3d Bar Chart

Hi,

I'm trying to create a 3d bar chart like the one attached for use in a
django site. I have no idea where to start. Is it even possible with
matplotlib?

Thanks so much for your help!
Erik

bar.png

Not really, and this is by design I've intentionally avoided all of
these power point style features which mostly detract from the
information in the graph. In a bar chart, once you've displayed the
height of the bar, there is no additional information to be had by
adding a gradient to it, or by making it look 3D. Those extra special
effects confuse the information that the graph actually contains. In
many cases, I think that's why people want to add them: if the data
are boring or don't say what you want, why not spice it up with some
sexy graph features so people won't look so hard at the data?

The shadow on the pie chart was a nod to those who want "chart junk"
as Tufte calls these effects, but it was probably a mistake.

  The Work of Edward Tufte and Graphics Press

I might accept a patch to add features like this if they remained off
by default, but I probably won't be adding it myself.

JDH

···

On 6/4/07, Erik Wickstrom <erik@...1629...> wrote:

I'm trying to create a 3d bar chart like the one attached for use in a
django site. I have no idea where to start. Is it even possible with
matplotlib?

Hi John,

Ok- that makes sense.

While on the subject of bar charts, can you tell me what I'm doing wrong here?

def chart(request):
    from PIL import Image as PILImage
    from matplotlib.backends.backend_agg import FigureCanvasAgg as FigureCanvas
    from matplotlib.figure import Figure
    from StringIO import StringIO
    fig = Figure()
    canvas = FigureCanvas(fig)
    ax = fig.add_subplot(111)
    from pylab import *
    N = 7
    menMeans = (20, 35, 30, 35, 27, 21, 60)
    ind = arange(N) # the x locations for the groups
    width = 0.35 # the width of the bars
    p1 = bar(ind, menMeans, width, color='b')
    #ylabel('Time')
    title('Time In Minutes - Last 7 Days')
    xticks(ind+width, ('Mon', 'Tue', 'Wed', 'Thu', 'Fri', 'Sat', '*') )
    canvas.draw()
    size = canvas.get_renderer().get_canvas_width_height()
    buf=canvas.tostring_rgb()
    im=PILImage.fromstring('RGB', size, buf, 'raw', 'RGB', 0, 1)
    imdata=StringIO() #ERROR LINE - 'module' object is not callable
    im.save(imdata, format='PNG')
    response = HttpResponse(imdata.getvalue(), mimetype='image/png')
    return response

I keep getting an error saying 'module' object is not callable
pointing to line 45 [imdata=StringIO()]

This method worked fine for a pie chart.

Thanks!
Erik

···

On 6/4/07, John Hunter <jdh2358@...287...> wrote:

On 6/4/07, Erik Wickstrom <erik@...1629...> wrote:

> I'm trying to create a 3d bar chart like the one attached for use in a
> django site. I have no idea where to start. Is it even possible with
> matplotlib?

Not really, and this is by design I've intentionally avoided all of
these power point style features which mostly detract from the
information in the graph. In a bar chart, once you've displayed the
height of the bar, there is no additional information to be had by
adding a gradient to it, or by making it look 3D. Those extra special
effects confuse the information that the graph actually contains. In
many cases, I think that's why people want to add them: if the data
are boring or don't say what you want, why not spice it up with some
sexy graph features so people won't look so hard at the data?

The shadow on the pie chart was a nod to those who want "chart junk"
as Tufte calls these effects, but it was probably a mistake.

  The Work of Edward Tufte and Graphics Press

I might accept a patch to add features like this if they remained off
by default, but I probably won't be adding it myself.

JDH