Answers.Body: <p>They are almost certainly done in TeX/LaTeX. TeX/LaTeX is not about "less effort", but exactness. It is a programming language for typesetting with a special emphasis on math and equations. TeX has a long history with the academic community in publishing. Explaining TeX and LaTeX is outside the scope of this forum (There is a <a href="https://tex.stackexchange.com/">TeX.stackexchange.com</a> site). You can find some examples of how those types of diagrams are done here:</p>
  
  <p><a href="http://www.texample.net/tikz/examples/tag/diagrams/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.texample.net/tikz/examples/tag/diagrams/</a></p>
  
  <p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/spfS1.png" alt="screenshot of linked page"></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2013-12-31T19:40:29.277Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-01-25T13:01:01.713Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2017-04-13T12:34:32.050Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: user2149757
Answers.Body: <p>I doubt if that particular one was done in LaTeX's native "picture" environment, but it might have been done with TikZ running inside LaTeX. </p>
  
  <p>Any vector graphics package can produce this kind of diagram: an excellent open-source one is InkScape, but Libre Office Draw is also good. Both can save a PDF vector image, which can then be cropped and combined with LaTeX math typesetting if needed, and the resulting PDF can be converted to a JPG or PNG. InkScape also saves in SVG graphics format by default, but I don't know if EPUB3 handles that.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-01-07T01:33:19.807Z
Answers.Text: Going via PDF is a bad idea.
Answers.UserDisplayName: his
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-01-07T20:19:44.953Z
Answers.Text: Processing SVG is a chief raison d'être for ePub3.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Roger_S
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-01-02T21:35:31.720Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-01-02T21:35:31.720Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Peter Flynn
Body: <p>What software is used to create free body diagrams, inclines, springs and so on in the introductory physics textbooks ?</p>
  <p>I know Adobe, Luxology, and many others could, but I am more interested in software with ready made objects, that could still create good looking diagrams with less effort. Most of the textbooks have 100s of such diagrams that are kind of good looking.</p>
  <p>Similar to <a href="https://lpsa.swarthmore.edu/Systems/MechTranslating/TransMechSysLeversPulleys.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://lpsa.swarthmore.edu/Systems/MechTranslating/TransMechSysLeversPulleys.html</a></p>
  <p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/B3eYp.png" alt="screenshot of linked swathmore.edu page" /></p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2013-12-29T12:32:37.317Z
Comments.Text: Voting to close, as both to broad and off topic, "what are my shopping options"
Comments.UserDisplayName: James Jenkins
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2013-12-30T03:12:01.120Z
Comments.Text: This is more best practices than shopping options, I think
Comments.UserDisplayName: DVK
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2013-12-30T21:32:51.940Z
Comments.Text: This seems a legit question to me, after all is about the creation of ebook content.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Sekhemty
Tags: <software>
Title: What software is used by the publishing companies to create diagrams in the introductory physics textbooks?
UserDisplayName: Anonymous
ThreadText: # What software is used by the publishing companies to create diagrams in the introductory physics textbooks?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2013-12-28)
  
  What software is used to create free body diagrams, inclines, springs and so on in the introductory physics textbooks ?
  
  I know Adobe, Luxology, and many others could, but I am more interested in software with ready made objects, that could still create good looking diagrams with less effort. Most of the textbooks have 100s of such diagrams that are kind of good looking.
  
  Similar to <https://lpsa.swarthmore.edu/Systems/MechTranslating/TransMechSysLeversPulleys.html>
  
  ![screenshot of linked swathmore.edu page](https://i.sstatic.net/B3eYp.png)
  
  **Tags:** software
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Voting to close, as both to broad and off topic, "what are my shopping options"  
  > **username_2**: This is more best practices than shopping options, I think  
  > **username_3**: This seems a legit question to me, after all is about the creation of ebook content.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2013-12-31. Score: 4
  
  They are almost certainly done in TeX/LaTeX. TeX/LaTeX is not about "less effort", but exactness. It is a programming language for typesetting with a special emphasis on math and equations. TeX has a long history with the academic community in publishing. Explaining TeX and LaTeX is outside the scope of this forum (There is a [TeX.stackexchange.com](https://tex.stackexchange.com/) site). You can find some examples of how those types of diagrams are done here:
  
  <http://www.texample.net/tikz/examples/tag/diagrams/>
  
  ![screenshot of linked page](https://i.sstatic.net/spfS1.png)
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_5 on 2014-01-02. Score: 3
  
  I doubt if that particular one was done in LaTeX's native "picture" environment, but it might have been done with TikZ running inside LaTeX.
  
  Any vector graphics package can produce this kind of diagram: an excellent open-source one is InkScape, but Libre Office Draw is also good. Both can save a PDF vector image, which can then be cropped and combined with LaTeX math typesetting if needed, and the resulting PDF can be converted to a JPG or PNG. InkScape also saves in SVG graphics format by default, but I don't know if EPUB3 handles that.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_6**: Going via PDF is a bad idea.  
  > **username_7**: Processing SVG is a chief raison d'être for ePub3.  
  
  ---
  
  