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d3-x3d

3D Data Driven Charting Library with D3 and X3D

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Combining the power of the D3.js data-driven documents visualisation library and the Extensible 3D X3D 3D graphics standard, d3-x3d makes it simple to produce beautiful 3D data visualisations with minimal code.

Inspired by Mike Bostock's reusable charts, d3-x3d is built on a foundation of building blocks, called components, which can be combined to create a variety of different data visualisations.

The aspiration for the X3D specification is for it to become the de facto HTML5 standard for 3D graphics in the browser, in a similar manner to that of SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics). The aim is that one day X3D will be integrated as standard into all browsers, without the need for additional plugins. For the time being, there are two JavaScript based players for X3D:

Both these players are compatible with modern browsers supporting HTML5 and enable X3D scenes to be embedded in any HTML page. d3-x3d has been tested to work with both X3DOM and X_ITE (there are a couple of more advanced features and charts which currently only work with X3DOM).

Examples

Example X3DOM X_ITE Observable
Area Chart View View View
Multi Series Bar Chart View View View
Vertical Bar Chart View View View
Bubble Chart View View View
Donut Chart View View View
Heat Map View View WIP
Particle Plot View View View
Scatter Plot View View WIP
Spot Plot View View WIP
Surface Plot View View View
Ribbon Chart View View View
Vector Field Chart View View View
Volume Slice View WIP WIP

Getting Started

Include the following JavaScript and CSS files in the <head> section of your page:

If using X3DOM:

<head>
   <script src="https://d3js.org/d3.v7.min.js"></script>
   <script src="https://x3dom.org/release/x3dom.js"></script>
   <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://x3dom.org/release/x3dom.css" />
   <script src="https://raw.githack.com/jamesleesaunders/d3-x3d/master/dist/d3-x3d.js"></script>
</head>

If using X_ITE:

<head>
   <script src="https://d3js.org/d3.v7.min.js"></script>
   <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/x_ite@latest/dist/x_ite.js"></script>
   <script src="https://raw.githack.com/jamesleesaunders/d3-x3d/master/dist/d3-x3d.js"></script>
</head>

Add the following chartholder <div> (or <x3d-canvas>) and <script> tags to your page <body>:

If using X3DOM:

<body>
   <div id="chartholder"></div>
   <script></script>
</body>

If using X_ITE:

<body>
   <x3d-canvas id="chartholder"></x3d-canvas>
   <script></script>
</body>

Place the following code between the <script></script> tags:

// Select chartholder
var chartHolder = d3.select("#chartholder");

// Generate some data
var myData = [
	{
		key: "UK",
		values: [
			{ key: "Apples", value: 9 },
			{ key: "Oranges", value: 3 },
			{ key: "Pears", value: 5 },
			{ key: "Bananas", value: 7 }
		]
	},
	{
		key: "France",
		values: [
			{ key: "Apples", value: 5 },
			{ key: "Oranges", value: 4 },
			{ key: "Pears", value: 6 },
			{ key: "Bananas", value: 2 }
		]
	}
];

// Declare the chart component
var myChart = d3.x3d.chart.barChartMultiSeries();

// Attach chart and data to the chartholder
chartHolder
	.datum(myData)
	.call(myChart);

That's all there is to it! View the page in your browser and you should see a basic 3D bar chart:

Install from NPM

If your project is using ES6 modules you can also import d3-x3d, for example from NPM:

npm install --save d3-x3d

Then in your project:

let d3X3d = require("d3-x3d");

Components and Charts

d3-x3d has two types of reusable module: component and chart. For more information see the API Reference.

Components

The component modules are lower level building blocks which can be used independently, or combined to build higher level chart modules. For example, combining component.bars(), component.axis() and component.viewpoint() modules together we have built the chart.barChartMultiSeries(). Component modules do not generate a <X3D> tag, these should be attached to an exiting <X3D> tag.

Function Description Documentation
component.area() Single series Area Chart View
component.areaMultiSeries() Multi series Area Chart View
component.axis() Single plane x/y Axis View
component.axisThreePlane() Three plane x/y/z Axis View
component.bars() Single series Bar Chart View
component.barsMultiSeries() Multi series Bar Chart View
component.bubbles() Bubble / Scatter Plot View
component.bubblesMultiSeries() Multi series Bubbles / Scatter Plot View
component.crosshair() Crosshair View
component.donut() Donut Chart View
component.heatMap() Heat Map View
component.intersectPlanes() Intersecting Planes View
component.particles() Particle Plot View
component.ribbon() Ribbon Chart / Line Chart View
component.ribbonMultiSeries() Multi series Ribbon Chart View
component.spots() Spot Plot View
component.spotsMultiSeries() Multi series Spot Plot View
component.surface() Surface Area View
component.vectorFields() Vector Field Chart View
component.viewpoint() Camera position View
component.volumeSlice() Volume Slice (MRI Scan) View

Charts

The chart modules are higher level, pre-combined components, making it even easier to quickly create charts. All the chart modules are typically constructed from viewpoint, axis and one or more of the other components above. Chart modules also generate the <X3D> tag, these should be attached to a regular HTML <div> tag.

Function Description Documentation
chart.areaChartMultiSeries() Multi series Area Chart & Axis View
chart.barChartMultiSeries() Multi series Bar Chart & Axis View
chart.barChartVertical() Vertical Bar Chart & Axis View
chart.bubbleChart() Bubble Chart & Axis View
chart.donutChart() Donut Chart View
chart.heatMap() Heat Map & Axis View
chart.particlePlot() Particle Plot & Axis View
chart.ribbonChartMultiSeries() Multi series Ribbon Chart View
chart.scatterPlot() Scatter Plot & Axis View
chart.spotPlot() Spot Plot & Axis View
chart.surfacePlot() Surface Plot & Axis View
chart.vectorFieldChart() Vector Field Chart View
chart.volumeSliceChart() Volume Slice Chart View

Data Structures

At its most basic description, the format of the d3-x3d data is a series of key / value pairs. Depending on whether the chart is a single series or multi series chart the data structure differ slightly.

Single Series Data

Used by charts such as a single series bar chart, the data structure is an object with the following structure:

  • key {string} - The series name
  • values {array} - An array of objects containing:
    • key {string} - The value name
    • value {number} - The value
    • x {number} - X axis value*
    • y {number} - Y axis value*
    • z {number} - Z axis value*

*optional, x, y & z values are used for cartesian coordinate type graphs such as the scatter plot.

var myData = {
	key: "UK",
	values: [
		{ key: "Apples", value: 9, x: 1, y: 2, z: 5 },
		/* ... */
		{ key: "Bananas", value: 7, x: 6, y: 3, z: 8 }
	]
};

Multi Series Data

Used by charts such as the multi series scatter plot or area chart, the multi series data structure is simply an array of the single series data objects above.

var myData = [
	{
		key: "UK",
		values: [
			{ key: "Apples", value: 2 },
			/* ... */
			{ key: "Bananas", value: 3 }
		]
	},
	/* ... */
	{
		key: "France",
		values: [
			{ key: "Apples", value: 5 },
			/* ... */
			{ key: "Bananas", value: 9 }
		]
	}
];

Credits

  • Fabian Dubois - For the original 3D Axis, Surface Area and Scatter Plot.
  • David Sankel - For the original Bar Chart.
  • Victor Glindås - Various contributions to JSDoc and ES6 standardisation.
  • Jefferson Hudson - For contributions to axis labels and transitions.
  • Andreas Plesch - For contributing the Area Chart and Components (and generally being an x3dom hero!).
  • Holger Seelig - For assistance in integration with X_ITE.
  • Dahshan & Polys - For permission to use the The Bell Labs Pollen data set on particle plot examples.
  • Also see alternative d3-3d by @Niekes.