Recommended Reading
- Practical Network Cabling by Derfler & Freed, QUE/PHI, ISBN-81-203-1662-2
Microsoft Excel: A case study
Microsoft Excel can be used to prepare near to-scale layouts drawings,
block-diagrams and with a little imagination even basic 3D and wire-frame
models.
The trick is to convert the spreadsheet into a graph like grid. This
is done by resizing the Column Width and Row Height. Exact values
of these parameter will depend on the amount of scaling and the size
of the final drawing to be made. Most important thing is that it has
to be ensured that after setting these properties, the whole spreadsheet
should LOOK like a graph paper sheet. For example to make a very detailed
layout, select complete spreadsheet and set Column Width=0.5 and Row
Height=4.5.
After the basic setup of graph like background has been made, the
various formatting and drawing tools have to be used creatively to
get the exact results you want.
You can download an Excel
file containing a selection of works done by me with this idea. To
appreciate these works, view them in Print Preview mode or take a
colour printout. It has following spreadsheets-
- Layout of the Wheel Shop at Rail Wheel Factory, Bangalore
- Road Layout of JMP
- Layout of IRIMEE complex (Thanks MKG'90)
- Layout of JMP East Colony
- IRIMEE Library Interior Design Layout
- Floor Tile Designing for Mechatronics Lab
- An elementary 3D design of podium
- Wire Frame drawing of a telescopic bird cage
Ajay Singh, Professor (IT) |