Interactive visualization is a general term that applies to the rendering of data that may vary dynamically and allowing a user to view the data from multiple perspectives. The applications areas may vary significantly, ranging from the visualization of the flow patterns in fluid dynamics to specific computer aided design applications.^[15] The data rendered may correspond to specific visual scenes that change as the user interacts with the system, e.g. simulators such as flight simulators make extensive use of CGI techniques for representing the world.^[16]

At the abstract level an interactive visualization process involves a 'data pipeline in which the raw data is managed and filtered to a form that makes it suitable for rendering. This is often called the "visualization data". The visualization data is then mapped to a "visualization representation" that can be fed to a rendering system. This is usually called a "renderable representation". This representation is then rendered as a displayable image.^[16] As the user interacts with the system, e.g. by using joystick controls to change their position within the virtual world, the raw data is fed through the pipeline to create a new rendered image, often making real-time computational efficiency a key consideration in such applications.^[16][17]