WebGL, like other 3D graphics libraries, comprises many common 3D elements. These fundamental elements will be covered, chapter-by-chapter, throughout this book.
Some of these common elements include the following:
- canvas: It is the placeholder where our scene is rendered. It is a standard HTML5 element and as such, can be accessed using the Document Object Model (DOM).
- Objects: These are the 3D entities that make up the scene. These entities are composed of triangles. In the following chapters, we will see how WebGL handles and renders geometries using buffers.
- Lights: Nothing in a 3D world can be seen without lights. In later chapters, we will learn that WebGL uses shaders to model lights in the scene. We will see how 3D objects reflect or absorb light according to the laws of physics. We will also discuss different light models to visualize our objects.
- Camera: canvas acts as the viewport to the 3D world. We see and explore a 3D scene through it. In the following chapters, we will understand the different matrix operations that are required to produce a view perspective. We will understand how these operations can be modeled as a camera.
This chapter will cover the first element of our list: canvas. The following sections will help us understand how to create a canvas element and how to set up a WebGL context.