I’ve been watching the web evolve, and something remarkable has happened. We’ve moved from flat pages to interactive experiences, and now we’re entering a new dimension—literally. The shift toward 3D on the web isn’t just for games anymore. It’s for product showcases, data stories, and immersive brand experiences. But for a long time, bringing 3D into a React project felt like fitting a square peg into a round hole. That’s why I started looking at React Three Fiber. It promised to bridge the gap between the raw power of Three.js and the structured, component-driven world I live in as a React developer. Let me show you what I found.
Three.js is the engine. It’s a robust JavaScript library that lets you create stunning 3D graphics right in the browser. It talks directly to WebGL, which is the low-level API that makes your GPU draw complex scenes. The catch? Its code is imperative. You write long sequences of commands: create a scene, create a camera, position an object, add a light, start a render loop. It’s powerful but can become difficult to manage in a large application.
React is the framework. It’s declarative. You describe what the UI should look like based on your state, and React figures out how to make it happen. You build with reusable components. This approach has revolutionized how we build interfaces. So, what if we could describe a 3D scene the same way we describe a button or a form?
That’s exactly what React Three Fiber does. It acts as a translator. It takes your familiar JSX and turns it into Three.js commands. You don’t just use Three.js from React; you write Three.js as React. This changes everything. Suddenly, a complex 3D mesh is just another component in your tree. Its properties are props. Its state can be managed with hooks.
Let’s start with the most basic scene. In plain Three.js, setting up a scene with a cube involves dozens of lines of boilerplate. With React Three Fiber, it looks like this:
import { Canvas } from '@react-three/fiber';
import { Box } from '@react-three/drei';
function MyScene() {
return (
<Canvas>
<ambientLight intensity={0.5} />
<pointLight position={[10, 10, 10]} />
<Box position={[0, 0, 0]}>
<meshStandardMaterial color="orange" />
</Box>
</Canvas>
);
}See what happened? The <Canvas> component sets up the Three.js scene, camera, and renderer automatically. The <Box /> is a pre-made component for a cube geometry. We’re defining light and material right in the JSX. It feels intuitive. But here’s a question: what if you need something that isn’t in the library, like a custom 3D model?
This is where the integration shines. React Three Fiber doesn’t hide Three.js; it gives you direct access. You can drop down to the Three.js object level whenever you need to. For instance, to create a custom rotating sphere, you might use a hook like useFrame.
import { useRef } from 'react';
import { useFrame } from '@react-three/fiber';
function SpinningSphere() {
const meshRef = useRef();
useFrame((state, delta) => {
if (meshRef.current) {
meshRef.current.rotation.y += delta; // delta ensures smooth animation
}
});
return (
<mesh ref={meshRef}>
<sphereGeometry args={[1, 32, 32]} />
<meshStandardMaterial color="hotpink" />
</mesh>
);
}The useFrame hook lets you execute code on every frame of the render loop. This is your gateway to animations and interactions. Notice how meshRef gives us direct access to the underlying Three.js mesh object. We have the simplicity of React with the power of Three.js on tap.
State management is another huge win. In a traditional Three.js app, tracking the state of multiple objects can get messy. In React, it’s just state. You can use useState, Context, or even external libraries. Want a cube to change color when you click it? It’s just React logic.
import { useState } from 'react';
function InteractiveCube() {
const [isActive, setIsActive] = useState(false);
const handleClick = () => {
setIsActive(!isActive);
};
return (
<mesh onClick={handleClick}>
<boxGeometry args={[1, 1, 1]} />
<meshStandardMaterial color={isActive ? 'green' : 'grey'} />
</mesh>
);
}The click event works because React Three Fiber wraps Three.js objects with event handling. It normalizes the 3D interaction to feel like a DOM event. This declarative approach to interactivity saves an enormous amount of code.
Performance was my biggest initial worry. 3D is heavy. Won’t React’s re-rendering slow everything down? React Three Fiber is built with this in mind. It has a custom reconciler (the engine that updates the DOM, or in this case, the 3D scene) that is highly efficient for 3D. It doesn’t re-create objects unless it absolutely has to. It updates only the properties that change. For most interactive scenes, the performance is excellent.
However, you still need to be smart. For scenes with hundreds or thousands of objects, you should use techniques like instancing. The good news is, libraries like @react-three/drei provide components like <InstancedMesh /> that make this accessible. The ecosystem around React Three Fiber is rich with tools that solve common 3D problems the “React way.”
So, why does this combination matter? It lowers the barrier. It allows front-end developers, who are already experts in React, to step into 3D without learning an entirely new paradigm from scratch. You can integrate a 3D product viewer into your e-commerce app as naturally as you’d add a new form. You can build a complex data visualization by mapping data to 3D object properties. The component model means you can build a library of reusable 3D parts—a <CarModel />, a <DataNode />, a <Terrain />—and share them across projects.
I think we’re only scratching the surface of what’s possible when 3D becomes a native part of our web development toolkit. It opens doors to more expressive, engaging, and useful applications. The line between the web and immersive experiences is blurring.
What kind of experience could you build if 3D was as easy as building a React component? The tools are here, and they’re waiting for you to try them. Start with a simple scene. Add a light, a shape, and make it move. You might be surprised by how quickly you can create something compelling.
I’d love to hear what you build. Have you tried adding 3D to a project? What was the biggest challenge or the most exciting result? Share your thoughts in the comments below—and if you found this walk-through helpful, please pass it along to another developer who might be curious about the third dimension on the web.
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