3D Charts

In This Topic

The Cartesian, Funnel, and Pie charting types in NOV Chart for .NET also support a 3D view of the data contained in them. This topic discusses how to switch a chart to a 3D view and shows how to control the projection and lighting applied to the chart.

Switching a Chart to 3D View

To switch a chart to a 3D view you need to set the Enable3D property of the chart to true:

C#	Copy Code
nChartView.Surface.CreatePredefinedChart(Nevron.Nov.Chart.ENPredefinedChartType.Cartesian); NCartesianChart chart = (NCartesianChart)nChartView.Surface.Charts[0]; chart.Enable3D = true;

Not all NOV hosts currently support 3D Chart view.

That's it. Now you can also control the chart projection and lighting - the following two pictures show a simple bar chart rendered with different lighting settings:

Cartesian chart with soft lighting	Cartesian chart with metallic lighting

Chart Projection

The chart has a property called Projection that gives you access to different settings that control how the chart 3D model scene is projected on the screen. This includes settings like whether the projection is perspective or orthogonal, the camera position (elevation and rotation relative to the chart), and others. In addition, you can also choose from a set of predefined projections using the SetPrededfinedProjection method of the NProjection object:

C#	Copy Code
NChart chart = nChartView.Surface.Charts[0]; chart.Enable3D = true; chart.Projection.SetPredefinedProjection(ENPredefinedProjection.PerspectiveTilted);

Light Model

Another object that affects the chart appearance in 3D is the light model object, which is accessible from the LightModel property. This object controls how light sources interact with the chart scene to produce more realistic lighting effects. The following code shows how to enable lighting and how to apply a predefined light source configuration:

C#	Copy Code
NChart chart = nChartView.Surface.Charts[0]; chart.LightModel.EnableLighting = true; chart.LightModel.SetPredefinedLightModel(ENPredefinedLightModel.ShinyTopLeft);

The above code creates a light model with a single point light source. You can create your own light source configuration by adding one or more light sources to the light model's LightSources collection. The following code shows how to add a point light source to the scene and modify its Ambient, Diffuse and Specular colors:

C#	Copy Code
NChart chart = nChartView.Surface.Charts[0]; chart.LightModel.EnableLighting = true; chart.LightModel.GlobalAmbientColor = new NColor(60, 60, 60); NPointLightSource pointLightSource = new NPointLightSource(); pointLightSource.AmbientColor = new NColor(64, 64, 64); pointLightSource.DiffuseColor = new NColor(255, 255, 255); pointLightSource.SpecularColor = new NColor(64, 64, 64); pointLightSource.Position = new NVector3DF(100.0f, 150.0f, 300.0f); chart.LightModel.LightSources.Add(pointLightSource);

Copy Code

NChart chart = nChartView.Surface.Charts[0];
chart.LightModel.EnableLighting = true;
chart.LightModel.GlobalAmbientColor = new NColor(60, 60, 60);
NPointLightSource pointLightSource = new NPointLightSource();
pointLightSource.AmbientColor = new NColor(64, 64, 64);
pointLightSource.DiffuseColor = new NColor(255, 255, 255);
pointLightSource.SpecularColor = new NColor(64, 64, 64);
pointLightSource.Position = new NVector3DF(100.0f, 150.0f, 300.0f);
chart.LightModel.LightSources.Add(pointLightSource);

You can add instances of the following objects to the LightSources collection:

Light Source	Description
NPointLightSource	This is a light source that emits light in all directions from a single point in space, similar to a light bulb or a candle.
NDirectionalLightSource	This is a light source that emits light in a specific direction, as if it is coming from an infinitely distant source, like the sun.
NSpotLightSource	This is a light source that emits light from a single point in space, but the light is visible only from a specified direction like the light coming from a desk lamp or car headlights.

All three light sources emit light that consists of different components:

Light Source Property	Description
Ambient	The ambient component represents the contribution of the light source to the overall level of lighting in the scene. It is independent of the position or direction of the light source.
Diffuse	The diffuse component represents the component of the light source that is scattered by the reflecting surface in all directions. It is proportional to the angle between the surface normal and the direction of the incoming light. It is used to simulate the way light interacts with matte or rough surfaces.
Specular	The specular component represents the way light is reflected by a surface in a specific direction. It is proportional to the angle between the direction of the reflected light and the direction of the viewer. It is used to simulate the way light interacts with shiny or smooth surfaces.