Plotting data in 3D properly

I'm wanting to make a bar chart that compares frequency, voltage drop and
duration, and my boss insists it can be done with standard Excel charts, but
I'm stumped. What he wants is, taking Y as being up, the bars height up Y to
represent frequency, how far the bar is along X to represent the duration and
how far the bar is along Z to represent the voltage drop.
I can only find bubble charts to compare 3 sets of data, but they look
rediculous. My other solution was to make a new series for EVERY voltage
drop, but that is tedious to do and difficult to put into a macro (I'm lazy).
So, any ideas anybody?

Chris -

Are your X and Z values discrete? You could try a surface or contour chart. You need
the data laid out in a grid like this:

Y1 Y2 Y3 ...
X1 Z11 Z12 Z13
X2 Z21 Z22 Z23
X3 Z31 Z32 Z33
....

Leave the top left cell of the table blank. Select the range, start the Chart
Wizard, and select the surface or contour type chart.

I wouldn't think a 3D column chart would be a very effective way to visualize your
data. It's difficult to gauge the depth (Z), and as Z varies, it's not easy to gauge
Y either.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Peltier Technical Services
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
http://PeltierTech.com/
_______

Chris Mortimore wrote:

> I'm wanting to make a bar chart that compares frequency, voltage drop and
> duration, and my boss insists it can be done with standard Excel charts, but
> I'm stumped. What he wants is, taking Y as being up, the bars height up Y to
> represent frequency, how far the bar is along X to represent the duration and
> how far the bar is along Z to represent the voltage drop.
> I can only find bubble charts to compare 3 sets of data, but they look
> rediculous. My other solution was to make a new series for EVERY voltage
> drop, but that is tedious to do and difficult to put into a macro (I'm lazy).
> So, any ideas anybody?

Yay, thanks, but sadly that only gets me half way there (better than nowhere
mind you). My next problem is that some of my points have the same X and Y
values, but different Z values. Any suggestions of how to get around that?

Thanks Muchly
Chris

"Jon Peltier" wrote:

> Chris -
>
> Are your X and Z values discrete? You could try a surface or contour chart. You need
> the data laid out in a grid like this:
>
> Y1 Y2 Y3 ...
> X1 Z11 Z12 Z13
> X2 Z21 Z22 Z23
> X3 Z31 Z32 Z33
> ....
>
> Leave the top left cell of the table blank. Select the range, start the Chart
> Wizard, and select the surface or contour type chart.
>
> I wouldn't think a 3D column chart would be a very effective way to visualize your
> data. It's difficult to gauge the depth (Z), and as Z varies, it's not easy to gauge
> Y either.
>
> - Jon
> -------
> Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
> Peltier Technical Services
> Tutorials and Custom Solutions
> http://PeltierTech.com/
> _______
>
> Chris Mortimore wrote:
>
> > I'm wanting to make a bar chart that compares frequency, voltage drop and
> > duration, and my boss insists it can be done with standard Excel charts, but
> > I'm stumped. What he wants is, taking Y as being up, the bars height up Y to
> > represent frequency, how far the bar is along X to represent the duration and
> > how far the bar is along Z to represent the voltage drop.
> > I can only find bubble charts to compare 3 sets of data, but they look
> > rediculous. My other solution was to make a new series for EVERY voltage
> > drop, but that is tedious to do and difficult to put into a macro (I'm lazy).
> > So, any ideas anybody?
>
>

Chris -

Contrary to your boss' insistence (I hate to break it to you, but not all bosses
know much of anything), Excel does not have true 3-D capabilities. A bar chart isn't
right for this anyway, you really want a 3-D XYZ chart, perhaps with drop lines to
help viewers judge the 3-D location of the point on the 2-D page. Andy Pope
(http://andypope.info) has worked out some trig worksheet functions to allow you to
draw 3-D points on a 2-D scatter chart, and rotate it around to get a better view.
But if you need real 3-D charting capabilities, you'll have to look beyond Excel. I
don't have any direct experience with these, but I've heard a few names in dark
alleys (SigmaPlot, Deltaplot, etc.).

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Peltier Technical Services
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
http://PeltierTech.com/
_______

Chris Mortimore wrote:
> Yay, thanks, but sadly that only gets me half way there (better than nowhere
> mind you). My next problem is that some of my points have the same X and Y
> values, but different Z values. Any suggestions of how to get around that?
>
> Thanks Muchly
> Chris
>
> "Jon Peltier" wrote:
>
>
>>Chris -
>>
>>Are your X and Z values discrete? You could try a surface or contour chart. You need
>>the data laid out in a grid like this:
>>
>> Y1 Y2 Y3 ...
>>X1 Z11 Z12 Z13
>>X2 Z21 Z22 Z23
>>X3 Z31 Z32 Z33
>>....
>>
>>Leave the top left cell of the table blank. Select the range, start the Chart
>>Wizard, and select the surface or contour type chart.
>>
>>I wouldn't think a 3D column chart would be a very effective way to visualize your
>>data. It's difficult to gauge the depth (Z), and as Z varies, it's not easy to gauge
>>Y either.
>>
>>- Jon
>>-------
>>Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
>>Peltier Technical Services
>>Tutorials and Custom Solutions
>>http://PeltierTech.com/
>>_______
>>
>>Chris Mortimore wrote:
>>
>>
>>>I'm wanting to make a bar chart that compares frequency, voltage drop and
>>>duration, and my boss insists it can be done with standard Excel charts, but
>>>I'm stumped. What he wants is, taking Y as being up, the bars height up Y to
>>>represent frequency, how far the bar is along X to represent the duration and
>>>how far the bar is along Z to represent the voltage drop.
>>>I can only find bubble charts to compare 3 sets of data, but they look
>>>rediculous. My other solution was to make a new series for EVERY voltage
>>>drop, but that is tedious to do and difficult to put into a macro (I'm lazy).
>>> So, any ideas anybody?
>>
>>

If two of you data values (those along the horizontal axes) contain
equidistant values, you could use a surface plot. For how and for what
limitations apply to it, see
3D Surface
http://www.tushar-mehta.com/excel/c...face/index.html

--
Regards,

Tushar Mehta
www.tushar-mehta.com
Excel, PowerPoint, and VBA add-ins, tutorials
Custom MS Office productivity solutions

In article <839FF313-6BDE-4FD7-AF7D-205FAC8AACB4@microsoft.com>, =?Utf-
8?B?Q2hyaXMgTW9ydGltb3Jl?= <Chris Mortimore@discussions.microsoft.com>
says...
> I'm wanting to make a bar chart that compares frequency, voltage drop and
> duration, and my boss insists it can be done with standard Excel charts, but
> I'm stumped. What he wants is, taking Y as being up, the bars height up Y to
> represent frequency, how far the bar is along X to represent the duration and
> how far the bar is along Z to represent the voltage drop.
> I can only find bubble charts to compare 3 sets of data, but they look
> rediculous. My other solution was to make a new series for EVERY voltage
> drop, but that is tedious to do and difficult to put into a macro (I'm lazy).
> So, any ideas anybody?
>