Create Basic Scene

Now let's create a basic scene. We will add the following elements:

• Create Camera: Provides a viewpoint to see the scene.
• Set Background and Ambient Color: Configure the scene's ClearColor and AmbientColor.
• Add Lighting: Illuminate the scene so models are clearly visible.
• Create Ground: Create a floor for models to stand on.

Create Camera

First, let's create a camera.

The renderer needs a camera to be set as the activeCamera to function properly.

src/sceneBuilder.ts

//...
import { MmdCamera } from "babylon-mmd/esm/Runtime/mmdCamera";

import type { ISceneBuilder } from "./baseRuntime";

export class SceneBuilder implements ISceneBuilder {
    public async build(_canvas: HTMLCanvasElement, engine: AbstractEngine): Promise<Scene> {
        const scene = new Scene(engine);
        
        const mmdCamera = new MmdCamera("MmdCamera", new Vector3(0, 10, 0), scene);

        return scene;
    }
}

We use the MmdCamera provided by the babylon-mmd package.

This camera reproduces the camera behavior of MMD software.

Set Background and Ambient Color

Set the background color and ambient lighting. The background color can be set with ClearColor, and ambient lighting with AmbientColor.

src/sceneBuilder.ts

//...
import { Color3, Color4 } from "@babylonjs/core/Maths/math.color";
//...
import { Vector3 } from "@babylonjs/core/Maths/math.vector";
//...

export class SceneBuilder implements ISceneBuilder {
    public async build(_canvas: HTMLCanvasElement, engine: AbstractEngine): Promise<Scene> {
        const scene = new Scene(engine);
        scene.clearColor = new Color4(0.95, 0.95, 0.95, 1.0);
        scene.ambientColor = new Color3(0.5, 0.5, 0.5);

        const mmdCamera = new MmdCamera("MmdCamera", new Vector3(0, 10, 0), scene);

        return scene;
    }
}

Here, scene.ambientColor affects the ambientColor property of all materials.

For MMD models, a 0.5 scaling must be applied to ambientColor to properly reproduce shading, so this (0.5, 0.5, 0.5) value is intentional, not arbitrary.

Create Light

MMD's lighting model is defined by a single Directional Light.

Therefore, other lighting setups may not render properly. For example, using Hemispheric Light together can produce different shading results than MMD software.

Create a DirectionalLight and also create a ShadowGenerator to render shadows.

src/sceneBuilder.ts

import "@babylonjs/core/Lights/Shadows/shadowGeneratorSceneComponent";
//...

import { DirectionalLight } from "@babylonjs/core/Lights/directionalLight";
import { ShadowGenerator } from "@babylonjs/core/Lights/Shadows/shadowGenerator";
//...
import { Vector3 } from "@babylonjs/core/Maths/math.vector";
//...
export class SceneBuilder implements ISceneBuilder {
    public async build(_canvas: HTMLCanvasElement, engine: AbstractEngine): Promise<Scene> {
        const scene = new Scene(engine);
        scene.clearColor = new Color4(0.95, 0.95, 0.95, 1.0);
        scene.ambientColor = new Color3(0.5, 0.5, 0.5);

        const mmdCamera = new MmdCamera("MmdCamera", new Vector3(0, 10, 0), scene);

        const directionalLight = new DirectionalLight("DirectionalLight", new Vector3(0.5, -1, 1), scene);
        directionalLight.intensity = 1.0;
        directionalLight.autoCalcShadowZBounds = true;

        const shadowGenerator = new ShadowGenerator(1024, directionalLight, true);
        shadowGenerator.transparencyShadow = true;
        shadowGenerator.usePercentageCloserFiltering = true;
        shadowGenerator.forceBackFacesOnly = true;
        shadowGenerator.filteringQuality = ShadowGenerator.QUALITY_MEDIUM;
        shadowGenerator.frustumEdgeFalloff = 0.1;
        return scene;
    }
}

The ShadowGenerator settings are arbitrary values and can be adjusted as needed.

Create Ground

Create a ground plane. This helps visually understand the scene and is not required.

src/sceneBuilder.ts

//...
import { CreateGround } from "@babylonjs/core/Meshes/Builders/groundBuilder";
//...
export class SceneBuilder implements ISceneBuilder {
    public async build(_canvas: HTMLCanvasElement, engine: AbstractEngine): Promise<Scene> {
        const scene = new Scene(engine);
        
        // ...

        const shadowGenerator = new ShadowGenerator(1024, directionalLight, true);
        shadowGenerator.transparencyShadow = true;
        shadowGenerator.usePercentageCloserFiltering = true;
        shadowGenerator.forceBackFacesOnly = true;
        shadowGenerator.filteringQuality = ShadowGenerator.QUALITY_MEDIUM;
        shadowGenerator.frustumEdgeFalloff = 0.1;

        const ground = CreateGround("ground1", { width: 100, height: 100, subdivisions: 2, updatable: false }, scene);
        ground.receiveShadows = true;
        return scene;
    }
}

Result

Now when you run the scene, there will be no more errors and you should see a white screen like the following:

Full code

src/sceneBuilder.ts

import "@babylonjs/core/Lights/Shadows/shadowGeneratorSceneComponent";

import type { AbstractEngine } from "@babylonjs/core/Engines/abstractEngine";
import { DirectionalLight } from "@babylonjs/core/Lights/directionalLight";
import { ShadowGenerator } from "@babylonjs/core/Lights/Shadows/shadowGenerator";
import { Color3, Color4 } from "@babylonjs/core/Maths/math.color";
import { Vector3 } from "@babylonjs/core/Maths/math.vector";
import { CreateGround } from "@babylonjs/core/Meshes/Builders/groundBuilder";
import { Scene } from "@babylonjs/core/scene";
import { MmdCamera } from "babylon-mmd/esm/Runtime/mmdCamera";

import type { ISceneBuilder } from "./baseRuntime";

export class SceneBuilder implements ISceneBuilder {
    public async build(_canvas: HTMLCanvasElement, engine: AbstractEngine): Promise<Scene> {
        const scene = new Scene(engine);
        scene.clearColor = new Color4(0.95, 0.95, 0.95, 1.0);
        scene.ambientColor = new Color3(0.5, 0.5, 0.5);

        const mmdCamera = new MmdCamera("MmdCamera", new Vector3(0, 10, 0), scene);

        const directionalLight = new DirectionalLight("DirectionalLight", new Vector3(0.5, -1, 1), scene);
        directionalLight.intensity = 1.0;
        directionalLight.autoCalcShadowZBounds = true;

        const shadowGenerator = new ShadowGenerator(1024, directionalLight, true);
        shadowGenerator.transparencyShadow = true;
        shadowGenerator.usePercentageCloserFiltering = true;
        shadowGenerator.forceBackFacesOnly = true;
        shadowGenerator.filteringQuality = ShadowGenerator.QUALITY_MEDIUM;
        shadowGenerator.frustumEdgeFalloff = 0.1;

        const ground = CreateGround("ground1", { width: 100, height: 100, subdivisions: 2, updatable: false }, scene);
        ground.receiveShadows = true;

        return scene;
    }
}