Threejs Webgl

by freshtechbro1da73febff0cNo license1K starsListed Oct 8, 2026Updated Oct 8, 2026Repository updated 10 months ago

Comprehensive skill for Three.js 3D web development. Use this skill when building interactive 3D scenes, WebGL/WebGPU applications, product configurators, 3D visualizations, or immersive web experiences. Triggers on tasks involving Three.js, 3D rendering, scenes, cameras, meshes, materials, lights, animations, textures, or WebGL/WebGPU rendering.

Includes scriptsSoftware DevelopmentDesign & Creative
AI-generated overview

Guides Three.js WebGL/WebGPU development for interactive 3D web scenes, with reference docs and a starter scene.

What it does
Provides guidance and code patterns for building Three.js 3D web applications, covering scenes, cameras, renderers, geometries, materials, lights, textures, animations, shadows, raycasting, post-processing and performance optimization. It ships reference documents on the API, materials and optimization, plus a starter HTML/JS scene and a Python script that generates boilerplate scene setup code.
When to use it
Use it when building interactive 3D web experiences, product configurators, 3D visualizations or WebGL/WebGPU rendering. It also fits debugging or optimizing existing Three.js scenes and integrating Three.js with animation or UI libraries.
Requirements
Requires a JavaScript environment with the Three.js library and a browser supporting WebGL or WebGPU. It ships executable scripts, including a Python setup script, and references optional addons such as GLTFLoader, DRACOLoader and post-processing passes.

Three.js WebGL/WebGPU Development

Overview

Three.js is the industry-standard JavaScript library for creating 3D graphics in web browsers using WebGL and WebGPU. This skill provides comprehensive guidance for building performant, interactive 3D experiences including scenes, cameras, renderers, geometries, materials, lights, textures, and animations.

Core Concepts

Scene Graph Architecture

Three.js uses a hierarchical scene graph where all 3D objects are organized in a tree structure:

javascript
Scene├── Camera├── Lights│   ├── AmbientLight│   ├── DirectionalLight│   └── PointLight├── Meshes│   ├── Mesh (Geometry + Material)│   └── InstancedMesh└── Groups

Essential Components

Every Three.js application requires these core elements:

  1. Scene: Container for all 3D objects
  2. Camera: Defines the viewing perspective
  3. Renderer: Draws the scene to canvas (WebGL or WebGPU)
  4. Geometry: Defines the shape of objects
  5. Material: Defines the surface appearance
  6. Mesh: Combines geometry and material

Quick Start Pattern

Basic Scene Setup

javascript
import * as THREE from 'three';import { OrbitControls } from 'three/addons/controls/OrbitControls.js';
// Scene, Camera, Rendererconst scene = new THREE.Scene();scene.background = new THREE.Color(0x333333);
const camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(  75, // FOV  window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight, // Aspect ratio  0.1, // Near clipping plane  1000 // Far clipping plane);camera.position.set(0, 2, 5);
const renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer({ antialias: true });renderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);renderer.setPixelRatio(window.devicePixelRatio);renderer.shadowMap.enabled = true;document.body.appendChild(renderer.domElement);
// Lightingconst ambientLight = new THREE.AmbientLight(0xffffff, 0.5);scene.add(ambientLight);
const directionalLight = new THREE.DirectionalLight(0xffffff, 1);directionalLight.position.set(5, 10, 7.5);directionalLight.castShadow = true;scene.add(directionalLight);
// Controlsconst controls = new OrbitControls(camera, renderer.domElement);controls.enableDamping = true;controls.dampingFactor = 0.05;
// Animation Loopfunction animate() {  requestAnimationFrame(animate);  controls.update();  renderer.render(scene, camera);}
animate();
// Handle Resizewindow.addEventListener('resize', () => {  camera.aspect = window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight;  camera.updateProjectionMatrix();  renderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);});

WebGPU Setup (Modern Alternative)

javascript
import * as THREE from 'three/webgpu';
const renderer = new THREE.WebGPURenderer({ antialias: true });renderer.setPixelRatio(window.devicePixelRatio);renderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);renderer.setAnimationLoop(animate);renderer.toneMapping = THREE.LinearToneMapping;renderer.toneMappingExposure = 1;document.body.appendChild(renderer.domElement);

Common Patterns

1. Creating Meshes with Materials

javascript
// Basic Meshconst geometry = new THREE.BoxGeometry(1, 1, 1);const material = new THREE.MeshStandardMaterial({  color: 0x00ff00,  roughness: 0.5,  metalness: 0.5});const cube = new THREE.Mesh(geometry, material);scene.add(cube);
// Textured Meshconst loader = new THREE.TextureLoader();const texture = loader.load('texture.jpg');texture.colorSpace = THREE.SRGBColorSpace;
const texturedMaterial = new THREE.MeshStandardMaterial({  map: texture});const mesh = new THREE.Mesh(geometry, texturedMaterial);scene.add(mesh);

2. Lighting Strategies

javascript
// Three-Point Lighting Setupfunction setupThreePointLight(scene) {  // Key Light (Main)  const keyLight = new THREE.DirectionalLight(0xffffff, 3);  keyLight.position.set(5, 10, 7.5);  keyLight.castShadow = true;  scene.add(keyLight);
  // Fill Light (Softens shadows)  const fillLight = new THREE.DirectionalLight(0xffffff, 1);  fillLight.position.set(-5, 5, -5);  scene.add(fillLight);
  // Rim Light (Edge definition)  const rimLight = new THREE.DirectionalLight(0xffffff, 0.5);  rimLight.position.set(0, 5, -10);  scene.add(rimLight);
  // Ambient (Base illumination)  const ambient = new THREE.AmbientLight(0x404040, 0.5);  scene.add(ambient);}
// Physical Light (Realistic)const bulbLight = new THREE.PointLight(0xffee88, 1, 100, 2);bulbLight.power = 1700; // Lumens (100W bulb equivalent)bulbLight.castShadow = true;scene.add(bulbLight);
// Hemisphere Light (Sky + Ground)const hemiLight = new THREE.HemisphereLight(  0xddeeff, // Sky color  0x0f0e0d, // Ground color  0.02);scene.add(hemiLight);

3. Instanced Geometry (Performance)

javascript
// For rendering thousands of similar objects efficientlyconst geometry = new THREE.SphereGeometry(0.1, 16, 16);const material = new THREE.MeshStandardMaterial({ color: 0xff0000 });const instancedMesh = new THREE.InstancedMesh(geometry, material, 1000);
const matrix = new THREE.Matrix4();const color = new THREE.Color();
for (let i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {  matrix.setPosition(    Math.random() * 10 - 5,    Math.random() * 10 - 5,    Math.random() * 10 - 5  );  instancedMesh.setMatrixAt(i, matrix);  instancedMesh.setColorAt(i, color.setHex(Math.random() * 0xffffff));}
instancedMesh.instanceMatrix.needsUpdate = true;scene.add(instancedMesh);

4. Loading 3D Models (glTF)

javascript
import { GLTFLoader } from 'three/addons/loaders/GLTFLoader.js';import { DRACOLoader } from 'three/addons/loaders/DRACOLoader.js';
// Setup loadersconst dracoLoader = new DRACOLoader();dracoLoader.setDecoderPath('/draco/');
const gltfLoader = new GLTFLoader();gltfLoader.setDRACOLoader(dracoLoader);
// Load modelgltfLoader.load('model.glb', (gltf) => {  const model = gltf.scene;
  // Enable shadows  model.traverse((child) => {    if (child.isMesh) {      child.castShadow = true;      child.receiveShadow = true;    }  });
  scene.add(model);
  // Handle animations  if (gltf.animations.length > 0) {    const mixer = new THREE.AnimationMixer(model);    const action = mixer.clipAction(gltf.animations[0]);    action.play();
    // In animation loop:    // mixer.update(deltaTime);  }});

5. Shadow Configuration

javascript
// Enable shadows on rendererrenderer.shadowMap.enabled = true;renderer.shadowMap.type = THREE.PCFSoftShadowMap; // or VSMShadowMap
// Configure light shadowsdirectionalLight.castShadow = true;directionalLight.shadow.mapSize.width = 2048;directionalLight.shadow.mapSize.height = 2048;directionalLight.shadow.camera.near = 0.5;directionalLight.shadow.camera.far = 50;directionalLight.shadow.camera.left = -10;directionalLight.shadow.camera.right = 10;directionalLight.shadow.camera.top = 10;directionalLight.shadow.camera.bottom = -10;directionalLight.shadow.radius = 4;directionalLight.shadow.blurSamples = 8;
// Objects casting/receiving shadowsmesh.castShadow = true;mesh.receiveShadow = true;

6. Raycasting (Interaction)

javascript
const raycaster = new THREE.Raycaster();const mouse = new THREE.Vector2();
function onMouseClick(event) {  mouse.x = (event.clientX / window.innerWidth) * 2 - 1;  mouse.y = -(event.clientY / window.innerHeight) * 2 + 1;
  raycaster.setFromCamera(mouse, camera);  const intersects = raycaster.intersectObjects(scene.children, true);
  if (intersects.length > 0) {    const object = intersects[0].object;    object.material.color.set(0xff0000);  }}
window.addEventListener('click', onMouseClick);

Integration Patterns

With GSAP for Animation

javascript
import gsap from 'gsap';
// Animate cameragsap.to(camera.position, {  x: 5,  y: 3,  z: 10,  duration: 2,  ease: "power2.inOut",  onUpdate: () => {    camera.lookAt(scene.position);  }});
// Animate mesh propertiesgsap.to(mesh.rotation, {  y: Math.PI * 2,  duration: 3,  repeat: -1,  ease: "none"});

With React (see react-three-fiber skill)

javascript
// Three.js integrates naturally with React Three Fiber// Use the react-three-fiber skill for React integration patterns

With Post-Processing

javascript
import { EffectComposer } from 'three/addons/postprocessing/EffectComposer.js';import { RenderPass } from 'three/addons/postprocessing/RenderPass.js';import { UnrealBloomPass } from 'three/addons/postprocessing/UnrealBloomPass.js';
const composer = new EffectComposer(renderer);composer.addPass(new RenderPass(scene, camera));
const bloomPass = new UnrealBloomPass(  new THREE.Vector2(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight),  1.5, // strength  0.4, // radius  0.85 // threshold);composer.addPass(bloomPass);
// In animation loop:composer.render();

Performance Optimization

1. Geometry Reuse

javascript
// Bad: Creates new geometry for each meshfor (let i = 0; i < 100; i++) {  const geometry = new THREE.BoxGeometry(1, 1, 1);  const mesh = new THREE.Mesh(geometry, material);  scene.add(mesh);}
// Good: Reuse geometryconst sharedGeometry = new THREE.BoxGeometry(1, 1, 1);for (let i = 0; i < 100; i++) {  const mesh = new THREE.Mesh(sharedGeometry, material);  scene.add(mesh);}

2. Use InstancedMesh for Repeated Objects

For hundreds/thousands of identical objects, use InstancedMesh (see pattern above).

3. Texture Optimization

javascript
// Compress texturestexture.generateMipmaps = true;texture.minFilter = THREE.LinearMipmapLinearFilter;texture.magFilter = THREE.LinearFilter;
// Use power-of-two dimensions (512, 1024, 2048)// Consider texture atlases for multiple small textures

4. Level of Detail (LOD)

javascript
const lod = new THREE.LOD();lod.addLevel(highDetailMesh, 0);    // 0-50 unitslod.addLevel(mediumDetailMesh, 50);  // 50-100 unitslod.addLevel(lowDetailMesh, 100);    // 100+ unitsscene.add(lod);

5. Frustum Culling

Three.js automatically culls objects outside the camera's view. Ensure objects have correct bounding spheres:

javascript
mesh.geometry.computeBoundingSphere();

6. Dispose Resources

javascript
function disposeScene() {  scene.traverse((object) => {    if (object.geometry) object.geometry.dispose();    if (object.material) {      if (Array.isArray(object.material)) {        object.material.forEach(material => material.dispose());      } else {        object.material.dispose();      }    }  });  renderer.dispose();}

Best Practices

1. Use Animation Clocks for Consistent Timing

javascript
const clock = new THREE.Clock();
function animate() {  const deltaTime = clock.getDelta();  const elapsedTime = clock.getElapsedTime();
  // Use deltaTime for frame-independent animations  mesh.rotation.y += deltaTime * Math.PI * 0.5; // 90° per second
  renderer.render(scene, camera);}

2. Camera Setup Guidelines

  • FOV: 45-75° for most applications
  • Near plane: As far as possible (avoid z-fighting)
  • Far plane: As close as possible (precision)
  • Aspect ratio: Always match canvas dimensions

3. Material Selection

  • MeshBasicMaterial: Unlit, flat colors (debugging, UI)
  • MeshLambertMaterial: Cheap diffuse lighting (mobile)
  • MeshPhongMaterial: Specular highlights (older standard)
  • MeshStandardMaterial: PBR, realistic (recommended)
  • MeshPhysicalMaterial: Advanced PBR (clearcoat, transmission)

4. Coordinate System

  • Three.js uses right-handed coordinate system
  • +Y is up, +Z is toward camera, +X is right
  • Rotations use radians (Math.PI = 180°)

5. Scene Organization

javascript
// Group related objectsconst building = new THREE.Group();building.add(walls, roof, windows);scene.add(building);
// Use meaningful namesmesh.name = 'player-character';const found = scene.getObjectByName('player-character');

Common Pitfalls

1. Not Updating Aspect Ratio on Resize

Always update camera aspect ratio and projection matrix when window resizes.

2. Creating New Objects in Animation Loop

javascript
// Bad: Memory leakfunction animate() {  const geometry = new THREE.BoxGeometry(); // Created every frame!  // ...}
// Good: Create once outside loopconst geometry = new THREE.BoxGeometry();function animate() {  // Reuse geometry}

3. Forgetting to Enable Shadows

Remember to enable shadows on renderer, lights, and objects.

4. Z-Fighting (Flickering)

  • Increase near plane distance
  • Decrease far plane distance
  • Avoid overlapping coplanar surfaces
  • Use material.polygonOffset = true with material.polygonOffsetFactor

5. Color Space Issues

javascript
// Always set color space for texturestexture.colorSpace = THREE.SRGBColorSpace;
// Set renderer output encodingrenderer.outputColorSpace = THREE.SRGBColorSpace;

6. Not Disposing Resources

Always call .dispose() on geometries, materials, textures, and renderers when no longer needed.

Resources

This skill includes bundled resources to accelerate Three.js development:

references/

  • api_reference.md: Quick API reference for core classes (Scene, Camera, Renderer, etc.)
  • materials_guide.md: Comprehensive material types and properties
  • optimization_checklist.md: Performance optimization strategies

scripts/

  • setup_scene.py: Generate boilerplate Three.js scene setup code
  • texture_optimizer.py: Batch optimize textures for web (resize, compress)
  • gltf_validator.py: Validate glTF models before use

assets/

  • starter_scene/: Complete HTML/JS boilerplate project
  • shaders/: Custom GLSL shader examples (vertex, fragment)
  • hdri/: Environment maps for PBR lighting
  • draco/: DRACO decoder for compressed models

Advanced Topics

Custom Shaders (GLSL)

javascript
const material = new THREE.ShaderMaterial({  uniforms: {    uTime: { value: 0.0 },    uColor: { value: new THREE.Color(0x00ff00) }  },  vertexShader: `    varying vec2 vUv;    void main() {      vUv = uv;      gl_Position = projectionMatrix * modelViewMatrix * vec4(position, 1.0);    }  `,  fragmentShader: `    uniform float uTime;    uniform vec3 uColor;    varying vec2 vUv;    void main() {      gl_FragColor = vec4(uColor * vUv.x, 1.0);    }  `});

Render Targets (Render-to-Texture)

javascript
const renderTarget = new THREE.WebGLRenderTarget(512, 512);
// Render scene to texturerenderer.setRenderTarget(renderTarget);renderer.render(scene, camera);renderer.setRenderTarget(null);
// Use textureconst material = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({  map: renderTarget.texture});

GPU Computation (GPGPU)

Use GPUComputationRenderer for particle simulations, cloth physics, etc.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

  • Building interactive 3D web experiences
  • Creating product configurators or visualizers
  • Implementing WebGL/WebGPU rendering
  • Working with 3D models, scenes, or animations
  • Optimizing Three.js performance
  • Integrating Three.js with other libraries (GSAP, React, etc.)
  • Debugging Three.js rendering issues

For React integration, use the react-three-fiber skill. For animation, combine with the gsap-scrolltrigger skill. For UI animations, use the motion-framer skill.

Source and attribution

Source:freshtechbro/claudedesignskillsin.claude/skills/threejs-webglat commit1da73fe

License: No license

Content belongs to its original authors. SourceWeft indexes it from a public repository.

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