!!! CAUTION !!!

This library is already deprecated (technically outdated too). I recommend switching to our new library, Rhodonite

GLBoost

A New WebGL Rendering Library for 3D Graphics Geeks

Concept

GLBoost is a new WebGL library for realtime 3D graphics geeks. It’s a low-level library that takes away the pain of having to deal with routine WebGL API tasks without limiting your expressive power. Use this library to spend your time doing cool stuff instead of fighting WebGL.

Latest released revision

Currently, r4 released!

GLBoost Viewer

This is a demo viewer using GLBoost. https://viewer.glboost.org/

Test Examples

Check our test examples page

If you want to watch examples in local. Go to GLBoost top directory by terminal and start local web server up.

$ cd GLBoost
$ npm install
$ npm start

Key features

ECMAScript 2015 based library
Shader classes Mixin layered mechanism
WebGL2.0 Ready (Currently, Firefox and Chrome)
User's Custom Shader Support
Obj and glTF 1.0/2.0 loader
Phisically Based Rendering Support (Metallic-Roughness) (with/without Image based Lighting)
Experienced use in multiple commercial products/services

Supported Browsers

Google Chrome (even WebGL 2.0 mode)
Firefox (even WebGL 2.0 mode)
Safari
iOS Safari
Android Chrome
Microsoft Edge (Xbox One included)

Unsupported Browsers

Internet Explorer

How to use

1. Include build/glboost.js in your html file.

<script src="./glboost.js"></script>

2. Put canvas tag in body element.

<body>
  <canvas id="world" width="600" height="600"></canvas>
</body>

3. Write your codes.

// setup GLBoost renderer
var canvas = document.getElementById("world");
var glBoostContext = new GLBoost.GLBoostMiddleContext(canvas);

var renderer = glBoostContext.createRenderer({
  clearColor: {
    red: 0.0,
    green: 0.0,
    blue: 0.0,
    alpha: 1
  }
});

// make a scene
var scene = glBoostContext.createScene();

// setup material
var material = glBoostContext.createClassicMaterial();
var texture = glBoostContext.createTexture("resources/texture.png");
material.setTexture(texture);
material.shaderClass = GLBoost.PhongShader;

// make a Sphere geometry
var geometry = glBoostContext.createSphere(20, 24, 24, null);

// set Sphere geometry and material to make a Mesh.
var earth = glBoostContext.createMesh(geometry, material);
// add the earth mesh to the scene
scene.addChild(earth);

// make a directonal light
var directionalLight = glBoostContext.createDirectionalLight(
  new GLBoost.Vector3(1, 1, 1),
  new GLBoost.Vector3(-1, -1, -1)
);
// add the light to the scene
scene.addChild(directionalLight);

// setup camera
var camera = glBoostContext.createPerspectiveCamera(
  {
    eye: new GLBoost.Vector3(0.0, 0.0, 60.0),
    center: new GLBoost.Vector3(0.0, 0.0, 0.0),
    up: new GLBoost.Vector3(0.0, 1.0, 0.0)
  },
  {
    fovy: 45.0,
    aspect: 1.0,
    zNear: 0.1,
    zFar: 1000.0
  }
);
// add the camera to the scene
scene.addChild(camera);

// create an expression (which is composed of several rendering passes)
var expression = glBoostContext.createExpressionAndRenderPasses(1);

// set scene to render pass of expression
expression.renderPasses[0].scene = scene;

// call this method before rendering
expression.prepareToRender();

// rendering loop
renderer.doConvenientRenderLoop(expression, function() {
  // rotate camera
  var rotateMatrixY = GLBoost.Matrix33.rotateY(-1.0);
  rotatedVector = rotateMatrixY.multiplyVector(camera.eye);
  camera.eye = rotatedVector;
});

for other usage, check examples!

How to Install npm packages to build library, examples and API document

$ npm install

Build of GLBoost Library

$ npm run build

Build of examples

Some examples needs to be built by Babel because they are written ECMAScript 2015. The following command builds them all.

$ npm run build-examples

Build of API Document

$ npm run esdoc

(Note: The documentation coverage is still very low. We address the resolution of this problem.)

Test

$ npm run test

(Note: The test coverage is still very low. We address the resolution of this problem.)

Roadmap

Coming Soon

Improvement of Realtime shadow

Near Future

Both Clustered Forward Rendering and Deferred Rendering Support
Global Illumination (Light Propergation Volume or etc...)
Unity like Entity-Component-System
Original Giga DataTexture Architecture
High-level API for beginners

License

This library is released under the MIT License, see LICENSE file.

emadurandal / GLBoost