A Beginner’s Guide to 3D Animations in React Native with three.js

If you’ve been looking to add some stunning 3D animations to your React Native app, then three.js is the perfect library for the job. In this guide, we’ll cover the basics of getting started with three.js and creating 3D animations in a React Native app.

Getting Started with three.js

First, you’ll need to install three.js into your React Native project. You can do this using npm by running the following command:


npm install three


Once installed, you can import three.js into your React Native code and start creating 3D animations.

Creating a 3D Scene

To create a 3D scene in three.js, you’ll need to set up a renderer, a camera, and a scene. Here’s a basic example of how to do this:


const scene = new THREE.Scene();
const camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(75, window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight, 0.1, 1000);
const renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer();
renderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);
document.body.appendChild(renderer.domElement);


Adding 3D Objects

Once you have your scene set up, you can start adding 3D objects to it. Here’s an example of how to create and add a cube to the scene:


const geometry = new THREE.BoxGeometry();
const material = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({ color: 0x00ff00 });
const cube = new THREE.Mesh(geometry, material);
scene.add(cube);


Animating 3D Objects

Finally, you can add animations to your 3D objects using three.js. Here’s an example of how to rotate the cube we created earlier:


function animate() {
requestAnimationFrame(animate);
cube.rotation.x += 0.01;
cube.rotation.y += 0.01;
renderer.render(scene, camera);
}
animate();


Wrapping Up

With these basics in mind, you can start creating stunning 3D animations in your React Native app using three.js. Be sure to explore the documentation for more advanced features and effects.