CompuServe Messages

I have done some spreadsheet graphic anims. I wanted to plot how the yield difference among government bonds of various maturities (aka the Yield Curve) has changed over the past ten years. MS-DOS spreadsheets allowed macros to display multiple graphs but in a slideshow, not an animation, context. I printed the tabular yield data to a file and brought it into the Amiga via CrossDOS. I wrote an Arexx macro to read that file and convert the data points into appropriate screen coordinates for my graph. Using DigiPaint I drew a graph background as my base image then extended the macro to include the appropriate DigiPaint Arexx drawing commands. The Arexx macro drew each line on the base image and saved each frame before drawing the next. Once I got the kinks worked out I fed the whole mess 10 years worth of monthly data and let it crank. I used the PD MAKEANIM to assemble the frames. Worked beautifully and made for a fairly interesting view of some otherwise dry data. HAM mode was wasteful in terms of processing time and resulting ANIM size but at the time DigiPaint was the only paint package with Arexx support. I put it to good use though by including a vibrant blue gradient fill background to the graph. It made for a very professional appearance. So….my 2 cents: Spreadsheet anims have some use. Also, existing Amiga 'sheets have IFF export ability. You migh provide IFF *IMPORT* ability to allow snazzy backgrounds to your graphics and even the tabular worksheet data. — Art