{"671051":{"#nid":"671051","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Machine Learning Animation Tool Takes Best Poster Prize at Visualization Conference","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech researchers have created a machine learning (ML) visualization tool that must be seen to believe.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPh.D. student\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EAlec Helbling\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;is the creator of ManimML, a tool that renders common ML concepts into animation. This development will enable new ML technologies by allowing designers to see and share their work in action.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHelbling presented\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/2306.17108\u0022\u003EManimML\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;at IEEE VIS, the world\u2019s highest-rated conference for visualization research and second-highest rated for computer graphics. It received so much praise at the conference that it won the venue\u2019s prize for best poster.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI was quite surprised and honored to have received this award,\u201d said Helbling, who is advised by School of Computational Science and Engineering Associate Professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EPolo Chau\u003C\/strong\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u201cI didn\u0027t start ManimML with the intention of it becoming a research project, but because I felt like a tool for communicating ML architectures through animation needed to exist.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E[RELATED:\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/three-computing-faculty-receive-google-awards-inclusion-research\u0022\u003EPolo Chau is One of Three College of Computing Faculty to Receive 2023 Google Award for Inclusion Research\u003C\/a\u003E]\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EManimML uses animation to show ML developers how their algorithms work. Not only does the tool allow designers to watch their projects come to life, but they can also explain existing and new ML techniques to broad audiences, including non-experts.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EManimML is an extension of the Manim Community library, a Python tool for animating mathematical concepts. ManimML connects to the library to offer a new capability that animates ML algorithms and architectures.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHelbling chose familiar platforms like Python and Manim to make the tool accessible to large swaths of users varying in skill and experience. Enthusiasts and experts alike can find practical use in ManimML considering today\u2019s widespread interest and application of ML.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe know that animation is an effective means of instruction and learning,\u201d Helbling said. \u201cManimML offers that ability for ML practitioners to easily communicate how their systems work, improving public trust and awareness of machine learning.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EManimML overcomes what has been an elusive approach to visualizing ML algorithms. Current techniques require developers to create custom animations for every specific algorithm, often needing specialized software and experience.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EManimML streamlines this by producing animations of common ML architectures coded in Python, like neural networks.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA user only needs to specify a sequence of neural network layers and their respective hyperparameters. ManimML then constructs an animation of the entire network.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTo use ManimML, you simply need to specify an ML architecture in code, using a syntax familiar to most ML professionals,\u201d Helbling said. \u201cThen it will automatically generate an animation that communicates how the system works.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EManimML ranked as the best poster from a field of 49 total presentations.\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ieeevis.org\/year\/2023\/welcome\u0022\u003EIEEE VIS 2023\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;occurred Oct. 22-27 in Melbourne, Australia. This event marks the first time IEEE held the conference in the Southern Hemisphere.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EManimML has more than 23,000 downloads and a demonstration on social media has hundreds of thousands of views.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EManimML is open source and available at:\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/github.com\/helblazer811\/ManimML\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/github.com\/helblazer811\/ManimML\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPh.D. student\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EAlec Helbling\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;is the creator of ManimML, a tool that renders common ML concepts into animation. This development will enable new ML technologies by allowing designers to see and share their work in action.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHelbling presented\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/2306.17108\u0022\u003EManimML\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;at IEEE VIS, the world\u2019s highest-rated conference for visualization research and second-highest rated for computer graphics. It received so much praise at the conference that it won the venue\u2019s prize for best poster.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Ph.D. student Alec Helbling is the creator of ManimML, an animations tool that won best poster at IEEE VIS 2023"}],"uid":"36319","created_gmt":"2023-11-14 15:21:14","changed_gmt":"2023-11-14 15:25:57","author":"Bryant Wine","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-11-02T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2023-11-02T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"672376":{"id":"672376","type":"image","title":"Alec Helbling.jpg","body":null,"created":"1699975293","gmt_created":"2023-11-14 15:21:33","changed":"1699975293","gmt_changed":"2023-11-14 15:21:33","alt":"Ph.D. student Alec Helbling ManimML","file":{"fid":"255607","name":"Alec Helbling.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/11\/14\/Alec%20Helbling.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/11\/14\/Alec%20Helbling.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":49200,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/11\/14\/Alec%20Helbling.jpg?itok=yn0rRx1J"}}},"media_ids":["672376"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/machine-learning-animation-tool-takes-best-poster-prize-visualization-conference","title":""}],"groups":[{"id":"50877","name":"School of Computational Science and Engineering"},{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"10199","name":"Daily Digest"},{"id":"76231","name":"Computational Science and Engineering"},{"id":"654","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"173555","name":"Center for Machine Learning"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBryant Wine, Communications Officer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nbryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}