The graphical engine (VE-Xplorer) provides the core functionality for the virtual engineering aspect of the framework. VE-Xplorer enables the engineering analysis and design process to take place in a virtual environment. For maximum graphical performance on multiple operating systems, it is built upon VR Juggler, OpenGL Performer, and Kitware's Visualization ToolKit. This visual interface, controlled by the UI and the computational engine, is a graphical representation of the simulation under review.

The graphical engine is generalized to load data not only from comprehensive models, but also from other engineering sources, including results generated from the CMU Vision 21 planner software and other generalized datasets (e.g., experimental data from a test rig). The engine is also being modified to make use of the high level CORBA interface specifications used throughout the software framework. This interface allows the visualization engine to communicate directly with the component models, computational engine, and UI. To communicate with the graphical engine there is an external socket connection that is made between individual component models and the respective graphical objects. This connection allows large high fidelity datasets to be transferred to the graphical environment without interrupting the overall communication network.

The graphical engine is also designed to allow graphics objects to be added to the virtual environment just like the objects are added in the GUI. This allows the graphical environment to be a direct representation of the system being designed by the engineer. In much the same way that the GUI auto-discovers the plugins for use by the engineer, the graphical engine also dynamically discovers plugins. Unlike the GUI, the graphical engine is controlled by the network string that is created by the GUI. This represents a significant capability since the graphical engine has no a priori knowledge of the system under interrogation.