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

Learning advanced geometries

In this section, we’ll look at a number of advanced Three.js geometries. We will start with THREE.ConvexGeometry, which you can use to create convex hulls.

THREE.ConvexGeometry

With THREE.ConvexGeometry, we can create a convex hull from a set of points. A convex hull is the minimal shape that encompasses all these points. The easiest way to understand this is by looking at an example. If you open up the convex-geometry.html example, you’ll see the convex hull for a random set of points. The following screenshot shows this geometry:

Figure 6.1 – The convex hull encompassing all the points

Figure 6.1 – The convex hull encompassing all the points

In this example, we generate a random set of points, and based on these points, we create THREE.ConvexGeometry. In the example, you can use the redraw button in the menu on the right, which will generate 20 new points and draw the convex hull. If you try this for yourself, enable the material’s transparency...