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d3-x3d

3D Data Driven Charting Library with D3 and X3D

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:

X3DOM
X_ITE

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).

<a name="examples"></a>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

<a name="getting-started"></a>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");

<a name="components-and-charts"></a>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

<a name="data-structures"></a>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.