Using DIY Layout Creator for wiring diagrams

Jimbro66

I’d been looking for drawing software to create practical wiring diagrams (not schematics) for SD-style guitar wiring layouts and ptp amp layouts, etc. I stumbled on the free DIY Layout Creator developed about 8 years ago by TDPRI member Bancika. It’s been frequently updated since then and seems ideal. The only possible downside is that it uses Java.

Has anyone here been using it successfully? Any comments or tips?

Here are examples of the sort of thing it can produce:

Images copyright Bancika.

axisus

Excellent looking results there! although I hate fluorescing RGB colours like that green.

Got a link? I'd be interested to take a look - although I draw my own wiring diagrams in illustrator as I am a designer.

poopot

Yeah it’s a good bit of software to be fair…

when I redid my 18watt it came in very useful as it keeps the circuit connected..

from this:

To this via drag and drop:

To this:

RiftAmps

I use it every day, cracking bit of software.

I find it's easier to use if you work in Imperial measurements, owing to the slightly odd way that the 'snap to grid' feature works, even if you switch the grid to Metric.

axisus

RiftAmps said:

I find it's easier to use if you work in Imperial measurements,

Now you're scaring me ...

CasperCaster

I've used it for a few guitar wiring diagrams and it is useful and good for a piece of free software. It does have some limitations in that context, such as limited useful component choices and an inability to rotate things to 45 degrees (or any angle other than 0, 90, 180, 270). If I spent more time with it I would be tempted to push a few quid toward the developer if it helped to achieve those features. 

Jimbro66

@poopot, @RiftAmps and @CasperCaster many thanks for your comments. Thanks also Chris for the tip about Imperial measurements.

@axisus having Illustrator at your disposal is a great advantage. Not an option for me unfortunately. The requested link to the DIY Layout Creator download is:

https://github.com/bancika/diy-layout-creator

I’ve always liked the way the Seymour Duncan guitar wiring diagrams look but assume they might have had software written specifically for them. Perhaps @Funkfingers might know due to his former involvement in the SD forum. In the meantime DIY Layout Creator seems the best alternative and it’s good to receive such positive comments here.

Thanks all.

Funkfingers

Jimbro66 said:

I’ve always liked the way the Seymour Duncan guitar wiring diagrams look but assume they might have had software written specifically for them. Perhaps, Funkfingers might know due to his former involvement in the SD forum.

The current incarnation of the SD schematic diagrams arrived about nine  years ago. The graphics and website re-organisation were the work of an outside contractor. They botched many of the illustrations. The menu selection system made many diagrams unnecessarily difficult to find. (You need to already know the correct title of the diagram in order to search for it. If you already know that, you should not need the selection menu.) 

Long-term SD forum member, LtKojak, and I were only too happy to point out the errors. (A good many forum questions were newbs who had followed the botched official schematic diagrams and, then, wondered why their guitars did not work as expected.) Unsurprisingly, the SD forum modmins were not best pleased with us.

Attempts to have the redesign contractor named and shamed were unsuccessful. The post-Seymour management at SD Inc. never admits that it might get things wrong. 

axisus

Funkfingers said:

Jimbro66 said:

I’ve always liked the way the Seymour Duncan guitar wiring diagrams look but assume they might have had software written specifically for them. Perhaps, Funkfingers might know due to his former involvement in the SD forum.

The current incarnation of the SD schematic diagrams arrived about nine  years ago. The graphics and website re-organisation were the work of an outside contractor. They botched many of the illustrations. The menu selection system made many diagrams unnecessarily difficult to find. (You need to already know the correct title of the diagram in order to search for it. If you already know that, you should not need the selection menu.) 

Long-term SD forum member, LtKojak, and I were only too happy to point out the errors. (A good many forum questions were newbs who had followed the botched official schematic diagrams and, then, wondered why their guitars did not work as expected.) Unsurprisingly, the SD forum modmins were not best pleased with us.

Attempts to have the redesign contractor named and shamed were unsuccessful. The post-Seymour management at SD Inc. never admits that it might get things wrong. 

The Seymour Duncan stuff was brilliant years ago, bloody loved their stuff! Then they changed the whole thing to a low res pile of poop. It went from an amazing resource to something I never bother with any more. One of the great disasters of the internet.

CasperCaster

axisus said:

The Seymour Duncan stuff was brilliant years ago, bloody loved their stuff! Then they changed the whole thing to a low res pile of poop. It went from an amazing resource to something I never bother with any more. One of the great disasters of the internet.

The shame of the debacle around the SD wiring diagram resource is that had SD used their heads they could have paid a fair and reasonable sum of money to someone like Bancika/ DIY Layout Creator to evolve the software a little with specific respect to guitar wiring diagrams.

They could also have defined graphically/stylistically how all the relevant components looked (and were branded), the SD colour coding for wiring etc to reinforce and promote the SD brand.

If they had then sold the idea of updating the wiring diagrams to the SD User Group/ Forum with a set of guidelines/ criteria, and perhaps a prize and due credit for the diagram creators/ proof readers, then I'm sure many members would have gladly created a diagram or two. Other SD members would proof check the diagrams, and ultimately they would have a genuinely useful resource in which their loyal user group members would have a stake. 

The software could carry on being used for free via Bancika and would effectively advertise SD via logos on components, colour coding for pickup wiring etc.

So, advertising and kudos for SD, and it would probably all have cost a great deal less than the bodged diagrams they ultimately got. 

RiftAmps

CasperCaster said:

I've used it for a few guitar wiring diagrams and it is useful and good for a piece of free software. It does have some limitations in that context, such as limited useful component choices and an inability to rotate things to 45 degrees (or any angle other than 0, 90, 180, 270). If I spent more time with it I would be tempted to push a few quid toward the developer if it helped to achieve those features. 

Many components can be rotated to whatever º you'd like, such as valve sockets

You can create your own components using the Component API feature, and then choose whether to allow custom angle or not - https://github.com/bancika/diy-layout-creator/blob/wiki/ComponentAPI.md

normula1

I use Visio for my drawings (use it a lot for work) but I shall be giving this a try.

Jimbro66

Having now spent some time familiarising myself with the DIYLC software, which is fairly intuitive, and preparing my first wiring diagram with it I have to say that it is pretty impressive and produces really nice clear diagrams.

Initially I found myself missing some core drawing tools of AutoCAD but soon adapted to a different way of working. To be fair it's not really a drawing program so much as a way of assembling on screen pre-drawn representations of components and connections.

There are plenty of components, boards and connections to choose from -  all logically categorised. There are additional components downloadable from other sources like the DIYLC Cloud and Doug Hoffman's web site. Additionally most included components may be modified to some extent and saved as variants.

New items drawn up by users can be saved as Building Blocks for later recall. However, there is a limitation: For example, under the Guitar section there are several variations of humbucking and single coil pickups available but to add a new pickup type to that choice appears to necessitate creating one as an xml file using Java programming language . Yes, you could draw the new pickup and save it as a Building Block but the software will not then recognise it as a pickup when, for example, running the useful Analyze Guitar Diagram facility. Not the end of the world but it's a shame there's not an easier way to create a pickup variant - or whatever.

Overall, though, for Freeware it is very usable, frequently updated and produces very professional looking output. Huge credit goes to the author Bancika and other contributors.

Now for my next project?............I think I might perhaps draw up the layout of my 6G9-B Tremolux. That will keep me busy