| 摘要 |
<p>The present invention provides a method and apparatus for generating three-dimensional bar charts by interspersing non-rectangular shapes amongst rectangular boxes so that the rectangular boxes and non-rectangular shapes tend not to obscure each other. To this end, one embodiment of the present invention provides a method that operates by receiving a set of data values to be displayed in the three-dimensional bar chart. The set of data values is divided into two subsets. A first subset is represented by rectangular boxes projecting from a two-dimensional grid (3), so that a height of a given box above the two-dimensional grid bears a functional relationship to a data value being displayed by the given box. A second subset is represented by non-rectangular shapes projecting from the two-dimensional grid, which are interspersed between the rectangular boxes, so that a height of a given non-rectangular shape bears a functional relationship to a data value being displayed by the given non-rectangular shape. The method also includes rendering a perspective view of the rectangular boxes and the non-rectangular shapes, and outputting the perspective view to a display device. One variation of the above embodiment alternates tetrahedra with rectangular boxes, wherein the tetrahedra are oriented so that a given tetrahedron is balanced on a lower edge, parallel to a left-right axis of the two-dimensional grid, with an upper orthogonal edge parallel to a fore-aft axis.</p> |
