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4 8 G R A P H I C S P R O • O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 G R A P H I C S - P R O. C O M A W A R D S & C U S T O M I Z A T I O N CREATING A PIE CHART ADAPTABLE FOR MANY OTHER PROJECTS S O F T W A R E T I P S & T R I C K S | B Y D O U G Z E N D E R T here is the ability in CorelDR AW to create nearly any image one can imagine. I want to walk through some steps to create a pie chart using the abilities of the program to perform mathematical calculations. All the following information was provided in a tutorial by Foster Coburn and may be a bit reminiscent of a high school algebra class. is is probably not something you'll use very often, but it's good to know about. Once you understand the mathemat- ics involved, you can use it in many other projects. Fig. 1 is the final image depicted here. CREATING A PIE CHART To begin this project, we'll start with some data: 40%, 27%, 15%, 11%, 7%. ese will be the values used here but can easily be changed for your specific project. e first thing is to create a perfect circle using the ellipse tool at a 4" diame- ter (the size is not important as all the following info works at any size) and centered on the page. Next, select the circle and click the "pie" icon and the image changes to a partial ellipse. On the upper task bar are two dialogs: starting angle and ending angle. Depending on what version of the program you are using, the appearance may be a little different. (Fig. 1) At this point we want to change it to a 40% representa- tion of the original. In the ending dialog box on the task bar, type .4*360 – this is 40% of 360º. e asterisk (*) symbol is a multiplication symbol. Keep in mind that we are working with a circle which is 360º, so 360 is our baseline dimension. Now, we have our first image. On the task bar, the starting angle is changed to 0 and the ending angle to 144. From here we need to create the next one directly on top. Select the image and duplicate it (easily done using the + key on the numeric keypad). From here, we need to enter some data. Set the starting angle equal to the ending angle of the previ- ous image at 144. en in the ending angle dialog box type 144 + (.27*360) and then press enter. is should produce the second image as depicted in Fig. 2. It is probably good to change its color so it is different than the previous one. Each of the successive wedges will be created in a similar manner. So, we duplicate the second wedge and in the start- ing angle type 241.2. is is the ending angle of the last one. en we type 241.2 + (.15*360) in the ending angle box and press enter. Now the next one is duplicated as before, taking note of its ending angle, which is 295.2. Now we type this number into the starting angle box. In the ending angle box, we type 295.2 + (.11*360) and press enter. Our last wedge starts at 334.8 and ends at 360. No math is needed for it. Fig. 3 is our completed 2D pie chart. I have given each wedge a different color for clarity and added percentages to each. Notice that this chart was created in a counter- clockwise flow. By pressing the Reverse direction icon on the task bar in the beginning, it will flow in a clockwise direction instead. 3D LOOK It is possible to add a 3-dimensional look using the Extrude tool as seen in Fig. 4. For this, I selected all the wedges and grouped them. With this group selected, I chose the Extrude tool and dragged out a visually fitting extrude then broke the extrude group apart. en, I selected one of the extruded results and ungrouped them. Note that they are no longer live extrude objects but are individual vector objects. en, I chose each of them and, holding down the CTRL key, clicked three or four times on white in the color palette. is is a fun feature as each click adds 10% of that color to the selected object. is lightened each one but could have been darkened if I'd chosen black instead. e con- cept works with any color you choose in any open palette. BUILDING A BAR CHART Up to now, we have looked at how to create a pie chart in CorelDR AW, but what if we need to make something like a bar chart? We'll explore that next. Since bar charts can have many configurations, we'll look only at one possibil- ity. Let's assume we are trying to compare product sales dif- ferences in three different regions: east, central, and west. Fig. 1: Final image of a completed pie chart. (All images courtesy Doug Zender)