Welcome back! In this section, we are exploring some experiments in filling Excel cells with colors to create drawings and animate them using Excel VBA (Macros).
Building on the fundamentals from the beginner’s guide, we will combine basic techniques to create slightly more complex and dynamic movements. Detailed step-by-step tutorials will be added over time under each section, so stay tuned!
Square Spiral
We start by filling cells in a spiral pattern, swirling clockwise starting from the very center. While this relies on a standard loop, the program evaluates its environment at every single step (cell) to decide which direction to turn next.
Although it’s called a “spiral,” it actually moves in expanding square loops rather than a perfect circle!
Spiral (Multi-Color Edition)
A plain single-color spiral felt a bit plain, so I modified the code to change colors every time it turns a corner.
The changing colors make the spinning movement much easier to track visually!
Spiral (Multi-Color + Color Gradient)
Next, I added a color gradient to the multi-color spiral. This gives it a polished, vibrant look!
You can achieve this effect by gradually shifting the three variables $(R, G, B)$ inside the RGB() function during each loop execution.
Pixel Art Portrait
Here, I applied the “cell coloring” technique to render an actual picture—a pixel art face! Just like the simple animations, this scans and fills the grid line by line from top to bottom.
Surprisingly, the logic behind rendering pixel art is actually much simpler than calculating the spiral paths!
Animated Title (Revealing Text Left-to-Right)
Similar to the portrait, this animation fills cells to reveal text, but sweeps across the screen horizontally from left to right.
Characters with diagonal lines look a bit jagged on this grid. If we make the cells even smaller, we can render smoother, sharper lines!
“Henohenomoheji” (Stroke-by-Stroke Drawing)
This is an evolution of the pixel art portrait technique. It draws a traditional Japanese character-doodle face (Henohenomoheji).
I programmed this one to reveal the strokes in the exact order a human would write them! The logic gets a little trickier here.
Concentric Circles (Fireworks Burst)
Applying the movement logic from the spiral project, I created three expanding concentric circles. It looks a lot like a blooming firework display! Maybe I’ll build a full-scale firework show next…
Setting up the loop count and timer pauses to stop each ring at the right moment was quite tricky. It took a bit of trial and error!
Fireworks (Launch Phase)
By applying our basic dot-animation techniques, we can simulate a rocket firework launching high into the night sky from the ground.
Since the movement goes from bottom to top, the row counter decreases with each step (decrementing the loop counter).
What’s Next?
I’ll keep adding new animation ideas as I build them! Once enough projects gather, I’ll put together dedicated, step-by-step breakdown guides for each. Happy coding!
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