A New Perspective on Charts

Q. The tops of the bars in my 3D bar chart do not exactly correspond with the number on my axis. The tops of my bars are consistently about 20% below the correct position on the axis.

A. This is due to the perspective of the 3D chart. By default, the width of the bar (both depth and width) is only 60% of the base volume for that bar. Because of this, there is some real space between the bar and the axis. Since these charts are rendered in true 3D space, there is some perspective error caused by the space between the bar and the axis.

There are several solutions to this symptom.

The easiest and most effective workaround is to set the Series Width value from the "Chart Info..." dialog under the Edit menu to 100. This will make the the bars volume fill 100% of the base. This makes the space between the bar and the axis 0 so there will be no error in perspective.

You can also use the "3D Option..." dialog under the Chart menu to change the vertical perspective to 0 (or close to it). This will have the affect of viewing the chart head-on so the perspective error will be reduced.