I rebuilt my portfolio and it walks you through a forest.
Live @ robertriopel.ca
Made with three.js r187, no framework.
No texture files - Every tree, root, lantern and creature is drawn with Canvas 2D at load time. Each painter writes four greyscale layers packed into one RGBA texture: A is the silhouette mask, R the warm emissive parts (lantern paper, windows, embers), G the green bioluminescence (fungi, veins, eyes), B the bark detail.
2.5D diorama - The forest is painted cutouts on planes, one `InstancedMesh` per texture, set in near, mid and far bands. When you step off the path the cutouts rotate with your view, so they never go paper-thin.
The sky - Also just one shader: gradient, stars, a low sun and moon, drifting cloud and three ridges of mountains and distant conifers. It’s drawn by true view direction, so it stays put in the far distance while you walk and turn.
Wander mode - A button to leave the path: WASD plus drag-to-look on desktop, a thumb-stick drag on touch. A couple easter eggs are hidden off the path.
Complete without JavaScript.
Happy to go deeper on the painters or the cutout shader if anyone’s curious. Feedback very welcome, especially curious about performance on your hardware.
