v0.3 Visible Parity

This audit classifies visible v0.3-era capabilities for the v0.4 release candidate. It does not promise source or ABI compatibility with v0.3. The active v0.4 API is the C scene/app path, the Python import datoviz as dvz path with NumPy array uploads, and the exact-call datoviz.raw binding for exact C calls. High-level Python plotting belongs above Datoviz in GSP/VisPy2.

Status values:

• fixed: covered by the v0.4 scene/app surface, examples, tests, or public docs.
• experimental: active v0.4 surface, but not required as a v0.3 visible parity blocker.
• deferred: intentionally not part of the v0.4 release surface.
• external/GSP: owned by GSP, VisPy2, Matplotlib, or an application layer above Datoviz.

Visible capability	Disposition	v0.4 route	Notes
Retained scene, figure, panel, and visual workflow	fixed	dvz_scene(), dvz_figure(), panels, retained visuals	The API is redesigned; parity is behavioral, not source-compatible.
Native GLFW/app presentation	fixed	App/view runtime and examples/c/runtime/app_glfw.c	Datoviz-owned presentation remains in the runtime foundation.
Offscreen rendering and PNG/screenshot capture	fixed	DvzView/canvas capture and examples/c/runtime/offscreen_capture.c	v0.4 capture contract is sRGB RGBA8. Linear f16/f32 scientific readback is deferred.
Frame callbacks and timer animation	fixed	callback/timer examples and portable scenario frame callbacks	Browser/WASM support is limited to the promoted experimental subset.
Multi-panel figures, linked panels, and panel backgrounds	fixed	panel grid/multi/link/background examples	Dense dashboards and high-level layout authoring remain above the core renderer.
Panzoom controller	fixed	dvz_panzoom() and panzoom examples	Native path is supported; WebGPU follows the promoted live-route subset.
Arcball, fly, and turntable controllers	fixed	controller examples	Native path is release-facing; browser parity is experimental.
2D axes, ticks, labels, and plot-like scientific composition	fixed	axes, axis-label, scientific-plotting, and linked-panel examples	Scene-managed nonlinear/geographic transforms are deferred; CPU pre-projection is the supported pattern.
Text blocks and annotations	fixed	semantic text, glyph lowering, annotation/readout examples	Complex shaping, glyph/text picking, and broader world/data placement remain deferred.
Color maps, scales, colorbars, and categorical legends	fixed	sampled-field, colorbar, colormap-scale, and legend examples	First release slice is active; richer shared layout and query payloads remain follow-up work.
Scale bars, guide lines/spans, overlays, and readouts	fixed	scale-bar, guide, overlay, and probe-label examples	These are v0.4 semantic/composite routes, not restored v0.3 helper APIs.
Point visual	fixed	dvz_point() and point examples	RGBA8 and continuous-scale scalar color are active. Scalar-to-diameter mapping, shifts, and richer selection styling are deferred.
Pixel visual	fixed	dvz_pixel() and pixel examples	RGBA8 and continuous-scale scalar color are active. Data-space pixel sizing is deferred.
Marker visual and marker symbols	fixed	dvz_marker() plus built-in symbol ids	Built-in code-SDF vocabulary covers the v0.3 marker set plus target; exact SDF picking and atlas variants remain deferred.
Primitive/basic visual	fixed	dvz_primitive()	v0.3 basic is renamed and narrowed as a low-level primitive family.
Segment and path visuals	fixed	dvz_segment(), dvz_path(), path join/curve examples	Dashes, arrow caps, closed-path API, and richer path/span picking are deferred.
Vector visual	fixed	dvz_vector() and wind/vector examples	Independent head dimensions and scalar styling are deferred.
Image visual and 2D sampled fields	fixed	dvz_image(), DvzSampledField, image probe examples	Tiled/LOD image policy and richer probe payloads are deferred.
Mesh, textured mesh, material mesh, and OBJ loading	fixed	dvz_mesh(), material/textured mesh examples, OBJ loading	Face/region picking, full PBR, and a broader public geometry-resource API remain deferred.
Sphere visual	fixed	dvz_sphere() and sphere examples	Texture variants and per-item PBR are deferred.
Volume visual and 3D sampled fields	fixed	dvz_volume(), volume, volume-occlusion, and brain-volume examples	Slice/MIP/composite paths are active. Isosurfaces, MPR, categorical label volumes, and DVR/MIP ray-hit picking are deferred.
Picking, selection, image probing, and readback	fixed	unified query API, picking/selection/probe examples	First broad item/sample paths are active. Rich mesh face, text/glyph, path/span, and volume ray identities are deferred.
Retained data updates, partial updates, transforms, and visibility	fixed	update, partial-update, transform, and visibility examples	Broader span/group source APIs remain future work unless a family documents support.
Raster video export	fixed	app capture API and native video-export example	CPU-readback capture is release-facing when an encoder is available; external-memory/NVENC capture remains advanced and platform-specific.
Scene compute and compute-to-render particles	experimental	experimental compute+graphics slice	Active as a v0.4 feature, not a v0.3 visible parity requirement.
WebGPU/WASM browser rendering	experimental	experimental WebGPU subset	The browser route is promoted for selected examples but is not native Vulkan parity.
DRP2/DVZR command streams, fixtures, and replay	experimental	advanced/unstable contributor surface	Useful for runtime authors; not a v0.3 user-facing parity requirement.
Error bars, box plots, statistical plotting helpers, and high-level trace APIs	external/GSP	compose from primitives or use GSP/VisPy2	Datoviz may expose low-level visuals/composites, but statistical plotting policy belongs above the renderer.
Old object-oriented Python plotting API	external/GSP	GSP/VisPy2	Datoviz v0.4 does not recreate the v0.3 Python API.
Publication-quality PDF/SVG/vector export	external/GSP	GSP/Matplotlib	Datoviz owns interactive GPU rendering and raster capture.
Notebook, dashboard, napari, and application workflows	external/GSP	GSP/VisPy2/application integrations	Datoviz should provide backend and hosting capabilities, not high-level workflow APIs.
Custom visual/render shader replacement and hot reload	deferred	future custom visual/provider route	Built-in shader ABI is internal for v0.4.
Scene-managed nonlinear/geographic coordinate transforms	deferred	CPU pre-projection before upload	The renderer accepts ordinary uploaded positions; domain transforms belong in a future scene/GSP layer.

For implementation-level gaps by family, see Visual families. The implementation-facing scene API snapshot lives in spec/scene/api/API_IMPLEMENTATION_READINESS.md.