SIMULATIONS AND DISPLAYS

Here are flight simulations and displays created using three.js. There are currently three versions:

Note: NodeMaterials can no longers be used with WebGL2 - so these versions will eventually be deleted.
AIRCRAFT FLIGHT SIMULATIONS

In these examples, you can fly and land an animated model aircraft (airplane or helicopter). In external view, you can look around the aircraft using the mouse and shift key. In the FM2, you can select an internal view with animated instruments and pilot.

FM2 Wildcat
Fly from an island base (with smoking volcano) over an animated ocean and a moving carrier:
* WebGPU - [rev 240914] r167
* WebGL2 - [rev 231014]
See here for flight instructions.
Supwith Pup
Fly to an airbase over procedurally-generated farmland near mountains:
* WebGPU - [rev 240913] r168
* WebGL2 - [rev 231014]
See here for flight instructions.
Huey UH-1H
Fly from an island base over an non-animated ocean with a moving carrier:
* WebGL2 - [rev 230429]
The horizon remains level since, unlike an airplane, a helicopter is primarily designed to fly upright. See here for more information about this simulation.
AIRCRAFT VISUAL DEMOS

In these examples, you can select the camera viewpoint, including level, locked and cockpit (FM2 only). You can pan around the aircraft using the mouse and you can pitch and bank and turn the aircraft using the buttons at the lower left. The FM2 has animated parts that you can activate with various buttons on the upper right.

FM2 Wildcat - Animated
* WebGPU - FM2 Wildcat #35 of VC27 over an animated ocean [rev 240909] r168
* WebGLN - FM2 Wildcat #35 of VC27 over an animated ocean [rev 230513]
* WebGL2 - FM2 Wildcat #54 of CAF in cloudy skies [rev 230502]
Supwith Pup
* WebGL2 - Sopwith Pup in cloudy skies with animated undercast [rev 230502]
B29 Superfortress
* WebGLN - B29 (6BG) over an animated ocean with clouds [rev 230513]
* WebGL2 - B29 (6BG) in cloudy skies with animated undercast [rev 230502]
* WebGL2 - B29 (Doc) in cloudy skies with animated undercast [rev 230512]
Huey UH-1H
* WebGL2 - Huey UH-1H over Vietnam [rev 230502]
EARTH FROM SPACE

Here is a depiction of the Earth from space. Creating the image of earth is a common exercise for three.js programmers and many examples are available online. This version is more complex and depicts the earth using the correct angles for the sun, moon, stars and some planets. The moon is displayed in the correct position for a specific year. The texture for the stars was obtained from NASA. Here is a discussion of interesting facts I learned while creating this example.

GREAT CIRCLE NAVIGATION

This is an example of great circle navigation used in long distance flights. This shows the ferry route taken by B-29s during WWII.

THE INNER PLANETS

This is a diorama showing the inner planets of the solar system. Not only are the orbits of the planets on different planes, they are not perfect circles. Consequently, I used data look-up tables to compute the position of the planets at different places in their orbits. This program shows how to rotate rotating objects around a common center - a useful feature of three.js.