Excel Charts into Adobe?

[warwicksimons]

Hi,

We have charts created in MS Excel, and we want to import the images into Adobe for use in Illustrator, After Effects and Premiere Pro. What is the best way of getting the image into the Adobe suite? Note I want to import the finished images from Excel because we need to create them there, not re-create the charts in Adobe.

My current process is

1) Copy chart from Excel

2) Paste as a picture into Powerpoint

3) Save image from Powerpoint (this option isn't available from Excel)

4) Save as a PNG file

5) Import PNG file into Illustrator

6) Create layers in Illustrator

7) Animate the layers in After Effects

8) Use the animation in Premiere Pro

Is there a faster process that doesn't involve 6+ pieces of software?

Thanks

[Ned Murphy]

You can combine the first four steps into one if you use the Snipping Tool that comes with Windows.

[warwicksimons]

Thanks Ned for your input. Previously I had avoided using the Snip tool

because it produced a lower quality PNG image than the PPT route.

But now I realize that may not matter because we're converting it to a

Vector image in Illustrator etc. Is that correct? That the quality of the

PNG doesn't matter?

The Snip Tool gives me 75 DPI vs 400 or so via the PPT route.

[Mylenium]

Why not simply print/ export as PDF. Other than that there's a ton of tools that allow to create data-driven automated graphs in AE. it may simply be a matter of spending some time to explore those options and find/ create suitable scripts and templates. It seems to me you're indeed making this unnecessarily complicated...

Mylenium

[Abambo]

warwicksimons  wrote

The Snip Tool gives me 75 DPI vs 400 or so via the PPT route.

What is the image resolution in pixels? For film and web, the ppi value is completely irrelevant. For print, the relationship between image size in cm/inch, in pixels and the ppi value is not really understood...

As soon as you posted your Excel to Powerpoint as a a picture, you changed your data to pixelgraphic of undetermined size in pixels.

Pixel density - Wikipedia

Mylenium 's solution doing a PDF will give you probably most of the Excel data as vector graphics, which is the best quality you can get...

However, if you really want to do stunning graphics, you should do those in After Effects.

[warwicksimons]

Thanks all for your input. However I need to clarify a few constraints:

1) I've created the charts in Excel because that is where I do my analysis, and I need them in that format for written content. These are charts showing complex financial relationships, and therefore I don't want my video editor to have to re-create them in After Effects because it is doubling up the work and there is also a chance of errors.

2) Printing to PDF doesn't work because I would then need to isolate the chart within a spreadsheet or on a separate page - this would create a lot of extra work that seems unnecessary. There doesn't seem to be an easy option to export a selected area of an Excel sheet to a PDF - I've tried and it required defining print ranges and then removing a bunch of extra stuff that gets added to the image.

3) I will try using the snip tool after I've zoomed in on the image so I am snipping a higher number of pixels - that may be faster than going via PPT.

Overall it seems this is an issue caused by Microsoft & Adobe trying to wrestle control of the process. MS makes it difficult to get images out of Excel, and there doesn't seem to be a good tool for doing so.

Thanks again.

[Abambo]

warwicksimons  wrote

Overall it seems this is an issue caused by Microsoft & Adobe trying to wrestle control of the process. MS makes it difficult to get images out of Excel, and there doesn't seem to be a good tool for doing so.

You can't blame one or the other for not being able to collaborate on a level that is not foreseen.