Visualization Software

Previously Documented Software

Below is a list of software with some documentation already available in the wiki

Visualization Software

  • VTK

    • An open source software for manipulating and displaying scientific data owned by Kitware

  • ParaView

    • An open-source, scientific visualization modeling tool also owned by Kitware that allows users to model data without writing any code

  • FieldView

    • A data visualization tool that has a particular focus in optimizing time consuming data analysis and visualization workloads

  • Omegalib

    • A framework for virtual reality and cluster-driven display systems intended for 3D scientific visualization, especially in the fields of astrophysics, engineering, and biochemistry

  • VisIt

    • An interactive, scalable, visualization, animation and analysis tool

  • Amira/Aviso

    • A software platform for 3D and 4D data visualization, processing, and analysis.

  • OpenSpace

    • A software intended to provide astrophysicists at NASA and universities with a model of the current state of the observable universe

Development Software

  • Unity

    • A C# based video game development engine

  • Unreal Engine

    • A C++ based video game development engine with lowered emphasis on coding

  • Lumberyard

    • Amazon's C++/Lua based video game development engine

  • Cryengine

    • A C++ based video game development engine

  • WorldViz/Vizard

    • A Python based VR development platform

  • MinVR

    • A cross-platform VR toolkit developed and maintained collaboratively by the University of Minnesota, Macalester College, and Brown University.

  • A-Frame

    • A JavaScript API for creating immersive VR experiences in your browser

  • XCode/CocoaPods

    • A dependency manager that focuses on the seamless integration of third party code into Xcode projects

  • Vuforia

    • An AR SDK for applications on all mobile devices that uses computer vision techniques to recognize and track images and simple 3D objects in real-time.

Modeling Software

  • Google Sketchup

    • A 3D modeling program used for a wide range of drawing applications

  • Meshlab

    • A mesh editor that supports Windows, OS, and Linux

  • Blender

    • A 3D content creation package that supports the entire 3D pipeline

  • Netfabb

    • A Windows-only mesh editor

Undocumented Software

Below is a list of software that has yet to be added to the wiki (We strongly encourage you to look into these!)

  • VRG3D

    • Virtual reality software development based on the G3D graphics engine.

  • Gigapixel Viewer (Brown YURT only)

    • Displays very large images on a virtual "screen" with some interaction capabilities: navigate by walking around, grow/shrink/pan image, advance through set of images.

  • DinoYURT (Brown YURT only)

    • Application for looking at specific scientific data: paths of "packets" of mud as they move around a dinosaur foot model. Quite a few examples of visual representations for this specific data. Likely to be one of the best starting points for a new problem-specific application (e.g., the Kellner pointcloud drone-sensed data).

  • VRUI

    • A C++ software development toolkit for highly interactive VR applications, with a focus on portability between different VR environments

  • CalVR

    • A software that implements the typically used VR functionality of middleware and adds to it by supporting nonstandard VR systems like autostereoscopic displays, as well as multi-user support for viewing and interaction.

  • VR Juggler

    • A virtual reality application development framework

  • CaveLib

    • A widely used API for developing immersive applications.

  • COVISE/OpenCOVER

    • An extendable distributed software environment to integrate simulations, postprocessing and visualization functionalities


Software that may or may not have VR functionality (please look into if these software can be used or retrofitted with VR)

  • Kyrix

    • A system for developers to create large-scale, details-on-demand visual data exploration applications (think Google Maps with arbitrary data types and domains)

  • VizNet

    • A large scale data collection effort to facilitate benchmarking in visualization research and model learning (mostly, ML models) to drive automated visualization systems.

  • DSI Studio

    • A diffusion MRI analysis tool

  • 3D Slicer

    • A software platform for analyzing and understanding medical image data

  • ImageJ (aka FIJI)

    • A Java-based image processing program

  • QIT (Quantitative Imaging Toolkit)

    • A software package of tools for 3D visualization, data exploration, and computational analysis of neuroimaging datasets

  • TeleInVivo

    • A three-dimensional collaborative volume visualization tool for medical applications

  • VolPack

    • A software library for fast, high-quality volume rendering

VR Libraries

  • Visualization Library

    • An open source C++ middleware for 2D/3D graphics applications based on OpenGL 4, designed to develop portable applications

  • CAVERNSoft

    • A C++ toolkit for building collaborative networked applications or logistical networking applications with support for collaborative VR

  • b3.js

    • A library for creating interactive VR data visualizations on a web browser, which uses Oculus Rift and Leap Motion