Another 10 WebGL sites that will blow you away

 interface, Internet News, Web Design  11 Responses »
Jul 112012
 

Creative coder and developer Paul Lewis rounds up 10 of the best new WebGL sites and provides some handy tips along the way, if you, too, want to join the 3D revolution

WebGL, then. It’s been around a while, and it looks like it’s here to stay. As you’ve hopefully seen it’s incredibly powerful, capable of pushing around thousands of polygons and particles all the while giving us tons of visual goodies. It’s fair to say I’m a big fan and, if Twitter reactions are anything to go by, so are a lot of other people!

Right now virtually all the major browser manufacturers support WebGL in their browser, although sometimes it needs to be enabled manually. So that’s Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera that will all let you see the wonder of WebGL. Still no word on Internet Explorer yet, although hope springs eternal!

About a year ago we ran a feature on 20 WebGL sites that will blow your mind. In internet terms a year is a phenomenally long time, so what we thought we’d do is take a look at what’s new. So once again sit back, crank up your latest browser and feast your eyes on these beauties!

MORE:  Another 10 WebGL sites that will blow you away | Feature | .net magazine.

 

Create an interactive liquid metal ball with WebGL

 Design, interface, Web Design  384 Responses »
Apr 032012
 

So you want to create an interactive WebGL liquid metal ball? Glad you asked, programming wizard Paul Lewis has got just the thing!

Making websites is tons of fun, but sometimes you need to break free and do something a bit unusual. That’s what we’ll be doing today. We’ll be using the excellent Three.js engine to create an interactive metallic ball. As you click and drag the ball distorts and then slowly settles back to its original shape.

To do this we’ll be covering spring physics, 3D vectors and ray casting (and a few other things besides) all in an effort to create a compelling and fun interactive experience. Let’s start by looking at what we’re going to make.

The thing about experiments like these is that on the surface they don’t look to have direct commercial applications. You’d be forgiven for thinking the same about this one as well, and perhaps you’re right. But my philosophy is that as a developer you learn techniques and solutions to problems in these experiments that can help you in your day-to-day work. There have been many times where this has proved true for me, and I’m certain it’ll work out for you as well. In any case this is going to be tons of fun, so let’s get started on creating our scene.

LEARN THE CODE:

via Create an interactive liquid metal ball with WebGL | Tutorial | .net magazine.