Recently I saw an interesting Earth Venus cosmic dance video on Facebook. See the original video below or here.
Although this is not entirely accurate from physics & astronomy perspectives, the dance is a stunning example of patterns that are generated by simple things.
I wanted to recreate this cosmic dance in Excel. How else am I to get my spreadsheet fix on a Saturday?
Here is a quick demo of the final outcome. Read on to learn more about the Earth Venus cosmic dance.
The details & assumptions
To create this cosmic dance, we need a few details
- Distance from Sun to Venus & Earth – 67.2 and 93 million KM respectively
- Number of days it takes to rotate around the sun – 224.7 and 365.25 respectively
We will also assume these incorrect things to keep our model simple
- Orbits of Earth & Venus are circular with Sun at center: In reality, they are elliptical, but as these are just stretched circles, we can assume circular orbits to keep the math simple.
- Sun is static: In reality, Sun (and entire solar system) is also moving. This means, this cosmic dance may never occur.
We also need one critical detail to graph this cosmic dance:
- The angular interval for plotting the lines. In the above examples, I have used 10° (ie there will be 36 lines around the circle). This is denoted by named range m in the model. You can adjust this in the output worksheet using a form control. Different values of m yield different patterns (although most of them will be pentagonal).
The math:
Generating planetary co-ordinates:
In a table, we will generate the positions (X & Y co-ordinates) of both Venus & Earth for 3000 points in time, each incremented by m degrees, starting at 0°.
To generate the X & Y values, we will use the x=r.cos? and y=r.sin? equations (where r is the distance from Sun and ? is the angle).
Drawing the lines:
This is the tricky part. At each step in the animation our line should from one tooth of the saw tooth pattern. See this demo to understand.
For more about this technique read – interactive network chart to map relationships between people.
So during each step of the animation, we add more co-ordinates to the chart (scatter plot) to generate this saw tooth pattern. Over time, this will yield the beautiful pentagonal cosmic dance.
We can generate these successive Venus & Earth co-ordinates from the calculations performed earlier by using MOD & INDEX formulas.
Once such saw tooth line data is generated, we will designate a cell to hold current animation position. Let’s call this pos.
We will then create two named formulas – dance.x and dance.y. These will contain the data necessary for our scatter plot. We will use OFFSET formula to generate these dynamic named formulas.
The chart
Now that all the necessary calculations are done, create a scatter plot with the dance co-ordinates. Set up X & Y axis minimum and maximum values accordingly (-160 to 160 should do). This ensures that the chart remains same no matter what step of animation we are on.
Also, add 3 more series to the chart
- One for a dot to represent Venus at current position
- One for a dot to represent Earth at current position
- One for a line connecting Venus to Earth
The animation
Next, let’s add a small macro to animate the chart. This macro will increment pos from 1 to a large number. After each iteration, we will call DoEvents so Excel can re-draw the chart. That is all.
Download the Earth Venus dance workbook
Click here to download the Earth Venus cosmic dance workbook. Enable macros to enjoy the dance. Play with form control to adjust the animation speed and pattern. Examine the data tab to learn more about the calculations.
Did you enjoy the dance?
I really liked the original video on FB and that is why I recreated this in Excel. This is a great exercise to show the power of simple things generating extraordinary patterns.
What about you? Do you like this Earth Venus dance?
More Excel animation and fun:
If you like animating things, you are going to love these tutorials. Check out,
27 Responses to “How to Embed Youtube videos in to Excel Workbooks?”
Thank you!!
The trick is to get that URL for video. Some videos have this feature disabled... hmm...
very cool. how did you record what you do on Excel? it didn't seem like you was using a camcorders.
This is a great tip. Is it possible to insert a PDF on an excel worksheet? I usually receive quotations in pdf format, and would like to show the quote on a worksheet, rather than using hyperlinks. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
Your instructions didn't work for me, ether in Excel 2010 or 2007, and I tried several times, following the instructions very carefully and to the letter.
What I found out is that, for some odd reason, copying the YouTube URL then adding the ?fs=1&hl=en_US to the end would not work at all for me.
But if I went to the Embed code in YouTube and copied value parameter (minus quotes) and pasted it into the movie property, the movie would play. The Embed code value parameter includes the link and the extra bit you included at the end. No need to copy that as an extra step.
Best feedback on here. Worked like a charm after removing extra YT code. Thanks..
@Gregory,
Thanks your instructions.
I have carefully followed the Instructions mentioned by you and still i am unable to do embed the video in excel.
Please help and your immedate reply will be higly appreceiable.
Regards
Sonu Monga
A Chartered Accountant
If you are using excel 2010 or higher. then there is nothing like Shockwave flash player.
In that case you have to use windows media player.
There is a control naming Windows Media Player in that list.
Insert that contol and then open properties and insert link in URL.
It will work.
@Gregory,
Thanks your instructions.
I have carefully followed the Instructions mentioned by you and still i am unable to do embed the video in excel.
Please help and your immedate reply will be higly appreceiable.
Regards
Sonu Monga
Chartered Accountant
It wouldn't play because you need to indicate the exact location of flash file....by 'Embedding' the file, you get the the exact URL, so it can be played....some videos can't be 'embedded' that's why it won't work....
My developer tools does not list a control for "Shockwave flash object". Where/How do I find it?
Hi Chandoo,
why don't use OCX Window media player ???
you can play your own local video or music
just indicate exact location (Full path or URL)
i.e :
C:\Users\Public\Music\Sample Music\Kalimba.mp3
C:\Users\Public\Videos\Sample Videos\Wildlife.wmv
with macro and userform :
Sub PlayMedia()
On Error Resume Next
UserForm1.WindowsMediaPlayer1.URL = ThisWorkbook.Path & "/" & ActiveCell.Value
' ----- or
' ----- UserForm1.WindowsMediaPlayer1.URL = Exact location
End Sub
Very cool. I also could not get the instructions to work, but was able to use Gregory's suggestion about the embed code. Thanks for posting!
Thanks Chandoo. This is very cool. I was able to make it work using the embed code copying from http: up to _US as you indicated. This is a great way to provide additional training or message as you package your deliverable.
[...] Trying to become a bit flashier with your dashboards? Maybe you’re just looking to include additional material. Take a look at this quick tool to embed YouTube videos in excel workbooks. [...]
Hi Chandoo,
Excellent tip. Very useful.
Is there anyway to link the path in the properties to a cell value so that the user can select the video from a drop down and then have the video play?
Thanks Myles.... to link the path to a cell, I guess you need to use macros..
nothing happend in Embed Youtube videos in to Excel Workbooks, it shows only white blank screen.
Hi Chandoo, How Do I put more than one URL in movie field?
Hi Chandoo,
very good tip.
But how do I start the embeded video in an xlsm file once the tab is selected or through VBA programming?
Appreciating your answer
Steve
Query:
I have created 4 sheets excel file, but when i print this file to PDF it generates two sheets one PDF and two Sheets one PDF … can i know the setting which i had to change. because i want all 4 sheets in one PDF
while Printing i did setting as "Print Entire Workbook"
Awaiting for your reply.
Help!! THis works great, but I'm trying to use VBA to change the URL, which I can do. The problem I am having is getting it to play via VBA.
The object has both .play and .playing = true properties, but neither will actually play the video after updating the .movie url. The correct video appears within the object, but I can't get it to play from VBA... which I really need it to do.. Thoughts?
Hello
Go to Developerr tab and select more control then find windows media player just click it.
after that you have to right click on the embeded object and select properties there you need to add your video file path.(dont forget to include extension like .avi, .mov etc.) in URL field. Then Press Alt+11 and deselct design mode. Once you close the module your video start playing.....
For the life of me, I cannot get this to work. I have followed Chandoos instructions to the letter and also tried using the embed code as Gregory suggested, all I get is a blank white box where the video should be. Is there any other reason that this might not work? Flash version perhaps? Quite frustrating.
Hi I was wondering if was a way after adding a video if one could save to HTML format and it would work?
Hi Chandoo,
This is very helpful, however, is there a way to auto-play the embedded youtube video as soon as somebody opens the excel file? Can you share the macro for the same?
Hi,
Very cool, how is it possible to start automatically the video when the excel sheet is open?
I would like to start the video when i open the worksheet :).
Best regards.
Hello
When trying this method, I got Flash-embedded videos are no longer supported. Is there a solution for this problem?