Convert Plotly to VTK.js and remove dist folder by sridhar-mani · Pull Request #64 · FEAScript/FEAScript-core

sridhar-mani · 2026-03-09T10:20:28Z

This pull request updates FEAScript’s visualization functionality to use vtk.js for scientific rendering instead of Plotly, and reorganizes the visualization exports. It also updates the documentation and dependencies to reflect this change.

Visualization library migration:

Replaced Plotly with vtk.js for interactive scientific rendering in both the documentation (README.md) and the package dependencies (package.json). [1] [2]
Updated the installation instructions and peer dependencies to use @kitware/vtk.js instead of plotly.js. [1] [2]

Codebase reorganization:

Changed visualization-related exports in src/index.js to use the new vtkSolutionScript.js module, adding new exports for color scales, contour line options, and various data transformation utilities for vtk.js.

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR migrates FEAScript’s visualization layer from Plotly-based plotting to vtk.js-based scientific rendering, while also reorganizing and expanding the public visualization exports and removing committed build artifacts from dist/.

Changes:

Replaced the Plotly visualization implementation with a vtk.js-based renderer and added VTK/ML/VTP transformation utilities.
Updated public exports to expose the new visualization/utility API from vtkSolutionScript.js.
Updated documentation and package metadata to reflect vtk.js usage and removed committed dist/ outputs from the repository.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 5 out of 12 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/visualization/vtkSolutionScript.js	New vtk.js rendering + data transformation utilities (VTK polydata, VTP XML, ML buffers), replacing Plotly plotting logic.
src/visualization/plotSolutionScript.js	Removed old Plotly-based plotting implementation.
src/index.js	Re-exports visualization API from the new vtk.js module (and adds new exported helpers).
package.json	Swaps Plotly peer dep for `@kitware/vtk.js` and adds vtk.js to devDependencies.
README.md	Updates visualization description and install instructions to use vtk.js.
dist/feascript.umd.js	Deleted committed build artifact.
dist/feascript.esm.js	Deleted committed build artifact.
dist/feascript.cjs.js	Deleted committed build artifact.

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Copilot · 2026-03-09T10:26:41Z

src/visualization/vtkSolutionScript.js

+import "@kitware/vtk.js/Rendering/Profiles/Geometry";
+import vtkActor from "@kitware/vtk.js/Rendering/Core/Actor";
+import vtkColorTransferFunction from "@kitware/vtk.js/Rendering/Core/ColorTransferFunction";
+import vtkColorMaps from "@kitware/vtk.js/Rendering/Core/ColorTransferFunction/ColorMaps";
+import vtkDataArray from "@kitware/vtk.js/Common/Core/DataArray";


vtkSolutionScript.js imports vtk.js rendering modules at the top level, and src/index.js re-exports from this file. That makes vtk.js (and any browser/WebGL side effects it has) load whenever consumers import FEAScript, even if they only need the solvers (e.g., Node examples / workers). Consider splitting visualization into a separate entrypoint or lazy-loading vtk.js inside the rendering functions so non-browser consumers don’t pay the dependency/side-effect cost.

@copilot open a new pull request to apply changes based on this feedback

Copilot · 2026-03-09T10:26:42Z

src/visualization/vtkSolutionScript.js

+  const minX = Math.min(...nodesXCoordinates);
+  const maxX = Math.max(...nodesXCoordinates);
+  const minY = Math.min(...nodesYCoordinates);
+  const maxY = Math.max(...nodesYCoordinates);


Math.min(...nodesXCoordinates) / Math.max(...nodesXCoordinates) (and the same for Y) will throw or become very slow for large meshes because it spreads the entire coordinate array into function arguments. Use a simple loop to compute bounds (or a typed-array reduction) to avoid RangeError: too many arguments and reduce memory churn.

Copilot · 2026-03-09T10:26:42Z

package.json

  "peerDependencies": {
    "mathjs": "^11.12.0",
-    "plotly.js": "^2.35.3"
+    "@kitware/vtk.js": "^32.12.0"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
+    "@kitware/vtk.js": "^32.12.0",
    "@rollup/plugin-commonjs": "^28.0.3",


This PR removes the committed dist/ artifacts, but main/module/exports still point at ./dist/* and the test script runs the Node examples without building first. With dist/ absent, npm test (and local dev installs from Git) will fail unless a build is run beforehand. Consider adding a prepare (and/or pretest) script to run rollup -c, or adjusting dev-time exports so the repo works without committed build output.

@copilot open a new pull request to apply changes based on this feedback

Copilot · 2026-03-09T10:26:42Z

src/index.js

+export {
+	plotSolution,
+	plotInterpolatedSolution,
+	createColorScale,
+	createContourLineOptions,
+	transformSolverOutputToVtkData,


The new export block uses tab indentation, while the rest of the file (and most JS in this repo) uses spaces. This can create noisy diffs and may fail formatting/linting if enforced; consider converting these lines to the repository’s standard indentation.

Copilot · 2026-03-09T10:32:33Z

@sridhar-mani I've opened a new pull request, #65, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 5 out of 12 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

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src/visualization/vtkSolutionScript.js

src/index.js

Copilot · 2026-03-09T10:36:01Z

src/visualization/vtkSolutionScript.js

+import "@kitware/vtk.js/Rendering/Profiles/Geometry";
+import vtkActor from "@kitware/vtk.js/Rendering/Core/Actor";
+import vtkColorTransferFunction from "@kitware/vtk.js/Rendering/Core/ColorTransferFunction";
+import vtkColorMaps from "@kitware/vtk.js/Rendering/Core/ColorTransferFunction/ColorMaps";
+import vtkDataArray from "@kitware/vtk.js/Common/Core/DataArray";
+import vtkImageData from "@kitware/vtk.js/Common/DataModel/ImageData";
+import vtkImageMarchingSquares from "@kitware/vtk.js/Filters/General/ImageMarchingSquares";
+import vtkGenericRenderWindow from "@kitware/vtk.js/Rendering/Misc/GenericRenderWindow";
+import vtkMapper from "@kitware/vtk.js/Rendering/Core/Mapper";
+import vtkPolyData from "@kitware/vtk.js/Common/DataModel/PolyData";
+import vtkScalarBarActor from "@kitware/vtk.js/Rendering/Core/ScalarBarActor";
+


Top-level imports from vtk.js Rendering modules (Profiles/Geometry, Actor, Mapper, GenericRenderWindow, ScalarBarActor) will be executed whenever consumers import the main package (because src/index.js re-exports from this module). This is likely to break Node.js usage (including the repo’s npm test examples) if vtk.js touches DOM/WebGL globals at import time. Consider moving rendering-only imports behind a browser-only code path (dynamic import inside renderVtkScene), and/or splitting this file into a pure data-transform module (no Rendering imports) plus a browser-render module so Node can still import FEAScript safely.

@copilot open a new pull request to apply changes based on this feedback

) Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: sridhar-mani <165501918+sridhar-mani@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2026-03-09T10:45:33Z

@sridhar-mani I've opened a new pull request, #66, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2026-03-09T10:48:07Z

@sridhar-mani I've opened a new pull request, #67, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2026-03-09T10:49:14Z

@sridhar-mani I've opened a new pull request, #68, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

This reverts commit 888a7f08b9da7f4081af7b441fcf71a65fd561f5.

nikoscham · 2026-03-10T12:07:36Z

Thanks for the input @sridhar-mani. I think it's better to also keep the previous visualization module (with Plotly.js) in case users want only basic visualization, and also for compatibility reasons. For example in 'FEAScript-core/src/visualization', rename plotSolutionScript.js to plotSolutionPlotlyScript and create also the plotSolutionVtkScript (based on vtkSolutionScript.js). Also, I've added some HTML examples in the 'FEAScript-core/examples' directory (see e.g. https://core.feascript.com/examples/frontPropagationScript/solidificationFront2D/solidificationFront2D.html) so we can test the VTK visualization before merging with the main branch.
I would also suggest that the visualization library be part of the arguments of the plotting functions (i.e., plotSolution, plotInterpolatedSolution), so that the user can choose what he wants.

sridhar-mani added 3 commits March 9, 2026 10:18

fix: removed dist and converted plotly into vtk js

9161044

fix: converted into vtk js

2335be6

live delete

b4cd9f5

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sridhar-mani requested a review from Copilot March 9, 2026 10:32

Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Mar 9, 2026

Add prepare and pretest lifecycle scripts to auto-build dist/ #65

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Add prepare and pretest lifecycle scripts to auto-build dist/ (#65

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) Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: sridhar-mani <165501918+sridhar-mani@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Mar 9, 2026

[WIP] WIP Address feedback on converting Plotly to VTK.js #66

Merged

Copilot AI and others added 3 commits March 9, 2026 16:15

[WIP] WIP Address feedback on converting Plotly to VTK.js (#66)

46991c2

Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Update src/visualization/vtkSolutionScript.js

d4447b2

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Update src/index.js

89643f2

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Mar 9, 2026

[WIP] Update to address feedback on Plotly to VTK.js conversion #67

Merged

[WIP] Update to address feedback on Plotly to VTK.js conversion (#67)

f8927a9

Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Mar 9, 2026

[WIP] Update stack PR to address feedback on Plotly to VTK.js #68

Closed

sridhar-mani added 5 commits March 9, 2026 11:07

fix: externatlise vtk js

9d191aa

Revert "fix: externatlise vtk js"

b052997

This reverts commit 888a7f08b9da7f4081af7b441fcf71a65fd561f5.

fix: externalied vtk js

6d5f966

fix: sepecific move

bf1e0b5

fix: vtk issues

434ef04

nikoscham linked an issue Mar 10, 2026 that may be closed by this pull request

Use vtk.js for visualization #24

Open

nikoscham self-assigned this Mar 10, 2026

nikoscham assigned sridhar-mani Mar 10, 2026

nikoscham added the enhancement New feature or request label Mar 10, 2026

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