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Three.js materials in R3F, built-in materials (Standard, Physical, Basic, etc.), ShaderMaterial with custom GLSL, uniforms binding and animation, and material properties. Use when choosing materials, creating custom shaders, or binding dynamic uniforms.
npx skill4agent add bbeierle12/skill-mcp-claude r3f-materials// Built-in material
<mesh>
<boxGeometry />
<meshStandardMaterial color="hotpink" metalness={0.8} roughness={0.2} />
</mesh>
// Custom shader
<mesh>
<planeGeometry />
<shaderMaterial
uniforms={{ uTime: { value: 0 } }}
vertexShader={vertexShader}
fragmentShader={fragmentShader}
/>
</mesh>| Material | Lighting | Use Case | Performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | UI, unlit, debug | Fastest |
| PBR | General 3D | Good |
| PBR+ | Glass, car paint | Slower |
| Diffuse | Matte surfaces | Fast |
| Specular | Shiny plastic | Fast |
| Cel-shaded | Stylized | Good |
| None | Debug normals | Fastest |
| None | Depth passes | Fastest |
<meshBasicMaterial
color="#ff0000" // Base color
map={texture} // Color texture
transparent={true} // Enable transparency
opacity={0.5} // Transparency level
alphaMap={alphaTexture} // Transparency texture
side={THREE.DoubleSide} // Render both sides
wireframe={true} // Wireframe mode
fog={false} // Ignore scene fog
/><meshStandardMaterial
// Base
color="#ffffff"
map={colorTexture}
// PBR properties
metalness={0.5} // 0 = dielectric, 1 = metal
metalnessMap={metalMap}
roughness={0.5} // 0 = mirror, 1 = diffuse
roughnessMap={roughMap}
// Normal mapping
normalMap={normalTexture}
normalScale={[1, 1]}
// Ambient occlusion
aoMap={aoTexture}
aoMapIntensity={1}
// Displacement
displacementMap={dispMap}
displacementScale={0.1}
// Emission
emissive="#000000"
emissiveMap={emissiveTexture}
emissiveIntensity={1}
// Environment
envMap={cubeTexture}
envMapIntensity={1}
/><meshPhysicalMaterial
// Inherits all MeshStandardMaterial props, plus:
// Clearcoat (car paint, lacquer)
clearcoat={1}
clearcoatRoughness={0.1}
clearcoatNormalMap={ccNormal}
// Transmission (glass, water)
transmission={0.9} // 0 = opaque, 1 = fully transmissive
thickness={0.5} // Volume thickness
ior={1.5} // Index of refraction
// Sheen (fabric, velvet)
sheen={1}
sheenRoughness={0.5}
sheenColor="#ff00ff"
// Iridescence (soap bubbles, oil slicks)
iridescence={1}
iridescenceIOR={1.3}
iridescenceThicknessRange={[100, 400]}
/><meshToonMaterial
color="#6fa8dc"
gradientMap={gradientTexture} // 3-5 color ramp texture
/>
// Create gradient texture
const gradientTexture = useMemo(() => {
const canvas = document.createElement('canvas');
canvas.width = 4;
canvas.height = 1;
const ctx = canvas.getContext('2d')!;
// 4-step toon shading
ctx.fillStyle = '#444'; ctx.fillRect(0, 0, 1, 1);
ctx.fillStyle = '#888'; ctx.fillRect(1, 0, 1, 1);
ctx.fillStyle = '#bbb'; ctx.fillRect(2, 0, 1, 1);
ctx.fillStyle = '#fff'; ctx.fillRect(3, 0, 1, 1);
const texture = new THREE.CanvasTexture(canvas);
texture.minFilter = THREE.NearestFilter;
texture.magFilter = THREE.NearestFilter;
return texture;
}, []);<meshStandardMaterial
// Rendering
transparent={false}
opacity={1}
alphaTest={0} // Discard pixels below threshold
alphaToCoverage={false} // MSAA alpha
// Faces
side={THREE.FrontSide} // FrontSide | BackSide | DoubleSide
// Depth
depthTest={true}
depthWrite={true}
// Stencil
stencilWrite={false}
stencilFunc={THREE.AlwaysStencilFunc}
// Blending
blending={THREE.NormalBlending}
// Other
visible={true}
fog={true}
toneMapped={true}
/>import { useTexture } from '@react-three/drei';
function TexturedMesh() {
const [colorMap, normalMap, roughnessMap] = useTexture([
'/textures/color.jpg',
'/textures/normal.jpg',
'/textures/roughness.jpg'
]);
return (
<mesh>
<boxGeometry />
<meshStandardMaterial
map={colorMap}
normalMap={normalMap}
roughnessMap={roughnessMap}
/>
</mesh>
);
}import { useTexture } from '@react-three/drei';
import * as THREE from 'three';
const texture = useTexture('/texture.jpg', (tex) => {
tex.wrapS = tex.wrapT = THREE.RepeatWrapping;
tex.repeat.set(4, 4);
tex.anisotropy = 16; // Sharper at angles
});import { useRef } from 'react';
import { useFrame } from '@react-three/fiber';
import * as THREE from 'three';
const vertexShader = `
varying vec2 vUv;
varying vec3 vNormal;
void main() {
vUv = uv;
vNormal = normalize(normalMatrix * normal);
gl_Position = projectionMatrix * modelViewMatrix * vec4(position, 1.0);
}
`;
const fragmentShader = `
uniform float uTime;
uniform vec3 uColor;
varying vec2 vUv;
varying vec3 vNormal;
void main() {
float pulse = sin(uTime * 2.0) * 0.5 + 0.5;
vec3 color = mix(uColor, vec3(1.0), pulse * 0.3);
// Simple rim lighting
float rim = 1.0 - dot(vNormal, vec3(0.0, 0.0, 1.0));
color += rim * 0.5;
gl_FragColor = vec4(color, 1.0);
}
`;
function CustomShaderMesh() {
const materialRef = useRef<THREE.ShaderMaterial>(null!);
useFrame(({ clock }) => {
materialRef.current.uniforms.uTime.value = clock.elapsedTime;
});
return (
<mesh>
<sphereGeometry args={[1, 32, 32]} />
<shaderMaterial
ref={materialRef}
vertexShader={vertexShader}
fragmentShader={fragmentShader}
uniforms={{
uTime: { value: 0 },
uColor: { value: new THREE.Color('#ff6b6b') }
}}
/>
</mesh>
);
}uniforms={{
// Scalars
uFloat: { value: 1.0 },
uInt: { value: 1 },
uBool: { value: true },
// Vectors
uVec2: { value: new THREE.Vector2(1, 2) },
uVec3: { value: new THREE.Vector3(1, 2, 3) },
uVec4: { value: new THREE.Vector4(1, 2, 3, 4) },
uColor: { value: new THREE.Color('#ff0000') },
// Matrices
uMat3: { value: new THREE.Matrix3() },
uMat4: { value: new THREE.Matrix4() },
// Textures
uTexture: { value: texture },
uCubeTexture: { value: cubeTexture },
// Arrays
uFloatArray: { value: [1.0, 2.0, 3.0] },
uVec3Array: { value: [new THREE.Vector3(), new THREE.Vector3()] }
}}function AnimatedShader() {
const materialRef = useRef<THREE.ShaderMaterial>(null!);
useFrame(({ clock, mouse }) => {
const uniforms = materialRef.current.uniforms;
uniforms.uTime.value = clock.elapsedTime;
uniforms.uMouse.value.set(mouse.x, mouse.y);
uniforms.uResolution.value.set(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);
});
return (
<shaderMaterial
ref={materialRef}
uniforms={{
uTime: { value: 0 },
uMouse: { value: new THREE.Vector2() },
uResolution: { value: new THREE.Vector2() }
}}
// ...
/>
);
}// Create shared uniform object
const globalUniforms = useMemo(() => ({
uTime: { value: 0 },
uGlobalColor: { value: new THREE.Color('#00ff00') }
}), []);
// Update in useFrame
useFrame(({ clock }) => {
globalUniforms.uTime.value = clock.elapsedTime;
});
// Use in multiple materials
<mesh>
<boxGeometry />
<shaderMaterial uniforms={{ ...globalUniforms, uLocalProp: { value: 1 } }} />
</mesh>
<mesh position={[2, 0, 0]}>
<sphereGeometry />
<shaderMaterial uniforms={{ ...globalUniforms, uLocalProp: { value: 2 } }} />
</mesh><rawShaderMaterial
vertexShader={`
precision highp float;
// Must declare all inputs manually
attribute vec3 position;
attribute vec2 uv;
uniform mat4 projectionMatrix;
uniform mat4 modelViewMatrix;
varying vec2 vUv;
void main() {
vUv = uv;
gl_Position = projectionMatrix * modelViewMatrix * vec4(position, 1.0);
}
`}
fragmentShader={`
precision highp float;
varying vec2 vUv;
void main() {
gl_FragColor = vec4(vUv, 0.0, 1.0);
}
`}
/>import { extend } from '@react-three/fiber';
import { shaderMaterial } from '@react-three/drei';
// Create extended material
const GradientMaterial = shaderMaterial(
// Uniforms
{ uColorA: new THREE.Color('#ff0000'), uColorB: new THREE.Color('#0000ff') },
// Vertex
`
varying vec2 vUv;
void main() {
vUv = uv;
gl_Position = projectionMatrix * modelViewMatrix * vec4(position, 1.0);
}
`,
// Fragment
`
uniform vec3 uColorA;
uniform vec3 uColorB;
varying vec2 vUv;
void main() {
gl_FragColor = vec4(mix(uColorA, uColorB, vUv.y), 1.0);
}
`
);
// Register with R3F
extend({ GradientMaterial });
// Use in JSX
function Gradient() {
return (
<mesh>
<planeGeometry args={[2, 2]} />
<gradientMaterial uColorA="#ff0000" uColorB="#0000ff" />
</mesh>
);
}| Technique | When to Use |
|---|---|
| Share materials | Multiple meshes, same appearance |
| Use cheaper materials | Distant objects (Basic vs Standard) |
| Limit texture size | Mobile, large scene |
| Disable unneeded features | |
// Define once
const sharedMaterial = useMemo(() => (
<meshStandardMaterial color="red" roughness={0.5} />
), []);
// Reuse (same GPU program)
{items.map((item, i) => (
<mesh key={i} position={item.pos}>
<boxGeometry />
{sharedMaterial}
</mesh>
))}r3f-materials/
├── SKILL.md
├── references/
│ ├── pbr-properties.md # PBR material deep-dive
│ ├── uniform-types.md # Complete uniform reference
│ └── shader-templates.md # Common shader patterns
└── scripts/
├── materials/
│ ├── gradient.ts # Gradient shader material
│ ├── fresnel.ts # Fresnel/rim effect
│ └── dissolve.ts # Dissolve effect
└── utils/
└── uniform-helpers.ts # Uniform animation utilitiesreferences/pbr-properties.mdreferences/uniform-types.mdreferences/shader-templates.md