Charts and Graphs

The advantage of using Illustrator to create graphs over a dedicated graph program is that when you create a graph in Illustrator, it is made up of vector objects. Therefore, you can edit the graph just as you would any illustration, giving you complete control over the appearance of your graph or chart. If necessary, you can also export the graph in any of Illustrator's many export formats, including the Save for Microsoft Office feature.

Illustrator can draw any of nine types of graphs: Column, Stacked Column, Bar, Stacked Bar, Line, Area, Scatter, Pie, and Radar.

Creating a Graph

To create a graph, choose one of the graph tools from the toolbox (see Figure 7.198). You start by first defining the area or size for your graph, and you specify this in much same way that you do to create a rectangle. Either click and drag with the mouse, or click once on the artboard to enter a numeric value.

Figure 7.198. Choosing from one of Illustrator's nine graph tools.

The next step is to give Illustrator the factsthe actual values that will be used to make the graph mean something. After it creates the bounding box for your graph, Illustrator presents you with the Graph Data palette. If you've ever used Microsoft Excel, this palette will look familiar to you. It is filled with rows and columns in which you enter the graph data (see Figure 7.199).

Figure 7.199. The Graph Data palette.

By the Way

In reality, the Graph Data palette acts more like a dialog box than a palette. For one thing, you have to click the Apply button to update values. Second, you can't perform certain functions until you close the window. Finally, there's no collapsible palette tab that palettes usually exhibit.

Adding Graph Data

Across the top of the Graph Data palette are several items. The first is an area where you input your values. Select a cell (cells are the boxes that actually contain the data), and then type your value. Pressing Tab takes you to the next column; pressing Enter takes you to the next row.

Did you Know?

Cells can also be navigated using the arrow keys. Additionally, unlike with most data-entry programs, Shift+Tab does not move to the previous cell; instead, it is used to select multiple cells. Both Shift+Tab and Shift+Return (Shift+Enter) can be used to highlight multiple contiguous cells for such purposes as copy and pasting.

You can either enter data manually or import data from Excel or any tab-delimited text file. Notice that in the upper-right corner of the Graph Data palette are six buttons. The following describes these buttons from left to right:

• Import Data Imports data from an external file.

• Transpose Switches columns and rows of data, no matter what the graph type is.

• Switch X/Y Swaps the values of the x- and y-axes on a scatter graph only.

• Cell Style Sets the parameters for a selected cell. You can set the number of decimal places as well as the column width.

  Did you Know?

  You can also change the column width manually by grabbing a vertical line and dragging it to the left or right.

  
  

• Revert Sets the data in the graph back to the way it was before you last clicked the Apply button.

• Apply Accepts and applies your changes to the graph.

Editing Graph Data

What makes the graph function in Illustrator even more powerful is the capability to update the data in your graph. At any time, you can select the graph and choose Object, Graph, Data. You are presented with the Graph Data palette again, where you can update the numbers. When you click the Apply button in the Graph Data palette, the graph is automatically updated with the new information.

Graph Options

After you create your graph, you can edit it to perfection. Choose Object, Graphs, Type, and you are presented with the Graph Type dialog box (see Figure 7.200). You are first presented with Graph Options. Here you can change the type of graph, even though you selected another type from the toolbox. You can also choose where you place the value axis.

Figure 7.200. The Graph Type dialog box.

In addition to the options to add drop shadows or add a legend across the top, you can set the column width and cluster width here. These settings control the width and spacing of the bars or columns in a graph. Specifying a value greater than 100% causes the columns to overlap and can produce very interesting results (see Figure 7.201).

Figure 7.201. Some different column settings.

In the Graph Type dialog box, you can also specify settings for the Value Axis and Category Axis. Select them from the pop-up menu at the top of the dialog box. In the Value Axis screen, you can set the length of tick marks, which are the lines along the side of the graph that help indicate the position of data.

Setting tick marks at full length causes them to be drawn as lines throughout the entire graph (see Figure 7.202). You can also specify tick marks for the Category Axis.

Figure 7.202. Tick marks set to full length.

Ungrouping Your Graph

A graph is actually a special kind of group. You can ungroup a graph at any timebut be aware that when you do, the art loses its reference as a graph, and you can no longer make changes to it through the Graph Data palette and Graph Type dialog box. This process is similar to converting text to outlines: After you change it, it becomes a different kind of object. If you need to ungroup a graph, save a copy of the original grouped graph so that you can go back to that stage, if needed.

Did you Know?

For some interesting graph ideas, try applying a 3D Extrude effect to a pie chart, or a Scribble effect to a bar graph. Because they are live effects, you can still update the data of the graph at any time.