Show HN: I made a small village using my JavaScript WebGL 3D engine [video] | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: I made a small village using my JavaScript WebGL 3D engine [video]

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Hi everyone, latest update on my JavaScript WebGL 3D engine.

Why I'm doing this you ask?! Well, back in 94 when I was a teenager and my dad got us internet, he thought the internet would be a virtual place you can go. So, what the hell not?! We have the technology. I'm planning on using this engine to provide model visualization on the internet, virtual walks for archviz, small games... But most important, I've been learning a lot since I started this project. Hope you like.

Source code and an interactive demo coming soon.

Cool. I've built some things like this to new urban (eg. transport concepts) in babylon.js. Mine has no FPS style view, it's more like a single animated object you can pan around.

Where did you get your art / textures from? I'd love to learn more about the authoring tools and clipart repos for worldbuilding productivity that exist out there.

well, I've been following thinmatrix on YouTube, he always share his models textures. Other than that I just Google free 3d models.

the models I'm using are just placeholders while I develop the engine. Im a 3d artist myself, so ill probably make my own models for my projects using this engine.

also, share a link so I can see

It's behind a user/password thing. I'll see if I can get you a link, but it might be after this thread expires.

I have to go to bed now cause I have work in the morning, so I won't be able to answer more questions tonight. But, here's the latest GIF of my engine:

https://imgur.com/a/hsGPavM

Sky and foliage animation, done in the shader.

Really neat, webgl has surprised me at how slow its been adopted.

> how slow it's been adopted

My impression is that basically all web-based games use WebGL or Canvas these days. Now, most WebGL users are really using something higher-level like Three.js or Unity. But I don't see it being under-utilized for its intended purpose.

to be honest I don't know how hard people find to implement things using webgl, I'm getting my ass kicked a lot (but I kinda like it) learning this. Is not just the webgl, but all the math involved and shaders... I've been working on this for two weekends and this is all I got: a basic engine capable of basic things.

I'll tell you this though: creating your own engine makes you appreciate a lot more games and well established engines, with that ridiculous realistic graphics.

Sry but how those 3D games made if not WebGL? All in Webassembly? Are there any good reasons you want to make a WebGL 3D engine? Is it a trendy thing?

unity and other engines are now capable of generating html5 exports, I think by the use of webassembly.

the only real good reason to learn how to write a 3D engine is to learn.

by now I've seen lots of people talking about how hard it is vs how bad the graphics will end up looking.

I found that to be amusing. Right after epic games release a tech demo on PS5 that blew everybody's mind, I'm struggling to get some 3D graphics to look good.

if nothing, this is making me have a lot of appreciation for well stablish engines out there, including three.js and babylon

Thank you very much for your explanation!

Holy shit it's impressive. Good work man! This is really great.

I feel uneasy when I see someone creating a account just to leave this type of comment. it also happens on YouTube. are you an ex co-worker?

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