Charticulator, use images as markers in Scatter-Plot, local images stored as Base64 in table

[thomasreick]

Hello there,

I would like to have a XY-Scatter-Plot where the marks are not simple forms but images or logos.

The local pictures have been loaded into a table, transferred to Base64  and marked as Image URL (pls.compare Gerhard Brueckl's Blog )

The generic PBI XY-Scatter -Visual cannot do this whilst e.g. the normal basic table visual can make use of the image.

I recently found Charticulator as a tool to design visuals for PBI, I hope it is possible with that tool to accomplish the task..

I kindly ask for some hints on how to design and customize the Chart to make use of pictures (e.g. Logos of Companies) to get displayed as the mark (XY)

Thank you very much in advance

Thomas

[dm-p · Accepted solution]

Hi @thomasreick,

If you want this to work in Charticulator, you need to add an image mark, and then conditionally bind the images to each possible categorical value, which loads them into the visual for re-use. Charticulator currently does not support dynamic images, either from URLs, or from base64 (URLs cannot be supported due to certification requirements on custom visuals).

If the option of binding visuals conditionally and manually loading them in can work for you, the Curbal have a video that shows this approach (here's a link to the approximate timestamp).

If you need points to be dynamicly applied, then Deneb might be an option for you. It's lower-level (using the Vega or Vega-Lite languages) but conceptually the same approach to approaching a visual as you would in Charticulator. The Vega-Lite site has an example for a scatter plot with images that could be adapted. Note that as Deneb is certified, then loading images from URLs is similarly not possible due to requirements from Microsoft. However, there is a standalone (uncertified) version available for separate download that has the external URL restriction turned off.

With the certified version you can load images via their base64 representation using a column from your data model as part of the dataset - Kerry Kolosko has a post on using images in Deneb (with approaches for both options and further links to modelling resources for base64 images in Power BI), which may provide more detailed coverage than I can provide here.

Regards,

Daniel

[thomasreick]

Hi dm-p, hello Daniel,

thx for your answer. I marked as solution.

Will dive into recommended sources and tutorials, and will proceed with watching your charticulator session(s) with Reid.

Have a nice weekend

Thomas