3D Pie Chart

[Angee]

Hello all-I have created a 3-D pie chart in Excel and would like some of the
pies to be thicker than others...raised higher, thicker, like have the same
foundation but the ones I am discussing during the presentation to raise
above the others not seperating from the pie. Does that make sense? I am
using Excell 2007 but also have access to 2003 and the newest version. If
anyone knows how to do this any help woould be so greatly apprecaited.

THANKS!

 

[ShaneDevenshire]

Hi,

Excel is not designed to do that, maybe a simple alternative would be to
explode the segment of the pie you want to emphasize. To explode a segment
select the pie, then single click the segment, then drag it away from the
rest of the pie.

 

[Angee]

Thanks! That stinks. I was pretty sure I had tried every possability but
you never know. I appreciate the help!

 

[ShaneDevenshire]

Hi,

More stinky stuff - If you are using 2007 you could program an on click
event that would radically change the Bevel property so the slice would stand
out.

In 2003 or 2007 you might program a click to rotate the slice you are
interested in around to the front - now that might be pretty cute!

 

[Mike Middleton]

Angee -

Does that make sense? <

No.

First, you can generally achieve more clarity using a bar chart instead of a
pie chart.

Second, many chart gurus regard the unnecessary third dimension as extreme
chart junk.

A pie chart is usually used to illustrate parts of a whole. A
one-dimensional representation (like a narrow bar) is appropriate.

For more discussion, search google for "pie chart junk" or similar topics.

- Mike Middleton
http://www.DecisionToolworks.com
Decision Analysis Add-ins for Excel

 

[Ed Ferrero]

(Resending - original did not seen to go through)

If using Excel 2007 you could insert a shape - there is a new shape called
"Pie".

Then set the pie slice using the small yellow handles on the shape. Insert a
couple more pie slices to create a chart using shapes. Format the shape to
set the 3D rotation to isometric. Move the shapes until they line up
correctly to form a pie. Format the shapes and change the depth setting in
3D Format to make one slice stand out.

Then if you had a lot of time on your hands you could code
all this in VBA

I think I would stick to the standard charts.

Ed Ferrero
www.edferrero.com

 

[Angee]

In this case the pie chart is not being used as a chart. It is representing
a clock for a public radio presentation and was the closest thing I could
find to meet our needs. If anyone has any other suggestions of what could be
better used that I could highlight specific pieces (time-slots), by all means
please share. Computers are not really my thing so I am likely not aware of
it.

 

[ShaneDevenshire]

Hi Angee,

Back to the pie - here are a couple of other things one could do to make the
slice stand out:

1. You could set all the non-important slices to shades of gray and the
single slice you are interested in to a color (unfortunaltely you might need
to use VBA to make it change automatically. Powerpoint has a built-in
feature just for emphasizing items.
2. You could change the height of the Bevel property for the slice in
question or for all other slices. For example if you made all slices top and
bottom bevel 1000 these slices would appear thiner than the slice you left
alone. (again, to do this automatically, would require VBA)
3. If its a clock you want there is a very simple one built into windows
that you can display. I also have an Excel file with a clock built in, I can
email you a copy if you want.