SciChart.js JavaScript 3D Charts API > 3D Chart Types > The Bubble 3D Chart Type
The Bubble 3D Chart Type

Examples for the Scatter/Bubble 3D Chart can be found in the SciChart.js Demo app which can be viewed on our website, or downloaged from SciChart.Js.Examples Github Repository

3D Bubble Charts are provided by the ScatterRenderableSeries3D type. This draws a single PointMarker at an X,Y,Z location in the 3D world with a per-point scaling factor. Charts can be static or dynamic, and updated in real-time if required.

Above: The JavaScript 3D Bubble Chart example from the SciChart.js Demo, showing how to create 3D Bubble/Scatter charts with variable size and color of points

The ScatterRenderableSeries3D allows creation of 3D Bubble charts and supports multiple pointmarkers, including:

3D Marker Types

Fast 2D Marker types

Declaring a 3D Bubble Series with custom Sizes & Colors

To declare a 3D Bubble Series with individual sizes & colors, use the following code.

// returns data in arrays of numbers e.g. xValues = [0,1,2,3,4], yValues = [0,1,2,3,4], zValues = [0,1,2,3,4]
const { xValues, yValues, zValues } = generateData();

const colors = [ "#EC0F6C", "#F48420", "#DC7969", "#67BDAF", "#50C7E0", "#264B93", "#14233C" ];

// Metadata in scichart.js 3D overrides the color of a scatter point. It can also hold additional optional properties
// Below we format the xValues array into a metadata array, where each point is colored individually
const metadata = [];
for(let i = 0; i < xValues.length; i++) {
  const { x, y, z } = { x: xValues[i], y: yValues[i], z: zValues[i] };
  // Compute a scale factor based on distance from origin
  const distanceFromOrigin = Math.sqrt(x * x + y * y + z * z);
  const scaleFactor = 1 - distanceFromOrigin / 3;

  // Return a random colour from the array above
  const color = colors[Math.floor(Math.random() * colors.length)];

  console.log(`Point ${i} has scale factor ${scaleFactor} and color ${color}`);

  // Return IPointMetadat3D with pointScale and vertexColor properties
  metadata.push({
    vertexColor: parseColorToUIntArgb(color),
    pointScale: scaleFactor
  });
}

// Add a ScatterRenderableSeries3D configured as bubble chart
sciChart3DSurface.renderableSeries.add(new ScatterRenderableSeries3D(wasmContext, {
  dataSeries: new XyzDataSeries3D(wasmContext, {
    xValues,
    yValues,
    zValues,
    metadata // Optional metadata here. Property vertexColor is read to color the point
  }),
  // When metadata colours are provided, the pointMarker.fill is ignored
  pointMarker: new SpherePointMarker3D(wasmContext, {
    size: 25,
  }),
}));

This results in the following output: 

<div class="wrapper">
    <div id="scichart-root" ></div>
    <div class="titleWrapper">
        <p class="title">SciChart.js 3D Chart Example</p>
        <p class="subtitle">Demonstrates a Gaussian Distribution Scatter Chart</p>
        <p class="subTitle">Drag the mouse to rotate, use MouseWheel to zoom</p>
    </div>
</div>

  
body { margin: 0; font-family: Arial; }
.wrapper { width: 100%; height: 100vh; position: relative; }
#scichart-root { width: 100%; height: 100%; position: relative; }
.titleWrapper { position: absolute; width: 100%; top: 35%; text-align: center; pointer-events: none; color: #ffffff77 }
.title { font-size: 20px; }
.subTitle {  font-size: 16px; }

  
const generateData = () => {
  const gaussianRandom = (mean, stdev) => {
    const u = 1 - Math.random(); // Converting [0,1) to (0,1]
    const v = Math.random();
    const z = Math.sqrt( -2.0 * Math.log( u ) ) * Math.cos( 2.0 * Math.PI * v );
    // Transform to the desired mean and standard deviation:
    return z * stdev + mean;
  };

  const xValues = [];
  const yValues = [];
  const zValues = [];

  for (let i = 0; i < 200; i++) {
    xValues.push(gaussianRandom(0, 1));
    yValues.push(gaussianRandom(0, 1));
    zValues.push(gaussianRandom(0, 1));
  }
  return { xValues, yValues, zValues };
}

async function scatter3DChart(divElementId) {
  // Demonstrates how to create a 3D Scatter chart in SciChart.js
  const {
    SciChart3DSurface,
    NumericAxis3D,
    Vector3,
    SciChartJsNavyTheme,
    ScatterRenderableSeries3D,
    XyzDataSeries3D,
    SpherePointMarker3D,
    MouseWheelZoomModifier3D,
    OrbitModifier3D,
    ResetCamera3DModifier,
    NumberRange,
    parseColorToUIntArgb
  } = SciChart;

  // or, for npm, import { SciChart3DSurface, ... } from "scichart"

  // Create a SciChart3DSurface in the host <div id=".." />
  const { wasmContext, sciChart3DSurface } = await SciChart3DSurface.create(divElementId, {
    theme: new SciChartJsNavyTheme(),
    worldDimensions: new Vector3(300, 200, 300),
    cameraOptions: {
      position: new Vector3(-300, 300, -300),
      target: new Vector3(0, 50, 0),
    }
  });

  // Declare your axis like this
  sciChart3DSurface.xAxis = new NumericAxis3D(wasmContext, {
    axisTitle: "X Axis",
    visibleRange: new NumberRange(-3, 3),
  });
  sciChart3DSurface.yAxis = new NumericAxis3D(wasmContext, {
    axisTitle: "Y Axis",
    visibleRange: new NumberRange(-3, 3),
  })
  sciChart3DSurface.zAxis = new NumericAxis3D(wasmContext, {
    axisTitle: "Z Axis",
    visibleRange: new NumberRange(-3, 3),
  });

  // #region ExampleA
  // returns data in arrays of numbers e.g. xValues = [0,1,2,3,4], yValues = [0,1,2,3,4], zValues = [0,1,2,3,4]
  const { xValues, yValues, zValues } = generateData();

  const colors = [ "#EC0F6C", "#F48420", "#DC7969", "#67BDAF", "#50C7E0", "#264B93", "#14233C" ];

  // Metadata in scichart.js 3D overrides the color of a scatter point. It can also hold additional optional properties
  // Below we format the xValues array into a metadata array, where each point is colored individually
  const metadata = [];
  for(let i = 0; i < xValues.length; i++) {
    const { x, y, z } = { x: xValues[i], y: yValues[i], z: zValues[i] };
    // Compute a scale factor based on distance from origin
    const distanceFromOrigin = Math.sqrt(x * x + y * y + z * z);
    const scaleFactor = 1 - distanceFromOrigin / 3;

    // Return a random colour from the array above
    const color = colors[Math.floor(Math.random() * colors.length)];

    console.log(`Point ${i} has scale factor ${scaleFactor} and color ${color}`);

    // Return IPointMetadat3D with pointScale and vertexColor properties
    metadata.push({
      vertexColor: parseColorToUIntArgb(color),
      pointScale: scaleFactor
    });
  }

  // Add a ScatterRenderableSeries3D configured as bubble chart
  sciChart3DSurface.renderableSeries.add(new ScatterRenderableSeries3D(wasmContext, {
    dataSeries: new XyzDataSeries3D(wasmContext, {
      xValues,
      yValues,
      zValues,
      metadata // Optional metadata here. Property vertexColor is read to color the point
    }),
    // When metadata colours are provided, the pointMarker.fill is ignored
    pointMarker: new SpherePointMarker3D(wasmContext, {
      size: 25,
    }),
  }));
  // #endregion

  // Optional: add zooming, panning for the example
  sciChart3DSurface.chartModifiers.add(
    new MouseWheelZoomModifier3D(), // provides camera zoom on mouse wheel
    new OrbitModifier3D(), // provides 3d rotation on left mouse drag
    new ResetCamera3DModifier()); // resets camera position on double-click
};

scatter3DChart("scichart-root");

  
Note: IPointMetadata3D can be any javascript object but the property vertexColor is used to determine scatter 3D datapoint colour. This is in hex format Alpha, Red, Green, Blue, so 0xFFFF0000 would correspond to red. The helper function parseColorToUIntArgb can convert Javascript Hex codes to this format.