: How to create a picture like a diagram on Wikipedia? I am a newbie in making pictures and animations. I have found a nice .svg picture on wikipedia and now I am assuming what tools the author

@BetL875

Usually we can read a lot on how an .svg file was created by opening it with a text editor.

In the example linked to in the question the .svg file tells us the following in it's header:

Application used:

<!-- Created with Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org/) -->


But there is much more we can find out from the xml tags which define the objects in an SVG file:

Arrows:

inkscape:stockid="Arrow2Mend"


Circles:

sodipodi:type="arc"
style="fill:#555753;fill-opacity:1;stroke:#729fcf;stroke-width:5.12058449;stroke-linecap:round;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-miterlimit:4;stroke-opacity:1;stroke-dasharray:none"


Text "Schlüsselgenerator":

style="font-size:48px;font-variant:normal;font-stretch:normal;text-align:center;text-anchor:middle;fill:#eeeeec;font-family:Trebuchet MS;-inkscape-font-specification:Trebuchet MS"


The xml tags will also have information on colours used, styles of borders or fill patterns. It is then very easy to reproduce the original drawing or modify it to our personal needs.

Much easier than reading the file in a text editor is opening it in the application used to create it to read the object's properties there.

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@Smith574

if you go to alternativeto.net and enter an alternative to Illustrator (a vector program) it will provide a list of around 20+ vector solutions for you to browse through.

Some are open-source and some are paid. Read the comments/reviews and decide which one you would like to try out. If you have an issue by all means you are welcome to come back and ask specific questions on how to achieve something and we will be happy to help.

Please know we do have a tag system in place here and you can search many open-source questions/answers.

Vector programs: inkskape corel-draw sketch

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@Angie364

A search for free vector graphics software will give you a variety of editors to choose from.

Inkscape is one which I've heard is similar på Illustrator and does a decent job.

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