Vector Output

Drawing Schematics, Hierarchical Design, BOM, Exporting net-lists, etc.
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matttay
Posts: 62
Joined: 07 Aug 2010, 18:58

Vector Output

#1 Post by matttay » 28 Sep 2022, 12:38

It would be very helpful if the schematic tool had an option to "copy display as Enhanced Meta File (EMF)". This would put the visible part of the schematic onto the clipboard in a vector format. And from there, you can paste it directly into Word, Adobe Illustrator, etc.

The benefit of EMF is twofold: First, it's a vector format, and no matter how much you zoom, the drawing stays sharp. Very important when printing a technical doc with part of a schematic. Second, drawing an on-screen display to a metafile and moving it to the clipboard is trivial in windows--about 50 lines of code. I'm happy to share if needed.

SVG would be nice too (probably even better), but converting from EMF to SVG is a lot code and a large task, and windows doesn't speak SVG--you'd need to start with EMF no matter what. Most rely on libraries for EMF to SVG conversion, and the SVG compatibility problem runs deep because the SVG is incredibly rich.

Either way, the ability to export a vector format to the clipboard would make Diptrace a contender for anyone that needs to publish schematics as part of technical documents. PDF is a great way to export a page or the entire schematic. But if you are writing a report and need just a small part of the circuit, just zoom to the area of interest, right click and selected "copy display as EMF" and then paste into Word. Presto--a crystal clear image at any resolution. If needed, you can then do further cropping of the EMF in Word. But if you hand Word an EMF file, it does a great job of placing it.

Thanks for considerign!

Serg
Technical Support
Posts: 519
Joined: 09 Jun 2010, 01:12

Re: Vector Output

#2 Post by Serg » 28 Sep 2022, 19:42

Thank you for the offer. We will consider it.

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