Come to think of it, I think only Windows users were blessed with Corel. Last I heard, the WordPerfect owners had bought it.
 
CAD programs tend to add text as notations on the drawings, not as part of the drawing. They like to put text in straight lines in boxes. It could be done, you would have to position each number seperately and use a couple of commands over and over.

Maybe someone who uses CAD more than I do can wiegh in with a more streamlined method. wavinwayne??
 
I suppose a CAD program is the wrong tool for the job then. For example, I often found Illustrator to be the wrong program for what I was using it. I only used it because I had it, and because I really needed vector graphics. I am sure that there are people who design gage dials, scales, and watch dials, but I have no idea what software they use. A movie prop maker I know recommended Deneba Canvas, but I am totally unfamiliar with it.

I can and probably will design the scales in Photoshop, because I know how to do it with it, but it will be tedious. Gah! I plan on printing out a negative on Press-n-Peel Blue transfer film. The film goes on a paper-thin brass sheet, which is then etched. The etched dial goes on a painted metal disk, that way I have a brass colored dial with colored numbers.

The slide rule will consist of two discs (each made from a thick base with the thin, etched dial on top of it), one smaller inner with the angle units and the target size, and one larger outer dial with the target distance. I'm shooting for a dial with 70 mm radius, which will give good enough resolution.
 
CorelDraw Fit text to Path command would do it. ACAD text, as Tom mentioned, would be a pain in the backside.
 
Originally Posted By: crinkles
i thought it wasn't the tool that mattered :p


I am not sure you understand the difference between what I said and the words you put in my mouth, but I said, "Given adequate functionality, there is no correlation between the tool and the result."
 
Originally Posted By: NJC
CorelDraw Fit text to Path command would do it. ACAD text, as Tom mentioned, would be a pain in the backside.


ACAD's i've worked with can rotate text at the click of a few buttons...
 
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