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We’re working on a Google spreadsheet gadget to build ChartChamp charts.  The only catch is that it takes time to render these charts (even at the lowest quality level). The chart below took over a minute and Google’s recommended render time is 250 milliseconds or less. This probably more of a guideline than a rule; however more work is needed to make sure this is a polished gadget. So let us know if this is something you’re interested in. Would you pay for access to this to this tool? Do you use Google Spreadsheets?

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Another couple renders:

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• Target audience (Company meeting, news article, blog post, etc)
• Chart Specifications (bar/pie/…) – actual data and examples would be very helpful.
• How soon do you need it?
• Can we include a ChartChamp logo on the charts? We promise it won’t be obnoxious.
• Do you prefer annotating the final charts yourself (ex. with PhotoShop?). We ask since fonts and final integration with the presentation can be tricky.
• May we showcase part/all of the presentation on our site?

We will will only be able to accept a few requests but appreciate every one we receive.

There are more problems with this chart than you could shake a stick at but I think it hits the goal of presenting a clean chart with graphics.

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Obviously we need the actual values, descriptions for those little slices and the source for this data but that wasn’t the goal here.

** And no this chart is not created by Adobe illustrator or touched up by Photoshop. It’s all ChartChamp!

An example of an animated transition for a pie chart:

Click for full size chart.

We’re testing some different materials/textures for our charts. Glass is still one of our favorites for default charts, but this looks pretty good too.

Do you have a favorite? We’ll keep posting different types so let us know what you think.

Take the following chart (based off of some unemployment figures across education classes) :

Nested Column Chart (click for full image)

Ignoring the fact that I dislike nested charts, 3d charts make it difficult to see the data clearly. Between the perspective projection and lack of axis lines, it’s difficult to see subtle changes.

To help with this  I’ve added a numeric axis, labels, title and legend. With a quick glance now the series trends can be viewed a little easier.

Nested Column Chart with Numeric Axis (click for full image)

Unfortunately adding the axis visually clutters the chart and introduces other issues (such as casting shadows). There are solutions to this and axis lines can have their place in a 3d chart, but a good rule of thumb – if axis lines are really necessary, you probably need a 2D chart. I personally like data labels but that would make the above chart much too cluttered.

One possible improvement is to nest the series along the Z-Axis. Here you have a better view of the trends for each series as well as a comparison. Every 3d charting package out there will give you the ability to rotate the view – we probably wont. The second you rotate the view, the comparison between the data values is much more difficult. Our goal with ChartChamp is to generate amazing 3d charts that still provide an accurate view of the data – we’ll save the view point changes to any sort of animation or intro sequence.

Depth Nesting - (click for full image)

A better chart in my opinion, but changing the emphasis to the overall picture of share/trend along the time axis:

Stacked Bar Chart (click for full image)

While this may move away from your intended visualization (if showing the individual series trends is key), this does illustrate a better 3D chart.

Another option, but a bad choice for this particular data is the stacked 100% bar chart. The trend is less obvious but I’ve enabled data labels (*note – we’re still working to improve the label appearance on top of bars).

100% Stacked Bar Chart (click for full image)