I'm using the raycaster function to get the coordinates of portions of a texture as a preliminary to creating areas that will link to other portions of my website. The model I'm using is hollow and I'm raycasting to the intersection with the skin of the model from a point on the interior. I've used the standard technique suggested here and elsewhere to determine the coordinates in 3d space from mouse position:
//1. sets the mouse position with a coordinate system where the center
// of the screen is the origin
mouse.x = (event.clientX / window.innerWidth) * 2 - 1;
mouse.y = -(event.clientY / window.innerHeight) * 2 + 1;
console.log("mouse position: (" + mouse.x + ", "+ mouse.y + ")");
//2. set the picking ray from the camera position and mouse coordinates
raycaster.setFromCamera( mouse, camera );
//3. compute intersections
var intersects = raycaster.intersectObjects( scene.children, true );
var intersect = null;
var point = null;
//console.log(intersects);
for ( var i = 0; i < intersects.length; i++ ) {
console.log(intersects[i]);
if (i = intersects.length - 1) {
intersect = intersects[ i ];
point = intersect[ "point" ];
}
This works, but I'm getting inconsistent results if the camera position changes. My assumption right now is that this is because the mouse coordinates are generated from the center of the screen and that center has changed since I've moved the camera position. I know that getWorldPosition should stay consistent regardless of camera movement, but trying to call point.getWorldPosition returns "undefined" as a result. Is my thinking about why my results are inconsistent correct, and if so and I'm right that getWorldPosition is what I'm looking for how do I go about calling it so I can get the proper xyz coordinates for my intersect?
EDITED TO ADD:
When I target what should be the same point (or close to) on the screen I get very different results.
For example, this is my model (and forgive the janky code under the hood -- I'm still working on it):
http://www.minorworksoflydgate.net/Model/three/examples/clopton_chapel_dev.html
Hitting the upper left corner of the first panel of writing on the opposite wall (so the spot marked with the x in the picture) gets these results (you can capture them within that model by hitting C, escaping out of the pointerlock, and viewing in the console) with the camera at 0,0,0:
x: -0.1947601252025508,
y: 0.15833788110908806,
z: -0.1643094916216681
If I move in the space (so with a camera position of x: -6.140427450769398, y: 1.9021520960972597e-14, z: -0.30737391540643844) I get the following results for that same spot (as shown in the second picture):
x: -6.229400824609087,
y: 0.20157559303778091,
z: -0.5109691487471469
My understanding is that if these are the world coordinates for the intersect point they should stay relatively similar, but that x coordinate is much different. Which makes sense since that's the axis the camera moves on, but shouldn't it not make a difference for the point of intersection?
My comment will not be related to the camera but I had also an issue about the raycaster and calculating the position of the mouse is more accurate with the following way.
const rect = renderer.domElement.getBoundingClientRect();
mouse.x = ((event.clientX - rect.left) / rect.width) * 2 - 1;
mouse.y = - ((event.clientY - rect.top) / rect.height) * 2 + 1;
So the trick to this when there's no mouse available due to a pointer lock is to use the direction of the ray created by the object controls. It's actually pretty simple, but not really out there.
var ray_direction = new THREE.Vector3();
var ray = new THREE.Raycaster(); // create once and reuse
controls.getDirection( ray_direction );
ray.set( controls.getObject().position, ray_direction );
I'm working with three.js, attempting to model a real world camera. As such, I'd like to limit its axis of rotation to 90 degrees along x and y axises.
Is there a simply way to do this? My current code isn't working particularly well (and goes crazy when you attempt to move the camera past the X and Y boundaries simultaneously)
if(xRot != null && xRot != undefined){
camera.rotateX(xRot);
}
if(yRot != null && yRot != undefined){
camera.rotateY(yRot);
}
if(camera.rotation.x < minCameraRotX){
camera.rotation.x = minCameraRotX;
}else if (camera.rotation.x > maxCameraRotX){
camera.rotation.x = maxCameraRotX;
}
if(camera.rotation.y < minCameraRotY){
camera.rotation.y = minCameraRotY;
}else if(camera.rotation.y > maxCameraRotY){
camera.rotation.y = maxCameraRotY;
}
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!
I actually managed to find a solution by checking some of the existing code in a Three.js demo for a library called PointerLock. The idea is to actually stack multiple objects inside each other: start with an object that moves horizontally (the yaw object), place another object inside the yaw object that moves vertically (the pitch object), and then place the actual camera inside the pitch object.
Then, you only rotate the outside objects (yaw and pitch) along their respective axises, so if you rotate both, they'll self-correct. For example, if you rotate the yaw 45 degrees along the y-axis (making it turn to the right) and then rotate the pitch 45 degrees (making it turn downward), the pitch will go 45 degrees downward from the yaw's already rotated position.
Given that the camera is inside both, it just points wherever the yaw and pitch direct it.
Here is the code
/*
* CAMERA SETUP
*
* Root object is a Yaw object (which controls horizontal movements)
* Yaw object contains a Pitch object (which controls vertical movement)
* Pitch object contains camera (which allows scene to be viewed)
*
* Entire setup works like an airplane with a
* camera embedded in the propellor...
*
*/
// Yaw Object
var yawObject = new THREE.Object3D();
// Pitch Object
var pitchObject = new THREE.Object3D();
// Camera Object
var camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(fov, aspect, near, far);
// Max Camera angles (in radians)
var minCameraRotX = 0.5;
var maxCameraRotX = 0.5;
var minCameraRotY = 1;
var maxCameraRotY = 1;
// Setup
yawObject.add( pitchObject );
pitchObject.add( camera );
scene.add(yawObject);
...
var rotateCamera = function(xRot, yRot, zRot){
yawObject.rotation.y += yRot;
pitchObject.rotation.x += xRot;
// Enforce X-axis boundaries (rotates around y-axis)
yawObject.rotation.y = Math.max( minCameraRotY, Math.min( maxCameraRotY, yawObject.rotation.y ) );
// Enforce Y-axis boundaries (rotates around x-axis)
pitchObject.rotation.x = Math.max( minCameraRotX, Math.min( maxCameraRotX, pitchObject.rotation.x ) );
}
Here is the source code I referenced: https://github.com/mrdoob/three.js/blob/acda8a7c8f90ce9b71088e903d8dd029e229678e/examples/js/controls/PointerLockControls.js
Also, this is sort of cheesy, but this little plane cartoon helped me visual exactly what was going on in my setup
I use function like this in three.js 69
function Point3DToScreen2D(point3D,camera){
var p = point3D.clone();
var vector = p.project(camera);
vector.x = (vector.x + 1) / 2 * window.innerWidth;
vector.y = -(vector.y - 1) / 2 * window.innerHeight;
return vector;
}
It works fine when i keep the scene still.
But when i rotate the scene it made a mistake and return wrong position in the screen.It occurs when i rotate how about 180 degrees.It shoudn't have a position in screen but it showed.
I set a position var tmpV=Point3DToScreen2D(new THREE.Vector3(-67,1033,-2500),camera); in update and show it with css3d.And when i rotate like 180 degrees but less than 360 , the point shows in the screen again.Obviously it's a wrong position that can be telled from the scene and i haven't rotate 360 degrees.
I know little about the Matrix,So i don't know how the project works.
Here is the source of project in three.js:
project: function () {
var matrix;
return function ( camera ) {
if ( matrix === undefined ) matrix = new THREE.Matrix4();
matrix.multiplyMatrices( camera.projectionMatrix, matrix.getInverse( camera.matrixWorld ) );
return this.applyProjection( matrix );
};
}()
Is the matrix.getInverse( camera.matrixWorld ) redundant? I tried to delete it and it didn't work.
Can anyone help me?Thanks.
You are projecting a 3D point from world space to screen space using a pattern like this one:
var vector = new THREE.Vector3();
var canvas = renderer.domElement;
vector.set( 1, 2, 3 );
// map to normalized device coordinate (NDC) space
vector.project( camera );
// map to 2D screen space
vector.x = Math.round( ( vector.x + 1 ) * canvas.width / 2 ),
vector.y = Math.round( ( - vector.y + 1 ) * canvas.height / 2 );
vector.z = 0;
However, using this approach, points behind the camera are projected to screen space, too.
You said you want to filter out points that are behind the camera. To do that, you can use this pattern first:
var matrix = new THREE.Matrix4(); // create once and reuse
...
// get the matrix that maps from world space to camera space
matrix.getInverse( camera.matrixWorld );
// transform your point from world space to camera space
p.applyMatrix( matrix );
Since the camera is located at the origin in camera space, and since the camera is always looking down the negative-z axis in camera space, points behind the camera will have a z-coordinate greater than zero.
// check if point is behind the camera
if ( p.z > 0 ) ...
three.js r.71
Like the example above but you can check vector.z to determine if it's in front.
var vector = new THREE.Vector3();
var canvas = renderer.domElement;
vector.set( 1, 2, 3 );
// map to normalized device coordinate (NDC) space
vector.project( camera );
// map to 2D screen space
vector.x = Math.round( ( vector.x + 1 ) * canvas.width / 2 ),
vector.y = Math.round( ( - vector.y + 1 ) * canvas.height / 2 );
//behind the camera if z isn't in 0..1 [frustrum range]
if(vector.z > 1){
vector = null;
}
To delve a little deeper into this answer:
// behind the camera if z isn't in 0..1 [frustrum range]
if(vector.z > 1){
vector = null;
}
This is not true. The mapping is not continuous. Points beyond the far
plane also map to z-values greater than 1
What exactly does the z-value of a projected vector stand for? X and Y are in normalised clipspace [-1,1] , what about z?
Would this be true?
projectVector.project(camera);
var inFrontOfCamera = projectVector.z < 1;
Since the camera is located at the origin in camera space, and since the camera is always looking down the negative-z axis in camera space, points behind the camera will have a z-coordinate greater than 1.
//check if point is behind the camera
if ( p.z > 1 ) ...
NOTICE: If this condition is satisfied, then the projected coordinates need to be centrosymmetric
{x: 0.233, y: -0.566, z: 1.388}
// after transform
{x: -0.233, y: 0.566, z: 1.388}
I've searched around for an example that matches my use case but cannot find one. I'm trying to convert screen mouse co-ordinates into 3D world co-ordinates taking into account the camera.
Solutions I've found all do ray intersection to achieve object picking.
What I am trying to do is position the center of a Three.js object at the co-ordinates that the mouse is currently "over".
My camera is at x:0, y:0, z:500 (although it will move during the simulation) and all my objects are at z = 0 with varying x and y values so I need to know the world X, Y based on assuming a z = 0 for the object that will follow the mouse position.
This question looks like a similar issue but doesn't have a solution: Getting coordinates of the mouse in relation to 3D space in THREE.js
Given the mouse position on screen with a range of "top-left = 0, 0 | bottom-right = window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight", can anyone provide a solution to move a Three.js object to the mouse co-ordinates along z = 0?
You do not need to have any objects in your scene to do this.
You already know the camera position.
Using vector.unproject( camera ) you can get a ray pointing in the direction you want.
You just need to extend that ray, from the camera position, until the z-coordinate of the tip of the ray is zero.
You can do that like so:
var vec = new THREE.Vector3(); // create once and reuse
var pos = new THREE.Vector3(); // create once and reuse
vec.set(
( event.clientX / window.innerWidth ) * 2 - 1,
- ( event.clientY / window.innerHeight ) * 2 + 1,
0.5 );
vec.unproject( camera );
vec.sub( camera.position ).normalize();
var distance = - camera.position.z / vec.z;
pos.copy( camera.position ).add( vec.multiplyScalar( distance ) );
The variable pos is the position of the point in 3D space, "under the mouse", and in the plane z=0.
EDIT: If you need the point "under the mouse" and in the plane z = targetZ, replace the distance computation with:
var distance = ( targetZ - camera.position.z ) / vec.z;
three.js r.98
This worked for me when using an orthographic camera
let vector = new THREE.Vector3();
vector.set(
(event.clientX / window.innerWidth) * 2 - 1,
- (event.clientY / window.innerHeight) * 2 + 1,
0
);
vector.unproject(camera);
WebGL three.js r.89
In r.58 this code works for me:
var planeZ = new THREE.Plane(new THREE.Vector3(0, 0, 1), 0);
var mv = new THREE.Vector3(
(event.clientX / window.innerWidth) * 2 - 1,
-(event.clientY / window.innerHeight) * 2 + 1,
0.5 );
var raycaster = projector.pickingRay(mv, camera);
var pos = raycaster.ray.intersectPlane(planeZ);
console.log("x: " + pos.x + ", y: " + pos.y);
Below is an ES6 class I wrote based on WestLangley's reply, which works perfectly for me in THREE.js r77.
Note that it assumes your render viewport takes up your entire browser viewport.
class CProjectMousePosToXYPlaneHelper
{
constructor()
{
this.m_vPos = new THREE.Vector3();
this.m_vDir = new THREE.Vector3();
}
Compute( nMouseX, nMouseY, Camera, vOutPos )
{
let vPos = this.m_vPos;
let vDir = this.m_vDir;
vPos.set(
-1.0 + 2.0 * nMouseX / window.innerWidth,
-1.0 + 2.0 * nMouseY / window.innerHeight,
0.5
).unproject( Camera );
// Calculate a unit vector from the camera to the projected position
vDir.copy( vPos ).sub( Camera.position ).normalize();
// Project onto z=0
let flDistance = -Camera.position.z / vDir.z;
vOutPos.copy( Camera.position ).add( vDir.multiplyScalar( flDistance ) );
}
}
You can use the class like this:
// Instantiate the helper and output pos once.
let Helper = new CProjectMousePosToXYPlaneHelper();
let vProjectedMousePos = new THREE.Vector3();
...
// In your event handler/tick function, do the projection.
Helper.Compute( e.clientX, e.clientY, Camera, vProjectedMousePos );
vProjectedMousePos now contains the projected mouse position on the z=0 plane.
to get the mouse coordinates of a 3d object use projectVector:
var width = 640, height = 480;
var widthHalf = width / 2, heightHalf = height / 2;
var projector = new THREE.Projector();
var vector = projector.projectVector( object.matrixWorld.getPosition().clone(), camera );
vector.x = ( vector.x * widthHalf ) + widthHalf;
vector.y = - ( vector.y * heightHalf ) + heightHalf;
to get the three.js 3D coordinates that relate to specific mouse coordinates, use the opposite, unprojectVector:
var elem = renderer.domElement,
boundingRect = elem.getBoundingClientRect(),
x = (event.clientX - boundingRect.left) * (elem.width / boundingRect.width),
y = (event.clientY - boundingRect.top) * (elem.height / boundingRect.height);
var vector = new THREE.Vector3(
( x / WIDTH ) * 2 - 1,
- ( y / HEIGHT ) * 2 + 1,
0.5
);
projector.unprojectVector( vector, camera );
var ray = new THREE.Ray( camera.position, vector.subSelf( camera.position ).normalize() );
var intersects = ray.intersectObjects( scene.children );
There is a great example here. However, to use project vector, there must be an object where the user clicked. intersects will be an array of all objects at the location of the mouse, regardless of their depth.
I had a canvas that was smaller than my full window, and needed to determine the world coordinates of a click:
// get the position of a canvas event in world coords
function getWorldCoords(e) {
// get x,y coords into canvas where click occurred
var rect = canvas.getBoundingClientRect(),
x = e.clientX - rect.left,
y = e.clientY - rect.top;
// convert x,y to clip space; coords from top left, clockwise:
// (-1,1), (1,1), (-1,-1), (1, -1)
var mouse = new THREE.Vector3();
mouse.x = ( (x / canvas.clientWidth ) * 2) - 1;
mouse.y = (-(y / canvas.clientHeight) * 2) + 1;
mouse.z = 0.5; // set to z position of mesh objects
// reverse projection from 3D to screen
mouse.unproject(camera);
// convert from point to a direction
mouse.sub(camera.position).normalize();
// scale the projected ray
var distance = -camera.position.z / mouse.z,
scaled = mouse.multiplyScalar(distance),
coords = camera.position.clone().add(scaled);
return coords;
}
var canvas = renderer.domElement;
canvas.addEventListener('click', getWorldCoords);
Here's an example. Click the same region of the donut before and after sliding and you'll find the coords remain constant (check the browser console):
// three.js boilerplate
var container = document.querySelector('body'),
w = container.clientWidth,
h = container.clientHeight,
scene = new THREE.Scene(),
camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(75, w/h, 0.001, 100),
controls = new THREE.MapControls(camera, container),
renderConfig = {antialias: true, alpha: true},
renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer(renderConfig);
controls.panSpeed = 0.4;
camera.position.set(0, 0, -10);
renderer.setPixelRatio(window.devicePixelRatio);
renderer.setSize(w, h);
container.appendChild(renderer.domElement);
window.addEventListener('resize', function() {
w = container.clientWidth;
h = container.clientHeight;
camera.aspect = w/h;
camera.updateProjectionMatrix();
renderer.setSize(w, h);
})
function render() {
requestAnimationFrame(render);
renderer.render(scene, camera);
controls.update();
}
// draw some geometries
var geometry = new THREE.TorusGeometry( 10, 3, 16, 100, );
var material = new THREE.MeshNormalMaterial( { color: 0xffff00, } );
var torus = new THREE.Mesh( geometry, material, );
scene.add( torus );
// convert click coords to world space
// get the position of a canvas event in world coords
function getWorldCoords(e) {
// get x,y coords into canvas where click occurred
var rect = canvas.getBoundingClientRect(),
x = e.clientX - rect.left,
y = e.clientY - rect.top;
// convert x,y to clip space; coords from top left, clockwise:
// (-1,1), (1,1), (-1,-1), (1, -1)
var mouse = new THREE.Vector3();
mouse.x = ( (x / canvas.clientWidth ) * 2) - 1;
mouse.y = (-(y / canvas.clientHeight) * 2) + 1;
mouse.z = 0.0; // set to z position of mesh objects
// reverse projection from 3D to screen
mouse.unproject(camera);
// convert from point to a direction
mouse.sub(camera.position).normalize();
// scale the projected ray
var distance = -camera.position.z / mouse.z,
scaled = mouse.multiplyScalar(distance),
coords = camera.position.clone().add(scaled);
console.log(mouse, coords.x, coords.y, coords.z);
}
var canvas = renderer.domElement;
canvas.addEventListener('click', getWorldCoords);
render();
html,
body {
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
background: #000;
}
body {
margin: 0;
overflow: hidden;
}
canvas {
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
}
<script src='https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/three.js/97/three.min.js'></script>
<script src=' https://threejs.org/examples/js/controls/MapControls.js'></script>
ThreeJS is slowly mowing away from Projector.(Un)ProjectVector and the solution with projector.pickingRay() doesn't work anymore, just finished updating my own code.. so the most recent working version should be as follow:
var rayVector = new THREE.Vector3(0, 0, 0.5);
var camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(fov,this.offsetWidth/this.offsetHeight,0.1,farFrustum);
var raycaster = new THREE.Raycaster();
var scene = new THREE.Scene();
//...
function intersectObjects(x, y, planeOnly) {
rayVector.set(((x/this.offsetWidth)*2-1), (1-(y/this.offsetHeight)*2), 1).unproject(camera);
raycaster.set(camera.position, rayVector.sub(camera.position ).normalize());
var intersects = raycaster.intersectObjects(scene.children);
return intersects;
}
For those using #react-three/fiber (aka r3f and react-three-fiber), I found this discussion and it's associated code samples by Matt Rossman helpful. In particular, many examples using the methods above are for simple orthographic views, not for when OrbitControls are in play.
Discussion: https://github.com/pmndrs/react-three-fiber/discussions/857
Simple example using Matt's technique: https://codesandbox.io/s/r3f-mouse-to-world-elh73?file=/src/index.js
More generalizable example: https://codesandbox.io/s/react-three-draggable-cxu37?file=/src/App.js
Here is my take at creating an es6 class out of it. Working with Three.js r83. The method of using rayCaster comes from mrdoob here: Three.js Projector and Ray objects
export default class RaycasterHelper
{
constructor (camera, scene) {
this.camera = camera
this.scene = scene
this.rayCaster = new THREE.Raycaster()
this.tapPos3D = new THREE.Vector3()
this.getIntersectsFromTap = this.getIntersectsFromTap.bind(this)
}
// objects arg below needs to be an array of Three objects in the scene
getIntersectsFromTap (tapX, tapY, objects) {
this.tapPos3D.set((tapX / window.innerWidth) * 2 - 1, -(tapY /
window.innerHeight) * 2 + 1, 0.5) // z = 0.5 important!
this.tapPos3D.unproject(this.camera)
this.rayCaster.set(this.camera.position,
this.tapPos3D.sub(this.camera.position).normalize())
return this.rayCaster.intersectObjects(objects, false)
}
}
You would use it like this if you wanted to check against all your objects in the scene for hits. I made the recursive flag false above because for my uses I did not need it to be.
var helper = new RaycasterHelper(camera, scene)
var intersects = helper.getIntersectsFromTap(tapX, tapY,
this.scene.children)
...
Although the provided answers can be useful in some scenarios, I hardly can imagine those scenarios (maybe games or animations) because they are not precise at all (guessing around target's NDC z?). You can't use those methods to unproject screen coordinates to the world ones if you know target z-plane. But for the most scenarios, you should know this plane.
For example, if you draw sphere by center (known point in model space) and radius - you need to get radius as delta of unprojected mouse coordinates - but you can't! With all due respect #WestLangley's method with targetZ doesn't work, it gives incorrect results (I can provide jsfiddle if needed). Another example - you need to set orbit controls target by mouse double click, but without "real" raycasting with scene objects (when you have nothing to pick).
The solution for me is to just create the virtual plane in target point along z-axis and use raycasting with this plane afterward. Target point can be current orbit controls target or vertex of object you need to draw step by step in existing model space etc. This works perfectly and it is simple (example in typescript):
screenToWorld(v2D: THREE.Vector2, camera: THREE.PerspectiveCamera = null, target: THREE.Vector3 = null): THREE.Vector3 {
const self = this;
const vNdc = self.toNdc(v2D);
return self.ndcToWorld(vNdc, camera, target);
}
//get normalized device cartesian coordinates (NDC) with center (0, 0) and ranging from (-1, -1) to (1, 1)
toNdc(v: THREE.Vector2): THREE.Vector2 {
const self = this;
const canvasEl = self.renderers.WebGL.domElement;
const bounds = canvasEl.getBoundingClientRect();
let x = v.x - bounds.left;
let y = v.y - bounds.top;
x = (x / bounds.width) * 2 - 1;
y = - (y / bounds.height) * 2 + 1;
return new THREE.Vector2(x, y);
}
ndcToWorld(vNdc: THREE.Vector2, camera: THREE.PerspectiveCamera = null, target: THREE.Vector3 = null): THREE.Vector3 {
const self = this;
if (!camera) {
camera = self.camera;
}
if (!target) {
target = self.getTarget();
}
const position = camera.position.clone();
const origin = self.scene.position.clone();
const v3D = target.clone();
self.raycaster.setFromCamera(vNdc, camera);
const normal = new THREE.Vector3(0, 0, 1);
const distance = normal.dot(origin.sub(v3D));
const plane = new THREE.Plane(normal, distance);
self.raycaster.ray.intersectPlane(plane, v3D);
return v3D;
}