Free/cheap vector drawing software???

Well, I was checking out the latest Macromedia Flash demo and found vector drawing quite cool, especially its smoothing feature, which, when set to 20%, is just great! Now, my budget doesn't allow me to buy Flash, so I'm interested if any free/cheaper software that allowes this kind of thing...
My mouse/tablet drawing is really messy, coz my hads are not too steady, so I would like the program to smooth it out for me.
Any suggestions?

I don't know what else is available, but I know of a cheap vector drawing tool called Mayura. For a cheap Flash substitute, check out Swish.

Look up some cover CD's ... I think PC Advisor gave away Canvas 8 last month, the vector/paint program. Serif givr a lot of their older software away free on cover CD's too.

There is always the new Xara Extreme http://www.xara.com/

Cheers

Garion

3D Flash Animator is $50. Its pretty nice. I like it, although Macromedia is better...

There's Microsoft Creature House Expression for vector art.

Just looking at Inkscape right now for a vector editor. Looks
nice. OPen source too. [oop, double post]



EDIT: Ooooo... Its good. Works well with 3D Flash Animator.

Creature House Expression 3 used to be available for free. It's an excellent vector drawing package, though I'm not sure you can still get it as MS is replacing it with Acrylics. Expression3 runs on OSX and Win2k/XP, while Acrylics only runs on WinXP sp2 (bleah). This link http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/graphic_designer/ctp/previous/expression3_downloadlinks.aspx might possibly work. They've taken down the old page where it was available for free, and now this was all I could find.

Toon Boom Express is a nifty 2D vector animation tool. It's costs $50 now (usually $99, but they have sales every other month). Try the demo of it first though, it has some bugs and seems a bit picky on what machine it runs on (mainly Wacom trouble). See http://www.toonboom.com/products/toonBoomStudioExpress/

Ragnar

PC Plus have given away Toonboom Express on their cover CD this month.

Cheers

Garion

@coder: Inkscape is awesome! Not only is it a great tool, it is free and it has a Mac version. Great find, thanks!

I didn't really like CHS 3... Inkscape is good, but still...
Though Toonboom is awesome! Just what I need! I was already considering buying Moho, but now TB is better(and cheaper)!
If PC Plus is British, that means I can get my hands on it in a couple of months and save some $$$!

You should check out a product called Moho (www.lostmarble.com). It's far cheaper than Flash yet is a far superior animation product (2d animation with bones). It lets you draw with vectors and export to a number a formats too

Yup PC Plus is UK Mag, I subscribe to it.

Cheers
Garion

2 Dud:
Look carefully at my post before yours - I was considering buying it, but it has a crappy render and stuff... It has a very nice bone system, but the drawing shapes-coloring them is a process that soudn't take so much time.
If I get to choose Moho for 99$ or toonboom for about 14$ from a mag, I choose the later just because my budget is very limited now...
And then I'll start saving money for Flash! ;-)

Anatoly. Depends what your after really. Toon boom is nice too I just happen to prefer Moho as I found the learning curve very easy. I also like some of the line width tools which allow you to add some nice style to your vector drawings... and you gotta love that bone animation!

Yes, bones are really cool and make Moho a worthy product!
But I would prefer drawing to be like in any other program - draw and then fill without having to learn how to do it again. Also, making animations is much easier with Moho when it is with Toon boom and Moho doesn't have as many limitations as ToonBoom Studio Express.
But Moho's render output seems a little blurry and not so good overall...
I choose Flash, but I don't have money for it! ;-)

Speaking of Flash, I picked up a Full, legit Version of Flash 5 for £10 www,amazon.co.uk and I am using it to upgrade to MX :)

Have a wee look at Amazon, yoo never know.

Cheers

Garion

£10!!!! 8-0 !!!!!!!!!!!
Holy crap! I was just looking last week and Flash 5 was like 275$!!!
Lucky!!!

Hehe, I make a point of regularly checking various on-line shops and rummaging in their clearance bins :)

Cheers

Garion

Just found out that Computer Arts are giving away version 8 of Deneba Canvas.

Cheers

Garion