Search icon CANCEL
Subscription
0
Cart icon
Your Cart (0 item)
Close icon
You have no products in your basket yet
Arrow left icon
Explore Products
Best Sellers
New Releases
Books
Videos
Audiobooks
Learning Hub
Conferences
Free Learning
Arrow right icon
Learning Three.js: The JavaScript 3D Library for WebGL - Second Edition
Learning Three.js: The JavaScript 3D Library for WebGL - Second Edition

Learning Three.js: The JavaScript 3D Library for WebGL - Second Edition: Create stunning 3D graphics in your browser using the Three.js JavaScript library

eBook
$9.99 $43.99
Paperback
$54.99
Subscription
Free Trial
Renews at $19.99p/m

What do you get with a Packt Subscription?

Free for first 7 days. $19.99 p/m after that. Cancel any time!
Product feature icon Unlimited ad-free access to the largest independent learning library in tech. Access this title and thousands more!
Product feature icon 50+ new titles added per month, including many first-to-market concepts and exclusive early access to books as they are being written.
Product feature icon Innovative learning tools, including AI book assistants, code context explainers, and text-to-speech.
Product feature icon Thousands of reference materials covering every tech concept you need to stay up to date.
Subscribe now
View plans & pricing
Table of content icon View table of contents Preview book icon Preview Book

Learning Three.js: The JavaScript 3D Library for WebGL - Second Edition

Chapter 2. Basic Components That Make Up a Three.js Scene

In the previous chapter, you learned the basics of Three.js. We showed a couple of examples, and you created your first complete Three.js scene. In this chapter, we'll dive a bit deeper into Three.js and explain the basic components that make up a Three.js scene. In this chapter, you'll explore the following topics:

  • The components that are used in a Three.js scene
  • What you can do with the THREE.Scene object
  • How geometries and meshes are related
  • The difference between the orthographic and perspective cameras

We start with looking at how you can create a scene and add objects.

Creating a scene

In the previous chapter, you created THREE.Scene, so you already know the basics of Three.js. We saw that for a scene to show anything, we need three types of components:

Component

Description

Camera

This determines what is rendered on the screen.

Lights

These have an effect on how materials are shown and used when creating shadow effects (discussed in detail in Chapter 3, Working with the Different Light Sources Available in Three.js).

Objects

These are the main objects that are rendered from the perspective of the camera: cubes, spheres, and the like.

THREE.Scene serves as the container for all these different objects. This object itself doesn't have that many options and functions.

Note

THREE.Scene is a structure that is sometimes also called a scene graph. A scene graph is a structure that can hold all necessary information of a graphical scene. In Three.js, this means that THREE.Scene contains all the objects, lights, and other objects necessary for rendering...

Geometries and meshes

In each of the examples until now, you've seen geometries and meshes being used. For instance, to add a sphere to the scene, we did the following:

var sphereGeometry = new THREE.SphereGeometry(4,20,20);
var sphereMaterial = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({color: 0x7777ff);
var sphere = new THREE.Mesh(sphereGeometry,sphereMaterial);

We defined the shape of the object and its geometry (THREE.SphereGeometry), we defined what this object looks like (THREE.MeshBasicMaterial) and its material, and we combined these two in a mesh (THREE.Mesh) that can be added to a scene. In this section, we'll take a closer look at what a geometry is and what a mesh is. We'll start with the geometry.

The properties and functions of a geometry

Three.js comes with a large set of geometries out of the box that you can use in your 3D scene. Just add a material, create a mesh, and you're pretty much done. The following screenshot, from example 04-geometries, shows a couple of the...

Different cameras for different uses

There are two different camera types in Three.js: the orthographic camera and the perspective camera. In Chapter 3, Working with the Different Light Sources Available in Three.js, we'll have a much more detailed look at how to work with these cameras, so in this chapter, I'll stick to the basics. The best way to explain the differences between these cameras is by looking at a couple of examples.

Orthographic camera versus perspective camera

In the examples for this chapter, you can find a demo called 07-both-cameras.html. When you open this example, you'll see something like this:

Orthographic camera versus perspective camera

This is called a perspective view and is the most natural view. As you can see from this figure, the farther away the cubes are from the camera, the smaller they are rendered.

If we change the camera to the other type supported by Three.js, the orthographic camera, you'll see the following view of the same scene:

Orthographic camera versus perspective camera

With the orthographic camera, all the cubes are...

Summary

We discussed a lot of items in this second introduction chapter. We showed all the functions and properties of THREE.Scene and explained how you can use these properties to configure your main scene. We also showed you how you can create geometries. You can either create them from scratch using a THREE.Geometry object or use any of the built-in geometries Three.js provides. Finally, we showed you how you can configure the two cameras Three.js provides. THREE.PerspectiveCamera renders a scene using a real-world perspective, and THREE.OrthographicCamera provides a fake 3D effect also often seen in games. We've also introduced how geometries work in Three.js. You can now easily create your own geometries.

In the next chapter, we'll look at the various light sources that are available in Three.js. You'll learn how the various light sources behave, how to create and configure them, and how they affect specific materials.

Left arrow icon Right arrow icon

Description

If you know JavaScript and want to start creating 3D graphics that run in any browser, this book is a great choice for you. You don't need to know anything about math or WebGL; all that you need is general knowledge of JavaScript and HTML.

What you will learn

  • Use the different geometries that are provided by Three.js
  • Apply realistic lighting and shadows to the 3D objects you have created
  • Use the different camera controls provided by Three.js to effortlessly navigate around your 3D scene
  • Make use of advanced textures on materials to create realisticlooking 3D objects by using bump maps, normal maps, specular maps, and light maps
  • Import and animate models from external formats, such as OBJ, STL, Collada, and many more
  • Create and run animations using morph targets and bone animations
  • Explore the Physijs JavaScript library to apply physics to your 3D objects
  • Interact directly with WebGL by creating custom vertex and fragment shaders

Product Details

Country selected
Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Mar 31, 2015
Length: 422 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781784392215
Category :
Languages :
Tools :

What do you get with a Packt Subscription?

Free for first 7 days. $19.99 p/m after that. Cancel any time!
Product feature icon Unlimited ad-free access to the largest independent learning library in tech. Access this title and thousands more!
Product feature icon 50+ new titles added per month, including many first-to-market concepts and exclusive early access to books as they are being written.
Product feature icon Innovative learning tools, including AI book assistants, code context explainers, and text-to-speech.
Product feature icon Thousands of reference materials covering every tech concept you need to stay up to date.
Subscribe now
View plans & pricing

Product Details

Publication date : Mar 31, 2015
Length: 422 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781784392215
Category :
Languages :
Tools :

Packt Subscriptions

See our plans and pricing
Modal Close icon
$19.99 billed monthly
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Simple pricing, no contract
$199.99 billed annually
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Choose a DRM-free eBook or Video every month to keep
Feature tick icon PLUS own as many other DRM-free eBooks or Videos as you like for just $5 each
Feature tick icon Exclusive print discounts
$279.99 billed in 18 months
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Choose a DRM-free eBook or Video every month to keep
Feature tick icon PLUS own as many other DRM-free eBooks or Videos as you like for just $5 each
Feature tick icon Exclusive print discounts

Frequently bought together


Stars icon
Total $ 142.97
Game Development with Three.js
$32.99
Learning Three.js: The JavaScript 3D Library for WebGL - Second Edition
$54.99
Three.js Cookbook
$54.99
Total $ 142.97 Stars icon
Banner background image

Table of Contents

13 Chapters
1. Creating Your First 3D Scene with Three.js Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Basic Components That Make Up a Three.js Scene Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Working with the Different Light Sources Available in Three.js Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Working with Three.js Materials Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Learning to Work with Geometries Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Advanced Geometries and Binary Operations Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Particles, Sprites, and the Point Cloud Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Creating and Loading Advanced Meshes and Geometries Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. Animations and Moving the Camera Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
10. Loading and Working with Textures Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
11. Custom Shaders and Render Postprocessing Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
12. Adding Physics and Sounds to Your Scene Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Top Reviews
Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.4
(14 Ratings)
5 star 71.4%
4 star 14.3%
3 star 7.1%
2 star 0%
1 star 7.1%
Filter icon Filter
Top Reviews

Filter reviews by




christian sasso May 22, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
It is amazing how much one can do by simply reading the first 2 or 3 chapters: part of it is because THREE.js is a great little library, and in part the author deserves credit for his clear and concise explanations. This is a fast moving world and some of the examples raise warning in the console of modern browsers: what one has to go is perform the usual googling that is part of the daily rituals of every software engineer, so I am not lowering my stars because of that: I think that this book is as good as a book can be nowadays that technology moves at its pretty reckless pace.I am not affiliated with the author and did buy this book with my own hard earned money.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
August Bollinger Jun 28, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
This book covers everything you will need to get started using Three.js and more. It's written well, with easy to understand phrasing, and in a way that is educational. My favorite chapter was Chapter 3: Working with the Different Light Sources Available in Three.js.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Tina Z Jun 10, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Love this book! It is very easy to follow and the examples can be applied directly which allowed me to create stunning 3D graphics using JavaScript in an effortless way. And it also shows cool things like how to use the HTML5 video and canvas elements as a material for 3D objects and how to add physics such as gravity and collision detection to the scene etc. Highly recommend it!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Marcus Jul 14, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
It's an excellent book for getting started. The author has a lot of examples that you can work on without any installation whatsoever. My only advice is to brush up on Linear Alegbra if you want to have a full understanding of the content. If you are looking to get down to business and start programming right away this is a good book to get you going.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Keith Hoffman Mar 03, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Great Resource! Helps tremendously...
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Get free access to Packt library with over 7500+ books and video courses for 7 days!
Start Free Trial

FAQs

What is included in a Packt subscription? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

A subscription provides you with full access to view all Packt and licnesed content online, this includes exclusive access to Early Access titles. Depending on the tier chosen you can also earn credits and discounts to use for owning content

How can I cancel my subscription? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

To cancel your subscription with us simply go to the account page - found in the top right of the page or at https://subscription.packtpub.com/my-account/subscription - From here you will see the ‘cancel subscription’ button in the grey box with your subscription information in.

What are credits? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Credits can be earned from reading 40 section of any title within the payment cycle - a month starting from the day of subscription payment. You also earn a Credit every month if you subscribe to our annual or 18 month plans. Credits can be used to buy books DRM free, the same way that you would pay for a book. Your credits can be found in the subscription homepage - subscription.packtpub.com - clicking on ‘the my’ library dropdown and selecting ‘credits’.

What happens if an Early Access Course is cancelled? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Projects are rarely cancelled, but sometimes it's unavoidable. If an Early Access course is cancelled or excessively delayed, you can exchange your purchase for another course. For further details, please contact us here.

Where can I send feedback about an Early Access title? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

If you have any feedback about the product you're reading, or Early Access in general, then please fill out a contact form here and we'll make sure the feedback gets to the right team. 

Can I download the code files for Early Access titles? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

We try to ensure that all books in Early Access have code available to use, download, and fork on GitHub. This helps us be more agile in the development of the book, and helps keep the often changing code base of new versions and new technologies as up to date as possible. Unfortunately, however, there will be rare cases when it is not possible for us to have downloadable code samples available until publication.

When we publish the book, the code files will also be available to download from the Packt website.

How accurate is the publication date? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

The publication date is as accurate as we can be at any point in the project. Unfortunately, delays can happen. Often those delays are out of our control, such as changes to the technology code base or delays in the tech release. We do our best to give you an accurate estimate of the publication date at any given time, and as more chapters are delivered, the more accurate the delivery date will become.

How will I know when new chapters are ready? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

We'll let you know every time there has been an update to a course that you've bought in Early Access. You'll get an email to let you know there has been a new chapter, or a change to a previous chapter. The new chapters are automatically added to your account, so you can also check back there any time you're ready and download or read them online.

I am a Packt subscriber, do I get Early Access? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Yes, all Early Access content is fully available through your subscription. You will need to have a paid for or active trial subscription in order to access all titles.

How is Early Access delivered? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Early Access is currently only available as a PDF or through our online reader. As we make changes or add new chapters, the files in your Packt account will be updated so you can download them again or view them online immediately.

How do I buy Early Access content? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Early Access is a way of us getting our content to you quicker, but the method of buying the Early Access course is still the same. Just find the course you want to buy, go through the check-out steps, and you’ll get a confirmation email from us with information and a link to the relevant Early Access courses.

What is Early Access? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Keeping up to date with the latest technology is difficult; new versions, new frameworks, new techniques. This feature gives you a head-start to our content, as it's being created. With Early Access you'll receive each chapter as it's written, and get regular updates throughout the product's development, as well as the final course as soon as it's ready.We created Early Access as a means of giving you the information you need, as soon as it's available. As we go through the process of developing a course, 99% of it can be ready but we can't publish until that last 1% falls in to place. Early Access helps to unlock the potential of our content early, to help you start your learning when you need it most. You not only get access to every chapter as it's delivered, edited, and updated, but you'll also get the finalized, DRM-free product to download in any format you want when it's published. As a member of Packt, you'll also be eligible for our exclusive offers, including a free course every day, and discounts on new and popular titles.