Develop Reference

Rotate object to face the mouse cursor

I can't figure out how to properly rotate an object in ThreeJS. The object is a simple box geometry that is rendered from above somewhere on the screen.
Codepen with the full code.
The object is supposed to rotate around it's own Y axis (the vertical axis) to always face the mouse cursor. I can get it to rotate as the cursor moves around the global axis in the middle of the screen, but not when the cursor moves around the object's own local axis.
UPDATE: I got it to work using ray casting. See code further down or in the codepen.
The orthographic camera is set up like this:
camera = new THREE.OrthographicCamera(
window.innerWidth / - 2, // left
window.innerWidth / 2, // right
window.innerHeight / 2, // top
window.innerHeight / - 2, // bottom
0, // near
1000 ); // far
camera.position.set(0, 0, 500)
camera.updateProjectionMatrix()
The object is set up like this:
const geometry = new THREE.BoxGeometry( 10, 10, 10 );
const material = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial( { color: "grey" } );
const mesh = new THREE.Mesh( geometry, material );
Code for handling rotation at mousemove:
function onMouseMove(event) {
// Get mouse position
let mousePos = new THREE.Vector2();
mousePos.set(
(event.clientX / window.innerWidth) * 2 - 1, // x
-(event.clientY / window.innerHeight) * 2 + 1); // y
// Calculate angle
let angle = Math.atan2(mousePos.y, mousePos.x);
// Add rotation to object
mesh.rotation.set(
0, // x
angle, // y
0) // z
}
I have also tried
mesh.rotateY(angle)
but this only makes the object spinn like a helicopter.
It's obvious the rotation needs to be based on the relationship between the cursor and the local axis rather than the global axis. I just can't figure out how to achieve that.
UPDATE
I have added a codepen at the top of the question.
UPDATE
I got it to work using the following method with ray casting.
let plane = new THREE.Plane(new THREE.Vector3(0, 0, 1), 0);
let pointOfIntersection = new THREE.Vector3();
let raycaster = new THREE.Raycaster();
let mousePos = new THREE.Vector2();
mousePos.set(
(event.clientX / window.innerWidth) * 2 - 1, // x
-(event.clientY / window.innerHeight) * 2 + 1))
raycaster.setFromCamera(mousePos, camera);
raycaster.ray.intersectPlane(plane, pointOfIntersection);
mesh.lookAt(pointOfIntersection)

Three.js - Scaling a plane to full screen

I am adding a plane to the scene like this:
// Camera
this.three.camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(45, window.innerWidth/window.innerHeight, 0.1, 60);
// Plane
const planeGeometry = new THREE.PlaneBufferGeometry(1,1,this.options.planeSegments,this.options.planeSegments);
const planeMat = new THREE.ShaderMaterial( ... )
this.three.plane = new THREE.Mesh(planeGeometry,planeMat);
this.three.scene.add(this.three.plane);
Pretty basic. I am than trying to find out how I have to move the plane in the Z axis for it to fill the browser-viewport. For that,
// See attachment "solving for this" is closeZ
const closeZ = 0.5 / Math.tan((this.three.camera.fov/2.0) * Math.PI / 180.0);
this.uniforms.uZMax = new THREE.Uniform(this.three.camera.position.z - closeZ);
So now I know in my shader how much I can add to Z to make the plane fill the viewport. Vertex Shader looks like this:
uniform float uZMax;
void main() {
vec3 pos = (position.xy, uZMax);
gl_Position = projectionMatrix * modelViewMatrix * vec4( pos, 1 );
}
This actually zoom the plane to fill the viewport, but in Y-Axis, not in X-Axis.
I would like to discover why my math is referring to the Y-Axis and how I need to transform it, so the plane will fill the viewport width instead of it's height?
Edit:
I'm trying to achieve something like this https://tympanus.net/Tutorials/GridToFullscreenAnimations/index4.html - But in the given example they're just scaling the x- and y-pixels to fill the screen and therefore no actual 3d - and therefore again no lighting is going on.
I want to actually move the plane towards the camera using different z-values so I can calculate surface normals to then again calculate lighting in the fragment shader by how aligned the normal is with the light direction - like it's done in raymarching.

You can easily achieve such a fullscreen effect by using the following setup:
const camera = new THREE.OrthographicCamera( - 1, 1, 1, - 1, 0, 1 );
const geometry = new THREE.PlaneBufferGeometry( 2, 2 );
When creating a mesh with this geometry and a custom shader material, the orthographic camera will ensure the intended fullscreen effect. This approach is used in all post-processing example where the entire viewport has to be filled with a single quad.

I figured it out, and as suspected it has to do with the aspect ratio passed to the camera. For anyone looking for a solution after me, here is how it works:
I wrongly assumed that the field-of-value for the camera is the same in all directions. But the FOV is referring to the Y-Axis FOV, so we have to convert the camera-fov to the x-axis also:
function getXFOV() {
// Convert angle to radiant
const FOV = this.three.camera.fov;
let yFovRadiant = FOV * Math.PI/180;
// Calculate X-FOV Radiant
let xFovRadiant = 2 * Math.atan( Math.tan(yFovRadiant/2) * (window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight));
// Convert back to angle
let xFovAngle = xFovRadiant * 180/Math.PI;
return xFovAngle;
}
And then we simply use that angle in in the closeZ-calculation instead of the camera's fov. Now it snaps to the window-width.
const closeZ = 0.5 / Math.tan((this.getXFOV()) * Math.PI / 180.0);
this.uniforms.uZMax = new THREE.Uniform(this.three.camera.position.z - closeZ);

What is required to convert threejs perspective camera to orthographic

I have some code that converts a perspective camera to an orthographic camera. The problem is that when I make the conversion, the model becomes very tiny and hard to see.
I have calculated the zoom factor for the orthographic camera, based on the distance and the FOV. Are there any other properties that I need to set on the orthographic camera (e.g. clipping plane, etc..)?
I believe the position remains the same. I'm not sure what else I need to calculate.
fieldOfView = viewInfo.fov;
var getCameraPosition = function() {
return viewer._viewport._implementation.getCamera()._nativeCamera.position;
};
// Calculate the delta position between the camera and the object
var getPositionDelta = function(position1, position2) {
return {
x: position1.x - position2.x,
y: position1.y - position2.y,
z: position1.z - position2.z
}
};
var getDistance = function(positionDelta, cameraDirection) {
return dot(positionDelta, cameraDirection);
};
distance = getDistance(positionDelta, cameraDirection),
var depth = distance;
var viewportWidth = view.getDomRef().getBoundingClientRect().width;
var viewportHeight = view.getDomRef().getBoundingClientRect().height;
var aspect = viewportWidth / viewportHeight;
var height_ortho = depth * 2 * Math.atan( fieldOfView * (Math.PI/180) / 2 )
var width_ortho = height_ortho * aspect;
var near = viewInfo.near, far = viewInfo.far;
var newCamera = new THREE.OrthographicCamera(
width_ortho / -2, width_ortho / 2,
height_ortho / 2, height_ortho / -2,
near, far );
newCamera.position.copy( viewInfo.position );
var sCamera = new vk.threejs.OrthographicCamera(); //framework creatio of threejs cam
sCamera.setZoomFactor(orthoZoomFactor);
sCamera.setCameraRef(newCamera);
view.getViewport().setCamera(sCamera);
I also tried setting the same camera properties (e.g. clipping planes etc) of the perspective for the orthographic and I still had the same problem.
I guess I am missing some property or calculation required to put the object in the same position as when it was in perspective camera view.

Let's assume you have a perspective view with a given vertical field of view angle fov_y (in degrees) and you know the size of the viewport width and height. Furthermore, you have the near and far plane. These are the values which you use to setup the THREE.PerspectiveCamera:
perspCamera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera( fov_y, width / height, near, far );
Also, you know the position of the object and the position of the camera. An object doesn't have only a single position, but you have to choose a representative position for its depth.
First you have to calculate the depth of the object.
var v3_object = .... // THREE.Vector3 : positon of the object
var v3_camera = perspCamera.position;
var line_of_sight = new THREE.Vector3();
perspCamera.getWorldDirection( line_of_sight );
var v3_distance = v3_object.clone().sub( v3_camera );
depth = v3_distance.dot( line_of_sight );
Then you have to calculate the "size" of the rectangle which is projected to the viewport at the depth:
aspect = width / height;
height_ortho = depth * 2 * Math.atan( fov_y*(Math.PI/180) / 2 )
width_ortho = height_ortho * aspect;
With these values the THREE.OrthographicCamera can be setup like this:
var orthoCamera = new THREE.OrthographicCamera(
width_ortho / -2, width_ortho / 2,
height_ortho / 2, height_ortho / -2,
near, far );
orthoCamera.position.copy( perspCamera.position );
The positon and direction of the perspective camera can be committed to the orthographic camera like this:
orthoCamera.position.copy( perspCamera.position );
orthoCamera.quaternion.copy( perspCamera.quaternion );
See also stackoverflow question Three.js - Find the current LookAt of a camera?

How to rotate a THREE.PerspectiveCamera around on object

I am making this program where you can click on an object, zoom to it, then look at it from all angles by holding the right mouse button and dragging. I need the camera to be going around the object, not rotate the object with the camera looking at it. I honestly just have no idea how to math it out!
For testing there is already a game object with an xyz we have selected and are looking at
var g = new GameObject(500, 0, 0);//The game object with xyz
this.selected = g;//set selected to g
//Create and set the camera
this.camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(45, w/h, 1, 10000);
this.camera.position.x = 0;
this.camera.position.y = 0;
this.camera.position.z = 0;
//set camera to look at the object which is 500 away in the x direction
this.camera.lookAt(new THREE.Vector3(this.selected.x, this.selected.y, this.selected.z));
So the radius between the camera and the object is 500 and while selected and rotating, the camera should always be 500 away.
I update the scene here:
Main.prototype.update = function(){
this.renderer.render(this.scene, this.camera);//scene is just some ambient lighting
//what to do when mouse right is held down
if(this.rightMouseDown){
//placeholder functionality, needs to rotate around object based on mouse movements
this.camera.position.x -= 5;
}
}
How do I rotate this camera around g with a radius of 500?!?!

As gaitat mentioned, trackball controls are the best place to start with many configurable parameters to make camera rotation/revolution easy. One enormous potential benefit of this method ( especially for your project ) is avoiding "gimbal lock" which is the source of much frustration when working with rotations. Here's a link that might help you with Trackball controls and Orbitcontrols:
Rotate camera in Three.js with mouse
Another option would be setting camera coordinates yourself in the animation loop which is actually quite simple:
var angle = 0;
var radius = 500;
function animate() {
...
// Use Math.cos and Math.sin to set camera X and Z values based on angle.
camera.position.x = radius * Math.cos( angle );
camera.position.z = radius * Math.sin( angle );
angle += 0.01;
...
}
Another option would be to connect the camera to a pivot object and just rotate the pivot:
var camera_pivot = new THREE.Object3D()
var Y_AXIS = new THREE.Vector3( 0, 1, 0 );
scene.add( camera_pivot );
camera_pivot.add( camera );
camera.position.set( 500, 0, 0 );
camera.lookAt( camera_pivot.position );
...
camera_pivot.rotateOnAxis( Y_AXIS, 0.01 ); // radians
If you pursue this option, be aware that the camera object is in "camera pivot space", and might be more challenging to manipulate further.

Threejs object selection issue

Im currently working on an small web-application which is using threejs. I ran into the following issue:
I build a prototype which contains my threejs content and everything works well here (The canvas is in the prototype window.innerWidth and window.innerHeight => so has the same size as my Browser window. Selecting works well but I want to use the canvas on my web page application and picking of 3d surfaces needs to work as well there.
I discovered as soon as I change the margin or top via CSS of the canvas it doesn't work anymore. The web-application is based on a scroll page and the threejs canvas is inside a div container which can only be seen by scrolling through the page.
For picking I use the following logic/code -> this one works well in the "fullscreen prototype" but not in the web application page
self.renderer.domElement.addEventListener( 'click', function(event){
event.preventDefault();
//CONVERT MOUSE POSITION TO CORRECT VECTOR
var vector = new THREE.Vector3( ( event.clientX / window.innerWidth ) * 2 - 1, - ( event.clientY / window.innerHeight ) * 2 + 1, 0.5 );
//TRANSLATES A 2D POINT FROM Normalized Device Coordinates TO RAYCASTER THAT CAN BE USED FOR PICKING
self.projector.unprojectVector( vector, self.camera );
//RAYCASTER IS NEEDED TO DETECT INTERACTION WITH CUBE SURFACE
var raycaster = new THREE.Raycaster( self.camera.position, vector.sub( self.camera.position ).normalize() );
var intersects = raycaster.intersectObjects( self.scene.children );
//CHANGE COLOR BASED ON INTERSECTION WITH ELEMENT
if ( intersects.length > 0 ) {
//SELECTED OBJECT
}
}, false );
I think that the calculation is wrong for the var vector but I just can't figure it out how to do it correctly.
Any help would be appreciated
Thank you
best reards

200% way
var x = event.offsetX == undefined ? event.layerX : event.offsetX;
var y = event.offsetY == undefined ? event.layerY : event.offsetY;
var vector = new THREE.Vector3();
vector.set( ( x / renderer.domElement.width ) * 2 - 1, - ( y / renderer.domElement.height ) * 2 + 1, 0.5 );
projector.unprojectVector( vector, camera );
Or see this example. Look at messages in the console.
<script src="js/controls/EventsControls.js"></script>
EventsControls = new EventsControls( camera, renderer.domElement );
EventsControls.draggable = false;
EventsControls.onclick = function() {
console.log( this.focused.name );
}
var mesh = new THREE.Mesh( geometry, material );
scene.add( mesh );
EventsControls.attach( mesh );
//
function render() {
EventsControls.update();
controls.update();
renderer.render(scene, camera);
}

If you want to use it in your webpage, you probably need to calculate the vector with the width and height from your canvas element instead of the window which is your whole browser window.