Herman -
I thought that I'd offer what might seem like an unusual answer, that may be of general interest and applies to more than the 3D question -
If you can get any chart, include 3D, or something close to what you are after in Excel, then use it.
Here's why. I've come full circle. I've spent a not insignificant amount of time writing Gfx routines for graphs and tables. In a sense, though, much of it is re-inventing visualizations (charts, grids, etc.) that already exist in Excel and custom packages (both standalone and Excel add-in). For example, consider multi-series bar charts. It was a significant change to TJ's original bar chart example, but straightforward (and maybe better) in Excel.
So, what are the reasons that Excel might not have been considered -
- Perceived complexity in using the COM model to control it
- Speed in getting and putting large amounts of data
- Cost of package
- Overkill
But, as counter-points, consider -
- All of the Excel COM functions are easily abstracted as AFL functions
- There is a way using _vbscript_ from AFL to get large amounts of data into and out of Excel. For example on a 1.7GHz machine, 1 column of 5000 rows -> 28 milliseconds
- Old versions of Excel in basic Office XP 2002 are approx. $50 on EBay, but most people already have a version of Excel
- Excel may be driving a tack with a sledgehammer, BUT, at least prototype what you are after, if possible, in Excel charts and then decide if it is valuable and merits custom work. IMHO, your time is one of the most valuable things to consider.
So, I've found that the quickest approach is to use the well known and documented Excel UI to set up the charts and, and just use AB to put data to Excel.
I think that sometimes, it is important to just get to the end result as quickly as possible. So, if Excel 3D charts will work, let me know and I'll show you how.
-- BruceR