Drawing Line Segments in Precise Angular Increments

To draw an unwavering straight line segment (not freeform objects) in increments of 15° (or precisely horizontal or vertical) click the Line icon (Figure 4.3)on the Drawing toolbar.

Then, while holding down the Shift key, click at the starting point, hold down the button, and move to the end location to draw the line. When the Shift key is not depressed, the line may be drawn in any direction. This is very useful for drawing precise horizontal or vertical lines.

Example 4.1: Assortment of Drawing Shapes

Figure 4.1 shows a collection of different drawing shapes that may be constructed using the Draw and Drawing toolbar functions of Excel. The following remarks refer to the objects at the noted cell locations for items in which the construction is not obvious or already noted on the worksheet.

K6:P10 — The donut shape is changed to a hollow cylinder using the 3-D effects tool, which allows variation in length. A gradient pattern fill is then added.

R4:R25 — A resistor shape is first drawn using the AutoShapes/Freeform lines tool (see discussion in Section 4.2, step 3) and then copied several times with an assortment of line weights (as noted). It is also compressed by dragging.

L20:M24 — A rectangle shape is drawn first. 3-D effects are added, and then a fill pattern with gradient effect is used.

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P15:P23 — Two circles are drawn and then filled with gradient patterns from inner-to-outer and outer-to-inner.

N24:P33 — A rectangle is drawn with 3-D and light fill applied. A resistor element is added along with arrows and straight lines. The elements are grouped (com-bined to form one object) and then rotated.

R28:S37 — If needed, a digitized photo can be added. This is a digital photo taken with a digital camera and transferred to the worksheet. Editing of brightness, contrast, cropping, and image size may be accomplished before transfer to the worksheet. Editing can also be performed after transfer to the worksheet by activating the photo and then clicking VIEW/TOOLBARS/PICTURE. The Picture toolbar will then appear.

Of course, the figure may also be presented without the presence of gridlines and column and row headings.

Example 4.2: Construction, Assembly, and Labeling of a Line Drawing An illustration of the mechanisms of an assembly of line drawings in Excel along with nomenclature in Word is shown in Figure 4.2:

1. In Figure 4.2a, a shell of a solar absorber is drawn with AutoShapes/Lines/Free form as described previously.

FIGURE 4.1

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2. Next, the inner boundary is drawn in Figure 4.2b and added to Figure 4.2a to produce the combination shown in Figure 4.2c. In practice, the two elements would not be moved around as shown here. The drawings are copied to show the steps as they progress.

3. A 5% pattern fill is added to the inner boundary as shown in Figure 4.2d. This represents the air inside the collector.

4. A long thin rectangle is drawn in Figure 4.2e and filled with a 25% pattern fill.

The dimensions of the rectangle are squeezed, adjusted, and moved to the top of the shell as shown in Figure 4.2f. This element represents the glass cover of the solar collector.

5. A 4¹/2 pt black line is added in Figure 4.2g to indicate the black absorbing surface of the bottom of the solar collector.

FIGURE 4.2

Solar Absorber (Collector) (q/A)solar Glass cover

Black absorber

(q/A)Load

h, T T3= Radiation temperature

T1

keff x T2

5% patternfill 25% patternfill

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6. The elements of the assembled drawing are then grouped by (1) holding down Shift, (2) clicking on the elements in sequence, and (3) clicking Draw/Group. The assembled object may now be moved or copied as a single object. In Figure 4.2i, it has been rotated by either clicking Draw/Rotate or clicking the Rotate icon and dragging to the desired angle.

7. The assembled drawing is then copied to a Word page in which nomenclature is added with subscripts and appropriate symbols. It may either be used in the Word document or copied to an Excel worksheet as was done here. The final diagram is shown in Figure 4.2h. The printout shown here is without gridlines or column and row headings. The gridlines are useful when constructing the drawing ele-ments.

Example 4.3: Practice Exercises with the Drawing Toolbar

A familiarization with the Drawing toolbar shown in Figure 4.3 may be accomplished by carrying out the following exercises, which refer to the drawing objects shown in Figure 4.1 and Figure 4.2. The solar absorber in Figure 4.2 is considered first:

For Figure 4.2a, click AutoShapes (fourth icon from the left on Drawing Toolbar), then Lines, and then Freeform (bottom row, center of six icons). Hold down the Shift key, move the crosshair to the desired starting point (a corner of a cell), click quickly, and release the mouse button. Move the crosshair to the next corner, click quickly, and continue until five segments (two top lips, two sides, and a bottom segment) are in place. Double-click at the last point.

For Figure 4.2b, perform the same operation as that of Figure 4.2a, except that only three line segments are required. Line up the drawing using a worksheet grid to obtain the dimensions in Figure 4.2b.

For Figure 4.2c, activate the drawing in Figure 4.2b and drag-move to match with Figure 4.2a as shown in Figure 4.2c. Once the drawings are assembled, activate Figure 4.2b — click until boundary handles appear. Then click the Fill icon (eighth from the right on the Drawing toolbar). Select Fill Effects and then the Pattern tab. The 5% fill is the block in the upper-left corner. Click this corner, and then OK. Fill will appear as in Figure 4.2d.

FIGURE 4.3

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For Figure 4.2e, click on the rectangle icon (seventh from the left on the Drawing toolbar) and move-drag the crosshair while holding down the mouse button to create a rectangle. Release the mouse button when the desired shape is attained.

Do not worry if the rectangle is not the exact size or proportion needed. That will be taken care of later. Next click on the Fill icon, Fill Effects, and then select Patterns and the fourth box in the left column for 25% fill. Click OK, and the rectangle will appear as in Figure 4.2e.

Drag the filled rectangle to a position on top of the drawing in Figure 4.2d. Then drag, squeeze, or stretch to the slim dimensions shown by positioning the double-arrow pointer on the side handles of the filled rectangle by holding down the mouse button and dragging until the two figures line up. Nudge it into exact position using the Ctrl button in conjunction with the arrow keys.

Next, draw a straight line at the inside bottom of the collector using AutoShapes/

Lines/Freeform as in Figure 4.2a and Figure 4.2b. Click the Line Style icon (fifth from the right on the Drawing toolbar) and select the 4¹/2 pt line.

Group the drawing elements created earlier by holding down the Shift key and clicking in sequence the four elements (a, b, e, and 4¹/2 pt line). Then click Draw (the left icon on the Drawing toolbar) and select Group at the top of the palette.

The composite object may now be moved as a single entity.

At this point the composite figure may be copied to an open Word document by activating the object and then clicking EDIT/COPY. Open a Word document sheet and click EDIT/PASTE to paste the composite figure.

The nomenclature elements are added by using either text boxes or callout arrows (as for T1 and T2) that are called from the Drawing toolbar in Word using Au-toShapes/Block Arrows/select a callout arrow icon. Note that subscripts or math symbols are typed in conventional Word fashion (see Section 2.3).

After the nomenclature is added, the composite drawing is copied back to the Excel worksheet, where it appears as shown in Figure 4.2h.

Rotation of the object may be performed by activating the object and either clicking Draw/Rotate or Flip, or by clicking the Rotate icon (third from the left on the Drawing toolbar).

The following exercises refer to some of the drawing objects shown in Figure 4.1:

1. Create circles as shown in the figure at P16. Click on the Ellipse icon (eighth from the left on the Drawing toolbar). Holding down the Shift key, create a circle by moving the crosshair until the desired size is accomplished. While the circle is still activated (handles appearing), click the Fill icon and then Fill Effects. Click Shading Styles/From Center/ then select the right-hand Variant (dark center).

Click OK. The circle at P21 is formed using the left Variant (dark edge). The degree of shading may be adjusted with the Dark to Light slider.

2. Create donut shapes at K2:M10. Use AutoShapes/Basic Shapes/Donut. Drag the yellow dot to achieve the desired size.

3. Create the hollow cylinder, as shown, at N9 by first creating a donut. Then click the 3-D icon (first icon on the right of the Drawing toolbar) and choose the lower-left icon (or others if you prefer.) Click 3-D settings, then the sixth icon from the left, and then the desired length to change the length of the cylinder. To accomplish

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the shading, activate the object, click Fill icon/Fill Effects/Gradient/Shading Styles/Horizontal/Variants as desired, and then click OK.

4. Create arcs at A19 using AutoShapes/Basic Shapes/Arc. Then repeat while hold-ing down the Shift key. Note that circular arcs are created. Note the effect of dragging the yellow dot.

5. The resistor elements at R5:S25 are created by (1) using AutoShapes/Lines/Free-form to construct a single resistor, (2) copying the resistor to rows 7, 10, 12, and 15, (3) changing the line width of each copied resistor, (4) copying and compressing (by dragging handles) the resistor to R17, and (5) subsequently copying the com-pressed resistor to R19, R21, R23, and R25. The line weights of these last resistors are also modified as indicated.

If all of these exercises are performed, a person should attain a reasonable facility with use of the Drawing toolbar. Of course, further experimentation is encouraged.

4.3 Inserting Items in Excel with Symbols, Subscripts, and Superscripts