Speedy Strategies for Crafting Diagrams
As the end of the senior year approaches, seniors are polishing their theses to make them shine. One key aspect that can set your work apart is the use of clear and professional figures. In this article, we will discuss the benefits of using vector graphics programs for your senior thesis and provide recommendations for professional tools.
When it comes to creating publication-quality images, vector graphics programs offer unparalleled control over individual objects in a figure. These programs allow for precise alignment, colour adjustments, dimension changes, and transparency control, ensuring that your figures are crystal clear and easy to understand.
One popular vector graphics program is Adobe Illustrator, which can create and manipulate shapes and lines to produce high-quality images. However, there are other professional options available as well. Affinity Designer, a one-time purchase program with professional features, is another great choice. Inkscape, a powerful free open-source alternative, is also worth considering. CorelDRAW, with its vector and desktop publishing tools, is a feature-rich option. For those seeking user-friendly free tools, Gravit Designer and Vectr are excellent choices.
For Princeton University students, Adobe Illustrator can often be used for free through the university’s site license or software access programs provided by Princeton’s IT department. Students should check Princeton University’s official IT software portal or contact campus IT support to access Adobe Creative Cloud apps at no cost.
In addition to creating figures from scratch, vector graphics programs can also trace figures from other sources, providing a starting point for converting external images into malleable vectors. This can be particularly useful when working with images from Matlab, as saving figures as .eps instead of .png or .jpg can prevent pixelation.
To provide some insights into the use of vector graphics for senior theses, we interviewed Xuewei Ouyang'17. Xuewei shared her experiences and offered valuable advice for other seniors working on their theses.
Using vector graphics programs can make figures clearer and easier to understand, making a thesis look professional. By taking the time to learn and utilise these programs, seniors can elevate their work and make a lasting impression on their readers.
This article is part of our senior thesis archives and was written by Natural Sciences Correspondent, Yuem Park. For more information or to find introductory tutorials for Adobe Illustrator, simply search for them on Google.
