How to install & use 3D Data Visualizer Add-on

1. After you download the add-on package, open blender and go to Edit -> Preferences.

2. Go to the Add-ons tab and click on the Install button.

3. Select the downloaded zip file (3D-Data-Visualizer.zip) and install it. No need to unzip it.

4. After it is installed, enable the add-on by selecting this checkbox.

5. Now we need to install the dependencies for this add-on. You can also skip this step for
now and go straight to step 12. But you need to execute these steps if you want to ever use
an excel file input. Right-click on Blender exe and select the option “Run As Administrator”.

6. You may get a warning like below, you need to select “Yes” and proceed.
7. Open the system console from the Window menu.

8. It will open the following window. Keep this window open so that we can see the output.
9. Now go back to the original Blender window, open Edit > Preferences > Add-on. Click on
the little arrow next to our add-on to expand the preferences screen for this add-on.

10. Click on Check & install dependencies to install the required python package. It will install
pandas & openpyxl (check the status in the console). Once installed, this button gets disabled.
Please Note: Admin access & internet connections are required for a successful installation. If
the installation fails, you can use the csv option instead of excel. This is described below.

11. The installation will take some time. Please wait. Meanwhile, you can switch over to the
console window (which we opened earlier) to check the installation status or errors, if any.

Just in case the installation fails and you are unable to solve this step, you can do two things.
Either 1) manually install these dependecies or 2) use the csv option from the excel.

1. Open your excel file in MS Excel app

2. Go to Save As... and select the CSV option (Comma Delimited)

3. Use this CSV file instead of the excel file as input

This works with Blender’s default installation. The add-on will accept a csv file without any
additional installation. Just ensure that the CSV file has the same format as that of your excel
file (after conversion, you can open the CSV file in excel and verify that it has the same format).
12. Once everything is set up, you’ll get a set of new menu options as shown below under
Object -> 5 Minutes Blender. For Data Comparison, there are two options – Eevee & Cycles
(the output is not very different, but they are optimized for the respective render engines).

13. Use these menu options to invoke the required functions. Here is how the operator box
displays when you select the Animated Bar Graph option from the menu:
14. This is the operator box the Animated Line Graph menu option:

15. And the operator box for the Data Comparison function will look like this:

Here you need to select the input file, color options, pictures etc, and the required animation
will be created. These options for each of the functions are described below in details.
 Animated Bar Graph

Input Excel or CSV File:

Here you need to select your excel file or the csv file where you have kept your data. This data
has to strictly follow a template. You can get the template in the downloaded package itself.
Alternatively, you can click on “Display the template” to get the template immediately. Don’t
make any changes in the template itself. Save a copy of it and use that as your input file. You
can add as many rows as you need, no limit on that.

Data Color & Floor Color:

You can choose appropriate colors for the data bars and for the floor as per your choice. If you
have more than one series of data, you can use different colors for each series.

Text Color:

Just like the data color, you can also select a color for the captions displayed with your data.

Text Size:

It controls the size of the captions, you can select a number between 1 (smallest) & 5 (biggest).
Animation Speed:

Here you can select a number between 1 (slowest) & 5 (fastest) for the speed of the animation.

Animation Start Frame:

By default the animation starts from frame# 1, but you can change this value. If you want an
offset in the beginning for the camera or any other object to settle down, you can use this field.

Normalize Input data:

When enabled, the add-on will normalize the data before processing. This means, the data will
be proportionately mapped to a predefined range for appropriate display. We strongly
recommend you to keep this option enabled for better output.

Note: Data is always normalized if you turn on the option “Setup Camera, World & Light”

Set up Camera, World & Light:

When enabled, an appropriate lighting is added to the scene along with necessary motions for
the camera. You can immediately render the scene after the add-on has run.

We will get an output like below when this is run with an appropriate input excel/ csv file.

Bar Graph Output Created With 3D Data Comparison Add-on

 Animated Line Graph

It has almost similar options like the Bar Graph. You can customize the data colors, axis color,
text colors, animation speed and animation start frame. Do keep the normalization option
enabled for the correct result – unless your data has very small numbers.

Line Graph Output Created With 3D Data Comparison Add-on

Your excel data should follow a specific format. The downloaded package contains a zip file
called All-Templates.zip which you need to unzip. It has all the excel templates that you need.

The template for the Bar graph looks like this (you can add as many rows as you need):

And the template for the Line graph looks like this, it is similar to the above template, with
one primary data and two options series of data (you can add as many rows as you need):

Note: For both the templates (for Bar Graph and for Line Graph), you need to enter at least
one series of data i.e. the primary data (this column is highlighted as mandatory in Red color).
You can add more series of data to compare with the first. Display Data is the actual text that
gets displayed on the screen, you can add symbols like $ etc. to your data for the display
purpose. But if you don’t need to format the display data, you can leave them blank.
 Logarithmic Scale & Individual Scale options

These two options can help us to create a better data graph in some specific situations. We
have discussed them below. Usually you don’t need them.

Logarithmic Scale: If your data has a high variation, with too high & too low values together in a
single series, the graph can go out of proportion. In this case, a logarithmic scale can help you
to plot the graph meaningfully within the visible screen. We can see one such example below.

Fig 1: High variance data with default scale Fig 2: High variance data with logarithmic

Individual Scale: If your data has multiple series, by default a relation is maintained between
them so that all values are true to the scale. However, if you turn on this option, each series will
be plotted using its own scaling. This will result in a better graph if there are high level of
variations across the series, but this will also break the relations between the series. We can
see one such example below. You can also use this option with or without the logarithmic scale.

Fig 3: Two data series with default scale Fig 4: Two data series with individual scale

New feature in version 3.0 The 2nd and the 3rd series can even have fewer data (say Jan to Jun)
while the first series contains the complete data (say Jan to Dec), leave them blank if needed. It
will display a partial graph for them while the first curve will display as normal from Jan to Dec.
 Data Comparison
(Classic Pillars Style)

There are multiple styles for Data Comparison, the most common is this Classic Pillars style. We
have discussed the options available for this function below, they mostly apply for the other
styles as well. Please read this carefully before you use them.

We have two flavors for each of these functions: Eevee and Cycles (separate menu items). They
are optimized for the respective render engines. They take the same input, and the results will
be similar as well, but needless to say, Cycles output always looks better.

Input Excel or CSV File:

Here you need to select your excel file or the csv file that contains your data. This data should
strictly follow a template, otherwise the function won’t work. You can get this template in the
downloaded package itself. Alternatively, you can click on “Display the template” button to get
the template immediately. Don’t make any changes in the template itself. Save a copy of the
template on your machine and use that as your input file.

You can add as many rows as you need in the excel file, no limit on the number of rows.

Important: Please note that each animation style has its own template. This template has
changed significantly from our earlier versions, so use the correct template for each function.
Flag Picture Folder:

Here you need to select the folder where you have the flag pictures. If you don’t need to display
any flag, you can leave this field blank. If you select a folder here, remember to add the picture
file names in the input excel/ csv (please refer to the excel template for the correct format).

The dimensions of the flag pictures should be in a 5:3 ratio (e.g. 500 pixel wide and 300 pixel in
height). This is the most common or the average size of various types of flags.

Baking of Flag Physics:

When flags are used in the template, you need to bake the physics. Otherwise the flags won’t
wave in the air. The add-on will start the baking process at the very end. This can take a
considerable amount of time, and the application will remain unresponsive during the baking.
So you can skip this part (close this message when it comes) and later bake the flags separately.

Note: In the baking process, Blender will bake all physics present in the scene, not just the flags.

Add Flag Poles With Animation:

When enabled, the add-on will add a flag pole to each of the flags and will animate it along with
the height animation of the data bar. The air drag is ignored purposefully for the flags when
they move upward with the data bars, this creates a better presentation of your data.

Logo/Icon Pic Folder:

Here you need to select the folder where you have the logo or the icon files you want to attach
to each of the data bars. If you don’t need to display any picture, you can leave this field blank.
If you select a folder here, remember to add the picture file names in the input excel/ csv
(please refer to the excel template for the correct format).
Dimensions of the Picture for Logo/ Icon:

The picture dimension should be 1.5 (length) : 1 (width) for the Classic Pillars & Falling Plates
animation types. And it should be 1:1 (square shape) for the Rotating Wheels & Milestones
animation types, in order to display them correctly. For Wine Glass animation, the picture is
super-imposed on a billboard of size 240 x 100 (W x H) – your picture can have any size.

Use Emission For Logo/ Icon:

When enabled, the add-on will use an emission shader for the logo/ icon pictures, otherwise a
principled bsdf is used. Emission looks better for portraits (facial photographs where a human
face is shown), otherwise principled bsdf is just fine.

If you are using the Cycles versions, it is better not to enable this option. Emission for logo or
icon can create excessive light in the scene, so it is better to keep it off.

Minimum and Maximum Data Height:

These two fields will control the height of the data columns. The minimum height has to stay
between 2 and 10. The maximum height can be anything, but please use a realistic value for
good results. If the maximum height is same as the minimum height or less than that, the add-
on will automaically take (Minimum Height + 10) as the maximum height.

Pillar Width:

Here you can set a suitable width for the data bars (minimum is 1.00 and maximum is 3.00).

Animation Speed:

Here you can select a number between 1 (slowest) & 5 (fastest) for the speed of the animation.
Sometimes you may need a fast animation, but the camera should slow down in front of the
data bars. In that case, you can use a combo of Animation Speed & Additional Stop (see below).

Additional Stop:

This will add an extra delay for the camera to stop in front of each data point. You can also slow
down the camera by changing the animation speed, but it will slow down the entire animation.
Sometimes you may need to specifically fine-tune the speed of the camera. You can then use
this Additional Stop along with a suitable value for the Animation Speed to get the perfect mix.
Start Frame:

By default the animation starts from frame# 30. This adds an offset in the beginning of the
video for the camera or other objects to settle down, but you can change this value if you need.

Data Color & Data Material:

Here you can either select a solid color for the data blocks or pick-up one of your existing
materials present in the blend file. If you select a solid color, a new material will be created with
that color. If you want to use another material, first create it before you run this add-on.

Floor Colors (1 & 2):

These two colors will be used by the add-on to create a checker-style texture for the floor.

Checker Density:

As the name suggests, this field controls the density of the checker design of the ground floor.

Floor Type:

You can select from two available options in this list: Simple Check and Multi-Shades.

Simple check uses the Checker texture available in Blender. Multi-shades are created using the
Brick texture. For each of these options, you can either prefer a dark end or a normal end. If
dark end is selected, the floor will gradually turn black near the horizon in the camera direction.

Caption & Text Colors:

Just like the data color, you can also select a color for the caption and the text fields under the
caption. There are 3 color options for 3 different text fields. You can even keep the same color
for all three if you prefer that.

Set up Camera and Lights:

When enabled, an appropriate lighting is added to the scene along with necessary motions for
the camera. In this case, you can immediately render the scene after the add-on has run.

Automatic Text Wrap: If a column is marked as Text Wrap Enabled in the excel etemplate, it
means the data will adjust itself and display on multiple lines if the available space is short.
 Important Notes on pandas and openpyxl
This add-on requires you to have two python modules: pandas and openpyxl. You can open
add-on preferences and isntall these dependencies as shown in Step# 5 above. The installation
status will be visible in the system console. If the installation fails and it does not work, you can
either 1) manually install these dependecies or 2) use the csv option as described below.

1. Open your excel file in MS Excel

2. Go to Save As... and select the CSV option (Comma Delimited)

3. Use this CSV file instead of the excel file as input

This works with Blender’s default installation. The add-on will accept a csv file without any
additional installation. Just ensure that the CSV file has the same format as that of your excel
file (after conversion, you can open the CSV file in excel and verify that it has the same format).

Following we have some examples created with our add-on using various animation styles.
These were rendered in Cycles. You can also use Eevee for similar results. In that case, you
need to use the Eevee option from the menu instead of Cycles.

Animation Style 1: Classic Pillars Animation created by 3D Data Comparison Add-on

 Data Comparison
(Falling Plates Style)

The fields for this function are mostly same as that of the previous animation style. But the
default material color and the text colors are different. Please note that a large amount of data
will take a long time to create. This is the most complex among all our animation styles.

Animation Style 2: Falling Plates Animation created by 3D Data Comparison Add-on

 Data Comparison
(Rolling Wheels Style)

The fields are again mostly same as that of the previous animation styles. But the default colors
are different and you can also set a color for the wheel tyre. The flags do not come with a flag
pole in this case and the min & max size fields refer to the increasing size of the wheels.

Animation Style 3: Rolling Wheels Animation created by 3D Data Comparison Add-on

 Data Comparison
(Road Milestones Style)

As usual, the fields are mostly same as that of the previous animation styles. But the excel
template is somewhat different in this case. You have a text field for the header (Title) and for
the footer. For the body of the milestone, you can either have a text or a picture (but not both).

Animation Style 4: Falling Plates Animation created by 3D Data Comparison Add-on

 Data Comparison
(Wine Glass Style)

There are some new fields here. The Min Max Levels indicate whether the input data needs to
be modulated within a range (use 0 and 100 for no modulation). You can also set the glass
model type, the glass color, the color of the liquid in the glass, and the glass-to-glass distance.

Animation Style 5: Falling Plates Animation created by 3D Data Comparison Add-on

 Data Comparison
(No Animation Style)
There is also one variation called: No Animation. This is similar to the Classic Pillars style, but it
has no animation. This is suitable when you want to add your own custom animation for the
data bars. The camera animaion & the world lights will be added as usual. no change in that.

Input Excel Format

For data comparison animation, your excel data must follow a specific format like below.
Each animation style has a separate format. Please check the templates in the downloaded
package and prepare your data in the correct format for the animation style you want to add.
The column highlighted in Red is mandatory & it should contain only Numeric data.

You can add as many rows as you need, there is no limitation on the number of rows. But
more rows will need more time to create and it will need a larger RAM. If your machine has a
low RAM size, the program can go unresponsive for a long period of time. In this case, use a
small number of rows in the template and test the function. If it still hangs, please report a bug.

Sample format of the input data, please refer to the templates for the actual format

For any assistance on how to use this add-on & for any bug reporting, please feel free to send
a mail to 5minblender@gmail.com or connect to us via our YouTube channel. Thank you!