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R3F MOUSE EVENTS

Basic handler

• drei has a Raycaster that can be used for muse events

export default function Experience() {
  // ...

  const eventHandler = (event) => {
    console.log("---");
    console.log("distance", event.distance); // Distance between camera and hit point
    console.log("point", event.point); // Hit point coordinates (in 3D)
    console.log("uv", event.uv); // UV coordinates on the geometry (in 2D)
    console.log("object", event.object); // The object that triggered the event
    console.log("eventObject", event.eventObject); // The object that was listening to the event (useful where there is objects in objects)

    console.log("---");
    console.log("x", event.x); // 2D screen coordinates of the pointer
    console.log("y", event.y); // 2D screen coordinates of the pointer

    console.log("---");
    console.log("shiftKey", event.shiftKey); // If the SHIFT key was pressed
    console.log("ctrlKey", event.ctrlKey); // If the CTRL key was pressed
    console.log("metaKey", event.metaKey); // If the COMMAND key was pressed
  };

  return (
    <>
      // ...
      <mesh ref={cube} position-x={2} scale={1.5} onClick={eventHandler}>
        <boxGeometry />
        <meshStandardMaterial color="mediumpurple" />
      </mesh>
    </>
  );
}

A mix of native JavaScript event information and R3F-related event information

Other events

onContextMenu

Triggered when the context menu should appear - Desktop > right click - Mobile > Pressing down for some time

onDoubleClick

Triggered when we double click/tap on the same object

NOTE

The delay between the first and second click/tap is defined by the OS.

onPointerUp

Triggered when a click (left or right) or touch is released

onPointerDown

Triggered when we’ve just clicked or put our finger down

onPointerOver and onPointerEnter

Triggered when the cursor or finger just went above the object.

• onPointerOver and onPointerEnter work exactly the same way.

onPointerOut and onPointerLeave

Triggered when the cursor or finger just went out from the object onPointerOut and onPointerLeave work exactly the same way.

onPointerMove

Triggered with each frame if the cursor has moved since the last frame, while above the object

onPointerMissed

will let you know if the user clicks outside of the object

NOTE

But onPointerMissed is a bit special since we can add it on the <Canvas> and it will be triggered if we click (when the click is released) but none of the listen objects have registered a hit:

<Canvas
  camera={{
    fov: 45,
    near: 0.1,
    far: 50,
    position: [-4, 3, 6],
  }}
  onPointerMissed={() => {
    console.log("You missed!");
  }}
>
  <Experience />
</Canvas>

Occluding

WARNING

By default, the Raycaster doesn’t care about what’s in front of the object being tested

i.e. clicking on the sphere that covers the cube will still trigger the cube's click event listener

<mesh position-x={-2} onClick={(event) => event.stopPropagation()}>
  {/* ... */}
</mesh>

Update the sphere's onClick listener to disable the 'click through' effect

Cursor

Utilise onPointerEnter and onPointerLeave to handle interactions if a mesh is meant to be clicked on etc.

<mesh
  ref={cube}
  position-x={2}
  scale={1.5}
  onClick={eventHandler}
  onPointerEnter={() => {
    document.body.style.cursor = "pointer";
  }}
  onPointerLeave={() => {
    document.body.style.cursor = "default";
  }}
>
  <boxGeometry />
  <meshStandardMaterial color="mediumpurple" />
</mesh>

<mesh
  position-x={-2}
  onClick={(event) => event.stopPropagation()}
  onPointerEnter={(event) => event.stopPropagation()}
>
  <sphereGeometry />
  <meshStandardMaterial color="orange" />
</mesh>

So that the sphere is occluding the cube even for the cursor change effect

NOTE

There is also a drei helper called useCursor (not covered because of similar functionality covered so far)

Events on complex objects

import { useGLTF, OrbitControls } from "@react-three/drei";
export default function Experience() {
  // ...

  const hamburger = useGLTF("./hamburger.glb");

  // ...
  return (
    <>
      {/* ... */}
      <primitive
        object={hamburger.scene}
        scale={0.25}
        position-y={0.5}
        onClick={(event) => {
          console.log("click");
        }}
      />
    </>
  );
}

🙃 Will result in multiple console.log for each click s because the ray triggers the children of the hamburger as well

onClick={(event) => {
    console.log(event.object);
    event.stopPropagation();
  }}

To stop the propagation

Performances

General optimisation

• Avoid events that need to be tested on each frame if possible:

  • onPointerOver
  • onPointerEnter
  • onPointerOut
  • onPointerLeave
  • onPointerMove

• Minimise the number of objects that listen to events

• Avoid testing complex geometries

NOTE

If you notice a freeze, even a short one when interacting, you’ll have some more optimisation to do.

meshBounds

• apply is the meshBounds helper from drei

• Creates a theoretical sphere around the mesh (called bounding sphere)

• Pointer events will be tested on that sphere instead of testing the geometry of the mesh geometry

• Only works on single meshes (won't work on hamburger)

import { meshBounds, useGLTF, OrbitControls } from "@react-three/drei";

<mesh
  ref={cube}
  raycast={meshBounds}
  position-x={2}
  scale={1.5}
  onClick={eventHandler}
  onPointerEnter={() => {
    document.body.style.cursor = "pointer";
  }}
  onPointerLeave={() => {
    document.body.style.cursor = "default";
  }}
>
  {/* ... */}
</mesh>;

The clickable area seems to be a disc matching the cube roughly

BVH (Bounding Volume Hierarchy)

For very complex geometries that require pointer events to be accurate and performant

• use Bvh helper from drei
• needs to wrap the whole experience

import { Bvh } from "@react-three/drei";

root.render(
  <Canvas
    camera={{
      fov: 45,
      near: 0.1,
      far: 200,
      position: [-4, 3, 6],
    }}
    onPointerMissed={() => {
      console.log("You missed!");
    }}
  >
    <Bvh>
      <Experience />
    </Bvh>
  </Canvas>
);

• 🤩 Gives an immediate performance boost when raycasting
• 🤩 Generates a boundsTree for use internally, only done one for each mesh but can result in a short freeze

---

References

• https://threejs-journey.com/lessons/mouse-events-with-r3f