Hi folks!
I'm doing a complete refit of my sailboat including total overhaul of the electronics. The resulting system is non-trivial and I'd really like to make some nice diagrams of it like some of those I've seen here on Panbo. I used N2KBuilder to draw the NMEA 2000 portion of the new system, but there are whole other portions that can't be done there (ethernet, Seatalk, 0183, CANBus, etc.). What program(s) are you using to make these pretty diagrams? I'd like something like N2KBuilder or Visio that keeps components connected by "stretchy wire" as you re-position them on the diagram, but I'm open to all suggestions....even if I have to pay for them!
On the Mac Omnigraffle is very good but frankly for quick dimensioned drawings I've never found anything that beats Visio. I used it a couple of years ago for a huge (240 sq ft), intricate waterjet cutting project I did for a driveway gate. Did the 2D design in Visio, exported AutoCAD file, imported into Solidworks, sent resulting file to waterjet house. Worked great.
+1 for Visio. That's what I to do my wiring diagrams.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deepplaya/4194728402/
Visio is what I use.
On the Mac I have found Adobe Illustrator to be the best to use. It had a bit of a learning curve but once I got over that it's a breeze to make a wiring schematic.
I tried Omnigraffle and it just wouldn't do what I can do with Illustrator.