Develop Reference

How can I rotate a vector 90 degrees into a perpendicular plane, and then 15 degrees free from that plane?

What I ultimately want is a vector, giving the direction of the green line in the image below, knowing only the position of the yellow and green dots.
To be more specific, it's angle can be random as long as it's endpoint ends up somewhere on the green-blue surface of the cylinder. So, 360° free around cylinder, and about 15° limited to the edges of the cylinder.
The cylinder is perpendicular to the line from the yellow and green dot.
Length is not important, only direction.
My main problem is I don't know how to go from vector Yellow to green dot, to any vector perpendicular to it.
PS None of these things are aligned on a x y z axis. That grid is not xyz, just to help visualize.

here is the code: given an angle theta and two points it will give you a vector starting from pointStart perpendicular to the vector from pointStart to pointEnd:
function perpendicularVector(pointStart,pointEnd,theta){
let vDiff = new THREE.Vector3(0, 0, 0)
.subVectors(pointEnd, pointStart)
.normalize()
let V = new THREE.Vector3(
vDiff.y + vDiff.x * vDiff.z,
vDiff.y * vDiff.z -vDiff.x,
-(vDiff.x * vDiff.x) - vDiff.y * vDiff.y
)
return
V .applyAxisAngle(vDiff, theta)
.applyAxisAngle( new THREE.Vector3().multiplyVectors(V, vDiff).normalize(), 15*Math.PI/180 )
}
here is a small showoff of what the above code do: (the snippet is intentionally bad because its there just to show the functionality of the above code)
(you can zoom rotate and pan using the mouse on the render that appears after you click run snippet)
body {
font-family: sans-serif;
margin: 0;
background-color: #e2cba9;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
overflow: hidden;
}
canvas {
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
}
<div id="app"></div>
<script type="module">
import { OrbitControls } from "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/three#0.121.1/examples/jsm/controls/OrbitControls.js";
import * as THREE from "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/three#0.121.1/build/three.module.js";
var scene = new THREE.Scene, theta = 0;
let point1 = new THREE.Vector3(4, 2, 1),
point2 = new THREE.Vector3(0, 3, 3);
function perpendicularVector(e, n, t) {
let r = new THREE.Vector3(0, 0, 0).subVectors(n, e).normalize(),
o = new THREE.Vector3(r.y, -r.x, 0),
i = new THREE.Vector3(r.x * r.z, r.y * r.z, -r.x * r.x - r.y * r.y);
var a = o.multiplyScalar(Math.cos(t)).add(i.multiplyScalar(Math.sin(t)));
return a.add(e), a
}
function pointAtCoords(e, n) {
let t = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({ color: n }),
r = new THREE.SphereGeometry(.1, 8, 8),
o = new
THREE.Mesh(r, t);
return o.position.add(e), o
}
function lineFromAtoB(e, n, t) {
let r = new THREE.LineBasicMaterial({ color: t }),
o = [];
o.push(e), o.push(n);
let i = (new THREE.BufferGeometry).setFromPoints(o);
return new THREE.Line(i, r)
}
var renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer({ antialias: !0 });
renderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight), document.getElementById("app").appendChild(renderer.domElement);
var camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(50, window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight,
.1, 1e3);
camera.position.set(7, 7, 8), camera.lookAt(new THREE.Vector3), camera.position.add(new THREE.Vector3(3, 0, 3));
var controls = new OrbitControls(camera, renderer.domElement);
function drawEverything(e) {
const n = new THREE.AxesHelper(30);
scene.add(n);
const t = new THREE.GridHelper(30, 30);
t.position.add(new THREE.Vector3(15, 0, 15)), scene.add(t);
const r = new THREE.GridHelper(30, 30);
r.rotateX(Math.PI / 2), r.position.add(new THREE.Vector3(15, 15, 0)), scene.add(r);
const o = new THREE.GridHelper(30, 30);
o.rotateZ(Math.PI / 2), o.position.add(new THREE.Vector3(0, 15, 15)), scene.add(o);
let i = new THREE.Vector3(0, 0, 0),
a = perpendicularVector(point1, point2, e);
scene.add(pointAtCoords(point1, 16776960)), scene.add(pointAtCoords(point2, 65280));
var d = pointAtCoords(a, 255);
scene.add(d), scene.add(lineFromAtoB(point1, point2, 16711935)), scene.add(lineFromAtoB(i, point1, 16711680)), scene.add(lineFromAtoB(i, point2, 16711680)), scene.add(lineFromAtoB(point1, a, 65280))
}
function animate() {
scene = new THREE.Scene, drawEverything(theta += .1),
setTimeout((() => {
requestAnimationFrame(animate)
}), 1e3 / 30), renderer.render(scene, camera)
}
animate();
</script>

This is totally achievable with some math calculations. The term you're looking for is "Orthogonal vectors", which means vectors that are perpendicular to each other. The cylinder radius is orthogonal to the line between blue to yellow points.
However, since you're already using Three.js, you can just let it do all the hard work for you with the help of an Object3D.
// Declare vectorA (center, green)
const vecA = new THREE.Vector3(xA, yA, zA);
// Declare vectorB (destination, yellow)
const vecB = new THREE.Vector3(xB, yB, zB);
// Create helper object
const helper = new THREE.Object3D();
// Center helper at vecA
helper.position.copy(vecA);
// Rotate helper towards vecB
helper.lookAt(vecB);
// Move helper perpendicularly along its own y-axis
const cylinderRadius = 27;
helper.translateY(cylinderRadius);
// Now you have your final position!
console.log(helper.position);
In the diagram below, the helper Object3D is shown as a red line only to give you a sense of its rotation and position, but in reality it is invisible unless you add a Mesh to it.
If you want to add/subtract 15 degrees from the perpendicular, you could just rotate the helper along its own x-axis before translateY()
const xAngle = THREE.MathUtils.degToRad(15);
helper.rotateX(xAngle);
const cylinderRadius = 27;
helper.translateY(cylinderRadius);

Flipping Face Normal ThreeJS but not on floor

I try to build a house generator based on a floorplan. Generating the mesh works fine, but now I need to flip the normals on some faces.
buildRoomMeshFromPoints(planeScalar, heightScalar){
var pointsAsVector2 = []
this.points.map(e => {
pointsAsVector2.push(new THREE.Vector2(e.x * planeScalar, e.y * planeScalar))
})
var shape = new THREE.Shape();
shape.moveTo(pointsAsVector2[0].x, pointsAsVector2[0].y)
pointsAsVector2.shift()
pointsAsVector2.forEach(e => shape.lineTo(e.x, e.y))
const extrusionSettings = {
steps: 2,
depth: heightScalar,
bevelEnabled: false
};
var roomGeometry = new THREE.ExtrudeGeometry( shape, extrusionSettings );
var materialFront = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial( { color: 0xffff00 } );
var materialSide = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial( { color: 0xff8800 } );
var materialArray = [ materialFront, materialSide ];
var roomMaterial = new THREE.MeshFaceMaterial(materialArray);
var room = new THREE.Mesh(roomGeometry, roomMaterial);
room.position.set(0,0,0);
room.rotation.set(THREE.MathUtils.degToRad(-90),0,0)
return room;
}
This is the code that generates the house based on a collection of 2D points. To make the walls see through, I wanna change the normals of all walls and the roof.
My approach would be to compare each face normals angle to an up vector (THREE.Vector3(0,1,0)) and if the angle is greater then 0.0xx then flip it. I simply have no idea how to flip them :)
Thanks for any help!
Greetings pascal

In simplest terms, "flipping" or finding the negative of the normal (or any) vector is a matter of negating each of its components. So if your normal vector n is a THREE.Vector3 instance, then its negative is n.multiplyScalar(-1), or if it's in an array of the form [ x, y, z ], then its negative is [ -1 * x, -1 * y, -1 * z ].
Flipping the normal vectors won't do all of what you're looking to accomplish, though. Normals in Three.js (and many other engines and renderers) are separate and distinct from the notion of the side of a triangle that's being rendered. So if you only flip the vectors, Three.js will continue to render the front side of the triangles, which form the exterior of the mesh; those faces will appear darker, though, because they're reflecting light in exactly the wrong direction.
For each triangle, you need to both (a) flip the normals of its vertices; and (b) either render the back side of that triangle or reverse the facing of the triangle.
To render the back side of the triangle, you can set the .side property of your material to THREE.BackSide. (I have not tested this, and it may have other implications; among other things, you may come across other parts of your codebase that have to be specifically written with an eye to the fact that you're rendering backfaces.)
A more robust solution would be to make the triangles themselves face the other way.
ExtrudeGeometry is a factory for BufferGeometry, and the vertex positions are stored in a flat array in the .attributes.position.array property of the generated geometry. You can swap every 3rd-5th element in the array with every 6th-9th element to reverse the winding order of the triangle, which changes the side that Three.js considers to be the front. Thus, a triangle defined as (0, 0, 0), (1, 0, 1), (1, 1, 1) and represented in the array as [ 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1 ] becomes (0, 0, 0), (1, 1, 1), (1, 0, 1) and [ 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1 ]. (Put differently, ABC becomes ACB.)
To accomplish this in code requires something like the following.
/**
* #param { import("THREE").BufferGeometry } geom
* #return { undefined }
*/
flipSides = (geom) => {
const positions = geom.getAttribute("position");
const normals = geom.getAttribute("normal");
const newNormals = Array.from(normals.array);
for (let attrName of ["position", "normal", "uv"]) {
// for (let i = 0; i < positions.count; i += 3) {
// ExtrudeGeometry generates a non-indexed BufferGeometry. To flip
// the faces, we must reverse the winding order, i.e., for each triangle
// ABC, we must change it to ACB. We must do this for the position,
// normal, and uv buffers.
const attr = geom.getAttribute(attrName);
let newArr = Array.from(attr.array)
const sz = attr.itemSize;
for (let i = 0; i < attr.count; i++) {
const offset = sz * 3 * i;
// i is the index of the first of three vertices of a triangle.
// Sample the buffer for the second and third vertices, which
// we'll swap.
const tempB = newArr.slice(
offset + sz,
offset + 2 * sz
);
const tempC = newArr.slice(
offset + 2 * sz,
offset + 3 * sz
);
newArr.splice(offset + sz, sz, ...tempC);
newArr.splice(offset + 2 * sz, sz, ...tempB);
}
// If we're working on the normals buffer, we also need to reverse
// the normals. Since reversing a vector simply entails a
// scalar-vector multiplication by -1, and since the array is
// flat, we can do this with one map() operation.
if (attrName == "normal") {
newArr = newArr.map((e) => e * -1);
}
// Replace the position buffer with our new array
geom.setAttribute(
attrName,
new THREE.BufferAttribute(
Float32Array.from(newArr),
sz
));
attr.needsUpdate = true;
}
I've posted a demonstration of this approach on CodePen.

How can I change this Three.js ConvexGeometry to a non-convex geometry?

I'm worked with Three.JS before, but not on meshes. I think I am approaching my problem the right way, but I'm not sure.
The Goal
I'm trying to make a 3D blobby object that has specific verticies. The direction of the verticies are fixed, but their radius from center varies. You can imagine it sort of like an audio equalizer, except radial and in 3D.
I'm open to scrapping this approach and taking a totally different one if there's some easier way to do this.
Current Progress
I took this example and cleaned/modified it to my needs. Here's the HTML and JavaScript:
HTML (disco-ball.html)
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Disco Ball</title>
<script type="text/javascript" src="../libs/three.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="../libs/stats.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="../libs/ConvexGeometry.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="../libs/dat.gui.js"></script>
<style type='text/css'>
/* set margin to 0 and overflow to hidden, to go fullscreen */
body { margin: 0; overflow: hidden; }
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div id="Stats-output"></div>
<div id="WebGL-output"></div>
<script type="text/javascript" src="01-app.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
And the JavaScript (01-app.js):
window.onload = init;
const PARAMS = {
SHOW_SURFACE : true,
SHOW_POINTS : true,
SHOW_WIREFRAME : true,
SHOW_STATS : true
};
// once everything is loaded, we run our Three.js stuff.
function init() {
var renderParams = {
webGLRenderer : createWebGLRenderer(),
step : 0,
rotationSpeed : 0.007,
scene : new THREE.Scene(),
camera : createCamera(),
};
// Create the actual points.
var points = getPoints(
100, // Number of points (approximate)
10, // Unweighted radius
// Radius weights for a few points. This is a multiplier.
[2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2]
);
if (PARAMS.SHOW_STATS) {
renderParams.stats = initStats();
}
if (PARAMS.SHOW_SURFACE) {
renderParams.surface = getHullMesh(points);
renderParams.scene.add(renderParams.surface);
}
if (PARAMS.SHOW_POINTS) {
renderParams.sphereGroup = getSphereGroup(points);
renderParams.scene.add(sphereGroup);
}
render(renderParams);
}
function render(params) {
if (params.stats) {
params.stats.update();
}
if (params.sphereGroup) {
params.sphereGroup.rotation.y = params.step;
}
params.step += params.rotationSpeed;
if (params.surface) {
params.surface.rotation.y = params.step;
}
// render using requestAnimationFrame
requestAnimationFrame(function () {render(params)});
params.webGLRenderer.render(params.scene, params.camera);
}
// ******************************************************************
// Helper functions
// ******************************************************************
function getPoints (count, baseRadius, weightMap) {
// Because this is deterministic, we can pass in a weight map to adjust
// the radii.
var points = distributePoints(count,baseRadius,weightMap);
points.forEach((d,i) => {
points[i] = new THREE.Vector3(d[0],d[1],d[2]);
});
return points;
}
// A deterministic function for (approximately) evenly distributing n points
// over a sphere.
function distributePoints (count, radius, weightMap) {
// I'm not sure why I need this...
count *= 100;
var points = [];
var area = 4 * Math.PI * Math.pow(radius,2) / count;
var dist = Math.sqrt(area);
var Mtheta = Math.round(Math.PI / dist);
var distTheta = Math.PI / Mtheta
var distPhi = area / distTheta;
for (var m = 0; m < Mtheta; m++) {
let theta = (Math.PI * (m + 0.5)) / Mtheta;
let Mphi = Math.round((2 * Math.PI * Math.sin(theta)) / distPhi);
for (var n = 0; n < Mphi; n++) {
let phi = ((2 * Math.PI * n) / Mphi);
// Use the default radius, times any multiplier passed in through the
// weightMap. If no multiplier is present, use 1 to leave it
// unchanged.
points.push(createPoint(radius * (weightMap[points.length] || 1),theta,phi));
}
}
return points;
}
function createPoint (radius, theta, phi) {
var x = radius * Math.sin(theta) * Math.cos(phi);
var y = radius * Math.sin(theta) * Math.sin(phi);
var z = radius * Math.cos(theta);
return [Math.round(x), Math.round(y), Math.round(z)];
}
function createWebGLRenderer () {
// create a render and set the size
var webGLRenderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer();
webGLRenderer.setClearColor(new THREE.Color(0xEEEEEE, 1.0));
webGLRenderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);
webGLRenderer.shadowMapEnabled = true;
// add the output of the renderer to the html element
document.getElementById("WebGL-output").appendChild(webGLRenderer.domElement);
return webGLRenderer;
}
function createCamera () {
// create a camera, which defines where we're looking at.
var camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(45, window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight, 0.1, 1000);
// position and point the camera to the center of the scene
camera.position.x = -30;
camera.position.y = 40;
camera.position.z = 50;
camera.lookAt(new THREE.Vector3(0, 0, 0));
return camera;
}
function getSphereGroup (points) {
sphereGroup = new THREE.Object3D();
var material = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({color: 0xFF0000, transparent: false});
points.forEach(function (point) {
var spGeom = new THREE.SphereGeometry(0.2);
var spMesh = new THREE.Mesh(spGeom, material);
spMesh.position.copy(point);
sphereGroup.add(spMesh);
});
return sphereGroup;
}
function getHullMesh (points) {
// use the same points to create a convexgeometry
var surfaceGeometry = new THREE.ConvexGeometry(points);
var surface = createMesh(surfaceGeometry);
return surface;
}
function createMesh(geom) {
// assign two materials
var meshMaterial = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({color: 0x666666, transparent: true, opacity: 0.25});
meshMaterial.side = THREE.DoubleSide;
var wireFrameMat = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({color: 0x0000ff});
wireFrameMat.wireframe = PARAMS.SHOW_WIREFRAME;
// create a multimaterial
var mesh = THREE.SceneUtils.createMultiMaterialObject(geom, [meshMaterial, wireFrameMat]);
return mesh;
}
function initStats() {
var stats = new Stats();
stats.setMode(0); // 0: fps, 1: ms
// Align top-left
stats.domElement.style.position = 'absolute';
stats.domElement.style.left = '0px';
stats.domElement.style.top = '0px';
document.getElementById("Stats-output").appendChild(stats.domElement);
return stats;
}
What I'm Missing
You can see that there are two points on the "ball" for which I've doubled the radius (big spikes). Of course, since I'm using a ConvexGeometry, the shape is convex... so a number of the points are hidden. What kind of ... non-convex geometry can I use to make those points no longer be hidden?
I would like to subdivide the mesh a bit so it's not simply vertex-to-vertex, but a bit smoother. How can I do that (the spikes less spikey and more blobby)?
I'd like to modify the mesh so different points spike different amounts every few seconds (I have some data arrays that describe how much). How do I modify the geometry after its been made? Ideally with some kind of tweening, but I can do without of that's extremely hard =)
Thanks!

Smooth and animate a mesh.
Three provides a huge range of options. These are just suggestions, your best bet is to read the Three documentation start point and find what suits you.
A mesh is just a set of 3D points and an array of indexes describing each triangle. Once you have built the mesh you only need to update the verts and let Three update the shader attributes, and the mesh normals
Your questions
Q1. Use Three.Geometry for the mesh.
Q2. As you are building the mesh you can use the curve helpers eg Three.CubicBezierCurve3 or Three.QuadraticBezierCurve3 or maybe your best option Three.SplineCurve
Another option is to use a modifier and create the simple mesh and then let Three subdivide the mesh for you. eg three example webgl modifier subdivision
Though not the fastest solution, if the vert count is low it will do this each frame without any loss of frame rate.
Q3. Using Three.Geometry you can can set the mesh morph targets, an array of vertices.
Another option is to use a modifier, eg three example webgl modifier subdivision
Or you can modify the vertices directly each frame.
for ( var i = 0, l = geometry.vertices.length; i < l; i ++ ) {
geometry.vertices[ i ].x = ?;
geometry.vertices[ i ].y = ?;
geometry.vertices[ i ].z = ?;
}
mesh.geometry.verticesNeedUpdate = true;
How you do it?
There are a zillion other ways to do this. Which is the best will depend on the load and amount of complexity you want to create. Spend some time and read the doc's, and experiment.
What I would do! maybe?
I am not too sure what you are trying to achieve but the following is a way of getting some life into the animation rather than the overdone curves that seem so ubiquitous these days.
So if the vert count is not too high I would use a Three.BufferGeometry and modify the verts each frame. Rather than use curves I would weight subdivision verts to follow a polynomial curve f(x) = x^2/(x^2 + (1-x)^2) where x is the normalized distance between two control verts (note don't use x=0.5 rather subdivide the mesh in > 2 times)
EG the two control points and two smoothing verts
// two control points
const p1 = {x,y,z};
const p2 = {x,y,z};
// two weighted points
// dx,dy,dz are deltas
// w is the weighted position s-curve
// wa, and wd are acceleration and drag coefficients. Try to keep their sum < 1
const pw1 = {x, y, z, dx, dy, dz, w : 1/3, wa : 0.1,wd : 0.7};
const pw2 = {x, y, z, dx, dy, dz, w : 2/3, wa : 0.1,wd : 0.7};
// Compute w
pw1.w = Math.pow(pw1.w,2) / ( Math.pow(pw1.w,2) + Math.pow(1 - pw1.w,2));
pw2.w = Math.pow(pw2.w,2) / ( Math.pow(pw2.w,2) + Math.pow(1 - pw2.w,2));
Then for each weighted point you can find the new delta and update the position
// do for x,y,z
x = (p2.x - p1.x); // these points are updated every frame
// get the new pw1 vert target position
x = p1.x + x * w;
// get new delta
pw1.dx += (x - pw1.x) * pw1.wa; // set delta
pw1.dx *= pw1.wd;
// set new position
pw1.x += pw1.dx;
Do for all weighted points then set geometry.vertices
The wa,wd coefficients will change the behaviour of the smoothing, you will have to play with these values to suit your own taste. Must be 0 <= (wa,wd) < 1 and the sum should be wa + wd < 1. High sumed values will result in oscillations, too high and the oscillations will be uncontrolled.

Incrementally display three.js TubeGeometry

I am able to display a THREE.TubeGeometry figure as follows
Code below, link to jsbin
<html>
<body>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/three.js/r75/three.js"></script>
<script>
// global variables
var renderer;
var scene;
var camera;
var geometry;
var control;
var count = 0;
var animationTracker;
init();
drawSpline();
function init()
{
// create a scene, that will hold all our elements such as objects, cameras and lights.
scene = new THREE.Scene();
// create a camera, which defines where we're looking at.
camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(45, window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight, 0.1, 1000);
// create a render, sets the background color and the size
renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer();
renderer.setClearColor('lightgray', 1.0);
renderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);
// position and point the camera to the center of the scene
camera.position.x = 0;
camera.position.y = 40;
camera.position.z = 40;
camera.lookAt(scene.position);
// add the output of the renderer to the html element
document.body.appendChild(renderer.domElement);
}
function drawSpline(numPoints)
{
var numPoints = 100;
// var start = new THREE.Vector3(-5, 0, 20);
var start = new THREE.Vector3(-5, 0, 20);
var middle = new THREE.Vector3(0, 35, 0);
var end = new THREE.Vector3(5, 0, -20);
var curveQuad = new THREE.QuadraticBezierCurve3(start, middle, end);
var tube = new THREE.TubeGeometry(curveQuad, numPoints, 0.5, 20, false);
var mesh = new THREE.Mesh(tube, new THREE.MeshNormalMaterial({
opacity: 0.9,
transparent: true
}));
scene.add(mesh);
renderer.render(scene, camera);
}
</script>
</body>
</html>
However, I would like to display incrementally, as in, like an arc that is loading, such that it starts as the start point, draws incrementally and finally looks the below arc upon completion.
I have been putting in some effort, and was able to do this by storing all the points/coordinates covered by the arc, and drawing lines between the consecutive coordinates, such that I get the 'arc loading incrementally' feel. However, is there a better way to achieve this? This is the link to jsbin
Adding the code here as well
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Incremental Spline Curve</title>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/three.js/r75/three.js"></script>
<style>
body {
margin: 0;
overflow: hidden;
}
</style>
</head>
<script>
// global variables
var renderer;
var scene;
var camera;
var splineGeometry;
var control;
var count = 0;
var animationTracker;
// var sphereCamera;
var sphere;
var light;
function init() {
// create a scene, that will hold all our elements such as objects, cameras and lights.
scene = new THREE.Scene();
// create a camera, which defines where we're looking at.
camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(45, window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight, 0.1, 1000);
// create a render, sets the background color and the size
renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer();
// renderer.setClearColor(0x000000, 1.0);
renderer.setClearColor( 0xffffff, 1 );
renderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);
// position and point the camera to the center of the scene
camera.position.x = 0;
camera.position.y = 40;
camera.position.z = 40;
camera.lookAt(scene.position);
// add the output of the renderer to the html element
document.body.appendChild(renderer.domElement);
// //init for sphere
// sphereCamera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(45, window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight, 1, 1000);
// sphereCamera.position.y = -400;
// sphereCamera.position.z = 400;
// sphereCamera.rotation.x = .70;
sphere = new THREE.Mesh(new THREE.SphereGeometry(0.8,31,31), new THREE.MeshLambertMaterial({
color: 'yellow',
}));
light = new THREE.DirectionalLight('white', 1);
// light.position.set(0,-400,400).normalize();
light.position.set(0,10,10).normalize();
//get points covered by Spline
getSplineData();
}
//save points in geometry.vertices
function getSplineData() {
var curve = new THREE.CubicBezierCurve3(
new THREE.Vector3( -5, 0, 10 ),
new THREE.Vector3(0, 20, 0 ),
new THREE.Vector3(0, 20, 0 ),
new THREE.Vector3( 2, 0, -25 )
);
splineGeometry = new THREE.Geometry();
splineGeometry.vertices = curve.getPoints( 50 );
animate();
}
//scheduler loop
function animate() {
if(count == 50)
{
cancelAnimationFrame(animationTracker);
return;
}
//add line to the scene
drawLine();
renderer.render(scene, camera);
// renderer.render(scene, sphereCamera);
count += 1;
// camera.position.z -= 0.25;
// camera.position.y -= 0.25;
animationTracker = requestAnimationFrame(animate);
}
function drawLine() {
var lineGeometry = new THREE.Geometry();
var lineMaterial = new THREE.LineBasicMaterial({
color: 0x0000ff
});
console.log(splineGeometry.vertices[count]);
console.log(splineGeometry.vertices[count+1]);
lineGeometry.vertices.push(
splineGeometry.vertices[count],
splineGeometry.vertices[count+1]
);
var line = new THREE.Line( lineGeometry, lineMaterial );
scene.add( line );
}
// calls the init function when the window is done loading.
window.onload = init;
</script>
<body>
</body>
</html>
Drawback : The drawback of doing it the above way is that, end of the day, I'm drawing a line between consecutive points, and so I lose out on a lot of the effects possible in TubeGeometry such as, thickness, transparency etc.
Please suggest me an alternative way to get a smooth incremental load for the TubeGeometry.

THREE.TubeGeometry returns a THREE.BufferGeometry.
With THREE.BufferGeometry, you have access to a property drawRange that you can set to animate the drawing of the mesh:
let nEnd = 0, nMax, nStep = 90; // 30 faces * 3 vertices/face
...
const geometry = new THREE.TubeGeometry( path, pathSegments, tubeRadius, radiusSegments, closed );
nMax = geometry.attributes.position.count;
...
function animate() {
requestAnimationFrame( animate );
nEnd = ( nEnd + nStep ) % nMax;
mesh.geometry.setDrawRange( 0, nEnd );
renderer.render( scene, camera );
}
EDIT: For another approach, see this SO answer.
three.js r.144

Normally you would be able to use the method .getPointAt() to "get a vector for point at relative position in curve according to arc length" to get a point at a certain percentage of the length of the curve.
So normally if you want to draw 70% of the curve and a full curve is drawn in 100 segments. Then you could do:
var percentage = 70;
var curvePath = new THREE.CurvePath();
var end, start = curveQuad.getPointAt( 0 );
for(var i = 1; i < percentage; i++){
end = curveQuad.getPointAt( percentage / 100 );
lineCurve = new THREE.LineCurve( start, end );
curvePath.add( lineCurve );
start = end;
}
But I think this is not working for your curveQuad since the getPointAt method is not implemented for this type. A work around is to get a 100 points for your curve in an array like this:
points = curve.getPoints(100);
And then you can do almost the same:
var percentage = 70;
var curvePath = new THREE.CurvePath();
var end, start = points[ 0 ];
for(var i = 1; i < percentage; i++){
end = points[ percentage ]
lineCurve = new THREE.LineCurve( start, end );
curvePath.add( lineCurve );
start = end;
}
now your curvePath holds the line segments you want to use for drawing the tube:
// draw the geometry
var radius = 5, radiusSegments = 8, closed = false;
var geometry = new THREE.TubeGeometry(curvePath, percentage, radius, radiusSegments, closed);
Here a fiddle with a demonstration on how to use this dynamically

I'm not really that familiar with three.js. But I think I can be of assistance. I have two solutions for you. Both based on the same principle: build a new TubeGeometry or rebuild the current one, around a new curve.
Solution 1 (Simple):
var CurveSection = THREE.Curve.create(function(base, from, to) {
this.base = base;
this.from = from;
this.to = to;
}, function(t) {
return this.base.getPoint((1 - t) * this.from + t * this.to);
});
You define a new type of curve which just selects a segment out of a given curve. Usage:
var curve = new CurveSection(yourCurve, 0, .76); // Where .76 is your percentage
Now you can build a new tube.
Solution 2 (Mathematics!):
You are using for your arc a quadratic bezier curve, that's awesome! This curve is a parabola. You want just a segment of that parabola and that is again a parabola, just with other bounds.
What we need is a section of the bezier curve. Let's say the curve is defined by A (start), B (direction), C (end). If we want to change the start to a point D and the end to a point F we need the point E that is the direction of the curve in D and F. So the tangents to our parabola in D and F have to intersect in E. So the following code will give us the desired result:
// Calculates the instersection point of Line3 l1 and Line3 l2.
function intersection(l1, l2) {
var A = l1.start;
var P = l2.closestPointToPoint(A);
var Q = l1.closestPointToPoint(P);
var l = P.distanceToSquared(A) / Q.distanceTo(A);
var d = (new THREE.Vector3()).subVectors(Q, A);
return d.multiplyScalar(l / d.length()).add(A);
}
// Calculate the tangentVector of the bezier-curve
function tangentQuadraticBezier(bezier, t) {
var s = bezier.v0,
m = bezier.v1,
e = bezier.v2;
return new THREE.Vector3(
THREE.CurveUtils.tangentQuadraticBezier(t, s.x, m.x, e.x),
THREE.CurveUtils.tangentQuadraticBezier(t, s.y, m.y, e.y),
THREE.CurveUtils.tangentQuadraticBezier(t, s.z, m.z, e.z)
);
}
// Returns a new QuadraticBezierCurve3 with the new bounds.
function sectionInQuadraticBezier(bezier, from, to) {
var s = bezier.v0,
m = bezier.v1,
e = bezier.v2;
var ns = bezier.getPoint(from),
ne = bezier.getPoint(to);
var nm = intersection(
new THREE.Line3(ns, tangentQuadraticBezier(bezier, from).add(ns)),
new THREE.Line3(ne, tangentQuadraticBezier(bezier, to).add(ne))
);
return new THREE.QuadraticBezierCurve3(ns, nm, ne);
}
This is a very mathematical way, but if you should need the special properties of a Bezier curve, this is the way to go.
Note: The first solution is the simplest. I am not familiar with Three.js so I wouldn't know what the most efficient way to implement the animation is. Three.js doesn't seem to use the special properties of a bezier curve so maybe solution 2 isn't that useful.
I hope you have gotten something useful out of this.

Draw a circle (not shaded) with Three.js

I am trying to draw a circle very similar to the orbital patterns on this website. I would like to use Three.js instead of pure WebGL.

Three.js r50 added CircleGeometry. It can be seen (albeit with a face) in the WebGL Geometries example.
The first vertex in the geometry is created at the center of the circle (in r84, see CircleGeometry.js line 71, in r65, see CircleGeometry.js line 18), which is nifty if you are going for that "full Pac-Man" or "uninformative pie chart" look. Oh, and it appears to be necessary if you are going to use any material aside from LineBasicMaterial / LineDashedMaterial.
I've verified that the following code works in both r60 & r65:
var radius = 100,
segments = 64,
material = new THREE.LineBasicMaterial( { color: 0x0000ff } ),
geometry = new THREE.CircleGeometry( radius, segments );
// Remove center vertex
geometry.vertices.shift();
// Non closed circle with one open segment:
scene.add( new THREE.Line( geometry, material ) );
// To get a closed circle use LineLoop instead (see also #jackrugile his comment):
scene.add( new THREE.LineLoop( geometry, material ) );
PS: The "docs" now include a nice CircleGeometry interactive example: https://threejs.org/docs/#api/geometries/CircleGeometry

The API changed slightly in newer versions of threejs.
var segmentCount = 32,
radius = 100,
geometry = new THREE.Geometry(),
material = new THREE.LineBasicMaterial({ color: 0xFFFFFF });
for (var i = 0; i <= segmentCount; i++) {
var theta = (i / segmentCount) * Math.PI * 2;
geometry.vertices.push(
new THREE.Vector3(
Math.cos(theta) * radius,
Math.sin(theta) * radius,
0));
}
scene.add(new THREE.Line(geometry, material));
Modify segmentCount to make the circle smoother or more jagged as needed by your scene. 32 segments will be quite smooth for small circles. For orbits such as those on the site you link you, you may want to have a few hundred.
Modify the order of the three components within the Vector3 constructor to choose the orientation of the circle. As given here, the circle will be aligned to the x/y plane.

I used code that Mr.doob references in this github post.
var resolution = 100;
var amplitude = 100;
var size = 360 / resolution;
var geometry = new THREE.Geometry();
var material = new THREE.LineBasicMaterial( { color: 0xFFFFFF, opacity: 1.0} );
for(var i = 0; i <= resolution; i++) {
var segment = ( i * size ) * Math.PI / 180;
geometry.vertices.push( new THREE.Vertex( new THREE.Vector3( Math.cos( segment ) * amplitude, 0, Math.sin( segment ) * amplitude ) ) );
}
var line = new THREE.Line( geometry, material );
scene.add(line);

This example is in the Three.js documentation:
var material = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({
color: 0x0000ff
});
var radius = 5;
var segments = 32; //<-- Increase or decrease for more resolution I guess
var circleGeometry = new THREE.CircleGeometry( radius, segments );
var circle = new THREE.Mesh( circleGeometry, material );
scene.add( circle );

I had to do this lol:
function createCircle() {
let circleGeometry = new THREE.CircleGeometry(1.0, 30.0);
circleGeometry.vertices.splice(0, 1); //<= This.
return new THREE.LineLoop(circleGeometry,
new THREE.LineBasicMaterial({ color: 'blue' }));
}
let circle = createCircle();
Reason: Otherwise, it doesn't draw a "pure" circle, there's a line coming from the center to the rim of the circle, even if you use LineLoop instead of Line. Splicing (removing) the first vertex from the array is a hack but seems to do the trick. :)
(Note that apparently, according to mrienstra's answer, "Oh, and it appears to be necessary if you are going to use any material aside from LineBasicMaterial / LineDashedMaterial.")
If you want thickness, though, you're screwed ("Due to limitations of the OpenGL Core Profile with the WebGL renderer on most platforms linewidth will always be 1 regardless of the set value.")... Unless you use: https://github.com/spite/THREE.MeshLine
Code example for that is here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/61312721/1599699

Well, I dunno when they added it - but TorusGeometry should do the job...
THREE TorusGeometry
const geometry = new THREE.TorusGeometry( 10, 3, 16, 100 );
const material = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial( { color: 0xffff00 } );
const torus = new THREE.Mesh( geometry, material );
scene.add( torus );
Dunno, but I think it shouldn't be (much) more expensive than the line thingy and it's a buffer geometry and you may adjust size and material etc...

See the three.js sample http://mrdoob.github.com/three.js/examples/webgl_lines_colors.html to see how to draw colored lines.
A circle like the ones you cite is drawn as a large # of little straight segments. (Actually, the ones you show may be ellipses)

var getStuffDashCircle2 = function () {
var segment = 100, radius = 100;
var lineGeometry = new THREE.Geometry();
var vertArray = lineGeometry.vertices;
var angle = 2 * Math.PI / segment;
for (var i = 0; i < segment; i++) {
var x = radius * Math.cos(angle * i);
var y = radius * Math.sin(angle * i);
vertArray.push(new THREE.Vector3(x, y, 0));
}
lineGeometry.computeLineDistances();
var lineMaterial = new THREE.LineDashedMaterial({ color: 0x00cc00, dashSize: 4, gapSize: 2 });
var circle = new THREE.Line(lineGeometry, lineMaterial);
circle.rotation.x = Math.PI / 2;
circle.position.y = cylinderParam.trackHeight+20;
return circle;
}

I had some issues getting the other answers to work here -- in particular, CircleGeometry had an extra point at the center of the circle, and I didn't like the hack of trying to remove that vertex.
EllipseCurve does what I wanted (verified in r135):
const curve = new THREE.EllipseCurve(
0.0, 0.0, // Center x, y
10.0, 10.0, // x radius, y radius
0.0, 2.0 * Math.PI, // Start angle, stop angle
);
const pts = curve.getSpacedPoints(256);
const geo = new THREE.BufferGeometry().setFromPoints(pts);
const mat = new THREE.LineBasicMaterial({ color: 0xFF00FF });
const circle = new THREE.LineLoop(geo, mat);
scene.add(circle);