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Shadows

Video Lecture

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Shadows Shadows Shadows

Description

Let's now add some shadows, and see how different materials react.

Things to remember at minimum,

  1. Add shadows to Canvas

    <Canvas shadows />

  2. Set your light to cast shadows

    <directionalLight castShadow />

  3. Select which meshes will cast shadows

    <mesh castShadow />

  4. Select which meshes will receive shadows 

    <mesh receiveShadow />

./src/App.jsx

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import Polyhedron from './Polyhedron'
import * as THREE from 'three'
import { Canvas } from '@react-three/fiber'
import { Stats, OrbitControls } from '@react-three/drei'
import { useControls } from 'leva'
import Floor from './Floor'

function Lights() {
  const ambientCtl = useControls('Ambient Light', {
    visible: false,
    intensity: {
      value: 1.0,
      min: 0,
      max: 1.0,
      step: 0.1,
    },
  })

  const directionalCtl = useControls('Directional Light', {
    visible: true,
    position: {
      x: 3.3,
      y: 1.0,
      z: 4.4,
    },
    castShadow: true,
  })

  const pointCtl = useControls('Point Light', {
    visible: false,
    position: {
      x: 2,
      y: 0,
      z: 0,
    },
    castShadow: true,
  })

  const spotCtl = useControls('Spot Light', {
    visible: false,
    position: {
      x: 3,
      y: 2.5,
      z: 1,
    },
    castShadow: true,
  })

  return (
    <>
      <ambientLight
        visible={ambientCtl.visible}
        intensity={ambientCtl.intensity}
      />
      <directionalLight
        visible={directionalCtl.visible}
        position={[
          directionalCtl.position.x,
          directionalCtl.position.y,
          directionalCtl.position.z,
        ]}
        castShadow={directionalCtl.castShadow}
      />
      <pointLight
        visible={pointCtl.visible}
        position={[
          pointCtl.position.x,
          pointCtl.position.y,
          pointCtl.position.z,
        ]}
        castShadow={pointCtl.castShadow}
      />
      <spotLight
        visible={spotCtl.visible}
        position={[spotCtl.position.x, spotCtl.position.y, spotCtl.position.z]}
        castShadow={spotCtl.castShadow}
      />
    </>
  )
}
export default function App() {
  return (
    <Canvas camera={{ position: [4, 4, 1.5] }} shadows>
      <Lights />
      <Polyhedron
        name="meshBasicMaterial"
        position={[-3, 1, 0]}
        material={new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({ color: 'yellow' })}
      />
      <Polyhedron
        name="meshNormalMaterial"
        position={[-1, 1, 0]}
        material={new THREE.MeshNormalMaterial({ flatShading: true })}
      />
      <Polyhedron
        name="meshPhongMaterial"
        position={[1, 1, 0]}
        material={
          new THREE.MeshPhongMaterial({ color: 'lime', flatShading: true })
        }
      />
      <Polyhedron
        name="meshStandardMaterial"
        position={[3, 1, 0]}
        material={
          new THREE.MeshStandardMaterial({
            color: 0xff0033,
            flatShading: true,
          })
        }
      />
      <Floor />
      <OrbitControls target={[2, 2, 0]} />
      <axesHelper args={[5]} />
      <Stats />
    </Canvas>
  )
}

./src/Polyhedron.jsx

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import { useRef } from 'react'
import { useFrame } from '@react-three/fiber'

export default function Polyhedron(props) {
  const ref = useRef()

  useFrame((_, delta) => {
    ref.current.rotation.x += 0.2 * delta
    ref.current.rotation.y += 0.05 * delta
  })

  return (
    <mesh {...props} ref={ref} castShadow receiveShadow>
      <icosahedronGeometry args={[1, 1]} />
    </mesh>
  )
}

./src/Floor.jsx

Create another file named Floor.jsx in the ./src/ folder.

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export default function Floor() {
  return (
    <mesh rotation-x={-Math.PI / 2} receiveShadow>
      <circleGeometry args={[10]} />
      <meshStandardMaterial />
    </mesh>
  )
}

Working Example

<>
Shadows (Working Example) sbedit.net
LightShadow Base Class threejs.org
DirectionalLightShadow threejs.org sbcode.net
Camera Helper threejs.org sbedit.net
SpotLightShadow threejs.org sbcode.net
PointLightShadow threejs.org

GitHub Branch

git clone https://github.com/Sean-Bradley/React-Three-Fiber-Boilerplate.git
cd React-Three-Fiber-Boilerplate
git checkout shadows
npm install
npm start