Three.js materials - PBR, basic, phong, shader materials, material properties. Use when styling meshes, working with textures, creating custom shaders, or optimizing material performance.
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import * as THREE from "three";
// PBR material (recommended for realistic rendering)
const material = new THREE.MeshStandardMaterial({
color: 0x00ff00,
roughness: 0.5,
metalness: 0.5,
});
const mesh = new THREE.Mesh(geometry, material);| Material | Use Case | Lighting |
|---|---|---|
| MeshBasicMaterial | Unlit, flat colors, wireframes | No |
| MeshLambertMaterial | Matte surfaces, performance | Yes (diffuse only) |
| MeshPhongMaterial | Shiny surfaces, specular highlights | Yes |
| MeshStandardMaterial | PBR, realistic materials | Yes (PBR) |
| MeshPhysicalMaterial | Advanced PBR, clearcoat, transmission | Yes (PBR+) |
| MeshToonMaterial | Cel-shaded, cartoon look | Yes (toon) |
| MeshNormalMaterial | Debug normals | No |
| MeshDepthMaterial | Depth visualization | No |
| ShaderMaterial | Custom GLSL shaders | Custom |
| RawShaderMaterial | Full shader control | Custom |
No lighting calculations. Fast, always visible.
const material = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({
color: 0xff0000,
transparent: true,
opacity: 0.5,
side: THREE.DoubleSide, // FrontSide, BackSide, DoubleSide
wireframe: false,
map: texture, // Color/diffuse texture
alphaMap: alphaTexture, // Transparency texture
envMap: envTexture, // Reflection texture
reflectivity: 1, // Env map intensity
fog: true, // Affected by scene fog
});Diffuse-only lighting. Fast, no specular highlights.
const material = new THREE.MeshLambertMaterial({
color: 0x00ff00,
emissive: 0x111111, // Self-illumination color
emissiveIntensity: 1,
map: texture,
emissiveMap: emissiveTexture,
envMap: envTexture,
reflectivity: 0.5,
});Specular highlights. Good for shiny, plastic-like surfaces.
const material = new THREE.MeshPhongMaterial({
color: 0x0000ff,
specular: 0xffffff, // Highlight color
shininess: 100, // Highlight sharpness (0-1000)
emissive: 0x000000,
flatShading: false, // Flat vs smooth shading
map: texture,
specularMap: specTexture, // Per-pixel shininess
normalMap: normalTexture,
normalScale: new THREE.Vector2(1, 1),
bumpMap: bumpTexture,
bumpScale: 1,
displacementMap: dispTexture,
displacementScale: 1,
});Physically-based rendering. Recommended for realistic results.
const material = new THREE.MeshStandardMaterial({
color: 0xffffff,
roughness: 0.5, // 0 = mirror, 1 = diffuse
metalness: 0.0, // 0 = dielectric, 1 = metal
// Textures
map: colorTexture, // Albedo/base color
roughnessMap: roughTexture, // Per-pixel roughness
metalnessMap: metalTexture, // Per-pixel metalness
normalMap: normalTexture, // Surface detail
normalScale: new THREE.Vector2(1, 1),
aoMap: aoTexture, // Ambient occlusion (uses uv2!)
aoMapIntensity: 1,
displacementMap: dispTexture, // Vertex displacement
displacementScale: 0.1,
displacementBias: 0,
// Emissive
emissive: 0x000000,
emissiveIntensity: 1,
emissiveMap: emissiveTexture,
// Environment
envMap: envTexture,
envMapIntensity: 1,
// Other
flatShading: false,
wireframe: false,
fog: true,
});
// Note: aoMap requires second UV channel
geometry.setAttribute("uv2", geometry.attributes.uv);Extends MeshStandardMaterial with advanced features.
const material = new THREE.MeshPhysicalMaterial({
// All MeshStandardMaterial properties plus:
// Clearcoat (car paint, lacquer)
clearcoat: 1.0, // 0-1 clearcoat layer strength
clearcoatRoughness: 0.1,
clearcoatMap: ccTexture,
clearcoatRoughnessMap: ccrTexture,
clearcoatNormalMap: ccnTexture,
clearcoatNormalScale: new THREE.Vector2(1, 1),
// Transmission (glass, water)
transmission: 1.0, // 0 = opaque, 1 = fully transparent
transmissionMap: transTexture,
thickness: 0.5, // Volume thickness for refraction
thicknessMap: thickTexture,
attenuationDistance: 1, // Absorption distance
attenuationColor: new THREE.Color(0xffffff),
// Refraction
ior: 1.5, // Index of refraction (1-2.333)
// Sheen (fabric, velvet)
sheen: 1.0,
sheenRoughness: 0.5,
sheenColor: new THREE.Color(0xffffff),
sheenColorMap: sheenTexture,
sheenRoughnessMap: sheenRoughTexture,
// Iridescence (soap bubbles, oil slicks)
iridescence: 1.0,
iridescenceIOR: 1.3,
iridescenceThicknessRange: [100, 400],
iridescenceMap: iridTexture,
iridescenceThicknessMap: iridThickTexture,
// Anisotropy (brushed metal)
anisotropy: 1.0,
anisotropyRotation: 0,
anisotropyMap: anisoTexture,
// Specular
specularIntensity: 1,
specularColor: new THREE.Color(0xffffff),
specularIntensityMap: specIntTexture,
specularColorMap: specColorTexture,
});const glass = new THREE.MeshPhysicalMaterial({
color: 0xffffff,
metalness: 0,
roughness: 0,
transmission: 1,
thickness: 0.5,
ior: 1.5,
envMapIntensity: 1,
});const carPaint = new THREE.MeshPhysicalMaterial({
color: 0xff0000,
metalness: 0.9,
roughness: 0.5,
clearcoat: 1,
clearcoatRoughness: 0.1,
});Cel-shaded cartoon look.
const material = new THREE.MeshToonMaterial({
color: 0x00ff00,
gradientMap: gradientTexture, // Optional: custom shading gradient
});
// Create step gradient texture
const colors = new Uint8Array([0, 128, 255]);
const gradientMap = new THREE.DataTexture(colors, 3, 1, THREE.RedFormat);
gradientMap.minFilter = THREE.NearestFilter;
gradientMap.magFilter = THREE.NearestFilter;
gradientMap.needsUpdate = true;Visualize surface normals. Useful for debugging.
const material = new THREE.MeshNormalMaterial({
flatShading: false,
wireframe: false,
});Render depth values. Used for shadow maps, DOF effects.
const material = new THREE.MeshDepthMaterial({
depthPacking: THREE.RGBADepthPacking,
});For point clouds.
const material = new THREE.PointsMaterial({
color: 0xffffff,
size: 0.1,
sizeAttenuation: true, // Scale with distance
map: pointTexture,
alphaMap: alphaTexture,
transparent: true,
alphaTest: 0.5, // Discard pixels below threshold
vertexColors: true, // Use per-vertex colors
});
const points = new THREE.Points(geometry, material);// Solid lines
const lineMaterial = new THREE.LineBasicMaterial({
color: 0xffffff,
linewidth: 1, // Note: >1 only works on some systems
linecap: "round",
linejoin: "round",
});
// Dashed lines
const dashedMaterial = new THREE.LineDashedMaterial({
color: 0xffffff,
dashSize: 0.5,
gapSize: 0.25,
scale: 1,
});
// Required for dashed lines
const line = new THREE.Line(geometry, dashedMaterial);
line.computeLineDistances();Custom GLSL shaders with Three.js uniforms.
const material = new THREE.ShaderMaterial({
uniforms: {
time: { value: 0 },
color: { value: new THREE.Color(0xff0000) },
texture1: { value: texture },
},
vertexShader: `
varying vec2 vUv;
uniform float time;
void main() {
vUv = uv;
vec3 pos = position;
pos.z += sin(pos.x * 10.0 + time) * 0.1;
gl_Position = projectionMatrix * modelViewMatrix * vec4(pos, 1.0);
}
`,
fragmentShader: `
varying vec2 vUv;
uniform vec3 color;
uniform sampler2D texture1;
void main() {
// Use texture2D() for GLSL 1.0, texture() for GLSL 3.0 (glslVersion: THREE.GLSL3)
vec4 texColor = texture2D(texture1, vUv);
gl_FragColor = vec4(color * texColor.rgb, 1.0);
}
`,
transparent: true,
side: THREE.DoubleSide,
});
// Update uniform in animation loop
material.uniforms.time.value = clock.getElapsedTime();// Vertex shader
uniform mat4 modelMatrix; // Object to world
uniform mat4 modelViewMatrix; // Object to camera
uniform mat4 projectionMatrix; // Camera projection
uniform mat4 viewMatrix; // World to camera
uniform mat3 normalMatrix; // For transforming normals
uniform vec3 cameraPosition; // Camera world position
// Attributes
attribute vec3 position;
attribute vec3 normal;
attribute vec2 uv;Full control - no built-in uniforms/attributes.
const material = new THREE.RawShaderMaterial({
uniforms: {
projectionMatrix: { value: camera.projectionMatrix },
modelViewMatrix: { value: new THREE.Matrix4() },
},
vertexShader: `
precision highp float;
attribute vec3 position;
uniform mat4 projectionMatrix;
uniform mat4 modelViewMatrix;
void main() {
gl_Position = projectionMatrix * modelViewMatrix * vec4(position, 1.0);
}
`,
fragmentShader: `
precision highp float;
void main() {
gl_FragColor = vec4(1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0);
}
`,
});All materials share these base properties:
// Visibility
material.visible = true;
material.transparent = false;
material.opacity = 1.0;
material.alphaTest = 0; // Discard pixels with alpha < value
// Rendering
material.side = THREE.FrontSide; // FrontSide, BackSide, DoubleSide
material.depthTest = true;
material.depthWrite = true;
material.colorWrite = true;
// Blending
material.blending = THREE.NormalBlending;
// NormalBlending, AdditiveBlending, SubtractiveBlending, MultiplyBlending, CustomBlending
// Stencil
material.stencilWrite = false;
material.stencilFunc = THREE.AlwaysStencilFunc;
material.stencilRef = 0;
material.stencilMask = 0xff;
// Polygon offset (z-fighting fix)
material.polygonOffset = false;
material.polygonOffsetFactor = 0;
material.polygonOffsetUnits = 0;
// Misc
material.dithering = false;
material.toneMapped = true;// Assign different materials to geometry groups
const geometry = new THREE.BoxGeometry(1, 1, 1);
const materials = [
new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({ color: 0xff0000 }), // right
new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({ color: 0x00ff00 }), // left
new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({ color: 0x0000ff }), // top
new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({ color: 0xffff00 }), // bottom
new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({ color: 0xff00ff }), // front
new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({ color: 0x00ffff }), // back
];
const mesh = new THREE.Mesh(geometry, materials);
// Custom groups
geometry.clearGroups();
geometry.addGroup(0, 6, 0); // start, count, materialIndex
geometry.addGroup(6, 6, 1);// Load cube texture
const cubeLoader = new THREE.CubeTextureLoader();
const envMap = cubeLoader.load([
"px.jpg",
"nx.jpg", // positive/negative X
"py.jpg",
"ny.jpg", // positive/negative Y
"pz.jpg",
"nz.jpg", // positive/negative Z
]);
// Apply to material
material.envMap = envMap;
material.envMapIntensity = 1;
// Or set as scene environment (affects all PBR materials)
scene.environment = envMap;
// HDR environment (recommended)
import { RGBELoader } from "three/examples/jsm/loaders/RGBELoader.js";
const rgbeLoader = new RGBELoader();
rgbeLoader.load("environment.hdr", (texture) => {
texture.mapping = THREE.EquirectangularReflectionMapping;
scene.environment = texture;
scene.background = texture;
});// Clone material
const clone = material.clone();
clone.color.set(0x00ff00);
// Modify at runtime
material.color.set(0xff0000);
material.needsUpdate = true; // Only needed for some changes
// When needsUpdate is required:
// - Changing flat shading
// - Changing texture
// - Changing transparent
// - Custom shader code changes// Material pooling
const materialCache = new Map();
function getMaterial(color) {
const key = color.toString(16);
if (!materialCache.has(key)) {
materialCache.set(key, new THREE.MeshStandardMaterial({ color }));
}
return materialCache.get(key);
}
// Dispose when done
material.dispose();threejs-textures - Texture loading and configurationthreejs-shaders - Custom shader developmentthreejs-lighting - Light interaction with materialsb1c6230
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