DimenFix–t-SNE: Fixed-dimension t-SNE for Visual Cluster Analysis

Master Thesis (2025)
Author(s)

Z. Han (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)

Contributor(s)

Thomas Höllt – Mentor (TU Delft - Computer Graphics and Visualisation)

JH Krijthe – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Pattern Recognition and Bioinformatics)

Fernando Paulovich – Graduation committee member (Eindhoven University of Technology)

Faculty
Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
More Info
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Publication Year
2025
Language
English
Graduation Date
15-07-2025
Awarding Institution
Delft University of Technology
Programme
['Computer Science']
Faculty
Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
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Abstract

Dimensionality reduction (DR) algorithms have been proven useful in various tasks when it comes to exploring high-dimensional data. Being one of the most used DR techniques, t-SNE is often valued for its ability to map nonlinear manifolds and preserving local structures. However, t-SNE produces anonymous axes which lack interpretability. To enhance the interpretability of t-SNE, this work proposes DimenFix-t-SNE, an extension of the existing meta-strategy DimenFix. DimenFix-t-SNE implements DimenFix using t-SNE, explicitly preserving the selected input feature in one of t-SNE's output dimensions. We generalize upon DimenFix by introducing individual ranges for every point and allowing more user control on the "pushing" process. For fixing nominal features in particular, we develop a new pushing mode Rescale, as well as an ordering method for the feature along the fixed axis. The extended method also supports traceable switching between features on the fixed axis, adding to the interactive component. Finally, we implement and test the algorithm as a plugin for ManiVault, providing an interactive and explainable visual analytics tool for high-dimensional data.

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