Roadmap

Vectors, matrices, rotation, interpolation and color spaces — the mathematical language every later track speaks.

The non-skippable foundation: pipeline, buffers, shaders and the GPU state machine — with no library in the way.

The GPU's language: syntax, built-ins, distance fields and the mindset of code that runs per-pixel in parallel.

Vanilla Three.js, no React: scene graph, materials, lights, loaders — and reading the source to see what it does for you.

A reconciler, not a wrapper: lifecycle, disposal, drei and composing 3D scenes the React way.

Timelines, ScrollTrigger and animation principles — plus the lesson everyone gets wrong: syncing GSAP with R3F's render loop.

ShaderMaterial, onBeforeCompile and the shader chunk system — hacking Three's materials while keeping their lighting.

Hash, Perlin, FBM, domain warping — the toolkit for clouds, water, terrain and everything organic, from formulas.

Whole worlds in one fragment shader: sphere tracing, SDFs, soft shadows and infinitely repeating space.

State in textures, ping-pong FBOs and instancing — millions of particles without the CPU breaking a sweat.

EffectComposer, bloom, DOF, color grading — the cinematic finishing layer, and each pass's fillrate price.

The rendering equation, BRDFs, IBL — understanding materials and light deeply enough to know why your assets look plastic.

Measure before optimizing: draw calls, culling, asset pipelines, mobile GPUs and shipping 3D that actually runs smooth.

Four projects that synthesize the whole path: a scroll showcase, a raymarched landscape, a million particles and a 3D portfolio scoring Lighthouse 90+.