Remote rendering solutions using web technologies

Remote rendering is a well-known solution to the issue of running high-performance applications requiring complex visualizations on less capable hardware/software platforms or when client access to the data source for visualization is undesired or prohibitive in terms of required bandwidth. Visualizing the output of these remote rendering applications is typically achieved through native applications or, when considering a browser environment, through plug-ins. In this paper, several solutions are presented that enable deployment of these applications on standard web browsers, even those from the pre-HTML5 era. The focus in this paper is on two specific use case scenarios, taking into account that the proposed solutions are generic enough to be applied to a range of similar applications. The technologies presented cover the entire range of sub-processes contained in a complete remote rendering solution, such as the establishment of interaction feedback channels and delivery of images as part of the rendering pipeline. Depending on factors such as application requirements, developer preferences, feature availability in the web browser or raw performance figures, a custom solution can be composed from the options discussed in this paper. This is illustrated by applying them to the two aforementioned use cases, each with specific requirements and challenges, and benchmarking these example setups in terms of performance. A comparison of advantages and disadvantages is presented to guide developers in applying the technologies under real-life conditions.