three-laser-pointer

three-laser-pointer is a three.js based library class that provides a reflective laser pointer. It is especially suitable for adding a laser pointing interface in VR-like scenes where the camera is serving as first-person shooter, and not limited to this use case.

The laser object has methods that are useful for

shooting interactive laser beams that self-reflect on THREE.Mesh objects in the scene,
drawing dynamic 3D lines that consist of multiple line segments (good for making CAD-like tools),
mouse-to-laser translation (see how it works in demos).

Demo

We present two live demos using this three-laser-pointer library.

demo-api: Shooting a reflective laser onto simple THREE.Mesh objects. Observe that the source/target points, colors, and raytracing parameters are fully configurable via API.
demo-terrains: Laser interaction with THREE.Mesh models including a terrain. Selecting "Measure" in Laser Mode allows us to pick precise 3D points on the models and measure the Euclidean distances between them. Credits: we have used the THREE.Terrain library for generating the terrain model.

Setup

Install

$ npm install three-laser-pointer

Loading

Via script tags: use LaserPointer.Laser after

<script src="three.min.js"></script>
<script src="dist/three-laser-pointer.min.js"></script>

Via the ES6 module system: use Laser after

import { Laser } from 'three-laser-pointer';

Usage

VR-like laser pointing

// create and add a red laser in the scene
var laser = new Laser({color: 0xff0000});
scene.add(laser);

var pt = new THREE.Vector3(0, 0, -1); // the target point to shoot

// set the source point relative to the camera
// with offset (0.3, -0.4, -0.2)
laser.setSource(new THREE.Vector3(0.3, -0.4, -0.2), camera);

// shoot the target from the source point
laser.point(pt);

VR-like laser pointing with raytrace enabled against THREE.Mesh objects in the scene

// create and add a green laser in the scene
var laser = new Laser({color: 0x00ff00});
scene.add(laser);

var pt = new THREE.Vector3(0, 0, 1); // the target point to shoot

// prepare an array of THREE.Mesh objects that interact with the laser
var meshes = [...];

// set the source point relative to the camera
laser.setSource(new THREE.Vector3(0.3, -0.4, -0.2), camera);

// shoot the target with raytrace considering the meshes in the scene
laser.pointWithRaytrace(pt, meshes);

API

Laser

constructor(options={})

Create a laser object with optional parameters. For example, new Laser({color: 0x00ff00, maxPoints: 16}) creates a green laser object that can maximally consist of 15 (=16-1) line segments.
- options.color=0xff0000 number (integer) An integer (0x000000 - 0xffffff) encoding an RGB color.
- options.maxPoints=256 number (integer) The max number of 3D points that consist of the laser.
- options.infLength=9999.0 number The length of the last laser segment when raytracing goes to an infinity point.
setSource(src, camera=null)

Set the values of src to the source point of the laser. When camera is provided, src is regarded as relative to the camera (i.e. camera coordinates). If not, src is interpreted as world coordinates.
- src THREE.Vector3
- camera THREE.PerspectiveCamera
getSource()

Returns a new vector instance with values corresponding to the current source point.

Returns THREE.Vector3
point(pt, color=null)

Shoot pt by the laser rendering a line segment connecting the source point of the laser and pt. Optionally, color can be specified.
- pt THREE.Vector3 The target point to shoot.
- color number (integer) 0x000000 - 0xffffff
pointWithRaytrace(pt, meshes=[], color=null, maxReflect=16)

Shoot pt by the laser with raytracing enabled. Up to maxReflect times, ray reflections by provided meshes are computed and rendered. (Note: regardless of maxReflect, the number of reflections is also bounded less than or equal to maxPoints-2. maxPoints can be adjusted when creating a laser object.)
- pt THREE.Vector3 The target point to shoot.
- meshes Array<THREE.Mesh>
- color number (integer) 0x000000 - 0xffffff
- maxReflect number (integer) The max number of reflections considered.
getPoints()

Get an array of the (copied) points that consist of the laser.

Returns Array<THREE.Vector3>
getMeshesHit()

Get an array of the meshes that are hit by the laser after calling pointWithRaytrace().

Returns Array<THREE.Mesh>
updatePoints(arr, isFlatten=false)

Update (by overriding) the points that consist of the laser. If isFlatten is true, arr can be a flatten number array, i.e. ([x0, y0, z0, x1, y1, z1, ...]).
- arr Array<THREE.Vector3 | number>
- isFlatten boolean
clearPoints()

Clear the points that consist of the laser. (Thereafter, getPoints() will return [].)
raycastFromCamera(mx, my, width, height, camera, meshes)

A utility method that casts a mouse-ray to meshes provided. If there are intersects, it returns the nearest intersect from the camera. Otherwise, it returns null.
- mx number Coordinate x of a canvas point.
- my number Coordinate y of a canvas point.
- width number Canvas width.
- height number Canvas height.
- camera THREE.PerspectiveCamera
- meshes Array<THREE.Mesh> An array of meshes to test raycasting with.
Returns Object | null An intersect object of three.js.
setColor(color)

Set the RGB color of the laser.
- color number (integer) An integer (0x000000 - 0xffffff) encoding an RGB color.
getColor()

Get the RGB color of the laser.

Returns number (integer) An integer (0x000000 - 0xffffff) encoding an RGB color.

Build

$ npm install  # set up build tools
$ npm run build  # generate module files in lib/