Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

WinFIG

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Developer(s)
  
Andreas Schmidt

Type
  
Vector graphics editor

Available in
  
English

WinFIG

Stable release
  
6.1 / April 24, 2016 (2016-04-24)

Written in
  
C++ using Qt (software)

Operating system
  
Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux

WinFIG is a proprietary shareware vector graphics editor application. The file format and rendering are as close to Xfig as possible, but the program takes advantage of Windows features like clipboard, printer preview, multiple documents etc.

Contents

As of 2011, WinFIG is under active development, with new features being added regularly.

History

The first release was in March 2003 and based on the Amiga program AmiFIG by the same author, which is also an Xfig compatible vector drawing application. WinFIG was not created by porting the Xfig source code to Windows. It is an independent implementation.

Starting with release 4.0 WinFIG was ported from MFC to the Qt toolkit as the application framework and thereby enabling the first release of a Linux version.

Interface and usability

WinFIG is designed to provide a clear, efficient and convenient graphical user interface. It allows working on multiple documents using an MDI user interface and provides unlimited undo and redo of actions.

Object creation

The basic types of objects in WinFIG are:

  • Open and closed Splines
  • Ellipses
  • Polylines and Polygons
  • Texts
  • LaTeX formatted texts
  • Arcs
  • Images: PNG, GIF, JPEG, EPS and more
  • Compound objects, which are hierarchical compositions of objects

    • Objects can have several attributes, which depend on the object type:

  • Line width
  • Line style
  • Line cap style
  • Line join style
  • Arrows
  • Outline color, fill color and fill pattern

    • Object manipulation

  • move
  • copy
  • scale
  • rotate
  • align
  • add/delete points from lines or splines
  • copy object attributes
  • Numerical input of point coordinates

    • Exports

    WinFIG can export into various formats:

  • Raster formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG, PPM, XBM, XPM, PCX, TIFF, SLD
  • Formats for printed documents: PostScript, PDF, LaTeX, HP-GL (printer control language used by Hewlett-Packard plotters),
  • Vector graphics formats: EPS, SVG, PSTricks, TPIC, PIC, CGM, MetaFont, MetaPost, EMF, Tk.

    • Miscellaneous

  • Winfig can handle smart links. A smart link is a moving connection from a source to a target object. It is established by connecting the end point of a line or spline to another object. The connecting line or spline segment follows the movements of the target object. Smart links are useful for diagrams, graphs etc.
  • WinFIG can show a grid and provides several magnet modes for constraining editing operations to discrete coordinates.
  • Objects can be organized in layers to control their Z-order. This is important to control overlapping of filled shapes.
  • Object library: drawings can be stored in a special sub-folder in the program installation directory, which makes them available in the library dialog for easy reuse.

    • References

    WinFIG Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA