SciChart for Avalonia XPF v3.0 Released!

SciChart is delighted to announce the release of SciChart XPF v3 — a big step forward for the product. v3 brings every feature from the SciChart WPF v9.0 and v9.1 release cycles to Avalonia XPF, introduces a brand-new Vulkan rendering backend on Linux, and resolves many issues that have been reported for previous versions.

If you build cross-platform .NET applications and you want SciChart’s full WPF chart suite running natively on Windows and Linux, this is the release to upgrade to. This update is available on NuGet and runs on the cross-platform Avalonia XPF framework.

We’ve moved over to a new format for communicating our releases and updates, by publishing a rolling changelog of every fix or enhancement in SciChart. You can find the changelogs in the top menu at Developers -> Changelogs -> SciChart XPF ChangeLog

What’s New in v3 of SciChart’s XPF Charts?

Below is a summary of the main features and changes in this release (v3.0.0 build 10777):

1. New Vulkan Rendering Backend on Linux
2. Rendering 2D and 3D Charts Together
3. Everything from SciChart WPF v9.0 and v9.1
4. Other Improvements
5. Bug Fixes
6. Breaking Changes
7. Coming Next
8. Get Started with SciChart XPF v3

New Vulkan Rendering Backend on Linux

The headline change in v3 is a completely new Vulkan rendering backend for Linux, which fully replaces the previous OpenGL renderer. Vulkan is now the rendering path for SciChart XPF on Linux, and the OpenGL backend has been retired.

Why we made the move:

• Predictable behaviour across drivers and distributions. The OpenGL path was at the mercy vendor driver differences, and a surprising share of hard-to-diagnose Linux support cases traced back to them. Vulkan’s explicit, tightly specified API removes most of that variance.
• A modern foundation for rendering work. Vulkan gives us explicit control over memory, synchronisation and command submission — the control we need to keep making SciChart faster, rather than working around a legacy OpenGL API.

On Windows, nothing changes — SciChart XPF continues to render through DirectX, and Windows applications are unaffected by this work.

• Linux Runtime Requirements. Running SciChart XPF v3 on Linux requires a Vulkan 1.3-capable GPU driver. Any reasonably current Mesa, NVIDIA or AMD driver meets this bar. There is no requirement to install the Vulkan SDK on end-user machines.
• Vulkan Support in Virtual Machines. Vulkan rendering may fail to initialise inside a virtual machine. There are several possible reasons, but the two that matter most are the underlying hardware — a VM with no access to a dedicated GPU may expose only a software or partially featured Vulkan implementation — and the Vulkan API version presented by the VM’s virtual graphics driver, which is often lower than the host’s.

Rendering 2D and 3D Charts Together

One of the most significant fixes in v3: 2D and 3D charts can now be used together in the same window on Linux.

Previously, combining a SciChartSurface and a SciChart3DSurface in the same window on Linux broke the rendering engine. The new Vulkan backend resolves the underlying resource conflict, and mixed 2D/3D views now work on Linux as they always have on Windows. If this issue held you back from adopting SciChart XPF on Linux, v3 is the release to revisit.

Everything from SciChart WPF v9.0 and v9.1

SciChart XPF v2.0 brought the product up to WPF v8.11.1. v3 closes the gap completely, porting the entire WPF v9.0 and v9.1 feature sets into Avalonia XPF. Everything below is now available to XPF developers, through the same APIs, on both Windows and Linux.

Each feature is summarised here; follow the links for the full write-ups.

New Chart Type: Vector Field Series

VectorFieldRenderableSeries renders collections of arrows on a plane, where each arrow starts at an (X, Y) point and extends by its (DX, DY) displacement — ideal for wind, fluid flow, electric fields and gradient data. It ships with uniform and non-uniform data series, various colour modes and length modes for vectors, configurable arrowhead geometry, optimizations for large datasets and full MVVM support.

What’s New in SciChart WPF v9 — Vector Field Renderable Series

New Chart Type: Stacked Box Plot Series

StackedBoxPlotRenderableSeries renders multiple box plots side by side at the same X position, making it easy to compare statistical distributions across categories or experimental conditions. Grouping works exactly like stacked columns, via StackedGroupId, with Spacing controlling the gap between adjacent boxes.

What’s New in SciChart WPF v9 — Stacked Box Plot Renderable Series

The DataPointLabel API

A completely new, provider-based DataPointLabel API brings per-point labelling to XPF, with precise control over label text, formatting and placement. A simple ShowDataLabels switch turns labels on; a DataLabelProvider customises everything else, including per-point text and positioning. Supported across the majority of series types, including line, column, stacked column, box plot and bubble series.

What’s New in SciChart WPF v9.1 — New DataPointLabel API

AspectRatio Viewport Manager

AspectRatioViewportManager locks the on-screen relationship between X and Y units, so your data keeps its true proportions regardless of zoom level or window size (circles and maps stay undistorted). It offers AspectRatio, AspectRatioMode (which axis is authoritative), Anchor, and an AspectRatioModifier so the lock behavior can be fine-tuned and toggled interactively.

What’s New in SciChart WPF v9.1 — AspectRatio Viewport Manager

Bubble Series: ColorMap and Styling

FastBubbleRenderableSeries gets improved as a three-dimensional (X, Y, Z) visualisation tool, with a ColorMap that colours each bubble by its Z value, an auto-fitting ColorMapRangeMode, a ColorMapValueProvider for custom mapping and RadialGradientBrush fills.

What’s New in SciChart WPF v9.1 — Bubble Series: ColorMap and Styling

MVVM: Axis Synchronisation and Deferred ZoomExtents

Two substantial MVVM additions:

• Axis range synchronisation — every IAxisViewModel now exposes RangeSyncGroupId. Axes sharing a group ID are linked automatically, with no code-behind and no event wiring. An IRangeSyncTransform interface handles synchronised axes in different units, and RangeSyncSourceOnZoomExtents controls how ZoomExtents propagates through a group.
• ZoomExtentsWhenReady() — an extension method on IRenderableSeriesViewModel that defers ZoomExtents until the surface has attached the view models, so it can be called straight from a ViewModel constructor with no reference to the surface.

The MVVM Axes API also received significant optimisation — roughly 30% faster layout and rendering for charts using the MVVM axis binding pattern.

What’s New in SciChart WPF v9 — MVVM Axis Synchronization API

Map Charting

The Europe Population Map example shows how to build a full choropleth map: country polygons loaded from GeoJSON and projected into an equal-area projection, shaded by population; a second layer plotting every European city as a bubble sized by population; capitals labelled via the new DataPointLabel API; and the whole map kept true-to-scale by the AspectRatio ViewportManager. A ready-made template for GIS-style dashboards and territory maps.

What’s New in SciChart WPF v9.1 — Building Map Charts

Pie, Donut and Polar Improvements

Pie and Donut charts now participate fully in the SciChart theming system, so their backgrounds, labels and segment strokes are styled consistently across all built-in themes. Polar charts gain a dedicated PolarLineRenderableSeries with a ConnectionMode property (Arc or Straight), along with improved polar gridline and tick quality.

What’s New in SciChart WPF v9.1 — Pie and Donut Theming and Polar Chart Improvements

New Examples

All of the examples introduced across WPF v9.0 and v9.1 are now in the SciChart XPF Examples Demo:

• Directional Antenna Gain 3D Chart — a featured application combining a 3D gain mesh with a fan chart, gain coverage heatmap and E/H-plane polar charts.
• Racing Telemetry Dashboard Demo — a multi-chart dashboard with synchronised MVVM-style axes.
• Europe Population Map — choropleth map charting.
• Seismic Activity Explorer — bubble chart with ColorMap colouring by depth and magnitude-based sizing.
• Spirograph Aspect Ratio — every AspectRatioMode and Anchor demonstrated, with an interactive toggle.
• Vector Field Chart, Realtime Vector Field Chart and Realtime Scattered Vector Field Chart
• Synchronized Axes MVVM Example
• Dashboard Style Charts, Histograms and Data Labels — showcasing the DataPointLabel API.

Other Improvements

• Native library integrity verification. Because Linux has no direct equivalent of Windows code signing, SciChart XPF v3 now verifies the integrity of its native libraries at load time. This ensures that corrupted or modified native binaries are detected instead of being loaded silently. Integrity verification is enabled by default on both Windows and Linux and can be disabled in code when required – applications that re-sign or post-process SciChart’s native binaries must opt out via NativeDllLoader.IntegrityCheckMode.
• Improved performance on Linux. The new Vulkan backend and newly enabled AVX optimizations bring improved and more consistent rendering performance on Linux, with AVX support previously limited to Windows.
• Clearer diagnostics in SciChart 3D. Systems with outdated or insufficient GPU drivers now receive a clear and actionable error message, making hardware-related issues easier to identify.
• Single-file Examples Demo deployment. The SciChart XPF Examples Demo is now distributed as a single-file published application, simplifying installation and launch.
• Improved Examples Demo performance. Reduced example loading times and improved overall responsiveness when navigating through the SciChart Examples Demo.