Creating a dynamic 3D camera view in three.js for navigating around the scene

As a newcomer to Three.js, I am looking to implement a fly-around camera in my scene.

I have discovered that THREE.Geometry has a method called .computeBoundingSphere() and a property called .boundingSphere that provides me with the center and radius of the object's bounding sphere. If I have only one mesh in my scene, I can obtain it by using

scene.children[0].computeBoundingSphere
.

The plan is to utilize .boundingSphere.center to set myCamera.lookAt and to use .boundingSphere.center and .boundingSphere.radius with Math.sin/cos of my viewing angle to determine the position of my camera.

Question No.1: Is this the most efficient approach, or does Three.js offer any specific classes or utilities for this purpose?

Question No.2: What if my scene consists of multiple meshes and I need a global scene boundingSphere? Do I need to manually iterate through all scene.children (excluding cameras, lights, etc.) and calculate a boundingSphere of individual meshes or is there a more efficient method? Is it possible to include a "root" dummy object that encompasses all scene meshes and retrieve its boundingSphere as a combination of all its children's boundingSpheres?

Answer №1

three.js offers a variety of camera control examples. Consider using OrbitControls or TrackballControls for your needs.

Box3.setFromObject( object ) can be used to calculate the bounding box of an object in the world space, including all of its children and their transformations.

With the bounding box information, you can position your camera accordingly. For more information on this topic, check out How to Fit Camera to Object.

UPDATE - In your scenario, define your "root" parent Object3D as the object parameter. If you need a bounding sphere instead, you can use this code snippet:

var sphere = new THREE.Box3().setFromObject( object ).getBoundingSphere();

Version: three.js r.64

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