Glossary

Three.js

Three.js is the most widely used JavaScript library for rendering 3D graphics in the browser. It sits on top of WebGL and hides its complexity behind a clean API for scenes, cameras, lights and materials. Most web 3D viewers, including Google's model-viewer, are built on Three.js, which makes it the quiet engine behind a large share of 3D and AR on the web.

Quick Facts

Type: JavaScript 3D library
Built on: WebGL
License: MIT, open source
Used by: model-viewer and many web 3D viewers
Typical inputs: glTF and GLB

If WebGL is the raw drawing layer of the browser, Three.js is the toolkit that makes it usable. Instead of writing low-level GPU code, developers describe a scene, a camera and some lights, load a GLB model and let Three.js render it with full PBR materials.

Its reach is enormous because other tools build on it. Google’s model-viewer uses Three.js under the hood, and so, by extension, do the WordPress plugins built on model-viewer.

That includes PausAR Viewer. You get the rendering power of Three.js without touching JavaScript: drag the Elementor widget in, upload your model, and the plugin handles the rendering, the camera controls and the Web AR hand-off for you.