Anu.js

Anu.js is an immersive data visualization toolkit built on the web-based 3D game engine Babylon.js and WebXR. Anu is heavily inspired by D3's data-binding DOM manipulation patterns and visualization utility. Anu works in synergy with D3 to bring these patterns to Babylon, enabling developers to dynamically manipulate the Babylon scene graph with data and augment 3D immersive visualizations with utilities, pre-fabs, and interactions.

Skip the boring dialogue? Go to the Getting Started.

Project Status

Anu is currently in Alpha version. This means that the library syntax, methods, and functions are still very fluid. As a result, changes may not be backwards compatible with previous versions as we continue to develop and improve the library. This also means that now is the best time to contribute! See our github repo for more information about the current road map and how to contribute.

Why the name Anu?

In Babylonian mythology Anu (Akkadian: 𒀭𒀭) was the god of creation. We think a fitting namesake for a toolkit focused on enabling the creation of immersive data visualizations with the Babylon engine. The key word being "enabling" as Anu is not focused on creating out of the box visualizations, rather providing the tools you need to construct visualizations yourself. In other words, instead of handing you the painting, Babylon gives you the canvas and the paint, while Anu gives your the brushes and the easel.

Why is this important?

The design space of immersive visualization and analytics is vast and rapidly evolving. Visualization researchers and practitioners need flexible tools that allow for the degrees of creative freedom necessary to addiqutley explore this design space. You can browse some of the cutting edge research in this field at IADesign.Space. Many of these projects implemented their visualization code from scratch with game engines such as Unity with very little in the way of support. However, the majority of the applications are developed natively for their target platforms, missing out on the universal reach of the web. Anu seeks to make the process of developing immersive visualization with web technologies easier, systematic, and enjoyable while maintaining the high-level of programmability require to implement novel and innovative visualizations.

Why the web?

For the past decade plus, the web has been the premier platform for data visualization creation, publishing, and consumption. Visualization researchers and practitioners have used the web to create novel and effective visualizations that can be accessed on any where in the world on any device with a web browser. As immersive devices become more and more popular, the web will become a more important aspect of the immersive ecosystems and platforms. Immersive analytics can leverage the web to deploy visualizations and systems that can be used immersively or non-immersively on nearly any device with a browser. Furthermore, for developers seeking to develop immersive analytics can use much web programming experience rather than learning a whole new ecosystem. In particular, developers with D3 experience should find using Anu very familiar.

Project Maintainers

Anu is developed and maintained by researchers and engineers from the JPMorgan Chase Global Technology Applied Research Team.