VizGenie: Toward Self-Refining, Domain-Aware Workflows for Next-Generation Scientific Visualization

We present VizGenie, a self-improving, agentic framework that advances scientific visualization through large language model (LLM) by orchestrating of a collection of domain-specific and dynamically generated modules. Users initially access core functionalities-such as threshold-based filtering, slice extraction, and statistical analysis-through pre-existing tools. For tasks beyond this baseline, VizGenie autonomously employs LLMs to generate new visualization scripts (e.g., VTK Python code), expanding its capabilities on-demand. Each generated script undergoes automated backend validation and is seamlessly integrated upon successful testing, continuously enhancing the system's adaptability and robustness. A distinctive feature of VizGenie is its intuitive natural language interface, allowing users to issue high-level feature-based queries (e.g., "visualize the skull" or "highlight tissue boundaries"). The system leverages image-based analysis and visual question answering (VQA) via fine-tuned vision models to interpret these queries precisely, bridging domain expertise and technical implementation. Additionally, users can interactively query generated visualizations through VQA, facilitating deeper exploration. Reliability and reproducibility are further strengthened by Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), providing context-driven responses while maintaining comprehensive provenance records. Evaluations on complex volumetric datasets demonstrate significant reductions in cognitive overhead for iterative visualization tasks. By integrating curated domain-specific tools with LLM-driven flexibility, VizGenie not only accelerates insight generation but also establishes a sustainable, continuously evolving visualization practice. The resulting platform dynamically learns from user interactions, consistently enhancing support for feature-centric exploration and reproducible research in scientific visualization.

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Publication Details

Journal
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics
Published
2025-12-05
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1109/tvcg.2025.3634655
Primary Topic
Data Visualization and Analytics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

VizGenie: Toward Self-Refining, Domain-Aware Workflows for Next-Generation Scientific Visualization

Aric Hagberg, Shawn Jones, Ayan Biswas, Nathan DeBardeleben et al.
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics
Data Visualization and Analytics
article

VizGenie: Toward Self-Refining, Domain-Aware Workflows for Next-Generation Scientific Visualization

Aric Hagberg, Shawn Jones, Ayan Biswas, Nathan DeBardeleben, William M. Jones, Earl Lawrence, Bradley C. Love, Terece L. Turton, Han-Wei Shen, Nishath Rajiv Ranasinghe
article en

Abstract

We present VizGenie, a self-improving, agentic framework that advances scientific visualization through large language model (LLM) by orchestrating of a collection of domain-specific and dynamically generated modules. Users initially access core functionalities-such as threshold-based filtering, slice extraction, and statistical analysis-through pre-existing tools. For tasks beyond this baseline, VizGenie autonomously employs LLMs to generate new visualization scripts (e.g., VTK Python code), expanding its capabilities on-demand. Each generated script undergoes automated backend validation and is seamlessly integrated upon successful testing, continuously enhancing the system's adaptability and robustness. A distinctive feature of VizGenie is its intuitive natural language interface, allowing users to issue high-level feature-based queries (e.g., "visualize the skull" or "highlight tissue boundaries"). The system leverages image-based analysis and visual question answering (VQA) via fine-tuned vision models to interpret these queries precisely, bridging domain expertise and technical implementation. Additionally, users can interactively query generated visualizations through VQA, facilitating deeper exploration. Reliability and reproducibility are further strengthened by Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), providing context-driven responses while maintaining comprehensive provenance records. Evaluations on complex volumetric datasets demonstrate significant reductions in cognitive overhead for iterative visualization tasks. By integrating curated domain-specific tools with LLM-driven flexibility, VizGenie not only accelerates insight generation but also establishes a sustainable, continuously evolving visualization practice. The resulting platform dynamically learns from user interactions, consistently enhancing support for feature-centric exploration and reproducible research in scientific visualization.

IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer GraphicsVol. 32(1)
Los Alamos National Laboratory (US), Coastal Carolina University (US), The Ohio State University (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 60%
Data Visualization and Analytics
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