mirror of
https://github.com/visgl/luma.gl.git
synced 2025-12-08 17:36:19 +00:00
# Introduction
<p/>
<p>
<i>This is the documentation for luma.gl v9. Looking for an older version?
<a href="https://github.com/visgl/luma.gl/blob/8.5-release/docs">
<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/v-8.5-lightgrey.svg?style=flat-square" />
</a>
<a href="https://github.com/visgl/luma.gl/blob/7.3-release/docs">
<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/v-7.3-lightgrey.svg?style=flat-square" />
</a>
<a href="https://github.com/visgl/luma.gl/blob/6.4-release/docs">
<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/v-6.4-lightgrey.svg?style=flat-square" />
</a>
</i>
</p>
<br />
<center>
<a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/webgpu/">
<img style={{height: 80}} src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gpuweb/gpuweb/3b3a1632ff1ad6a573330a58710e341bb9d65576/logo/webgpu-horizontal.svg" />
</a>
<a href="https://registry.khronos.org/webgl/specs/latest/2.0/">
<img style={{height: 80}} src="https://raw.github.com/visgl/deck.gl-data/master/images/whats-new/webgl2.jpg" />
</a>
<a href="https://registry.khronos.org/glTF/specs/2.0/glTF-2.0.html">
<img style={{height: 80}} src="https://raw.github.com/visgl/deck.gl-data/master/images/gltf.png" />
</a>
</center>
<center><i>luma.gl supports the latest GPU web standards from W3C and Khronos.</i></center>
<p />
<center>
<a href="https://openvisualization.org">
<img style={{height: 80}} src="https://raw.github.com/visgl/deck.gl-data/master/images/logos/openjsf-color-textg.png" />
</a>
</center>
<center><i>luma.gl is an OpenJS Foundation / Linux Foundation project.</i></center>
## Highlights
luma.gl is a modern GPU toolkit for the Web, created to facilitate processing and visualization of big data on GPUs, that offers:
- A "closer-to-the-metal" API for working with GPUs in JavaScript.
- WebGPU, WebGL2 and WebGL backends.
- A GLSL shader system supporting modules, dependencies, injection, transpilation etc.
- A minimal set of higher-level classes such as `Model`, `Transform` and `AnimationLoop` and basic scenegraph support.
- glTF support.
- Shader modules for compute, visual effects and post processing.
Instead of including limited support for math and data loading, luma.gl integrates seamlessly with dedicated companion framworks such as:
- [loaders.gl](https://loaders.gl) - a long list of 3D and geospatial data format standards are supported out of the box.
- [math.gl](https://uber-web.github.io/math.gl/docs) - a variety of high precision geospatial and 3D math logic.
luma.gl is a small framework that can be used to build other GPU frameworks. The canonical example is
- [deck.gl](https://deck.gl) - an extensive geospatial GPU framework that even supports functional programming paradigms, built on top of luma.gl.
## Philosophy
Rather than providing common higher level 3D engine type abstractions
that shield the user from the details of how the GPU works,
luma.gl is designed to let developers focus on GPU programming and
work directly with shaders and GPU data structures, offering APIs that are
closely aligned with the WebGPU and WebGL APIs.
For more information, refer to [luma.gl API philosophy](/docs/api-guide/background/api-design).
## Support
luma.gl supports recent versions of the most commonly used evergreen browsers (i.e. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge).
- Mobile browsers should be supported (assuming the mobile browser is an updated evergreen browser).
- Pre-chrome Edge is not officially supported, and IE11 is absolutely not supported.
- Running on top of software emulated GPUs is possible but known to have issues.
- Running in virtual machines etc may or may not be possible but is not officially supported.
- Running under Node.js may be possible if your Node.js environment can create WebGPU or WebGL contexts. Note that additional work may be required to load images into textures etc.
Most luma.gl development is done on desktop Chrome on MacBooks.
In case you think you have found an issue and want to check if it is specific to your environment,
it could be worth testing if you can reproduce your issue on Chrome before you report the bug.
If you have a confirmed bug that affects a supported environment, feel free to [open an issue](https://github.com/visgl/luma.gl/issues).
However, if you are not yet sure, please help us keep issue noise down and start in the [discussions](https://github.com/visgl/luma.gl/discussions).
If you can provide a fix, you are welcome to open a pull request. It often makes sense to discuss before surprising maintainers with a big PR.
## Showcases
Some examples of applications built on top of luma.gl:
| <img style={{width: 250, height: 250}} src="https://deck.gl/images/showcase/kepler-gl.jpg" /> | <img style={{width: 250, height: 250}} src="https://deck.gl/images/showcase/avs.jpg" /> | <img style={{width: 250, height: 250}} src="https://deck.gl/images/showcase/viv.jpg" />
| :---: | :---: | :---: |
| <center><b>kepler.gl</b><p><i>open source geospatial analysis tool for large-scale data sets</i></p></center> | <center><b>AVS / streetscape.gl</b><p><i>A visualization toolkit for autonomy and robotics data</i></p></center> | <center><b>VIV</b><p><i>Visualization of cellular biological samples</i></p></center> |
- [kepler.gl](https://kepler.gl/) ([GitHub](https://github.com/keplergl/kepler.gl))
- [deck.gl](http://deck.gl/#/) ([GitHub](https://github.com/visgl/deck.gl)) a WebGL-powered framework for visual exploratory data analysis of large data sets
- [avs.auto](https://avs.auto/#/) and [streetscape.gl](https://github.com/uber/streetscape.gl)
## Open Governance
luma.gl is provided under MIT license and is under open governance as a part of:
- The [OpenJS foundation](https://openvisualization.org)
- The <a href="https://vis.gl"><b>vis.gl framework suite</b></a>
To learn more
- check out the [vis.gl Medium blog](https://medium.com/vis-gl),
- join the community in the [deck.gl Slack workspace](https://join.slack.com/t/deckgl/shared_invite/zt-7oeoqie8-NQqzSp5SLTFMDeNSPxi7eg)
for learning and discussions.
If you wish to contribute in a structured way, beyond isolated PRs, or join the open governance activities,
start by joining the forums above and introduce yourself.
## Contributors
Current main contributors to the development and maintenance of luma.gl:
<p style={{marginTop: -60, marginBottom: -20, marginLeft: 30}}>
<a href="https://location.foursquare.com/products/studio/">
<img style={{height: 160}} src="https://raw.github.com/visgl/deck.gl-data/master/images/logos/foursquare.png" />
</a>
</p>
Previous main contributors to the development luma.gl:
<p style={{marginTop: -20, marginBottom: -20}}>
<a href="https://uber.com">
<img style={{height: 100}} src="https://raw.github.com/visgl/deck.gl-data/master/images/logos/uber-black.jpg" />
</a>
</p>
<p style={{marginTop: -20, marginBottom: -20, marginLeft: 30}}>
<a href="https://unfolded.ai">
<img style={{height: 50}} src="https://raw.github.com/visgl/deck.gl-data/master/images/logos/unfolded.png" />
</a>
</p>
## History
luma.gl was originally created at Uber in 2015 as an open source project to support deck.gl.
- 2022: luma.gl was accepted into the OpenJS foundation together with the vis.gl framework stack.
- 2019: Uber put luma.gl under open governance in the Linux Foundation.
- 2015: luma.gl started out as a fork of the [PhiloGL](https://github.com/senchalabs/philogl) WebGL library.
## Roadmap
luma.gl keeps evolving based on the needs of vis.gl frameworks and applications.
We share information about the direction of luma.gl in the following ways:
- **[RFCs](https://github.com/visgl/luma.gl/tree/master/dev-docs/RFCs)** - RFCs are technical writeups that describe proposed features in upcoming releases.
- **[Roadmap Document](https://luma.gl/#/documentation/overview/roadmap)** - (this document) A high-level summary of our current direction for future releases.
- **[Blog](https://medium.com/@vis.gl)** - We use the vis.gl blog to share information about what we are doing.
- **[Github Issues](https://github.com/visgl/luma.gl/issues)** - The traditional way to start or join a discussion.