UML diagrams that are actually pretty?

Question

I'm looking for a diagramming software that would produce good looking output. It doesn't need to support everything (or even much) from UML, is doesn't need to have code engineering functions or anything, it just needs to produce visually interesting output.

Here is a couple of samples of products that I consider ugly / not good enough: Visio with default UML stencils (didn't find better looking ones), Enterprise Architect, Dia, ArgoUML and many other "professional" UML tools.

A couple of visually compelling tools that I considered (but found issues with):

• Visual Studio class diagrams - just for .NET classes but the output is miles better than what UML tools typically produce
• NClass - similar to VS's class diagrams but I could not find the "pretty", blue skin anywhere
• yuml.me - very nice but lacking some advanced layout options. I have to say that I find their style almost ideal for high-level diagrams - they look sketchy which is good.
• Balsamiq - I think Joel used this for hginit.com and I liked it. However, it's not suited for creating software diagrams so I can imagine it would be quite a lot of work
• MS Word has actually quite a good graphics engine but I'd rather leave this as a choice of the last resort

I'd be grateful for any good tips.

Answer 1

This is definitely a hard question:) There are many tools, however the most beautiful UML diagrams are saw were made using vector graphics editor... It also depends on what do you expect from a tool producing nice diagrams... Pretty stencils? Good layouting algorithm? Tools which I find more or less usable are MagicDraw for the grid, BOUML for simplicity and either Papyrus or Moskitt, whichever had some layouting heuristing trying not to put classes which were made to be close too much aside.

Answer 2

Visio seems to be the closest match for what I'm looking, something between vector editor and a software diagramming tool with decent formatting and layout options. Not optimal on many levels but the most flexible tool I tried so far.

Answer 3

Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate includes the following UML diagrams: class, sequence, component, use case, and activity. You can also generate sequence diagrams and dependency graphs from code.

For examples of how these diagrams look, see their descriptions under Developing Models for Software Design. If you can get the Visualization and Modeling Feature Pack, you can create UML class diagrams from code.

You can download the trial version of Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate here. If you have an MSDN subscription, you can get the feature pack here.

Answer 4

Take a look at this, a web app for creating UML diagrams!