Architecture and Data Flow

CorePlotting allows different visualization types (DataViewer, SpatialOverlay, Raster Plots) to share a common rendering and interaction backend.

The Three-Layer Model

The architecture separates visualization-specific logic from generic scene composition.

1. Visualization Layer (Mappers)

This layer understands specific data types (AnalogTimeSeries, PointData) and how they map to space.

  • Input: Data Objects + TimeFrame + Layout

  • Output: Ranges of MappedElement (x, y, entity_id)

2. Generic Layer (SceneBuilder)

This layer knows nothing about time series or biological data. It only knows about geometry.

  • Input: Ranges of positions and IDs.

  • Output: RenderableScene

3. Rendering Layer (PlottingOpenGL)

This layer consumes the scene and issues draw calls.

  • Input: RenderableScene

  • Output: Pixels on screen.

Data Flow Diagram

graph TD
  Data[Data Manager Types] -->|LayoutEngine| Layout[SeriesLayout]     
  Data -->|Mapper| Mapped[Mapped Elements Range]     
  Layout -->|Mapper| Mapped          
  
  Mapped -->|SceneBuilder| Scene[RenderableScene]          
  
  subgraph RenderableScene     
  Batches[GPU Batches]     
  QuadTree[Spatial Index]    
  Matrices[MVP Matrices]     
  end          
  
  Scene -->|PlottingOpenGL| Screen     
  Scene -->|HitTester| Interaction

Core Abstractions

ViewState

The single source of truth for the camera.

  • TimeSeriesViewState: Used for scrolling time-series plots. Handles buffer scope (what time range is loaded) and view (pan/zoom).

  • ViewState: Used for spatial 2D plots.

LayoutTransform

A purely geometric affine transform (output = input * gain + offset).

  • Used to convert data units (volts, classes) into world coordinates.

  • Composes data normalization (Z-score) with layout positioning (Stacking).

RenderableScene

A snapshot of a frame. It contains:

  1. Batches: poly_line_batches, glyph_batches, rectangle_batches.

  2. Spatial Index: A QuadTree automatically built from the same data as the batches.

  3. Matrices: Shared View and Projection matrices.