Develop Reference

Setting the position of a text geometry?

I have looked through stack overflow and google and I have found how to CENTER a text geometry but that is not what I want to do.
I have a scene that just has a block of text that says "Buy Here!". Using the documentation in the three.js website and examples here I was able to do that after some struggling. I had some trouble finding out how to refer to that mesh since I had created the geometry inside a function, and it took hours for me to know about setting a name for it as a string so it can be accessible from different parent/child levels.
What I am NOT able to do now is to offset the text by some arbitrary number of units. I tried shifting it down by 5 units. No matter how I try to do it it isn't working. I either manage to make the text geometry disappear OR my whole scene is black.
Here is my code...
I have the basic scene setup working properly and I'll include it here but feel free to skip since I'm pretty sure this has nothing to do with the issue...
import './style.css'
import * as THREE from 'three';
import { OrbitControls } from 'https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/three#0.117.0/examples/jsm/controls/OrbitControls.js';
import TWEEN from 'https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/#tweenjs/tween.js#18.5.0/dist/tween.esm.js';
//BASIC SCENE SETUP
const scene = new THREE.Scene();
const camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(75, window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight, 0.1, 1000);
const renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer({ antialias: true });
renderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);
renderer.setPixelRatio(window.devicePixelRatio);
document.body.appendChild(renderer.domElement);
//LIGHTS (POINT AND AMBIENT)
const pointLight = new THREE.PointLight(0xFFFFFF);
pointLight.position.set(5, 5, 5);
const ambientLight = new THREE.AmbientLight(0xFFFFFF);
scene.add(pointLight, ambientLight);
//RESIZE WINDOW
window.addEventListener('resize', () => {
camera.aspect = window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight;
camera.updateProjectionMatrix();
renderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);
render();
}, false);
//ORBIT CONTROLS
const controls = new OrbitControls(camera, renderer.domElement);
controls.minDistance = 5;
controls.maxDistance = 70;
controls.enablePan = false;
controls.enableRotate = false;
controls.enableZoom = false;
controls.target.set(0,0,-1);
camera.position.setZ(25);
window.addEventListener("click", (event) => {
onClick(event);
})
window.addEventListener("mousemove", onMouseMove);
var animate = function() {
requestAnimationFrame(animate);
controls.update();
render();
TWEEN.update();
};
function render() {
renderer.render(scene, camera);
}
animate();
and here is my code for the text object....
var loaderF = new THREE.FontLoader();
loaderF.load( 'https://threejs.org/examples/fonts/optimer_regular.typeface.json', function ( font ) {
var geometry = new THREE.TextGeometry( 'Buy Here!', {
font: font,
size: 2.3,
height: 0.1,
curveSegments: 15,
bevelEnabled: true,
bevelThickness: 0.5,
bevelSize: 0.31,
bevelSegments: 7
} );
geometry.center();
var material = new THREE.MeshLambertMaterial({color: 0x686868});
var mesh = new THREE.Mesh( geometry, material );
mesh.name = "bhText"
scene.add( mesh );
mesh.userData = { URL: "http://google.com"};
} );
Here's what I have tried.....
under "var geometry ({...});" I typed....
geometry.position.setX(-5);
but the text object disappears completely so I tried
geometry.position.setX = -5;
but there was no difference so i tried taking out
geometry.center();
but it had the same results.
So then I tried using
mesh.position.x = -5;
with AND without
geometry.center();
but again, they all just make my text object disappear.
So now I tried to set the position from outside the function by typing the following code OUTSIDE of everything that is contained in
loaderF.load ('https.....', function (font){var geometry = .....})
using the reference I learned....
scene.getObjectByName("bhText").position.x(-5);
but this makes my entire scene go blank (black). So I tried variations of like
scene.getObjectByName("bhText").position.x = -5;
scene.getObjectByName("bhText").position.setX(-5);
scene.getObjectByName("bhText").position.setX = -5;
mesh.position.setX = -5;// I was pretty sure this wasn't going to work since I wasn't
//using the mesh name specifically for when it's inside something
//I can't reach because of parent-child relations
and again trying each of those with AND without
geometry.center();
but they all made my scene go black.
I just wanna move it down a couple of units. Sheesh.
Could anyone be kind enough to tell me WHERE in my code I can set the position of the text geometry? Thank you please.

I just wanna move it down a couple of units.
In this case use mesh.position.y = - 5;. Changing the x coordinate will move the mesh to the left or right. Here is a complete live example based on your code:
const scene = new THREE.Scene();
const camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(75, window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight, 0.1, 1000);
camera.position.set( 0, 0, 10 );
const renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer({
antialias: true
});
renderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);
renderer.setPixelRatio(window.devicePixelRatio);
document.body.appendChild(renderer.domElement);
const pointLight = new THREE.PointLight(0xFFFFFF);
pointLight.position.set(5, 5, 5);
const ambientLight = new THREE.AmbientLight(0xFFFFFF);
scene.add(pointLight, ambientLight);
const loader = new THREE.FontLoader();
loader.load('https://threejs.org/examples/fonts/optimer_regular.typeface.json', function(font) {
const geometry = new THREE.TextGeometry('Buy Here!', {
font: font,
size: 2,
height: 0.5
});
geometry.center();
const material = new THREE.MeshLambertMaterial({
color: 0x686868
});
const mesh = new THREE.Mesh(geometry, material);
mesh.position.y = - 1; // FIX
mesh.name = "bhText"
scene.add(mesh);
renderer.render(scene, camera);
});
body {
margin: 0;
}
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/three#0.130.1/build/three.min.js"></script>

multiple calls to the renderer do not work

In the last two months i have learned a lot about three.js and javascript. i have now gone deeper into the handling of shaders and i once saw a nice example of creating procedural planets on the web. I find spherical geometries interesting because their non-euclidean geometry makes them a nice challenge for textures.
I have shown the main code here. my problem is that the texture rendering doesn't work.
I have tested the individual components of my program. The shader and the planet class, all functions work correctly.
the problem is the renderer. I need this to display the scene but also to create the textures. When in the function
textureGeneratorMaterial (below) renderer.render(textureScene, textureCamera, texture, true); is activate, I only get a black screen. There after the function renderer.render(scene, camera); is called, I mean that the normal scene should be seen. Does the program remain trapped in the texture scene? Why does renderer.render(scene, camera) not work, if the renderer is also called in textureGeneratorMaterial?
I've already tried to create a second renderer, but that doesn't work either. At the moment i don't know what to do, because i don't understand the cause. Someone knows why the renderer doesn't want the way I want?
var camera, controls, scene, renderer, container;
var sunLight, ambientlight;
var test1, test2, test3, test4;
function main() {
init();
animate();
}
function init() {
renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer( { antialias: true } );
renderer.setPixelRatio( window.devicePixelRatio );
renderer.shadowMap.enabled = true;
renderer.shadowMap.type = THREE.PCFSoftShadowMap;
container = document.getElementById('container');
renderer.setSize(container.clientWidth, container.clientHeight);
container.appendChild( renderer.domElement );
var aspect = container.clientWidth / container.clientHeight;
scene = new THREE.Scene();
scene.background = new THREE.Color( 0x000000 );
camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera( 45, container.clientWidth / container.clientHeight, 1, 10000 );
camera.position.set(0, 0, 20);
controls = new THREE.OrbitControls( camera, renderer.domElement );
controls.enableZoom = true;
controls.enabled = true;
controls.target.set(0, 0, 0);
//-------------
sunLight = new THREE.PointLight(new THREE.Color(0xffffff), 1.0);
sunLight.position.set(100, 0, 0);
scene.add(sunLight);
ambientlight = new THREE.AmbientLight( 0xF0F0F0 ); // soft white light
scene.add( ambientlight );
var maps = generateTextures(); //--here is the problem---
/* -----used ro check "function textureGeneratorMaterial(index)" works------
var plane = new THREE.Mesh(
new THREE.PlaneGeometry(1024, 1024),
textureGeneratorMaterial(0)
);
scene.add( plane );
*/
/*-----used ro check "Planet class" works------
for(var i = 0; i <6;i++){
maps.textureMaps[i].texture = new THREE.TextureLoader().load("img/Cay_sand.jpeg");
maps.bumpMaps[i].texture = new THREE.TextureLoader().load("img/Cay_sand.jpeg");
}
*/
scene.add(new Planet(5, maps.textureMaps, maps.bumpMaps)); // works correct
}//-------End init----------
function animate() {
requestAnimationFrame( animate );
render();
}//-------End animate----------
function render() {
document.getElementById("demo1").innerHTML = test1;
document.getElementById("demo2").innerHTML = test2;
document.getElementById("demo3").innerHTML = test3;
document.getElementById("demo4").innerHTML = test4;
camera.updateMatrixWorld();
camera.updateProjectionMatrix();
renderer.render(scene, camera);
}//-------End render----------
function generateTextures() {
var textureMaps = [];
var bumpMaps = [];
var resolution = 1024;
for (var index = 0; index < 6; index++) {
var texture = new THREE.WebGLRenderTarget(resolution, resolution, {minFilter: THREE.LinearFilter, magFilter: THREE.LinearFilter, format: THREE.RGBFormat});
var textureCamera = new THREE.OrthographicCamera(-resolution/2, resolution/2, resolution/2, -resolution/2, -100, 100);
textureCamera.position.z = 10;
var textureScene = new THREE.Scene();
var plane = new THREE.Mesh(
new THREE.PlaneGeometry(resolution, resolution),
textureGeneratorMaterial(index)
);
plane.position.z = -10;
textureScene.add(plane);
// renderer.render(textureScene, textureCamera, texture, true);
var buffer = new Uint8Array(resolution * resolution * 4);
var gl = renderer.getContext();
gl.readPixels( 0, 0, resolution, resolution, gl.RGBA, gl.UNSIGNED_BYTE, buffer);
textureMaps.push(texture);
bumpMaps.push({image: {data: buffer, height: resolution, width: resolution}});
}
return {textureMaps: textureMaps, bumpMaps: bumpMaps};
}

Ok i have found a solution. I was convinced that it was up to the renderer and that it would remain trapped in the texture target when it was called up for the first time.
In three.js there is the possibility to reset the render target and if you do that, three.js seems to see it as in need of initialization and accepts the call to the renderer to render the main scene.
I added this line: renderer.setRenderTarget(null);
See below
function generateTextures() {
var textureMaps = [];
var bumpMaps = [];
var resolution = 2048;
for (var index = 0; index < 6; index++) {
var texture = new THREE.WebGLRenderTarget(resolution, resolution, {minFilter: THREE.LinearFilter, magFilter: THREE.LinearFilter, format: THREE.RGBFormat});
var textureCamera = new THREE.OrthographicCamera(-resolution/2, resolution/2, resolution/2, -resolution/2, -100, 100);
textureCamera.position.z = 10;
var textureScene = new THREE.Scene();
var plane = new THREE.Mesh(
new THREE.PlaneGeometry(resolution, resolution),
textureGeneratorMaterial(index)
);
plane.position.z = -10;
textureScene.add(plane);
renderer.render(textureScene, textureCamera, texture, true);
var buffer = new Uint8Array(resolution * resolution * 4);
var gl = renderer.getContext();
gl.readPixels( 0, 0, resolution, resolution, gl.RGBA, gl.UNSIGNED_BYTE, buffer);
textureMaps.push(texture);
bumpMaps.push({image: {data: buffer, height: resolution, width: resolution}});
renderer.setRenderTarget(null);
}
return {textureMaps: textureMaps, bumpMaps: bumpMaps};
}
In older versions like the example I saw, this wasn't necessary. But this is not meant as a criticism. It's a clean solution. So three always knows that there is a need for renderer action.

Why is my canvas element showing only a black screen?

I'm setting up a 3d asset viewer in Three.js. I'm running the code on a Plesk server provided by the university and have it linked via Dreamweaver. I'm a total newbie to JS and it was suggested in many threads and posts that I wrap my code within an 'init();' function. Up doing so, and clearing any errors that the code had, it is now showing a black screen, rather than the 3d model it would show before.
I've spent the whole day error checking removing problems that I was having which included the 'canvas' not being created inside the 'container' div, and the 'onWindowResize' function. All these problems have been resolved, and there are no errors in the code apparently. I've got ambient lights in the code and there was a working skybox, so I'm sure its not a problem with position of camera or lack of lighting.
I know that you need as little code as possible, but I have no idea where the problem is coming from, so a majority of the code on the page is here :
<div id="container" ></div>
<script>
let container;
let camera;
let controls;
let scene;
let renderer;
init();
animate;
function init(){
// Renderer - WebGL is primary Renderer for Three.JS
var renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer({antialias : true});
renderer.setClearColor(0xEEEEEE, 0.5);
// Selects and applies parameters to the 'Container' div
var container = document.querySelector("#container");
container.appendChild(renderer.domElement);
renderer.setSize(container.clientWidth, container.clientHeight);
// Perspective Camera (FOV, aspect ratio based on container, near, far)
var camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera( 75, container.clientWidth / container.clientHeight, 0.1, 1000);
camera.position.x = 750;
camera.position.y = 500;
camera.position.z = 1250;
// Scene will contain all objects in the world
var scene = new THREE.Scene();
//Lighting (Colour, intensity)
var light1Ambient = new THREE.AmbientLight(0xffffff , 0.3);
scene.add(light1Ambient);
var light1Point = new THREE.PointLight(0xfff2c1, 0.5, 0, 2);
scene.add(light1Point);
var light2Point = new THREE.PointLight(0xd6e3ff, 0.4, 0, 2);
scene.add(light2Point);
// All basic Geomety
var newPlane = new THREE.PlaneGeometry(250,250,100,100);
const mesh = new THREE.Mesh(
new THREE.BoxGeometry(1, 1, 1),
new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial( {color: 0x00ff00} )
);
scene.add(mesh);
// Water
water = new THREE.Water(newPlane,
{
textureWidth: 512,
textureHeight: 512,
waterNormals: new THREE.TextureLoader().load( 'http://up826703.ct.port.ac.uk/CTPRO/textures/waternormals.jpg', function ( texture ) {
texture.wrapS = texture.wrapT = THREE.RepeatWrapping;
} ),
alpha: 1.0,
sunDirection: light1Point.position.clone().normalize(),
sunColor: 0xffffff,
waterColor: 0x001e0f,
distortionScale: 0.5,
fog: scene.fog !== undefined
}
);
water.rotation.x = - Math.PI / 2;
scene.add( water );
// All Materials (Normal for Debugging) (Lambert: color)
var material = new THREE.MeshLambertMaterial({color: 0xF3FFE2});
var materialNew = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial( {color: 0x00ff00} );
// Skybox
var skybox = new THREE.BoxGeometry(1000,1000, 1000);
var skyboxMaterials =
[
new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({map: new THREE.TextureLoader().load("http://up826703.ct.port.ac.uk/CTPRO/skybox/blue/bluecloud_ft.jpg"), side: THREE.DoubleSide }),
new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({map: new THREE.TextureLoader().load("http://up826703.ct.port.ac.uk/CTPRO/skybox/blue/bluecloud_bk.jpg"), side: THREE.DoubleSide }),
new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({map: new THREE.TextureLoader().load("http://up826703.ct.port.ac.uk/CTPRO/skybox/blue/bluecloud_up.jpg"), side: THREE.DoubleSide }),
new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({map: new THREE.TextureLoader().load("http://up826703.ct.port.ac.uk/CTPRO/skybox/blue/bluecloud_dn.jpg"), side: THREE.DoubleSide }),
new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({map: new THREE.TextureLoader().load("http://up826703.ct.port.ac.uk/CTPRO/skybox/blue/bluecloud_rt.jpg"), side: THREE.DoubleSide }),
new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({map: new THREE.TextureLoader().load("http://up826703.ct.port.ac.uk/CTPRO/skybox/blue/bluecloud_lf.jpg"), side: THREE.DoubleSide }),
];
var skyboxMaterial = new THREE.MeshFaceMaterial(skyboxMaterials);
var skyMesh = new THREE.Mesh (skybox, skyboxMaterial);
scene.add(skyMesh);
//Grid Helper Beneath Ship
scene.add(new THREE.GridHelper(250, 250));
//OBJ Model Loading
var objLoader = new THREE.OBJLoader();
objLoader.load('http://up826703.ct.port.ac.uk/CTPRO/models/ship1.obj', function(object){
scene.add(object);
});
// Object positioning
water.position.y = -2.5;
// Misc Positioning
light1Point.position.z =20;
light1Point.position.x = 25;
// z - front-back position
light2Point.position.z = -400;
// x - left-right
light2Point.position.x = -25;
// y - up- down
light2Point.position.y = 250;
window.addEventListener("resize", onWindowResize, false);
function onWindowResize() {
camera.aspect = window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight;
camera.updateProjectionMatrix();
renderer.setSize(container.clientWidth, container.clientHeight);
};
};
// Canvas adapts size based on changing windows size
//Render loop
var animate = function(){
water.material.uniforms[ "time" ].value += 1.0 / 120.0;
function drawFrame(ts){
var center = new THREE.Vector2(0,0);
window.requestAnimationFrame(drawFrame);
var vLength = newPlane.geometry.vertices.length;
for (var i = 0; i < vLength; i++) {
var v = newPlane.geometry.vertices[i];
var dist = new THREE.Vector2(v.x, v.y).sub(center);
var size = 2.0;
var magnitude = 8;
v.z = Math.sin(dist.length()/-size + (ts/900)) * magnitude;
}
newPlane.geometry.verticesNeedUpdate = true;
};
requestAnimationFrame(animate)
renderer.render(scene, camera);
controls.update();
}
</script>
I'm no professional, so I'm sorry if this is super rough for those of you with experience!
I need to point out, before wrapping all of this in the init(); function, it was working perfectly.
When working, I should see a crudely modeled ship sitting in some water, with a cloud skybox. The controls were working and it would auto rotate.
Right now it does none of this. The obj loader is working as seen in the chrome console log OBJLoader: 1661.970703125ms but again, nothing is actually displayed, it's just a black screen.
Thanks to anyone who's able to help me out with this!

this line
animate;
needs to a function call
animate();
Also you probably need to change the code below where you create the animate function from
var animate = function(){
To this
function animate(){
The reason is named functions are defined when the code is loaded but variables var are created when the code is executed. So with code like this
init();
animate();
var animate = function(){ ...
animate doesn't actually exist at the point the code tries to call it whereas with this
init();
animate();
function animate(){ ...
it does exist
You could also re-arrange the code so for example define animate before you use it should work.
var animate = function(){
...
};
init();
animate();
It also appear some are declared inside init which means that are not available to animate. So for example
var renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer({antialias : true});
declares a new variable renderer that only init can see. You wanted to set the renderer variable that is outside of init so change the code to
renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer({antialias : true});
controls is never defined so you probably need to define it or comment out
controls.update();
to
// controls.update();
note: you might find these tutorials helpful although if you're new to JavaScript you should probably spend time learning JavaScript

three.js - How to set camera position?

I'm pretty beginner in three.js and webgl programming. so I have created a box in three.js and its working fine but the problem is when I set camera position in z axis(eg: camera.position.z = 2; ) the box just disappears. could anyone explain me why is it happening and how can I properly set the position of the camera?
try uncommenting the camera.position.z = 2; in the fiddle
function init() {
var scene = new THREE.Scene();
var box = getBox(1, 1, 1);
scene.add(box);
var camera = new THREE.Camera(45, window.innerWidth/window.innerHeight, 1, 1000 );
//camera.position.z = 2;
var renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer();
renderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);
document.getElementById("webgl").appendChild(renderer.domElement);
renderer.render(scene, camera);
}
function getBox(w, h, d) {
var geometry = new THREE.BoxGeometry(w, h, d);
var material = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({
color : 0x00ff00
});
var mesh = new THREE.Mesh(geometry, material);
return mesh;
}
init();

not sure if you're trying to create this scene with an orthographic camera or perspective camera, but you'll typically need to specify the camera by type (ie THREE.PerspectiveCamera(...)).
I also added a few extra lines to ensure the camera was configured correctly, namely, setting the "LookAt" point to (0,0,0) , as well as setting an actual position of the camera via the THREE.Vector3.set(...) method.
Here are my adjustments to your code:
function init() {
var scene = new THREE.Scene();
var box = getBox(1, 1, 1);
scene.add(box);
var camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(70,
window.innerWidth/window.innerHeight, 0.1, 1000 ); // Specify camera type like this
camera.position.set(0,2.5,2.5); // Set position like this
camera.lookAt(new THREE.Vector3(0,0,0)); // Set look at coordinate like this
var renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer();
renderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);
document.getElementById("webgl").appendChild(renderer.domElement);
renderer.render(scene, camera);
}
function getBox(w, h, d) {
var geometry = new THREE.BoxGeometry(w, h, d);
var material = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({
color : 0x00ff00
});
var mesh = new THREE.Mesh(geometry, material);
return mesh;
}
init();

Try
camera.position.set( <X> , <Y> , <Z> );
where <X> and <Z> are 2D coordinates and <Y> is height

Three js in a class

I tried to set all the necessary functionality into one class in order to create a simple three.js scene with a cube. I don't get any errors, but the scene stays black when I open it in the browser.
Here is my code:
class SceneInit {
constructor(fov = 45,camera,scene,controls,renderer)
{
this.camera = camera;
this.scene = scene;
this.controls = controls;
this.renderer = renderer;
this.fov = fov;
}
initScene() {
this.camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(this.fov, window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight, 1, 1000);
this.camera.position.z = 15;
this.controls = new THREE.TrackballControls( this.camera );
//this.controls.addEventListener('change', this.renderScene);
this.scene = new THREE.Scene();
//specify a canvas which is already created in the HTML file and tagged by an id //aliasing enabled
this.renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer({canvas: document.getElementById('myThreeJsCanvas') , antialias: true});
this.renderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);
document.body.appendChild(this.renderer.domElement);
//ambient light which is for the whole scene
let ambientLight = new THREE.AmbientLight(0xffffff, 0.7);
ambientLight.castShadow = false;
this.scene.add(ambientLight);
//spot light which is illuminating the chart directly
let spotLight = new THREE.SpotLight(0xffffff, 0.55);
spotLight.castShadow = true;
spotLight.position.set(0,40,10);
this.scene.add(spotLight);
//if window resizes
window.addEventListener('resize', this.onWindowResize, false);
}
animate(){
requestAnimationFrame( this.animate.bind(this) );
this.render();
this.controls.update();
}
render(){
this.renderer.render( this.scene, this.camera );
}
onWindowResize() {
this.camera.aspect = window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight;
this.camera.updateProjectionMatrix();
this.renderer.setSize( window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight );
}
}
And then I try to instantiate a new object and add an object to the scene. When I try to print the children of the scene, it returns me the right objects, but as I mentioned before the scene stays black. Only the renderer window is getting drawed in the browser.
let test = new SceneInit(45);
test.initScene();
test.animate();
let geometry = new THREE.BoxBufferGeometry( 200, 200, 200 );
let material = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial();
let mesh = new THREE.Mesh( geometry, material );
test.scene.add(mesh);
console.log(test.scene.children); //returns 3 objects (ambientLight, spotLight, mesh)

I got the answer.
The problem in the code was that the BoxGeometry was too big and the camera was inside the box. With the clipping set to 1 it wouldn't even render it.
So the solution is to set a smaller BoxGeometry. or to move the camera away!