Three.js Essentials

by Jos Dirksen

In Detail

Create beautiful visualizations and 3D scenes using Three.js with this practical, example-rich book. Learn all the core concepts of Three.js, and whether you are targeting mobile devices or desktop browsers, you will gain the necessary skills to build a 3D application and improve web performance.

From setting up a development environment and creating your first Three.js scene, you will quickly dive into more complex scene-making. Discover a variety of possible scenes from how to make a rotating planet with data overlay to mini games. Through these examples, you will be shown an array of skills from using materials, controls, and lighting to creating particle systems and geometries from scratch.

By the end of this book, you'll be able to effectively and confidently create 3D scenes using different lights and materials, create visualizations using particle systems, animate web pages, and incorporate Blender in your 3D workflow.

Approach

This book is an easy-to-follow guide that shows the essential parts of Three.js through a set of extensive examples. Through the explanation of these examples, you’ll learn everything you need to know about Three.js.

Who this book is for

If you already know JavaScript and want to quickly learn the essentials of Three.js, this book is for you. No prior knowledge of Three.js, WebGL, 3D modeling, or Math is required.

199 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Grant Swertfeger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was asked to review this book by Packt Publishing and I found it to be very informative.

I haven't done any 3D rendering in a browser and it was a good start to learn how it is done. I found the examples to be practical and useful tasks that could easily be reused on a website in the future. The speaking style of the book is right on the level, he doesn't expect you to have foreknowledge of 3D rendering and goes into details about the components of a 3D object.

The book goes into details about how to accomplish specific things but it doesn't overly complicate things. I think the most useful part of the book is how he explains the steps, shows pictures of each asset and the accompanying code then shows you an image of the expected outcome. I'm sure there is much more that can be learned about Three.js but this will definitely get me started and I hope to use these techniques soon.