To modify the opacity of a mesh in Three.js, you can utilize the AlphaMap property available for every material. By creating a black rectangle to act as a "cut out" for the boat's location on the water plane with an opacity of 0, you can achieve this effect.
If the boat is moving, the texture representing the black rectangle will also need to move accordingly. One solution is to utilize an HTML <canvas>
element to draw and animate the black rectangle. Afterwards, you can convert the <canvas>
into a texture for the plane's alpha using THREE.CanvasTexture
.
const drawingCanvas = document.getElementById( 'drawing-canvas' );
const canvasTexture = new THREE.CanvasTexture( drawingCanvas );
const waterMaterial = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({
transparent: true,
alphaMap: squareTexture
});
For a demonstration on how to use a 2D canvas as a texture in a 3D scene, refer to this working demo. By drawing on the top-left square, you can observe the texture being applied to the cube. By adapting this method and utilizing it on material.alphaMap
instead of material.map
, you can achieve the desired effect.