Hey!

This week: my take on React Native + WebGPU, a Blender animation course, and what changed in Three.js r183.

🤔 React Native with WebGPU, my take

"Can I use Three.js and R3F in a React Native app?" Yes, technically. There's a project called react-native-webgpu by William Candillon that brings WebGPU to React Native with Expo support. I tried it. The basics work, you can render a Three.js scene inside a native app.

The catch: some features don't behave as expected (events are a pain point), and the extra dependencies can break depending on your Three.js/R3F version. The demo looks great, real-world usage has rough edges.

If your app doesn't need tight native integration, a WebView is the simpler path. Use postMessage and onMessage to talk between React Native and your 3D scene. Less elegant on paper, but predictable.

I'm planning to revisit this in a few months when the current R3F alpha version is released. For now: WebView for most cases, native WebGPU if you need the performance and can handle the rough edges.

🕺 The "Alive!" Blender animation course

If you want to get better at animation in Blender, check out Alive! by Pierrick Picaut (P2 Design). 180+ videos, 32 hours, from first keyframe to advanced character action. It covers Blender's animation tools, body mechanics, walk/run cycles, and action sequences like a 4-hit combo with full camera work.

You get four rigs (ball, squirrel, battle mech, superhero), files updated for Blender 4.5 (5 compatible), pay once, no subscription. Pierrick is a senior animator at Amazon Games and Blender Foundation certified trainer. Check his YouTube to see if his style works for you.

And yes, another instructor with a French accent. 🥖🇫🇷🤭 We're everywhere.

🚀 Three.js r183, what's new (and what broke)

• Bezier curve interpolation landed for animations (BezierInterpolant). If you do custom animations in code, you now get proper bezier easing control instead of just linear/cubic. (Ideal for those who followed the “Alive!” course mentioned above!)

• Image-based lighting now works with MeshLambertMaterial and MeshPhongMaterial through scene.environment, not just PBR materials. If you've got simpler materials and your environment map wasn't doing anything, that's fixed.

• TSL got a formal spec, a retroPass effect, exponential height fog, and various fixes.

Here for the full list of updates.

The main breaking change: PostProcessing is now RenderPipeline. Makes sense with the TSL direction, post-processing passes are just pipeline stages. But your existing setup will need updating. Check the migration guide.

That's it for this one. Come hang out on Discord if you want to chat about any of this.

Happy coding 🧑‍💻 Wawa