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

Baking lightmaps and ambient occlusion maps in Blender

For this scenario, we’re going to revisit the example from Chapter 10, where we used a lightmap from Blender. This lightmap provides good-looking lighting without having to calculate it in real time in Three.js. To do this with Blender, we’re going to take the following steps:

  1. Set up a simple scene in Blender with a couple of models.
  2. Set up the lighting and the models in Blender.
  3. Bake the lighting to textures in Blender.
  4. Export the scene.
  5. Render everything in Three.js.

In the following sections, we will discuss each step in detail.

Setting up a scene in Blender

For this example, we’ll create a simple scene in which we’ll bake in some lighting. Start a new project, delete the default cube by selecting it and hitting x, and do the same for the default light. Use Add | Mesh | Plane to add a simple 2D plane to the scene. Press Tab to go to Edit Mode, select three vertices...