
Ask HN: Is there a market for three.js tools? (think IDE) - marcelftw
Let&#x27;s face it, three.js (threejs.org) is one of the best solution today when it comes to bringing real 3d to the web browser. WebGL, when using it directly, is hardcore. ThreeJS makes it simple. With this simplicity of use, the audience broadens. We see here and there presentation poping up with titles mixing ideas like &quot;make a game&quot; and &quot;for front end developpers&quot; (for example : https:&#x2F;&#x2F;jackrugile.com&#x2F;start-making-games&#x2F;).<p>I&#x27;m a frontend dev myself (actually you could say fullstack), so there are things I have&#x2F;had trouble doing when I started 3d (and tbch still am for a lot of things).<p>Some of the problems the typical engineer with none-to-little-3D background and knowledge comes across :
- debugging the scenes :
    - where is this mesh I just added ?
    - how to move there, rotate around this, …
    - what’s in my scene ? like with photoshop layers I’d like to hide some to focus on this and that …
- tuning the look and tunning the gameplay :
    - reduce the feeback loop between code and gameplay&#x2F;render
    - I’d love to be able to tweak the materials attributes in real time with a UI
    - I saw a video of the guy who made Braid, his working environnement is awesome (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=gwsi7TEQxKc) ; I’m not sure if that’s the correct video I’m referring, but you could see he has a simple split view. Left is code, right is game. A save on left view (the code) did hot refresh the right view (the game) without having to start the level from scratch<p>I think this would be a good start. You solve all this problems and put all these features in an IDE (or a tool of some kind or form) and I’d be pretty happier.<p>What do you think ? Some questions to help you comment if you want :
 - what do you think about webgl ? does it have a bright future ? or will it turn out to be like java applets or flash (that is, both dead today)
 - do you think people are ready to pay for such a thing ? is there a market for tools for developers ?
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MayorOfMonkeys
Sounds like PlayCanvas would suit your needs very well.
[https://playcanvas.com](https://playcanvas.com)

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marcelftw
I don't see a hot code replacement feature. The editing of scripts is in
another window. It looks complex, but that's normal ; the thing is it seems
like it abstract way too many things. Using playcanvas you don't learn
js/webgl, you learn playcanvas ; see the difference ?

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MayorOfMonkeys
Here is a hot code replacement feature:
[https://twitter.com/playcanvas/status/751469647149621248](https://twitter.com/playcanvas/status/751469647149621248)
You definitely learn JS! That's the language typed by the coder in the video.
Of course, PlayCanvas has its own API to make certain tasks quicker and easier
for you, but you can write your own shaders in GLSL if you like.

