Show HN: Datoviz – Vulkan-based GPU scientific visualization (C/C++/Python)

23 points

2 years ago

I'm excited to announce the release of Datoviz 0.2.0, an open-source, high-performance GPU scientific visualization library built on Vulkan. It targets the interactive visualization of large 2D/3D datasets. This version includes tentative precompiled Python wheels for Linux, macOS (ARM and Intel), and Windows.

Datoviz is a key part of the CZI-funded Vispy 2.0 project and will serve as its main GPU backend. Datoviz provides core GPU visualization capabilities while VisPy 2.0 will provide high-level plotting functionality (a bit similar to NumPy vs SciPy).

What I'm looking for from the community:

1. Compatibility feedback: I'd appreciate quick feedback on how these precompiled Python wheels perform across different operating systems and graphics hardware.

2. Library feedback: Datoviz is still in its early stages and actively evolving. The API is subject to change, and I'd appreciate any feedback on its functionality and design.

Please report issues on GitHub.

Since the initial 2021 v0.1 release, the underlying technology has matured significantly. The internal architecture is now more robust and modular, paving the way for support for other rendering technologies like WebGPU and WebAssembly in the medium term.

While still somewhat limited, the focus is on ensuring stability, performance, and visual quality. Available visuals include points, markers, line segments, paths, glyphs, images, spheres, 3D meshes, and basic volume rendering. Some important features, like axes and picking, are planned for v0.3 and later.

Please give it a try, report any issues on GitHub, and feel free to ask questions. You're also welcome to contribute. I'm looking forward to your feedback!

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