Scientific diagram drawing software

I want to draw mathematical pictures like graphs but just simple ones like a quick sketch of an exponential decay crossing at a point marked A or something like that, and I want to draw a picture of a diagram of some equipment, like a lens and a light ray being sent through a pinhole and projected onto a screen. Diagrams like this:

But so they look more like this:

and:

Is there any software on Ubuntu that'll let me do this easily and accurately?

Solution 1:

I would suggest KiCad. It is an application that helps you create professional schematics and printed circuit boards.

You can easily install it by adding the following PPA to your system:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:adamwolf/kicad-testing-daily
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install kicad kicad-doc-en

Solution 2:

In the past I have used xfig for such projects. Dispite the interface being very outdated (and the requirement for a three button mouse), the figures it generates are of high quality. You can install it using

sudo apt-get install xfig

Recently I have started to use Inkscape for figure generation. The program can import/export from/to eps, pdf, svg, and even Latex (through PSTricks).

For drawing circuit diagrams you could import existing SVG graphics of the various components as there are plenty out there on the internet (i.e. see this). Drawing a converging lens diagram like you have above should be fairly easy.

sudo apt-get install inkscape

Please beware that the learning curve for inkscape is steep. The documentation on how to use the program is good and there are several video tutorials on how to do complex tasks already on YouTube (although frequently for graphical design, rather than technical figures) to help you learn.

Edit: I just read a post on superuser that suggests Inkscape isn't the best for such drawings. Instead they suggest Google SketchUp for the technical portion and Inkscape to add extra features to your graphics.