Learning Three.js – the JavaScript 3D Library for WebGL - Second Edition 2nd ed. Edition

The Three.js library is large and complex and seems to change rapidly. It's a tough subject to tackle with a beginner book and still cover all the bases. On top of that if you're not familiar with 3D programming or basic JavaScript the task will be that much more difficult for the reader. This book does a decent job helping a newbie get some things done with Three.JS. I usually have to buy two or three books at once when I start out learning a new technology, finding each one covers the gaps left by the other two. Getting this one and the other Three.js Cookbook (same publisher, Packt) should put the aspiring learner in good shape. The code examples are pretty good. I did find the organization of the topics could have been better, I had to jump around a lot, going back to earlier sections when they made better sense. That could have just been me, however, and again this a complicated topic so no easy task for the author and team to make it all work. Overall, it's a solid book I recommend.

I am going to have to agree, (5) stars! I bought the book two days ago a just finished it tonight. Kind of in a rush, but I was looking for something specific. Blew through the many examples in about 20 hours and could not put it down. I cannot believe how much the Three.js API has matured in the last couple of years. This book shows you things that were only possible in production environments like Unity. Now I'm going back through it with the Java Script programmer's view in mind, but from what I've seen in the example source this API will become a standard part of anything and everything that runs 3D environments in web browsers for years to come. With very little exception, all of the demo code worked and each example was thoroughly explained in the chapter text.

It is amazing how much one can do by simply reading the first 2 or 3 chapters: part of it is because THREE.js is a great little library, and in part the author deserves credit for his clear and concise explanations. This is a fast moving world and some of the examples raise warning in the console of modern browsers: what one has to go is perform the usual googling that is part of the daily rituals of every software engineer, so I am not lowering my stars because of that: I think that this book is as good as a book can be nowadays that technology moves at its pretty reckless pace.I am not affiliated with the author and did buy this book with my own hard earned money.

Did know nothing about it hen I started reading the book. Reading the book flowed easily. Now I feel that I really master the topic. Highly recommend it for beginners. Myself a software architect and engineer with over 20 years of industrial experience.

Explains how to use Three.js, but not so much information about internal.

decent

Great Resource! Helps tremendously...

Learning Three.js - the JavaScript 3D Library for WebGL, second edition is a good introduction to creating web-based 3D applications using the three.js library. The book assumes basic programming knowledge and some experience with using other CAD or 3D scene composition software, but nothing conceptually complex. While it is possible to just "jump in" sans book using the example code at threejs.org, the author takes the reader through the details needed to get started from ground zero. Rather than just assume everyone uses Chrome on a desktop, the author first shows how to do the basic but vital task of enabling WebGL on some of the older (but not uncommon) browsers. This seemingly trivial task had eluded me the better part of an afternoon with an older version of Firefox and of Safari; his instructions made the task as easy as it should have been.The examples (with downloadable source code) presented in chapters 1-3 follow a logical progression, starting with wireframe rendering of a sphere and cube, then gradually adding more effects and capabilities. This logical evolution (with working example code) made it much easier for me to pick up the basics of three.js application design than just studying the (albeit wonderful) examples at threejs.org. (Although once I had a better handle on how to use three.js, I found studying the threejs.org examples extremely helpful too.)Chapter 4 introduces custom materials with different surface characteristics, and Chapter 5 gives examples of predefined geometries (obviating the need for creating large detailed triangle mesh models if a pre-defined geometry can suffice). Chapter 6 extends the CAD model further with 2D extrusions and 3D text. Later chapters touch on more complicated topics, including creating custom textures and shaders, smooth camera motion, adding physical constraints, and importing models created in other 3D systems.This is not a reference manual as much as a well-narrated tour guide to accelerate learning and understanding of WebGL in the context of three.js. I purchased the eBook as much for the working demo code and examples as I did for the expository prose, and feel it was good value for the money.

nice