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Perspective – perspective distortion (3D charts)

To get a good feel for the depth of a 3D chart it is essential to have a small degree of perspective distortion in the projection. This is controlled by how far away from the plot the ‘camera’ is placed – in RainPro the default is 12, meaning 12 chart-widths back from the virtual 3D image. To reduce the distortion, make this a big number (above 50 you will find that all the verticals become vertical); to increase it, move the ‘camera’ towards the plot.

ch.Set 'Perspective' 20   © Move back

You will find that 7 is about as close as you can reasonably go without producing very exaggerated effects. Numbers less than this will start to give spurious ‘inside-out’ views and (eventually) strange errors.

Isometric Projections
To make an Excel-style 3D chart, you should set the perspective to 0 which generates an isometric view, rather than a true perspective image. This can be used with the Towerchart to make simple ‘column charts’ in Excel style.


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