# New NASA website using threejs that lets you look inside space rocks.

**URL:** <https://discourse.threejs.org/t/new-nasa-website-using-threejs-that-lets-you-look-inside-space-rocks/21635>\
**Category:** Showcase\
**Created:** [December 15, 2020, 9:06pm UTC](https://discourse.threejs.org/t/new-nasa-website-using-threejs-that-lets-you-look-inside-space-rocks/21635 "2020-12-15T21:06:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 15\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bfeist](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.threejs.org/bfeist/32/10808_2.png) [@bfeist](https://discourse.threejs.org/u/bfeist)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 9:06pm UTC](https://discourse.threejs.org/t/new-nasa-website-using-threejs-that-lets-you-look-inside-space-rocks/21635/1 "2020-12-15T21:06:52Z")

</div>

[https://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/astromaterials3d/](https://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/astromaterials3d/)

I’ve been working on this project for the better part of 2020. So happy to be able to release it to the world. Official article: [https://www.nasa.gov/feature/rocks-from-other-worlds-now-virtually-available](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/rocks-from-other-worlds-now-virtually-available)

Uses ThreeJS to show interior CT data of each rock. Example: [https://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/astromaterials3d/explorer/?sample=60639-0](https://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/astromaterials3d/explorer/?sample=60639-0)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![prisoner849](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.threejs.org/prisoner849/32/535_2.png) [@prisoner849](https://discourse.threejs.org/u/prisoner849)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 9:11pm UTC](https://discourse.threejs.org/t/new-nasa-website-using-threejs-that-lets-you-look-inside-space-rocks/21635/2 "2020-12-15T21:11:01Z")

</div>

This is super cool! 👍

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![felixmariotto](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.threejs.org/felixmariotto/32/5928_2.png) [@felixmariotto](https://discourse.threejs.org/u/felixmariotto)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 9:16pm UTC](https://discourse.threejs.org/t/new-nasa-website-using-threejs-that-lets-you-look-inside-space-rocks/21635/3 "2020-12-15T21:16:08Z")

</div>

Really interesting, and your work is great. Did you do the rocks scans ?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bfeist](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.threejs.org/bfeist/32/10808_2.png) [@bfeist](https://discourse.threejs.org/u/bfeist)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 9:19pm UTC](https://discourse.threejs.org/t/new-nasa-website-using-threejs-that-lets-you-look-inside-space-rocks/21635/4 "2020-12-15T21:19:53Z")

</div>

The scans were done by Erika Blumenfeld over the past 5 years. Thousands and thousands of digital Hasselblad photos processed using SFM photogrammetry.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mjurczyk](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.threejs.org/mjurczyk/32/10995_2.png) [@mjurczyk](https://discourse.threejs.org/u/mjurczyk)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 10:13pm UTC](https://discourse.threejs.org/t/new-nasa-website-using-threejs-that-lets-you-look-inside-space-rocks/21635/5 "2020-12-15T22:13:41Z")

</div>

![minerals](https://media.giphy.com/media/ku4elcos7hFwQ/giphy.gif)

At first it’s like - “Hm. Alright, these are very handsome rocks.” Then you realize you can cut through the rock on every axis and see volumetric scans at each step - daaaaaaaaaamn, nice. 😳

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Aaa\_Aaa](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.threejs.org/aaa_aaa/32/8470_2.png) [@Aaa\_Aaa](https://discourse.threejs.org/u/Aaa_Aaa)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 10:56pm UTC](https://discourse.threejs.org/t/new-nasa-website-using-threejs-that-lets-you-look-inside-space-rocks/21635/6 "2020-12-16T22:56:36Z")

</div>

Incredible work, what an amazing chance to work on such a unique project!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![neeh](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.threejs.org/neeh/32/15215_2.png) [@neeh](https://discourse.threejs.org/u/neeh)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://discourse.threejs.org/t/new-nasa-website-using-threejs-that-lets-you-look-inside-space-rocks/21635/7 "2020-12-17T15:19:29Z")

</div>

Great work! By the way, have you tried [anisotropic filtering](https://threejs.org/docs/#api/en/textures/Texture.anisotropy) for the textures? It might improve the texture quality on the sides.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bfeist](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.threejs.org/bfeist/32/10808_2.png) [@bfeist](https://discourse.threejs.org/u/bfeist)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://discourse.threejs.org/t/new-nasa-website-using-threejs-that-lets-you-look-inside-space-rocks/21635/8 "2020-12-17T18:20:15Z")

</div>

Thanks very much for the tip. I hadn’t investigated this before. Do you mean on the mesh texture or the slice textures?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bfeist](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.threejs.org/bfeist/32/10808_2.png) [@bfeist](https://discourse.threejs.org/u/bfeist)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2020, 6:44pm UTC](https://discourse.threejs.org/t/new-nasa-website-using-threejs-that-lets-you-look-inside-space-rocks/21635/9 "2020-12-17T18:44:37Z")

</div>

Thanks again. Just implemented anisotropic filtering on all textures.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![felixmariotto](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.threejs.org/felixmariotto/32/5928_2.png) [@felixmariotto](https://discourse.threejs.org/u/felixmariotto)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2020, 7:59pm UTC](https://discourse.threejs.org/t/new-nasa-website-using-threejs-that-lets-you-look-inside-space-rocks/21635/10 "2020-12-17T19:59:45Z")

</div>

I just realised, is that intentional that panning is only possible horizontally ?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bfeist](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.threejs.org/bfeist/32/10808_2.png) [@bfeist](https://discourse.threejs.org/u/bfeist)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2020, 8:35pm UTC](https://discourse.threejs.org/t/new-nasa-website-using-threejs-that-lets-you-look-inside-space-rocks/21635/11 "2020-12-17T20:35:29Z")

</div>

not really. 🙂 I’m not using OrbitControl so it’s a bit different than usual. You can pan up and down if you use the arrows under the eye menu icon.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![neeh](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.threejs.org/neeh/32/15215_2.png) [@neeh](https://discourse.threejs.org/u/neeh)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2020, 3:23am UTC](https://discourse.threejs.org/t/new-nasa-website-using-threejs-that-lets-you-look-inside-space-rocks/21635/12 "2020-12-18T03:23:43Z")

</div>

Nice! I was thinking on both, but to be honest it doesn’t need to be crazy, sometimes I found that just setting it to 2 already removes the blurry look: `Math.min(2, renderer.capabilities.getMaxAnisotropy())`

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Porton\_don](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.threejs.org/porton_don/32/14024_2.png) [@Porton\_don](https://discourse.threejs.org/u/Porton_don)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 6:44am UTC](https://discourse.threejs.org/t/new-nasa-website-using-threejs-that-lets-you-look-inside-space-rocks/21635/13 "2021-01-03T06:44:09Z")

</div>

@bfeist what SFM Photogrammetry software do you use? Reality Capture?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Porton\_don](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.threejs.org/porton_don/32/14024_2.png) [@Porton\_don](https://discourse.threejs.org/u/Porton_don)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 7:04am UTC](https://discourse.threejs.org/t/new-nasa-website-using-threejs-that-lets-you-look-inside-space-rocks/21635/14 "2021-01-03T07:04:00Z")

</div>

@bfeist what license applied to the code ? thinking of reusing the cubeNav.

 ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/uploads/threejs/original/2X/3/36a604515ea1ab93ddf12a83454c9163095c99de.png)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DhiaNHM](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.threejs.org/dhianhm/32/15418_2.png) [@DhiaNHM](https://discourse.threejs.org/u/DhiaNHM)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 9:46pm UTC](https://discourse.threejs.org/t/new-nasa-website-using-threejs-that-lets-you-look-inside-space-rocks/21635/15 "2021-01-04T21:46:26Z")

</div>

Amazing work, congratulations.  
We have an Imaging and analysis department in the museum I work at, will need to show them this.