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Home > Data > Data Visualization > Three.js Cookbook
Three.js Cookbook
Three.js Cookbook

Three.js Cookbook: Over 80 shortcuts, solutions, and recipes that allow you to create the most stunning visualizations and 3D scenes using the Three.js library

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Profile Icon Jos Dirksen
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Table of content icon View table of contents Preview book icon Preview Book

Three.js Cookbook

Chapter 2. Geometries and Meshes

In this chapter, we'll cover the following recipes:

  • Rotating an object around its own axis
  • Rotating an object around a point in space
  • Informing Three.js about updates
  • Working with a large number of objects
  • Creating geometries from height maps
  • Pointing an object to another object
  • Writing text in 3D
  • Rendering 3D formulas as 3D geometries
  • Extending Three.js with a custom geometry object
  • Creating a spline curve between two points
  • Creating and exporting a model from Blender
  • Using OBJMTLLoader with multiple materials
  • Applying matrix transformations

Introduction

Three.js comes with a large number of geometries that you can use out of the box. In this chapter, we'll show you some recipes that explain how you can transform these standard geometries. Besides that, we'll also show you how to create your own custom geometries and load geometries from external sources.

Note

You can access all of the example code within all recipes in this cookbook from the GitHub repository created at https://github.com/josdirksen/threejs-cookbook.

Rotating an object around its own axis

There are many ways in which you can change the appearance of a mesh. For example, you can change its position, scale, or material. Often, you'll also need to change the rotation of THREE.Mesh. In this first recipe on rotation, we'll show you the simplest way to rotate an arbitrary mesh.

Getting ready

To rotate a mesh, we first need to create a scene that contains an object you can rotate. For this recipe, we provide an example, 02.01-rotate-around-axis.html, that you can open in your browser. When you open this recipe, you'll see something similar to the following screenshot in your browser:

Getting ready

In this demo, you can see a 3D cube slowly rotating around its axis. Using the control GUI in the upper-right corner, you can change the speed at which the object rotates.

How to do it...

To rotate the cube from this example around its axis like we showed you in the previous screenshot, you have to take a couple of steps:

  1. For the first step in this recipe...

Rotating an object around a point in space

When you rotate an object using its rotate property, the object is rotated around its own center. In some scenarios, though, you might want to rotate an object around a different object. For instance, when modeling the solar system, you want to rotate the moon around the earth. In this recipe, we'll explain how you can set up Three.js objects in such a way that you can rotate them around one another or any point in space.

Getting ready

For this recipe, we've also provided an example you can experiment with. To load this example, just open 02.02-rotate-around-point-in-space.html in a browser. When you open this file, you'll see something similar to the following screenshot:

Getting ready

With the controls on the right-hand side, you can rotate various objects around. By changing the rotationSpeedX, rotationSpeedY, and rotationSpeedZ properties, you can rotate the red box around the center of the sphere.

Tip

To best demonstrate the rotation of an object...

Informing Three.js about updates

If you've worked a bit longer with Three.js, you'll probably have noticed that sometimes, it seems that changes you make to a certain geometry doesn't always result in a change onscreen. This is because for performance reasons, Three.js caches some objects (such as the vertices and faces of a geometry) and doesn't automatically detect updates. For these kinds of changes, you'll have to explicitly inform Three.js that something has changed. In this recipe, we'll show you what properties of a geometry are cached and require explicit notification to Three.js to be updated. These properties are:

  • geometry.vertices
  • geometry.faces
  • geometry.morphTargets
  • geometry.faceVertexUvs
  • geometry.faces[i].normal and geometry.vertices[i].normal
  • geometry.faces[i].color and geometry.vertices[i].color
  • geometry.vertices[i].tangent
  • geometry.lineDistances

Getting ready

An example is available that allows you to change two properties that require an explicit update...

Working with a large number of objects

If you have scenes with large numbers of objects, you will start noticing some performance issues. Each of the meshes you create and add to the scene will need to be managed by Three.js, which will cause slowdowns when you're working with thousands of objects. In this recipe, we'll show you how to merge objects together to improve performance.

Getting ready

There are no additional libraries or resources required to merge objects together. We've prepared an example that shows you the difference in performance when using separate objects compared to a merged object. When you open up the 02.05-handle-large-number-of-object.html example, you can experiment with the different approaches.

You will see something similar to the following screenshot:

Getting ready

In the preceding screenshot, you can see that with a merged object approach, we still get 60 fps when working with 120,000 objects.

How to do it...

Merging objects in Three.js is very easy. The following...

Creating geometries from height maps

With Three.js, it is easy to create your own geometries. For this recipe, we're going to show you how to create your own geometry based on a terrain height map.

Getting ready

To convert a height map into a 3D geometry, we first need to have a height map. In the source files provided with this book, you can find a height map for a portion of the Grand Canyon. The following image shows you what this looks like:

Getting ready

If you're familiar with the Grand Canyon, you'll probably recognize the distinct shape. The final result we'll have at the end of this recipe can be viewed by opening up the 02.06-create-terrain-from-heightmap.html file in your browser. You'll see something similar to the following screenshot:

Getting ready

How to do it...

To create a heightmap-based geometry, you need to perform these steps:

  1. Before we look at the required Three.js code, we first need to load the image and set some properties that determine the final size and height of the...

Introduction

Three.js comes with a large number of geometries that you can use out of the box. In this chapter, we'll show you some recipes that explain how you can transform these standard geometries. Besides that, we'll also show you how to create your own custom geometries and load geometries from external sources.

Note

You can access all of the example code within all recipes in this cookbook from the GitHub repository created at https://github.com/josdirksen/threejs-cookbook.

Rotating an object around its own axis

There are many ways in which you can change the appearance of a mesh. For example, you can change its position, scale, or material. Often, you'll also need to change the rotation of THREE.Mesh. In this first recipe on rotation, we'll show you the simplest way to rotate an arbitrary mesh.

Getting ready

To rotate a mesh, we first need to create a scene that contains an object you can rotate. For this recipe, we provide an example, 02.01-rotate-around-axis.html, that you can open in your browser. When you open this recipe, you'll see something similar to the following screenshot in your browser:

In this demo, you can see a 3D cube slowly rotating around its axis. Using the control GUI in the upper-right corner, you can change the speed at which the object rotates.

How to do it...

To rotate the cube from this example around its axis like we showed you in the previous screenshot, you have to take a couple of steps:

  1. For the first step in this recipe, we'll set...

Rotating an object around a point in space

When you rotate an object using its rotate property, the object is rotated around its own center. In some scenarios, though, you might want to rotate an object around a different object. For instance, when modeling the solar system, you want to rotate the moon around the earth. In this recipe, we'll explain how you can set up Three.js objects in such a way that you can rotate them around one another or any point in space.

Getting ready

For this recipe, we've also provided an example you can experiment with. To load this example, just open 02.02-rotate-around-point-in-space.html in a browser. When you open this file, you'll see something similar to the following screenshot:

With the controls on the right-hand side, you can rotate various objects around. By changing the rotationSpeedX, rotationSpeedY, and rotationSpeedZ properties, you can rotate the red box around the center of the sphere.

Tip

To best demonstrate the rotation of an object around another...

Informing Three.js about updates

If you've worked a bit longer with Three.js, you'll probably have noticed that sometimes, it seems that changes you make to a certain geometry doesn't always result in a change onscreen. This is because for performance reasons, Three.js caches some objects (such as the vertices and faces of a geometry) and doesn't automatically detect updates. For these kinds of changes, you'll have to explicitly inform Three.js that something has changed. In this recipe, we'll show you what properties of a geometry are cached and require explicit notification to Three.js to be updated. These properties are:

  • geometry.vertices

  • geometry.faces

  • geometry.morphTargets

  • geometry.faceVertexUvs

  • geometry.faces[i].normal and geometry.vertices[i].normal

  • geometry.faces[i].color and geometry.vertices[i].color

  • geometry.vertices[i].tangent

  • geometry.lineDistances

Getting ready

An example is available that allows you to change two properties that require an explicit update: face colors...

Working with a large number of objects

If you have scenes with large numbers of objects, you will start noticing some performance issues. Each of the meshes you create and add to the scene will need to be managed by Three.js, which will cause slowdowns when you're working with thousands of objects. In this recipe, we'll show you how to merge objects together to improve performance.

Getting ready

There are no additional libraries or resources required to merge objects together. We've prepared an example that shows you the difference in performance when using separate objects compared to a merged object. When you open up the 02.05-handle-large-number-of-object.html example, you can experiment with the different approaches.

You will see something similar to the following screenshot:

In the preceding screenshot, you can see that with a merged object approach, we still get 60 fps when working with 120,000 objects.

How to do it...

Merging objects in Three.js is very easy. The following code snippet...

Creating geometries from height maps

With Three.js, it is easy to create your own geometries. For this recipe, we're going to show you how to create your own geometry based on a terrain height map.

Getting ready

To convert a height map into a 3D geometry, we first need to have a height map. In the source files provided with this book, you can find a height map for a portion of the Grand Canyon. The following image shows you what this looks like:

If you're familiar with the Grand Canyon, you'll probably recognize the distinct shape. The final result we'll have at the end of this recipe can be viewed by opening up the 02.06-create-terrain-from-heightmap.html file in your browser. You'll see something similar to the following screenshot:

How to do it...

To create a heightmap-based geometry, you need to perform these steps:

  1. Before we look at the required Three.js code, we first need to load the image and set some properties that determine the final size and height of the geometry. This can be done...

Pointing an object to another object

A common requirement for many games is that cameras and other objects follow each other or be aligned to one another. Three.js has standard support for this using the lookAt function. In this recipe, you'll learn how you can use the lookAt function to point an object to look at another object.

Getting ready

The example for this recipe can be found in the sources for this book. If you open 02.07-point-object-to-another.html in your browser, you see something similar to the following screenshot:

With the menu, you can point the large blue rectangle to look at any of the other meshes in the scene.

How to do it...

Creating the lookAt functionality is actually very simple. When you add THREE.Mesh to the scene, you can just call its lookAt function and point it to the position it should turn to. For the example provided for this recipe, this is done as follows:

  control = new function() {
    this.lookAtCube = function() {
      cube.lookAt(boxMesh.position);
 ...

Writing text in 3D

A cool feature of Three.js is that it allows you to write text in 3D. With a couple of simple steps, you can use any text, even with font support, as a 3D object in your scene. This recipe shows you how to create 3D text and explains the different configuration options available to style the result.

Getting ready

To work with 3D text, we need to include some additional JavaScript in our pages. Three.js provides a number of fonts you can use, and they are provided as individual JavaScript files. To add all the available fonts, include the following scripts:

  <script src="../assets/fonts/gentilis_bold.typeface.js">
  </script>
  <script src="../assets/fonts/gentilis_regular.typeface.js">
  </script>
  <script src="../assets/fonts/optimer_bold.typeface.js"></script>
  <script src="../assets/fonts/optimer_regular.typeface.js">
  </script>
  <script src="../assets/fonts/helvetiker_bold.typeface.js">
  </script>
  &lt...
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Description

This book is ideal for anyone who already knows JavaScript and would like to get a broad understanding of Three.js quickly, or for those of you who have a basic grasp of using Three.js but want to really make an impact with your 3D visualizations by learning its advanced features. To apply the recipes in this book you don’t need to know anything about WebGL; all you need is some general knowledge about JavaScript and HTML.

What you will learn

  • Create a standard HTML skeleton and advanced features such as keyboard controls, drag and drop support, WebGL detection, and loading resources
  • Build and transform Three.js geometries using simple properties and advanced matrix transformations
  • Enhance the look of your scene using Three.js materials, texture maps, and dynamic textures
  • Apply realistic lighting and shadows to the 3D objects you have created
  • Animate particle systems created from scratch or from existing geometries
  • Work with animations, advanced physics, and collision detection

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Jan 30, 2015
Length: 300 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781783981199
Category :
Data
Languages :
JavaScript
Concepts :
Data Visualization
Tools :
Three.js

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Publication date : Jan 30, 2015
Length: 300 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781783981199
Category :
Data
Languages :
JavaScript
Concepts :
Data Visualization
Tools :
Three.js

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Table of Contents

8 Chapters
1. Getting Started Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
1. Getting Started
Introduction
Getting started with the WebGL renderer
Getting started with the Canvas renderer
Getting started with the CSS 3D renderer
Detecting WebGL support
Setting up an animation loop
Determining the frame rate for your scene
Controlling the variables used in the scene
Setting up a local web server with Python
Setting up a local web server with Node.js
Setting up a local web server using Mongoose
Solving cross-origin-domain error messages in Chrome
Solving cross-origin-domain error messages in Firefox
Adding keyboard controls
Loading textures asynchronously
Loading models asynchronously
Loading models asynchronously with progress
Loading other resources asynchronously with progress
Waiting until resources are loaded
Dragging a file from the desktop to the scene
2. Geometries and Meshes Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Geometries and Meshes
Introduction
Rotating an object around its own axis
Rotating an object around a point in space
Informing Three.js about updates
Working with a large number of objects
Creating geometries from height maps
Pointing an object to another object
Writing text in 3D
Rendering 3D formulas as 3D geometries
Extending Three.js with a custom geometry object
Creating a spline curve between two points
Creating and exporting a model from Blender
Using OBJMTLLoader with multiple materials
Applying matrix transformations
3. Working with the Camera Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Working with the Camera
Introduction
Making the camera follow an object
Zooming the camera to an object
Using a perspective camera
Using an orthographic camera
Creating a 2D overlay
Rotating the camera around a scene
Matching the rendered view to a resized browser
Converting world coordinates to screen coordinates
Selecting an object in the scene
4. Materials and Textures Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Materials and Textures
Introduction
Adding depth to a mesh with a bump map
Adding depth to a mesh with a normal map
Using HTML canvas as a texture
Using HTML video as a texture
Creating a mesh with multiple materials
Using separate materials for faces
Setting up repeating textures
Making part of an object transparent
Using a cubemap to create reflective materials
Using a dynamic cubemap to create reflective materials
Using Blender to create custom UV mapping
Configuring blend modes
Using a shadow map for fixed shadows
5. Lights and Custom Shaders Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Lights and Custom Shaders
Introduction
Creating shadows with THREE.SpotLight
Creating shadows with THREE.DirectionalLight
Softening lights by adding ambient lighting
Using THREE.HemisphereLight for natural lighting
Adding a moving all-directional light
Moving a light source along a path
Making a light source follow an object
Creating a custom vertex shader
Creating a custom fragment shader
6. Point Clouds and Postprocessing Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Point Clouds and Postprocessing
Introduction
Creating a point cloud based on a geometry
Creating a point cloud from scratch
Coloring the individual points in a point cloud
Styling individual points
Moving individual points of a point cloud
Exploding a point cloud
Setting up the basic postprocessing pipeline
Creating custom postprocessing steps
Saving WebGL output to disk
7. Animation and Physics Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Animation and Physics
Introduction
Creating animations with Tween.js
Animating using morph targets
Animating with skeletons
Using morph animations created in Blender
Using skeleton animations created in Blender
Adding a simple collision detection
Saving a movie of an animation in Chrome
Dragging and dropping objects around a scene
Adding a physics engine
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index

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Michael Jun 16, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
This is the 3rd book on Three.js by this author. When I used it was the most recent but I see there is another one now. This publisher has several formats for books. The author has been basically working his way threw the formats for the same subject. This is not bad. I suspect that each version is an improvement over the last one. This book was fairly well polished and obviously not the first one on the subject by this author.I rather liked this format. I needed quick well targeted examples to complete a school project. I found them in this book and took many code snippets (properly credited of course).All the examples however assume that there is nothing on the page but the canvas that is running WebGL/Three.js. I needed just a window and had other text on the page to document my project. I looked several places and could not find a solution. I wrote the author about this omission. In a couple of days he gave me back the example that I needed. I had been making the problem much more complicated than necessary. I hope he included it in his next installment.Again, I rather like the cookbook format and will look for them again from this publisher.
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Keith Hoffman Mar 03, 2016
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Awesome book! Anyone using Javascript wanting 3D technology to be their next step must have this book.
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Pravin Asar May 08, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
In the book “Three.js Cookbook”, I found the organization and gradual progression from basics such as getting started to more advanced recipes for development; such as geometries, meshes, camera and lights, animation, etc.; using Three.js library very useful. No doubt Three.js is wonderful and reduces a steep learning curve with WebGL. Some of those who (includes myself) did graphics programming using OpenGL, will definitely appreciate the Three.js library.This books assumes, you have background in some background in Three.JS and WebGL. If you are looking to learn Three.JS, please read comprehensive guide "Learning Three.js: The JavaScript 3D Library for WebGL".In e-book I reviewed, I found many nice colorful illustrations and example code. Best of all, code examples I downloaded, each one works well.You can do some interactions (such as camera, lights, animation examples, etc.) with these examples. The examples themselves usually provide widgets that allow to change scene parameters and see what happens.You'll quickly learn how to perform some common tasks using these recipes. Each "recipe" exposes you to solve a particular problem or help you learn a new facet of Three.js. The gradual built-up of each "recipe" leads to another that can build on it. Ultimately combination of these recipes can help you build production ready applications.Overall, the book has met my expectations, could serve as reference as how-to guide. Has plenty of information, to dive right into real world WebGL development with Three.js.Mastering graphics API is not always easy, but I would say this book provides good head start. Many many solutions, tips and recipes
Amazon Verified review Amazon
CCrum Nov 20, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
An excellent supplement to other works by this author.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Hammink John Feb 08, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
My original review was not early as glowing as my update now is! There would appear to be some missing instructions at the beginning of the book that one must do to get the examples running (copying /libs directory, updating path/ensuring webGL compatibility of browser) that might seem pretty obvious to people who do JS everyday, but to those of us occasional coders who want to get up and running quickly with the code this can be time consuming and frustrating.Other than that, it's pretty easy and fun to test the examples prior to jumping in the code and starting to play with them, adjust parameters, etc. These suggestions would enable alot of us to pick up stuff quickly by immersion.Great effort!
Amazon Verified review Amazon

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About the author

Profile icon Jos Dirksen
Jos Dirksen
Jos Dirksen has worked as a software developer and architect for more than a decade. He has a lot of experience in a large range of technologies, ranging from backend technologies, such as Java and Scala, to frontend development using HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. Besides working with these technologies, Jos also regularly speaks at conferences and likes to write about new and interesting technologies on his blog. He also likes to experiment with new technologies and see how they can best be used to create beautiful data visualizations. He is currently working as a freelance full-stack engineer on various Scala and JavaScript project. Previously, Jos has worked in many different roles in the private and public sectors, ranging from private companies such as ING, ASML, Malmberg, and Philips to organizations in the public sector, such as the Department of Defense.
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