Book Image

Learn Three.js - Fourth Edition

By : Jos Dirksen
5 (1)
Book Image

Learn Three.js - Fourth Edition

5 (1)
By: Jos Dirksen

Overview of this book

Three.js has become the industry standard for creating stunning 3D WebGL content. In this edition, you’ll learn about all the features of Three.js and understand how to integrate it with the newest physics engines. You'll also develop a strong grip on creating and animating immersive 3D scenes directly in your browser, reaping the full potential of WebGL and modern browsers. The book starts with the basic concepts and building blocks used in Three.js and helps you explore these essential topics in detail through extensive examples and code samples. You'll learn how to create realistic-looking 3D objects using textures and materials and how to load existing models from an external source. Next, you'll understand how to control the camera using the Three.js built-in camera controls, which will enable you to fly or walk around the 3D scene you've created. Later chapters will cover the use of HTML5 video and canvas elements as materials for your 3D objects to animate your models. You’ll learn how to use morph targets and skeleton-based animation, before understanding how to add physics, such as gravity and collision detection, to your scene. Finally, you’ll master combining Blender with Three.js and creating VR and AR scenes. By the end of this book, you'll be well-equipped to create 3D-animated graphics using Three.js.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
1
Part 1: Getting Up and Running
5
Part 2: Working with the Three.js Core Components
7
Chapter 5: Learning to Work with Geometries
10
Part 3: Particle Clouds, Loading and Animating Models
14
Part 4: Post-Processing, Physics, and Sounds

Exporting an animation from Blender and importing it into Three.js

Exporting an animation from Blender works in pretty much the same way as exporting a static scene. Therefore, for this example, we’ll create a simple animation, export it in the glTF format again, and load it into a Three.js scene. For this, we’re going to create a simple scene where we render a cube falling and breaking into parts. The first thing we need for this is a floor and a cube. Therefore, create a plane and a cube that hangs a little bit above this plane:

Figure 13.10 – An empty Blender project

Figure 13.10 – An empty Blender project

Here, we just moved the cube up a little bit (press G to grab the cube) and added a plane (Add | Mesh | Plane), and then we scaled this plane to make it bigger. Now, we can add physics to the scene. In Chapter 12, Adding Physics and Sounds to Your Scene, we introduced the concept of rigid bodies. Blender uses this same approach. Select the cube and use Object | Rigid...