Detector description conversion and visualization in Unity for high energy physics experiments

TL;DR

This paper introduces a universal conversion interface that transforms various high-energy physics detector descriptions into FBX format, enabling seamless integration with Unity for advanced visualization, virtual reality, and augmented reality applications.

Contribution

It provides a novel universal interface that converts multiple detector description formats into a standard 3D format compatible with modern visualization platforms.

Findings

Enables integration of HEP detector models into Unity

Facilitates development of VR and AR applications for HEP

Bridges gap between HEP descriptions and industrial visualization

Abstract

While visualization plays a crucial role in high-energy physics (HEP) experiments, the existing detector description formats including Geant4, ROOT, GDML, and DD4hep face compatibility limitations with modern visualization platforms. This paper presents a universal interface that automatically converts these four kinds of detector descriptions into FBX, an industry standard 3D model format which can be seamlessly integrated into advanced visualization platforms like Unity. This method bridges the gap between HEP instrumental display frameworks and industrial-grade visualization ecosystems, enabling HEP experiments to harness rapid technological advancements. Furthermore, it lays the groundwork for the future development of additional HEP visualization applications, such as event display, virtual reality, and augmented reality.