Book Image

Real-Time 3D Graphics with WebGL 2 - Second Edition

By : Farhad Ghayour, Diego Cantor
5 (1)
Book Image

Real-Time 3D Graphics with WebGL 2 - Second Edition

5 (1)
By: Farhad Ghayour, Diego Cantor

Overview of this book

As highly interactive applications have become an increasingly important part of the user experience, WebGL is a unique and cutting-edge technology that brings hardware-accelerated 3D graphics to the web. Packed with 80+ examples, this book guides readers through the landscape of real-time computer graphics using WebGL 2. Each chapter covers foundational concepts in 3D graphics programming with various implementations. Topics are always associated with exercises for a hands-on approach to learning. This book presents a clear roadmap to learning real-time 3D computer graphics with WebGL 2. Each chapter starts with a summary of the learning goals for the chapter, followed by a detailed description of each topic. The book offers example-rich, up-to-date introductions to a wide range of essential 3D computer graphics topics, including rendering, colors, textures, transformations, framebuffers, lights, surfaces, blending, geometry construction, advanced techniques, and more. With each chapter, you will "level up" your 3D graphics programming skills. This book will become your trustworthy companion in developing highly interactive 3D web applications with WebGL and JavaScript.
Table of Contents (14 chapters)

Time for Action: Culling

Let's cover an example showcasing culling in action:

  1. Open the ch06_10_culling.html file in your browser.
  2. You will see that the interface is similar to the blending workbench exercise. However, on the top row, you will see these three options:
    • Alpha Blending: Enables or disables alpha blending.
    • Render Front Face: If active, renders the front face.
    • Render Back Face: If active, renders the back face.
  1. Remember that for blending to work, objects need to be rendered back to front. Therefore, the back face of the cube is rendered first. This is reflected in the draw function:
if (showBackFace) {
gl.cullFace(gl.FRONT);
gl.drawElements(gl.TRIANGLES, object.indices.length,
gl.UNSIGNED_SHORT, 0);
}

if (showFrontFace) {
gl.cullFace(gl.BACK);
gl.drawElements(gl.TRIANGLES, object.indices.length,
gl.UNSIGNED_SHORT, 0);
}
  1. Going back to the web page...