WWT WebGL Engine Reference Manual

Getting Started

There are a range of ways that you can use the WWT WebGL engine, depending on the level of sophistication that you’re trying to achieve and the tools you’re prepared to use. If you’re considering a WWT-based project, it’s important to be aware of the range of options.

• If you want to deploy a generic interface for astronomical data visualization, you can probably skip most of the coding by simply embedding the WWT research app and not building your own custom UI.
• Prototyping a custom UI with basic HTML and JavaScript, and no build tools or fancy infrastructure? You may want to use the hosted JavaScript model. But for complex applications, we recommend adopting more sophisticated tooling.
• If you’re using npm or another JavaScript package manager, a slightly more elaborate approach is the bundled TypeScript model: import the @wwtelescope/engine package into your project and interface with it using the TypeScript language.
• For the most complex applications, we suggest a reactive, component-based architecture. The Vue/Pinia component model provides a clean way to include WWT in apps based on the Vue 3 framework using the Pinia state management system.