EC

3D Brain Mapping with WebGPU

A deep dive into real-time neural simulation using GPU-accelerated rendering.

Published on June 17, 2025
Neural mesh visualization

The Problem: Visualizing Complexity

Traditional 2D representations fail to capture the full complexity of neural activity patterns. This is especially true for volumetric datasets that require multi-scale visualization and interactive exploration.


// Sample code from neural renderer
class NeuralMesh {
    constructor(webGPUDevice) {
        this.vertexBuffer = webGPUDevice.createBuffer({
            size: numVertices * Float32Array.BYTES_PER_ELEMENT * 6,
            usage: GPUBufferUsage.VERTEX | GPUBufferUsage.COPY_DST
        });

        // Initialize simulation parameters
        this.synapticStrengthMap = new GPUTexture({
            size: [512, 512, 1],
            format: 'rgba16float',
            usage: GPUTextureUsage.TEXTURE_BINDING | GPUTextureUsage.RENDER_ATTACHMENT
        });
    }

    render() {
        // GPU compute pipeline execution
        this.computePass.setPipeline(this.computePipeline);
        this.computePass.dispatchWorkgroups(this.workgroupCountX, this.workgroupCountY, 1);
        
        // Rendering pipeline setup
        const renderPass = this.device.createRenderPassDescriptor({
            colorAttachments: [{
                view: presentationView,
                clearValue: { r: 0.1, g: 0.1, b: 0.1, a: 1.0 },
                loadOp: 'clear',
                storeOp: 'store'
            }]
        });

        renderPass.setPipeline(this.renderPipeline);
        renderPass.setVertexBuffer(0, this.vertexBuffer);
        renderPass.draw(6 * this.numVertices, 1, 0, 0);
    }
}

Our Approach with WebGPU

By leveraging WebGPU's compute capabilities, we achieve real-time rendering of brain activity simulations at 60+ FPS in the browser without native plugins. This breakthrough makes neuroscience more accessible to researchers and developers alike.

  • 1
    Compute shaders for real-time neural activity simulation
  • 2
    GPU-based particle systems for synaptic activity visualization
  • 3
    WebGL/WebGPU interoperability for fallback and hybrid rendering

Performance Metrics

120

FPS in full-render mode

2.7 Tb

Memory usage in simulation

6 ms

Frame rendering latency

Ready to Explore?

Check out our interactive WebGPU demo to see neural activity patterns evolve in real-time.

⚙️ Launch Demo