I’m currently exploring Miro Samek’s book on implementing UML Statecharts in C and C++. The state diagrams presented in this book are impressively polished and professional. I’m interested in generating similar diagrams for my own project reports. Can anyone share what software or drawing tool Miro Samek used to design those state charts? I’ve experimented with several alternatives, but none seem to achieve the same refined appearance as his diagrams. The consistent formatting and style throughout the book lead me to believe he utilized a particular software package.
I actually emailed Samek through his website a few years ago asking this same thing. He uses Microsoft Visio for most of those state diagrams. The secret to getting that clean look? Custom stencils and consistent formatting rules. Visio’s snap-to-grid and alignment tools keep everything lined up perfectly. He also spent a ton of time tweaking the formatting - that’s why his diagrams look so much better than quick sketches. If you go with Visio, make your own template with preset styles for states, transitions, and labels. It’ll keep your docs looking consistent.
yeah, i heard he also used adobe illustrator for the final touches on those diagrams. visio does the heavy lifting, but illustrator really helps with the crisp lines and clean typography you see in the book.
I remember reading on some tech forums when the book came out - Samek used Microsoft Visio. But getting that clean, consistent look took him tons of time creating custom templates and style guides. It’s not really about the software - it’s about being disciplined with uniform spacing, font sizes, and line weights across every diagram. I’ve done similar doc projects and you need to nail down specific formatting rules upfront: standardized state box sizes, consistent arrows, set color schemes. The polished result comes from treating diagrams like code - same attention to standards and consistency.
Here’s a different approach that’ll save you tons of time.
Forget manually creating each diagram like Samek did - just automate it. I’ve built workflows that generate state diagrams straight from code or config files. No more hand drawing or spending hours tweaking alignment.
The real win is when your state machine logic changes. With Visio and similar tools, you’re redrawing everything from scratch. Automation? Just update your source data and boom - new diagrams instantly.
I set this up for our embedded team last year. We feed state definitions into an automated pipeline that spits out publication-ready diagrams. Looks as professional as Samek’s book but takes seconds instead of hours.
Building this kind of workflow is pretty straightforward. Connect your state machine definitions to diagram generation tools, then export to whatever format you need.
Check out https://latenode.com for setting up automated workflows like this.
Samek used a combo approach for those diagrams. He probably started with Visio for the basic structure, then exported to vector format and did post-processing work. The typography and line weights in his book scream professional layout software for the final version. I’ve done similar tech docs for embedded systems - getting that polish usually means using multiple tools. Keep your spacing consistent and stick with vector graphics instead of bitmap exports. If you want similar quality, set up a proper toolchain instead of trying to do everything in one app.