It lets three-dimensional things be shown in a browser. Impressive — but only worth it when it shows something a photo can't.
Either no depth at all, or a 3D effect that loads for three seconds and explains nothing.
Depth exactly where it explains something — and nowhere else.
- A scene is like a film set
There are objects, lights and a camera. You move the camera, not the page.
- The graphics card does the work
Through WebGL the browser reaches the graphics unit directly — the same one that renders games.
- Every frame costs
Sixty frames a second means sixty calculations. On an older phone that costs battery and frame rate.
- It always needs a fallback
Anyone whose device can't manage still has to see something. Without that second version you shut visitors out.
- 3D model
- Camera and light
- Graphics card renders
- Image in the browser
The image is redrawn sixty times a second. That's why everything here depends on how strong the visitor's device is.
It renders three-dimensional scenes in the browser, computed on the graphics card. It's built like a film set: a scene, a camera, lights, materials. Finished models are added as files.
- Basis
- graphics card in the browser
- Parts
- scene, camera, lights
- Models
- as files
- Weight
- several hundred kilobytes
A product people want to turn and see from every side
A room or floor plan people should be able to walk through
Sparingly: only when it's worth the loading time
On older phones it costs battery and frame rate. Without a simple fallback you shut out exactly the visitors who already have the weakest device.
There a spatial scene builds up as you scroll. Deliberately not on this site — it wouldn't be worth the load.