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I'm trying to render objects on top of other objects.

In the fiddle, get the green torus knots to render on top of the red boxes and floor.

I've been trying mesh.renderDepth = 0, 1, 1000 and changes nothing.

The material has been created like so:

  material = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial( { color: 0x00ff00, transparent: true, opacity: 0.5 } );

How can I achieve this using renderDepth? Am I missing any other setting?

Using depthTest to true works but is not acceptable because concave meshes (like the torus) suffer from overlapping polygons, especially when opaque.

And while I haven't managed to get this other solution with two scenes running, it strikes me as having more overhead and perhaps less flexible than just using renderDepth

Fully working JSFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/QHssJ/

Thanks for the help

Community
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Blue Ion
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2 Answers2

5

This post is a little old, but for those stumbling upon this, be sure that objects with a custom renderDepth have their material with depthWrite set to false: 

 material.depthWrite = false

Here is an update to the posted fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/QHssJ/20/

Johnny Slack
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0

The following is a working example that has a VisualLayers class for managing any number of layers, and it uses the renderer.autoClear = false and clearing-depth technique.

This approach is nice because renderOrder of objects is not being modified (that's another approach) and thus will not introduce other issues related to renderOrder.

Try playing with the options in the UI to see what it does:

// @ts-check

////////////////////////
// LAYER SYSTEM
////////////////////////

/** @typedef {{name: string, backingScene: THREE.Scene, order: number}} Layer */

class VisualLayers {
    /**
     * @type {Array<Layer>}
     * @private
     */
    __layers = [];

    constructor(
        /** @private @type {THREE.WebGLRenderer} */ __renderer,
        /** @private @type {typeof THREE.Scene} */ __Scene = THREE.Scene
    ) {
        this.__renderer = __renderer;
        this.__Scene = __Scene;
    }

    defineLayer(/** @type {string} */ name, /** @type {number=} */ order = 0) {
        const layer = this.__getLayer(name);

        // The default layer always has order 0.
        const previousOrder = layer.order;
        layer.order = name === "default" ? 0 : order;

        // Sort only if order changed.
        if (previousOrder !== layer.order)
            this.__layers.sort((a, b) => a.order - b.order);

        return layer;
    }

    /**
     * Get a layer by name (if it doesn't exist, creates it with default order 0).
     * @private
     */
    __getLayer(/** @type {string} */ name) {
        let layer = this.__layers.find((l) => l.name === name);

        if (!layer) {
            layer = { name, backingScene: new this.__Scene(), order: 0 };
            layer.backingScene.autoUpdate = false;
            this.__layers.push(layer);
        }

        return layer;
    }

    removeLayer(/** @type {string} */ name) {
        const index = this.__layers.findIndex((l) => {
            if (l.name === name) {
                l.backingScene.children.length = 0;
                return true;
            }

            return false;
        });

        if (index >= 0) this.__layers.splice(index, 1);
    }

    hasLayer(/** @type {string} */ name) {
        return this.__layers.some((l) => l.name === name);
    }

    /** @readonly */
    get layerCount() {
        return this.__layers.length;
    }

    addObjectToLayer(
        /** @type {THREE.Object3D} */ obj,
        /** @type {string | string[]} */ layers
    ) {
        if (Array.isArray(layers)) {
            for (const name of layers) this.__addObjectToLayer(obj, name);
            return;
        }

        this.__addObjectToLayer(obj, layers);
    }

    addObjectsToLayer(
        /** @type {THREE.Object3D[]} */ objects,
        /** @type {string | string[]} */ layers
    ) {
        for (const obj of objects) {
            this.addObjectToLayer(obj, layers);
        }
    }

    /** @private @readonly */
    __emptyArray = Object.freeze([]);

    /** @private */
    __addObjectToLayer(
        /** @type {THREE.Object3D} */ obj,
        /** @type {string} */ name
    ) {
        const layer = this.__getLayer(name);
        const proxy = Object.create(obj, {
            children: { get: () => this.__emptyArray }
        });
        layer.backingScene.children.push(proxy);
    }

    removeObjectFromLayer(
        /** @type {THREE.Object3D} */ obj,
        /** @type {string | string[]} */ nameOrNames
    ) {
        if (Array.isArray(nameOrNames)) {
            for (const name of nameOrNames) {
                const layer = this.__layers.find((l) => l.name === name);
                if (!layer) continue;
                this.__removeObjectFromLayer(obj, layer);
            }
            return;
        }

        const layer = this.__layers.find((l) => l.name === nameOrNames);
        if (!layer) return;
        this.__removeObjectFromLayer(obj, layer);
    }

    /** @private */
    __removeObjectFromLayer(
        /** @type {THREE.Object3D} */ obj,
        /** @type {Layer} */ layer
    ) {
        const children = layer.backingScene.children;
        const index = children.findIndex(
            (proxy) => /** @type {any} */ (proxy).__proto__ === obj
        );

        if (index >= 0) {
            children[index] = children[children.length - 1];
            children.pop();
        }
    }

    removeObjectsFromAllLayers(/** @type {THREE.Object3D[]} */ objects) {
        for (const layer of this.__layers) {
            for (const obj of objects) {
                this.__removeObjectFromLayer(obj, layer);
            }
        }
    }

    render(
        /** @type {THREE.Camera} */ camera,
        /** @type {(layerName: string) => void} */ beforeEach,
        /** @type {(layerName: string) => void} */ afterEach
    ) {
        for (const layer of this.__layers) {
            beforeEach(layer.name);
            this.__renderer.render(layer.backingScene, camera);
            afterEach(layer.name);
        }
    }
}

//////////////////////
// VARS
//////////////////////

let camera, stats, geometry, material, object, object2, root;
let time = 0;
/** @type {THREE.Scene} */
let scene;
/** @type {THREE.WebGLRenderer} */
let renderer;
/** @type {VisualLayers} */
let visualLayers;
const clock = new THREE.Clock();
const greenColor = "#27ae60";
const options = {
    useLayers: true,
    showMiddleBox: true,
    rotate: true,
    layer2Order: 2
};

//////////////////////
// INIT
//////////////////////

~(function init() {
    setup3D();
    renderLoop();
})();

////////////////////////////////
// SETUP 3D
////////////////////////////////

function setup3D() {
    const container = document.createElement("div");
    container.id = "container";
    document.body.appendChild(container);

    // CAMERA
    camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(
        70,
        window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight,
        1,
        10000
    );
    camera.position.x = 0;
    camera.position.z = 500;
    camera.position.y = 0;

    scene = new THREE.Scene();

    // RENDERERS

    renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer({ antialias: true, alpha: true });
    renderer.setClearColor(0x111111);
    container.appendChild(renderer.domElement);

    // LAYERS

    visualLayers = new VisualLayers(renderer);
    // Layers don't have to be defined. Adding an object to a layer will
    // automatically create the layer with order 0. But let's define layers with
    // order values.
    visualLayers.defineLayer("layer1", 1);
    visualLayers.defineLayer("layer2", 2);
    visualLayers.defineLayer("layer3", 3);

    // LIGHTS

    const directionalLight = new THREE.DirectionalLight(0xffffff, 0.5);
    directionalLight.position.set(300, 0, 300);
    scene.add(directionalLight);
    visualLayers.addObjectToLayer(directionalLight, [
        "layer1",
        "layer2",
        "layer3"
    ]);

    const ambientLight = new THREE.AmbientLight(0xffffff, 0.4);
    scene.add(ambientLight);
    visualLayers.addObjectToLayer(ambientLight, ["layer1", "layer2", "layer3"]);

    // GEOMETRY

    root = new THREE.Object3D();
    scene.add(root);

    geometry = new THREE.BoxGeometry(100, 100, 100);
    material = new THREE.MeshPhongMaterial({
        color: greenColor,
        transparent: false,
        opacity: 1
    });

    object = new THREE.Mesh(geometry, material);
    root.add(object);
    visualLayers.addObjectToLayer(object, "layer1");
    object.position.y = 80;
    object.position.z = -20;
    // object.rotation.y = -Math.PI / 5

    object2 = new THREE.Mesh(geometry, material);
    object.add(object2);
    visualLayers.addObjectToLayer(object2, "layer2");
    object2.position.y -= 80;
    object2.position.z = -20;
    object2.rotation.y = -Math.PI / 5;

    const object3 = new THREE.Mesh(geometry, material);
    object2.add(object3);
    visualLayers.addObjectToLayer(object3, "layer3");
    object3.position.y -= 80;
    object3.position.z = -20;
    object3.rotation.y = -Math.PI / 5;

    // GUI

    const pane = new Tweakpane({
        title: "VisualLayers"
    });
    pane.addInput(options, "useLayers", { label: "use layers" });
    pane.addInput(options, "showMiddleBox", { label: "show middle box" });
    pane.addInput(options, "rotate");
    pane
        .addInput(options, "layer2Order", {
            label: "layer2 order",
            options: {
                0: 0,
                2: 2,
                4: 4
            }
        })
        .on("change", () => visualLayers.defineLayer("layer2", options.layer2Order));

    // STATS
    // SEE: https://github.com/mrdoob/stats.js

    stats = new Stats();
    stats.domElement.style.position = "absolute";
    stats.domElement.style.left = "0px";
    stats.domElement.style.top = "0px";
    stats.setMode(0);
    document.body.appendChild(stats.domElement);
}

//////////////////////
// RESIZE
//////////////////////

(window.onresize = function (event) {
    camera.aspect = window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight;
    camera.updateProjectionMatrix();
    renderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);
})();

//////////////////////
// RAF RENDER LOOP
//////////////////////

function render() {
    stats.begin();

    if (options.rotate) {
        time += clock.getDelta();
        object.rotation.y += 0.02;
        root.rotation.y = Math.PI / 2 + (Math.PI / 6) * Math.sin(time * 0.001);
    }

    object2.visible = options.showMiddleBox;

    if (options.useLayers) {
        scene.updateWorldMatrix(true, true);
        renderer.autoClear = false;
        renderer.clear();
        visualLayers.render(camera, beforeEachLayerRender, afterEachLayerRender);
    } else {
        renderer.autoClear = true;
        renderer.render(scene, camera);
    }

    stats.end();
}

function renderLoop() {
    render();
    requestAnimationFrame(renderLoop);
}

function beforeEachLayerRender(layer) {}
function afterEachLayerRender(layer) {
    renderer.clearDepth();
}
html,
body,
#container {
    margin: 0px;
    padding: 0px;
    width: 100%;
    height: 100%;
}

canvas {
    background: transparent;
    display: block;
    width: 100%;
    height: 100%;
    position: absolute;
    left: 0;
    top: 0;
}
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/tweakpane@1.5.5/dist/tweakpane.min.js"></script>
<script src="//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/stats.js/r11/Stats.min.js"></script>
<script src="//unpkg.com/three@0.121.1/build/three.min.js"></script>
<script src="//unpkg.com/postprocessing@6.17.4/build/postprocessing.js"></script>

(example on codepen)

trusktr
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