#### Formatting the surface

To format the surface of a surface chart, follow the steps below:

1. Right-click any node in the surface, and then click Format Surface on the shortcut menu to bring up the Format Surface dialog.
2. In the Fill tab, click the color image button and select a color swatch to fill the selected surface in the same data series, and specify transparency of the color schema (you can also directly type the hexadecimal value of the desired color in the text box). If the color swatches cannot meet your requirement, click More Colors on the color palette to open the Pick a Color dialog, with which you can set a full range of color, or click More Fill Effects to specify the fill effect in the Fill Effects dialog. You can also click the Color List button to specify the color pattern for surfaces in the same data series respectively in the Color List dialog.
3. In the Border tab, set the border mode for the surfaces, including the border style, color, transparency, line style, thickness, end caps style, and line joint mode. You can also specify whether the border is to be outlined, and whether or not to automatically resize the border dashes if the border is drawn with dashes.
4. In the Data Label tab, set the font formats and effects of the data labels.
5. When done, click OK to apply the settings.