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Core ggplot-like WebGL layers

This vignette covers the core two-dimensional ggplot2-style layers and the renderer-ready specification workflow. The code examples construct ggplot2-style WebGL layers and, when evaluated, convert them into browser-side WebGL htmlwidgets with ggplot_webgl() or ggWebGL().

Code evaluation is disabled during CRAN, package checks, and CI unless explicitly enabled with GGWEBGL_EVAL_COVERAGE_VIGNETTE=true or NOT_CRAN=true. Live WebGL widget rendering is additionally disabled unless GGWEBGL_EVAL_LIVE_WIDGETS=true is set. Rich local or pkgdown builds should set both GGWEBGL_EVAL_COVERAGE_VIGNETTE=true and GGWEBGL_EVAL_LIVE_WIDGETS=true.

Two Workflows

Applet: Grammar-style points and lines

p <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(wt, mpg, colour = factor(cyl))) +
  geom_point_webgl() +
  geom_line_webgl(aes(group = cyl), alpha = 0.35) +
  labs(title = "Grammar-style points and lines") +
  theme_webgl(shader = "density_splat")

ggplot_webgl(p, height = 420)

Applet: Renderer-ready point specification

Renderer-ready specifications are useful when data have already been transformed into primitive payloads.

spec <- ggwebgl_spec(
  layers = list(
    ggwebgl_layer_points(mtcars, x = "wt", y = "mpg", colour = "#2563eb")
  ),
  labels = list(title = "Renderer-ready point specification"),
  webgl = webgl_spec(shader = "density_splat")
)

ggWebGL(spec)

Coverage Summary

Family	Public APIs	Status	Notes
Points	`geom_point_webgl()`	Stable	Core scatter and dense point rendering.
Lines and paths	`geom_line_webgl()`, `geom_path_webgl()`, `geom_path3d_webgl()`	Stable / Experimental	Two-dimensional line/path rendering is core; 3D paths are experimental.
Segments and vectors	`geom_segment_webgl()`, `geom_vector_webgl()`	Stable / Experimental	Segments are plain line segments; vectors add arrow-oriented metadata.
Rectangles and tiles	`geom_rect_webgl()`, `geom_tile_webgl()`	Stable	Uses `ggplot2`-built rectangle bounds.
Count and bin geoms	`geom_bar_webgl()`, `geom_histogram_webgl()`, `geom_bin2d_webgl()`	Experimental	Counts and bins are computed by `ggplot2`; WebGL serialization is newer than core point/line/raster paths.
Curves and contours	`geom_freqpoly_webgl()`, `geom_density_webgl()`, `geom_density2d_webgl()`, `geom_contour_webgl()`	Experimental	Rendered as line/path primitives; see the statistical coverage vignette.

Status labels reflect API maturity, test coverage, and rendering-contract stability; they are not simply an export list.

Core 2D Layers

Applet: Ordered 2D path with segments

trajectory <- data.frame(
  x = cos(seq(0, 2 * pi, length.out = 48)) * seq(0.2, 1, length.out = 48),
  y = sin(seq(0, 2 * pi, length.out = 48)) * seq(0.2, 1, length.out = 48),
  frame = seq_len(48),
  group = "spiral"
)

arrows <- data.frame(
  x = c(-0.8, -0.2, 0.4),
  y = c(-0.6, 0.1, 0.5),
  xend = c(-0.45, 0.15, 0.75),
  yend = c(-0.25, 0.35, 0.2)
)

p <- ggplot(trajectory, aes(x, y, group = group)) +
  geom_path_webgl(aes(frame = frame), colour = "#2563eb", linewidth = 1.2) +
  geom_point_webgl(aes(frame = frame), colour = "#0f766e", size = 1.8) +
  geom_segment_webgl(
    data = arrows,
    aes(x = x, y = y, xend = xend, yend = yend),
    inherit.aes = FALSE,
    colour = "#334155"
  ) +
  labs(title = "Ordered 2D path with segments")

ggplot_webgl(p, height = 420)

Applet: Line sorting versus path order

geom_line_webgl() keeps the usual line semantics, while geom_path_webgl() preserves row order within groups.

ordered <- data.frame(
  x = c(3, 1, 2, 4),
  y = c(1, 3, 2, 4),
  group = "ordered"
)

p <- ggplot(ordered, aes(x, y, group = group)) +
  geom_line_webgl(colour = "#64748b") +
  geom_path_webgl(colour = "#dc2626", linewidth = 1.2) +
  labs(title = "Line sorting versus path order")

ggplot_webgl(p, height = 420)

Rectangles, Tiles, and Bins

Rectangle-style geoms use boundaries computed by ggplot2::ggplot_build(). This keeps position adjustments and statistical transformations owned by ggplot2.

Applet: Tile grid

tile_grid <- expand.grid(
  x = seq_len(5),
  y = seq_len(4),
  KEEP.OUT.ATTRS = FALSE
)
tile_grid$value <- with(tile_grid, sin(x / 2) + cos(y / 2))

p <- ggplot(tile_grid, aes(x, y, fill = value)) +
  geom_tile_webgl(alpha = 0.85) +
  labs(title = "Tile grid")
ggplot_webgl(p, height = 420)

Applet: Stacked bar counts

p <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(factor(cyl), fill = factor(am))) +
  geom_bar_webgl(position = "stack") +
  labs(title = "Stacked bar counts")
ggplot_webgl(p, height = 420)

Applet: Histogram bins

p <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg)) +
  geom_histogram_webgl(binwidth = 4) +
  labs(title = "Histogram bins")
ggplot_webgl(p, height = 420)

Applet: Two-dimensional bins

p <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(wt, mpg)) +
  geom_bin2d_webgl(bins = 8) +
  labs(title = "Two-dimensional bins")
ggplot_webgl(p, height = 420)

Applet: Explicit rectangles

rectangles <- data.frame(
  xmin = c(0.0, 1.2),
  xmax = c(1.0, 2.0),
  ymin = c(0.0, 0.4),
  ymax = c(0.8, 1.4),
  label = c("a", "b")
)

p <- ggplot(rectangles) +
  geom_rect_webgl(
    aes(xmin = xmin, xmax = xmax, ymin = ymin, ymax = ymax, fill = label),
    alpha = 0.75
  ) +
  labs(title = "Explicit rectangles")

ggplot_webgl(p, height = 420)

Curves and Contours

Curve and contour applets are in vignette("ggplot-coverage-summaries", package = "ggWebGL") so this page keeps its live widget count moderate.

These binaries (installable software) and packages are in development.
They may not be fully stable and should be used with caution. We make no claims about them.
Health stats visible at Monitor.