4 ms·

Is this similar in spirit to VTK? (An API I've not always found super intuitive so interested in alternatives.) Or is this better thought of as a powerful mat

• rossant 2y ago
  Yes, it's somewhat similar in spirit to VTK, though VTK is obviously much more mature and feature-rich (it was created in 1993). VTK offers more advanced capabilities (computational geometry algorithms, image processing, advanced volume rendering...) and can be seen as a comprehensive all-in-one toolbox for 3D scientific visualization. Datoviz, on the other hand, is much more lightweight, focusing solely on rendering. A significant effort in Datoviz has gone into delivering high-quality, high-performance 2D visualization, whereas VTK's strength lies in 3D rendering. Datoviz also delegates nearly all computational tasks to other libraries. There are a few exceptions: for instance, Datoviz will likely soon include basic computational geometry algorithms, such as polygon triangulation (using ear clipping, for example), necessary for the upcoming polygon visual. However, these will be limited to the most essential types of visual elements. Here are a few reference points for a rough comparison: - VTK: millions of lines of C/C++ code, with compilation potentially taking tens of minutes (?). - Datoviz: 35,000 lines of C/C++ code, with fresh compilation taking only 15 seconds on a recent MacBook Air.