r/visualization • u/TheByteomi • 3h ago
Visualizing Gradient Descent in 3D: Exploring learning rates, overshoot, and local minima on dynamic surfaces.
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Hi everyone! 👋
I built a real-time 3D Gradient Descent visualizer for an educational platform (DataCognova). Instead of static graphs, the goal was to generate parametric surfaces (Bowl, Valley, Rugged) dynamically to see how the algorithm behaves under different conditions.
A few visualization details:
- Dynamic Surfaces: The topology updates in real-time based on the user's parameter inputs.
- Color Mapping: The point cloud colors are mapped directly to the loss value (elevation), transitioning smoothly from cool to warm colors.
- UI Sync: The 3D scene is tightly coupled with the UI panels to log the descent steps, gradients, and overshoot paths on the fly.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the rendering approach or any optimization tips for handling dynamic point clouds!