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A
Anonymous
February 16, 2012
Question

recommended tool for technical illustrations to be embedded in FrameMaker document?

  • February 16, 2012
  • 2 replies
  • 1464 views

I'm new to Framemaker and don't know, if this is the right tool for me.

I have written a technical document of about 500 pages using MS-Word. Now I want to figure out, if FrameMaker would be a good alternative. I think it could be.

But one of my needs is to be able to create technical illustrations (diagrams with shapes with text and arrows, lines and arrows linked to the shapes when repositioned).

In my opinion the capabilities of FrameMaker to create such illustrations are very limited.

Currently I create the illustrations using MS-Word-2010. I think concerning illustrations MS-Word is more capable than FrameMaker.

On the other hand the capabilities of Adobe Illustrator are plenty too much for me.

Can you recommend some external tool for creating illustrations, which can be easily integrated into a FrameMaker document?

Regards,

Martin

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

W
WFehr
Known Participant
February 17, 2012

Import the ai file directly into the FrameMaker doc.

  1. Select where you want the illustration to be located (use the smart select tool and click on the area in your text flow)
  2. File>Import>File


If you want to have the illustration in the document to automatically update when the drawing changes, select Import By Reference.

Once imported you have the option of positioning where you want it to be located relative to the text.

  1. Right click the anchored frame, select Anchored Frame
  2. Select the Anchoring Position, Alignment, etc.

Adobe Illustrator is all you need to create quality Technical Illustrations.

http://tekarttechnicalillustration.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html

http://tekarttechnicalillustration.blogspot.com/2011/07/glassware.html

http://tekarttechnicalillustration.blogspot.com/2011/05/line-illustration.html

For premade elements get familiar with your symbols libraries.

Arnis Gubins
Arnis Gubins
Inspiring
February 16, 2012

It all kind of depends on what you mean by "can be easily integrated into a FrameMaker document".

In typical FM workflows, most of the graphics work is done externally and then the final graphic is imported by reference. You can import many different formats, so pick a tool that you're already comfortable with.

A
Anonymous
February 17, 2012

I understand that most of the graphics work is done outside FrameMaker.

I'm a little bit disappointed, that the "Adobe Technical Communication Suite" does not contain any sufficient tool for creation of technical illustrations.

I think it would be no good idea to use MS-Office to create illustrations and import these illustrations into a FrameMaker document.

Can you recommend some Adobe or non-Adobe tool for technical illustrations (diagrams with shapes with text and arrows, lines and arrows linked to the shapes when repositioned)?

Mark Southee
Mark Southee
Inspiring
February 17, 2012

I use Visio and save as .png for some illustrations. Illustrator is another option. If you are on a Mac, OmniGraffle does a similar job to Visio

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