Freeware draw with pdf

Use any program that produces an SVG file (Scalable Vector Graphics); then convert it to PDF using Apache Batik+iText(Sharp). Maybe Apache FOP is also able to convert SVG to PDF too. br, Bruno

My suggestion would have been inkscape

from which I had been able to create rather good results. It's multiplatform and supports PDF as output format. It's not perfect doing this when it comes to font embedding, but basically works. It's using SVG as its base format.

-hwh

OpenOffice Draw. Capable of much more, with native PDF export.

Ralf

OpenOffice 2.0 - Free. Has drawing, document, spreadsheet, slideshow and database built in. Exports to PDF.

Get it here-

Yup. NOTE: Once you save something as PDF, you can't edit it any more. Keep your primary copy in a standard format. . .. OpenOffice.org's ~75MB download can be daunting for some. (That part is all-or-nothing.)

If, however, all you need from the suite[1] is *Draw*, then only **install** the component you need. . .. If you find a drawing package with a slimmer download or a drawing package whose handling you like better (ASSuME-ing you're running Windoze), these are print drivers whose output can be redirected to a file: http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:9tth6GJT4gwJ:leoville.tv/radio/pmwiki.php/ShowNotes/Show170+Previous-coverage-*-this+PrimoPDF+Go2PDF+Download-size+pdfcreator+CutePDF+%22PDF+Creator%22+Paperless-Printer

Why Some PDF Creators Are Huge:

*+Neither-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-put-these-programs-where-*-*+GhostScript-had-to-be-installed-*-before-CutePDF-Writer-could-work+install-GhostScript-separately+*-*-already-has-GhostScript-installed . .. . [1] OOo also includes modules that are replacements for M$ Word (and FrontPage), Excel, PowerPoint, and Access.

Open Office

Ian

Take a look at

Use any Windows program with pdf995's pdf converter (it installs as a printer and appears to spit out a pdf file). The free version pops up ads. I haven't tried it; just saw it mentioned on a newsgroup recently. They also have a program that allows extracting pieces from a pdf file. YMMV

--
Keith Bowers - Thomasville, NC

One could use Postscript and the freewaer Ghostscript which converts in either direction, along with bitmap conversion. Get GhostView for PS the viewer, and an older version of Acrobat if on POTS.

The Gimp, not exactly simple and more of a paint thant a draw program.

xfig (which is a drawing program) and ghostscript (which can convert postscript to pdf) for a two-part sollution.

Bye. Jasen

I have found a program that acts as a printer but it actually converts the print job to PDF

Or, just search for CUTEPDF and you will find the program. It is free and I have been using it for quite some time.

The draw program, well, that depends on how complex you want to get, but I find this a convenient way to get PDF from any program that would normally print the file.

Jim Pennell Nov 25 2005

It has alreeady been mentioned once, but I was really impressed by Inkscape. It's a general purpose vector drawing program (a bit like like Adobe Illustrator), and can save in PDF, as well as its native SVG and about a dozen other vector formats.

--

John Devereux

thanks for all the response.....open office draw looks like what I may need but you have to download the whole suite.

I still would like to find something.

Something more advanced than windows "paint" (junk) and a cad program.....even the "elementary" cad programs are tedious to learn.

I just need to do rectangles and circles and be able to place text anywhere on the drawing grid.

Any program that can *Print*, can create a PDF. (See my earlier post and follow the link.) Keith Bowers and Jim Pennell each suggested a program of this type. The smaller programs require GhostScript to be installed; the larger ones are payware and do not require a separate GhostScript install.

To *Save As PDF*, you do a Print and select a different printer; that "printer" is the PDF Converter.[1] . ..

Yeah, but the vector-based drawings are

1) tiny files (compared to the "raster" produced by "paint" packages) 2) easily scalable with no loss in quality. Ever hear the phrase "Bite the bullet"? *-*-drafting-program+Draft-Choice-*-*+*-works-quite-well+no-longer-supported+*-introduction-to-CAD+most-intuitive+zzz-zzz+A-previous-thread-on-this . .. [1] You may have done something similar to fax from your computer.

PDFDraft sounds exactly like what you're describing, but I don't think it's available on the web any longer, unless someone archived it somewhere. It was a product of the PubSTec Corporation; PDFTree was another one of their good programs. Their web page is gone.

PDFDraft was a freeware program for windows. It consisted of only one file, 473 KB (they knew how to write small programs back in those days).

Let me know if you're interested and I'll try to post it to alt.binaries.freeware.

Not necessarily so.

You can, if you have the right tools.

In one word: PostScript!

The quality of these PDF files are often incredibly poor and unsuitable for use as the input to a printing house. Applications that can generate PDF directly normally generates MUCH better quality PDF files.

[snipped]

Regards Anton Erasmus

Thanks Frank.

I tried to email you but it came back.

Sounds what I may be looking for and sure would appreciate a copy.

xfig can export directly to PDF so ps2pdf is not required.

Regards Jahagirdar Vijayvithal S