Beepee
v1.07
Beepee DYNAMIC LINE CHART v1.0
2
1 Contents
2 Overview ....................................................................................................................................... 4
3 Installation .................................................................................................................................... 4
4 Limitations & known issues ........................................................................................................... 5
5 The interface ................................................................................................................................. 6
5.1 Screen area ........................................................................................................................... 7
5.2 Grid & axes ............................................................................................................................ 7
5.2.1 X-axis, Y-axis & Y2-axis .................................................................................................. 8
5.2.1.1 X-axis / Y-axis / Y2-axis dimensions ........................................................................... 8
5.2.1.2 X-axis / Y-axis / Y2-axis display .................................................................................. 9
5.2.1.3 Origin (X/Y) .............................................................................................................. 10
5.2.1.4 Main lines (X/Y) ....................................................................................................... 10
5.2.1.5 Subdivisions (X/Y) .................................................................................................... 11
5.2.1.6 Main ticks (X/Y/Y2) .................................................................................................. 11
5.2.1.7 Sub ticks (X/Y/Y2) .................................................................................................... 12
5.2.1.7.1 X-axis / Y-axis / Y2-axis labels ............................................................................ 12
5.2.1.7.1.1 Font ............................................................................................................ 12
5.2.1.7.1.2 Background ................................................................................................ 13
6 Titles ........................................................................................................................................... 14
6.1 Chart / Horizontal axis / Vertical axis / Vertical2 axis title................................................... 15
7 Legend ........................................................................................................................................ 16
8 Data ............................................................................................................................................ 19
9 Objects ........................................................................................................................................ 20
9.1 Common parameters .......................................................................................................... 21
9.2 Curve ................................................................................................................................... 23
9.3 Region ................................................................................................................................. 24
9.4 Fill ........................................................................................................................................ 26
9.5 Label .................................................................................................................................... 27
9.6 Marker ................................................................................................................................ 29
9.7 Sprite ................................................................................................................................... 30
9.8 V-sprite................................................................................................................................ 31
9.9 Area2 ................................................................................................................................... 33
9.10 Area3 ................................................................................................................................... 34
9.11 Line column ......................................................................................................................... 35
9.12 Error line ............................................................................................................................. 36
Beepee DYNAMIC LINE CHART v1.0
3
9.13 Guide 1D ............................................................................................................................. 37
9.14 Guide 2D ............................................................................................................................. 38
9.15 Measure .............................................................................................................................. 39
9.16 Bar ....................................................................................................................................... 40
10 How to… .................................................................................................................................. 41
10.1 Find Dynamic Line Chart in the menu & create a new chart ............................................... 41
10.2 Set up a spreadsheet for exporting to Dynamic Line Chart ................................................. 41
10.3 Import data from a .CSV file ................................................................................................ 43
10.4 Resample a chart from an image ........................................................................................ 43
10.5 Change the horizontal axis labels to text rather than numbers .......................................... 48
10.6 Make a full screen chart ...................................................................................................... 50
10.7 Add dynamic grid depth ...................................................................................................... 51
10.8 Animate data....................................................................................................................... 53
Beepee DYNAMIC LINE CHART v1.0
4
2 Overview
Beepee Dynamic Line Chart (DLC) is a plugin for Adobe After Effects that instantly creates charts
from data. All the parameters of the chart and the data itself can be animated.
Data for your chart can be imported via a CSV file from spreadsheet applications such as Microsoft
Excel or Google Drive. Or you can resample data from an image of a chart.
By animating display parameters, you can zoom into and out of the chart, along axes, highlight
regions and add decorations to help explain your data to your audience.
Dynamic Line Chart can help you save hours or even days working on both simple and complicated
charts.
DLC has hundreds of parameters and many functions to produce charts. It is therefore quite a
complex plugin. This guide is intended to accompany the video tutorials available at aescripts.com,
and on the Beepee Youtube channel. Further help can be found at the aescripts.com support forum.
3 Installation
DLC can be installed automatically using the aescripts + aeplugins manager app
.
Manual installation is also possible.
• Download the zip file from aescripts.com and open it.
• Close any instance of After effects.
Windows.
• Place the downloaded DynamicLineChart.exe file in C:\Program
Files\Adobe\Common\Plug-ins\7.0\MediaCore (or equivalent path).
Mac
• Place the downloaded DynamicLineChart.plugin file in /Applications/Adobe After Effects
2020/Plug-ins/Effects (or equivalent path).
DLC can then be found in Effect → Beepee → Dynamic Line Chart.
Beepee DYNAMIC LINE CHART v1.0
5
4 Limitations & known issues
Currently, only one instance of DLC can be applied to a layer object (usually a Solid) at a time. DLC
will draw only the lowest active (displayed) instance of DLC on the effect stack. However, many DLC
instances can be applied each to different layer objects in the same composition at the same time,
allowing complex, layered animations.
Each instance of DLC can draw up to 32 objects. If you require more than 32 objects in a
composition, objects can be split between two instances of DLC, with chart features such as grid
lines and axis labels disabled on the topmost layer. This limitation is somewhat arbitrary, intended to
optimise performance. If you really need more than 32 objects and this solution does not work for
you, please get in touch through aescripts.com.
DLCs capacity for imported data through CSV files has not been tested to destruction and no cap has
been put on the size. However, if you are importing many MB of data, you should take care to back
up your work beforehand.
Currently DLC is not able to draw text labels on the vertical axes. It is also not yet able to draw non-
linear or log axes.