Creating a 3D Product Configurator using Angular Three

In this tutorial, we will learn how to build a 3D product configurator using Angular Three. Angular Three is a library that combines the power of Angular and Three.js to create dynamic 3D visualizations in web applications. With Angular Three, we can easily integrate interactive 3D models into our Angular project.

Before we get started, make sure you have Node.js and Angular CLI installed on your machine. If you don’t have them installed, you can download and install Node.js from the official website (https://nodejs.org) and install Angular CLI by running the following command in your terminal:

npm install -g @angular/cli

Now, let’s create a new Angular project by running the following command:

ng new product-configurator

Navigate into the project directory and install Angular Three by running the following commands:

cd product-configurator
npm install angular-three

Next, let’s create a new component for our 3D product configurator by running the following command:

ng generate component product-configurator

Now, open the newly created component file (product-configurator.component.ts) and import the necessary modules as follows:

import { Component, OnInit, ViewChild, ElementRef } from "@angular/core";
import { ThreeModule } from "angular-three";
import * as THREE from "three";

In the same file, create a new class for the product configurator component and define a property to hold the Three.js renderer:

export class ProductConfiguratorComponent implements OnInit {
  @ViewChild("rendererContainer") rendererContainer: ElementRef;
  private renderer: THREE.WebGLRenderer;
}

Next, implement the OnInit interface and create a method to initialize the Three.js scene:

ngOnInit(): void {
  this.initScene();
}

private initScene(): void {
  const width = this.rendererContainer.nativeElement.clientWidth;
  const height = this.rendererContainer.nativeElement.clientHeight;

  this.renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer();
  this.renderer.setSize(width, height);
  this.rendererContainer.nativeElement.appendChild(this.renderer.domElement);
}

Now, let’s create a method to add a 3D model to the scene. For this tutorial, we will use a simple cube as the product model:

private addModel(): void {
  const geometry = new THREE.BoxGeometry();
  const material = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({ color: 0xff0000 });
  const cube = new THREE.Mesh(geometry, material);

  this.scene.add(cube);
}

Lastly, we need to add a ngAfterViewInit hook to call the addModel method after the view has been initialized:

ngAfterViewInit(): void {
  this.addModel();
}

Next, we need to update the component’s HTML template (product-configurator.component.html) to include a container element for the Three.js renderer:

<div #rendererContainer style="width: 100%; height: 500px;"></div>

Now, let’s run the Angular development server to see our 3D product configurator in action:

ng serve

Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:4200. You should see a simple red cube displayed in the 3D scene. Congratulations, you have successfully built a 3D product configurator using Angular Three.

In this tutorial, we have learned how to create a basic 3D product configurator using Angular Three. You can further enhance this configurator by adding more complex 3D models, textures, lighting effects, and interactive features. Experiment with different Three.js components and techniques to create an engaging and interactive 3D product visualization experience for your users. Happy coding!