Threejs Webgl

Three.js WebGL/WebGPU Development

Overview

Three.js is the industry-standard JavaScript library for creating 3D graphics in web browsers using WebGL and WebGPU. This skill provides comprehensive guidance for building performant, interactive 3D experiences including scenes, cameras, renderers, geometries, materials, lights, textures, and animations.

Core Concepts

Scene Graph Architecture

Three.js uses a hierarchical scene graph where all 3D objects are organized in a tree structure:

Scene
├── Camera
├── Lights
│   ├── AmbientLight
│   ├── DirectionalLight
│   └── PointLight
├── Meshes
│   ├── Mesh (Geometry + Material)
│   └── InstancedMesh
└── Groups

Essential Components

Every Three.js application requires these core elements:

1. Scene: Container for all 3D objects
2. Camera: Defines the viewing perspective
3. Renderer: Draws the scene to canvas (WebGL or WebGPU)
4. Geometry: Defines the shape of objects
5. Material: Defines the surface appearance
6. Mesh: Combines geometry and material

Quick Start Pattern

Basic Scene Setup

import * as THREE from 'three';
import { OrbitControls } from 'three/addons/controls/OrbitControls.js';

// Scene, Camera, Renderer
const scene = new THREE.Scene();
scene.background = new THREE.Color(0x333333);

const camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(
  75, // FOV
  window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight, // Aspect ratio
  0.1, // Near clipping plane
  1000 // Far clipping plane
);
camera.position.set(0, 2, 5);

const renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer({ antialias: true });
renderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);
renderer.setPixelRatio(window.devicePixelRatio);
renderer.shadowMap.enabled = true;
document.body.appendChild(renderer.domElement);

// Lighting
const ambientLight = new THREE.AmbientLight(0xffffff, 0.5);
scene.add(ambientLight);

const directionalLight = new THREE.DirectionalLight(0xffffff, 1);
directionalLight.position.set(5, 10, 7.5);
directionalLight.castShadow = true;
scene.add(directionalLight);

// Controls
const controls = new OrbitControls(camera, renderer.domElement);
controls.enableDamping = true;
controls.dampingFactor = 0.05;

// Animation Loop
function animate() {
  requestAnimationFrame(animate);
  controls.update();
  renderer.render(scene, camera);
}

animate();

// Handle Resize
window.addEventListener('resize', () => {
  camera.aspect = window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight;
  camera.updateProjectionMatrix();
  renderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);
});

WebGPU Setup (Modern Alternative)

import * as THREE from 'three/webgpu';

const renderer = new THREE.WebGPURenderer({ antialias: true });
renderer.setPixelRatio(window.devicePixelRatio);
renderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);
renderer.setAnimationLoop(animate);
renderer.toneMapping = THREE.LinearToneMapping;
renderer.toneMappingExposure = 1;
document.body.appendChild(renderer.domElement);

Common Patterns

1. Creating Meshes with Materials

// Basic Mesh
const geometry = new THREE.BoxGeometry(1, 1, 1);
const material = new THREE.MeshStandardMaterial({
  color: 0x00ff00,
  roughness: 0.5,
  metalness: 0.5
});
const cube = new THREE.Mesh(geometry, material);
scene.add(cube);

// Textured Mesh
const loader = new THREE.TextureLoader();
const texture = loader.load('texture.jpg');
texture.colorSpace = THREE.SRGBColorSpace;

const texturedMaterial = new THREE.MeshStandardMaterial({
  map: texture
});
const mesh = new THREE.Mesh(geometry, texturedMaterial);
scene.add(mesh);

2. Lighting Strategies

// Three-Point Lighting Setup
function setupThreePointLight(scene) {
  // Key Light (Main)
  const keyLight = new THREE.DirectionalLight(0xffffff, 3);
  keyLight.position.set(5, 10, 7.5);
  keyLight.castShadow = true;
  scene.add(keyLight);

  // Fill Light (Softens shadows)
  const fillLight = new THREE.DirectionalLight(0xffffff, 1);
  fillLight.position.set(-5, 5, -5);
  scene.add(fillLight);

  // Rim Light (Edge definition)
  const rimLight = new THREE.DirectionalLight(0xffffff, 0.5);
  rimLight.position.set(0, 5, -10);
  scene.add(rimLight);

  // Ambient (Base illumination)
  const ambient = new THREE.AmbientLight(0x404040, 0.5);
  scene.add(ambient);
}

// Physical Light (Realistic)
const bulbLight = new THREE.PointLight(0xffee88, 1, 100, 2);
bulbLight.power = 1700; // Lumens (100W bulb equivalent)
bulbLight.castShadow = true;
scene.add(bulbLight);

// Hemisphere Light (Sky + Ground)
const hemiLight = new THREE.HemisphereLight(
  0xddeeff, // Sky color
  0x0f0e0d, // Ground color
  0.02
);
scene.add(hemiLight);

3. Instanced Geometry (Performance)

// For rendering thousands of similar objects efficiently
const geometry = new THREE.SphereGeometry(0.1, 16, 16);
const material = new THREE.MeshStandardMaterial({ color: 0xff0000 });
const instancedMesh = new THREE.InstancedMesh(geometry, material, 1000);

const matrix = new THREE.Matrix4();
const color = new THREE.Color();

for (let i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
  matrix.setPosition(
    Math.random() * 10 - 5,
    Math.random() * 10 - 5,
    Math.random() * 10 - 5
  );
  instancedMesh.setMatrixAt(i, matrix);
  instancedMesh.setColorAt(i, color.setHex(Math.random() * 0xffffff));
}

instancedMesh.instanceMatrix.needsUpdate = true;
scene.add(instancedMesh);

4. Loading 3D Models (glTF)

import { GLTFLoader } from 'three/addons/loaders/GLTFLoader.js';
import { DRACOLoader } from 'three/addons/loaders/DRACOLoader.js';

// Setup loaders
const dracoLoader = new DRACOLoader();
dracoLoader.setDecoderPath('/draco/');

const gltfLoader = new GLTFLoader();
gltfLoader.setDRACOLoader(dracoLoader);

// Load model
gltfLoader.load('model.glb', (gltf) => {
  const model = gltf.scene;

  // Enable shadows
  model.traverse((child) => {
    if (child.isMesh) {
      child.castShadow = true;
      child.receiveShadow = true;
    }
  });

  scene.add(model);

  // Handle animations
  if (gltf.animations.length > 0) {
    const mixer = new THREE.AnimationMixer(model);
    const action = mixer.clipAction(gltf.animations[0]);
    action.play();

    // In animation loop:
    // mixer.update(deltaTime);
  }
});

5. Shadow Configuration

// Enable shadows on renderer
renderer.shadowMap.enabled = true;
renderer.shadowMap.type = THREE.PCFSoftShadowMap; // or VSMShadowMap

// Configure light shadows
directionalLight.castShadow = true;
directionalLight.shadow.mapSize.width = 2048;
directionalLight.shadow.mapSize.height = 2048;
directionalLight.shadow.camera.near = 0.5;
directionalLight.shadow.camera.far = 50;
directionalLight.shadow.camera.left = -10;
directionalLight.shadow.camera.right = 10;
directionalLight.shadow.camera.top = 10;
directionalLight.shadow.camera.bottom = -10;
directionalLight.shadow.radius = 4;
directionalLight.shadow.blurSamples = 8;

// Objects casting/receiving shadows
mesh.castShadow = true;
mesh.receiveShadow = true;

6. Raycasting (Interaction)

const raycaster = new THREE.Raycaster();
const mouse = new THREE.Vector2();

function onMouseClick(event) {
  mouse.x = (event.clientX / window.innerWidth) * 2 - 1;
  mouse.y = -(event.clientY / window.innerHeight) * 2 + 1;

  raycaster.setFromCamera(mouse, camera);
  const intersects = raycaster.intersectObjects(scene.children, true);

  if (intersects.length > 0) {
    const object = intersects[0].object;
    object.material.color.set(0xff0000);
  }
}

window.addEventListener('click', onMouseClick);

Integration Patterns

With GSAP for Animation

import gsap from 'gsap';

// Animate camera
gsap.to(camera.position, {
  x: 5,
  y: 3,
  z: 10,
  duration: 2,
  ease: "power2.inOut",
  onUpdate: () => {
    camera.lookAt(scene.position);
  }
});

// Animate mesh properties
gsap.to(mesh.rotation, {
  y: Math.PI * 2,
  duration: 3,
  repeat: -1,
  ease: "none"