Three.js Post-Processing

Quick Start

import * as THREE from "three";
import { EffectComposer } from "three/addons/postprocessing/EffectComposer.js";
import { RenderPass } from "three/addons/postprocessing/RenderPass.js";
import { UnrealBloomPass } from "three/addons/postprocessing/UnrealBloomPass.js";

// Setup composer
const composer = new EffectComposer(renderer);

// Render scene
const renderPass = new RenderPass(scene, camera);
composer.addPass(renderPass);

// Add bloom
const bloomPass = new UnrealBloomPass(
  new THREE.Vector2(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight),
  1.5, // strength
  0.4, // radius
  0.85, // threshold
);
composer.addPass(bloomPass);

// Animation loop - use composer instead of renderer
function animate() {
  requestAnimationFrame(animate);
  composer.render(); // NOT renderer.render()
}

EffectComposer Setup

import { EffectComposer } from "three/addons/postprocessing/EffectComposer.js";
import { RenderPass } from "three/addons/postprocessing/RenderPass.js";

const composer = new EffectComposer(renderer);

// First pass: render scene
const renderPass = new RenderPass(scene, camera);
composer.addPass(renderPass);

// Add more passes...
composer.addPass(effectPass);

// Last pass should render to screen
effectPass.renderToScreen = true; // Default for last pass

// Handle resize
function onResize() {
  const width = window.innerWidth;
  const height = window.innerHeight;

  camera.aspect = width / height;
  camera.updateProjectionMatrix();

  renderer.setSize(width, height);
  composer.setSize(width, height);
}

Common Effects

Bloom (Glow)

import { UnrealBloomPass } from "three/addons/postprocessing/UnrealBloomPass.js";

const bloomPass = new UnrealBloomPass(
  new THREE.Vector2(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight),
  1.5, // strength - intensity of glow
  0.4, // radius - spread of glow
  0.85, // threshold - brightness threshold
);

composer.addPass(bloomPass);

// Adjust at runtime
bloomPass.strength = 2.0;
bloomPass.threshold = 0.5;
bloomPass.radius = 0.8;

Selective Bloom

Apply bloom only to specific objects.

import { UnrealBloomPass } from "three/addons/postprocessing/UnrealBloomPass.js";
import { ShaderPass } from "three/addons/postprocessing/ShaderPass.js";

// Layer setup
const BLOOM_LAYER = 1;
const bloomLayer = new THREE.Layers();
bloomLayer.set(BLOOM_LAYER);

// Mark objects to bloom
glowingMesh.layers.enable(BLOOM_LAYER);

// Dark material for non-blooming objects
const darkMaterial = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({ color: 0x000000 });
const materials = {};

function darkenNonBloomed(obj) {
  if (obj.isMesh && !bloomLayer.test(obj.layers)) {
    materials[obj.uuid] = obj.material;
    obj.material = darkMaterial;
  }
}

function restoreMaterial(obj) {
  if (materials[obj.uuid]) {
    obj.material = materials[obj.uuid];
    delete materials[obj.uuid];
  }
}

// Custom render loop
function render() {
  // Render bloom pass
  scene.traverse(darkenNonBloomed);
  composer.render();
  scene.traverse(restoreMaterial);

  // Render final scene over bloom
  renderer.render(scene, camera);
}

FXAA (Anti-Aliasing)

import { ShaderPass } from "three/addons/postprocessing/ShaderPass.js";
import { FXAAShader } from "three/addons/shaders/FXAAShader.js";

const fxaaPass = new ShaderPass(FXAAShader);
fxaaPass.material.uniforms["resolution"].value.set(
  1 / window.innerWidth,
  1 / window.innerHeight,
);

composer.addPass(fxaaPass);

// Update on resize
function onResize() {
  fxaaPass.material.uniforms["resolution"].value.set(
    1 / window.innerWidth,
    1 / window.innerHeight,
  );
}

SMAA (Better Anti-Aliasing)

import { SMAAPass } from "three/addons/postprocessing/SMAAPass.js";

const smaaPass = new SMAAPass(
  window.innerWidth * renderer.getPixelRatio(),
  window.innerHeight * renderer.getPixelRatio(),
);

composer.addPass(smaaPass);

SSAO (Ambient Occlusion)

import { SSAOPass } from "three/addons/postprocessing/SSAOPass.js";

const ssaoPass = new SSAOPass(
  scene,
  camera,
  window.innerWidth,
  window.innerHeight,
);
ssaoPass.kernelRadius = 16;
ssaoPass.minDistance = 0.005;
ssaoPass.maxDistance = 0.1;

composer.addPass(ssaoPass);

// Output modes
ssaoPass.output = SSAOPass.OUTPUT.Default;
// SSAOPass.OUTPUT.Default - Final composited output
// SSAOPass.OUTPUT.SSAO - Just the AO
// SSAOPass.OUTPUT.Blur - Blurred AO
// SSAOPass.OUTPUT.Depth - Depth buffer
// SSAOPass.OUTPUT.Normal - Normal buffer

Depth of Field (DOF)

import { BokehPass } from "three/addons/postprocessing/BokehPass.js";

const bokehPass = new BokehPass(scene, camera, {
  focus: 10.0, // Focus distance
  aperture: 0.025, // Aperture (smaller = more DOF)
  maxblur: 0.01, // Max blur amount
});

composer.addPass(bokehPass);

// Update focus dynamically
bokehPass.uniforms["focus"].value = distanceToTarget;

Film Grain

import { FilmPass } from "three/addons/postprocessing/FilmPass.js";

const filmPass = new FilmPass(
  0.35, // noise intensity
  0.5, // scanline intensity
  648, // scanline count
  false, // grayscale
);

composer.addPass(filmPass);

Vignette

import { ShaderPass } from "three/addons/postprocessing/ShaderPass.js";
import { VignetteShader } from "three/addons/shaders/VignetteShader.js";

const vignettePass = new ShaderPass(VignetteShader);
vignettePass.uniforms["offset"].value = 1.0; // Vignette size
vignettePass.uniforms["darkness"].value = 1.0; // Vignette intensity

composer.addPass(vignettePass);

Color Correction

import { ShaderPass } from "three/addons/postprocessing/ShaderPass.js";
import { ColorCorrectionShader } from "three/addons/shaders/ColorCorrectionShader.js";

const colorPass = new ShaderPass(ColorCorrectionShader);
colorPass.uniforms["powRGB"].value = new THREE.Vector3(1.2, 1.2, 1.2); // Power
colorPass.uniforms["mulRGB"].value = new THREE.Vector3(1.0, 1.0, 1.0); // Multiply

composer.addPass(colorPass);

Gamma Correction

import { GammaCorrectionShader } from "three/addons/shaders/GammaCorrectionShader.js";

const gammaPass = new ShaderPass(GammaCorrectionShader);
composer.addPass(gammaPass);

Pixelation

import { RenderPixelatedPass } from "three/addons/postprocessing/RenderPixelatedPass.js";

const pixelPass = new RenderPixelatedPass(6, scene, camera); // 6 = pixel size

composer.addPass(pixelPass);

Glitch Effect

import { GlitchPass } from "three/addons/postprocessing/GlitchPass.js";

const glitchPass = new GlitchPass();
glitchPass.goWild = false; // Continuous glitching

composer.addPass(glitchPass);

Halftone

import { HalftonePass } from "three/addons/postprocessing/HalftonePass.js";

const halftonePass = new HalftonePass(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight, {
  shape: 1, // 1 = dot, 2 = ellipse, 3 = line, 4 = square
  radius: 4, // Dot size
  rotateR: Math.PI / 12,
  rotateB: (Math.PI / 12) * 2,
  rotateG: (Math.PI / 12) * 3,
  scatter: 0,
  blending: 1,
  blendingMode: 1,
  greyscale: false,
});

composer.addPass(halftonePass);

Outline

import { OutlinePass } from "three/addons/postprocessing/OutlinePass.js";

const outlinePass = new OutlinePass(
  new THREE.Vector2(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight),
  scene,
  camera,
);

outlinePass.edgeStrength = 3;
outlinePass.edgeGlow = 0;
outlinePass.edgeThickness = 1;
outlinePass.pulsePeriod = 0;
outlinePass.visibleEdgeColor.set(0xffffff);
outlinePass.hiddenEdgeColor.set(0x190a05);

// Select objects to outline
outlinePass.selectedObjects = [mesh1, mesh2];

composer.addPass(outlinePass);

Further reference

See references/postprocessing-reference.md for custom ShaderPass, combining effects, render to texture, multi-pass rendering, WebGPU post-processing, performance tips, handle resize, and see also.