With the release of ARKit and ARCore, augmented reality (AR) is becoming more mainstream. These new SDKs allow developers to create AR experiences for millions of users on iOS and Android devices.
However, developing AR applications can be a challenge. The SDKs are constantly changing and there are few resources available to help developers get started.
This article will show you how to use TypeScript and Three.js to create AR applications for the web. We'll cover setting up a development environment, creating a simple AR scene, and deploying the application to a web server.
Before we can start building our AR application, we need to set up our development environment.
First, you'll need to install Node.js. Node.js is a JavaScript runtime that allows you to run JavaScript code outside of a web browser. We'll use Node.js to run a local web server for our application.
Next, you'll need to install TypeScript. TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript that adds static type checking and other features. We'll use TypeScript to write our AR application.
Finally, you'll need to install Three.js. Three.js is a JavaScript library for creating 3D graphics. We'll use Three.js to create our AR scene.
Now that we have our development environment set up, we can start creating our AR scene.
First, we need to create a new TypeScript file and import Three.js:
import * as THREE from 'three';
Next, we need to create a new Three.js scene:
const scene = new THREE.Scene();
Now we can add some objects to our scene. Let's start with a simple cube:
const geometry = new THREE.BoxGeometry(1, 1, 1);
const material = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({ color: 0xff0000 });
const cube = new THREE.Mesh(geometry, material);
scene.add(cube);
Finally, we need to render our scene:
const renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer();
renderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);
document.body.appendChild(renderer.domElement);
renderer.render(scene, camera);
If everything went well, you should see a red cube in your web browser.
Now that we have a basic AR scene, we need to deploy it to a web server.
First, we need to install the http-server Node.js module:
npm install -g http-server
Next, we need to compile our TypeScript code to JavaScript:
tsc main.ts
Finally, we can start the web server:
http-server
You can now access your application at http://localhost:8080.
In this article, we've seen how to use TypeScript and Three.js to create AR applications for the web. We've covered setting up a development environment, creating a simple AR scene, and deploying the application to a web server.
If you're interested in learning more about AR development, check out the following resources: