Creating dynamic illustrations from spreadsheet

[IanCarr00]

Hi,

I am currently working on a research project which involves creating dynamic graphics.

My research involves the creation of a graphic diagram from spreadsheets/databases. But the output requires to be dynamic. E.g change the spreadsheet it changes the graphic.

I am basically want to create my own graphs. But I don't want to use the illustrator graph wiz.

I wondered if you had any suggestions of how to go about this? I have been looking into programing and plugins but nothing has come up so far. Can you help?

Hope you can help!

Ian Carr

[MarkWalsh]

Have you tried making the graph dynamic through the use of the variables tab? This may allow you to do what you are looking for.

[IanCarr00]

I have not tried that because i thought it was only for graphs. I am

actually drawing shapes, then I want them to become dynamic. Will

variables work for this?

[MarkWalsh]

No, that won't work with shapes you create yourself. Is there a reason you don't want to use the chart tool in Illustrator? Creating your own charting function with code could be very involved, depending on what you are charting.

[Larry G. Schneider]

Have you looked at the Help menu in Illustrator, specifically the section on graphs? You can make your own designs to use as markers.

[IanCarr00]

I have but i can't get the level flexibility that i want. I have a

designed a concept to visualize information which is not like that of

any graph. All i want to do is give shapes a vialue and that value

corresponds to size colour and where it's placed on the page.

It might be a flash action sctipt solution.

Any ideas?

[Guest]

Sounds like an interesting project.

I think pretty messy with scripts, but possible with something like Google Spreadsheets, Applescript and Python. To make it dynamic would be tricky. You'd have to use a function that periodically checks to see if your data has changed, and then update your Illusrator visualization when a change is found.

Proper plugin would be better suited I think. Or use Flash or Google Visualization API instead of Illustrator.

[IanCarr00]

HUm, I know very little about programming. I am a designer. But I was

thinking about processing script (http://processing.org/). Or Would it

be best to just write a plugging for illustrator or excel?

Considering that maybe illustrator is not the best program, someone

suggested sing flash and action script? any thoughts?

ian

[Guest]

Yeah, Flash with actionscript is probably the most commonly used approach to dynamic infographics. There's a Flash Data Integration forum at:

http://forums.adobe.com/community/flash/flash_data_integration

Cheers,

Bay

[IanCarr00]

That looks great. Will have a trail through.

Thanks,

[JETalmage]

All i want to do is give shapes a vialue and that value

corresponds to size colour and where it's placed on the page.

What you describe can certainly be done with AI Javascript. But...

My research involves the creation of a graphic diagram from spreadsheets/databases. But the output requires to be dynamic. E.g change the spreadsheet it changes the graphic.

...depends upon what exactly you mean by "dynamic; change the spreadsheet, it changes the graphic."

With AI Javascript, you can:

• Parse values out of delimited text.
• Use those values to manipulate size, position, and color of objects.
• Assign Notes to objects, or send them to a Layer (or possibly use other mechanisms whereby to give them a "handle" by which to identify them again the next time you edit the values and rerun the script).

So if by "dynamic" you mean to have the graph effectively "re-plot" itself upon demand after editing the values, yes.

But if by "dynamic" you mean to watch individual objects move as you edit individual values in real time, without re-running the script, no. (That could be done in Flash.)

JET

[Hanaan Rosenthal]

Ian - What you describe is possible, to a degree.

Note the last comment regarding dynamic scripting.

The possibilities would be these:

1.If you want LIVE updating, meaning that when data changes, the graphics changes instantly, you need Flash and ActionScript.

2. If you want to publish graphics and need them to be created from data rapidly, this can be done with APpleScript or JavaScript.

Personally, I created a graphing engine in APpleScript from scratch.

I am able to generate any graph in seconds from any source data.

My graphs appear in millions of newspapers daily.

All the financial and weather graphs in the New York Times, and financial graphs in the Boston Globe, IHT and many others are all created using my scripts with minimal user intervention, all using Illustrator and InDesign.

The creation is fast because it creates SVG files and saves them as PDFs (or EPS files)

So, it is possible, but if you don't have the time to sit down and program it yourself, it can be quite expensive...

I attached an example where hundreds of funds returns are compiled into a smooth line chart. Created in less than a second in Illustrator...

Hope that helps,

Hanaan