@j1ngzoue/8thwall-react-three-fiber

React Three Fiber components for 8th Wall image tracking. Uses the open-source 8th Wall engine (packages/engine).

Installation

npm install @j1ngzoue/8thwall-react-three-fiber

Peer dependencies:

npm install @react-three/fiber react react-dom three

Setup

1. Get the 8th Wall engine

The engine files are bundled with this package under the 8thwall/ directory:

node_modules/@j1ngzoue/8thwall-react-three-fiber/8thwall/
  xr.js
  xr-tracking.js
  resources/
    media-worker.js
    semantics-worker.js

Copy them to your project's public directory (or any location your dev server can serve):

cp -r node_modules/@j1ngzoue/8thwall-react-three-fiber/8thwall/. public/

xr.js must be served as a static file (not bundled by Vite). Pass its public URL via the xrSrc prop.

2. Generate image targets

Use the 8th Wall image-target-cli or the provided generate-target.mjs script to generate target data from your image:

public/targets/
  my-target.json
  my-target_luminance.jpeg
  my-target_thumbnail.jpeg
  my-target_cropped.jpeg

The imagePath field in the JSON must resolve relative to your page URL (e.g. /targets/my-target_luminance.jpeg).

Usage

import { EighthwallCanvas, EighthwallCamera, ImageTracker } from '@j1ngzoue/8thwall-react-three-fiber'

export default function App() {
  return (
    <EighthwallCanvas
      xrSrc="/xr.js"
      style={{ width: '100vw', height: '100vh' }}
      onError={(err) => console.error(err)}
    >
      <EighthwallCamera />
      <ImageTracker
        targetImage="/targets/my-target.json"
        onFound={() => console.log('target found!')}
        onLost={() => console.log('target lost!')}
      >
        <mesh>
          <boxGeometry args={[0.2, 0.2, 0.2]} />
          <meshStandardMaterial color="hotpink" />
        </mesh>
      </ImageTracker>
      <directionalLight position={[1, 2, 3]} intensity={1.5} />
    </EighthwallCanvas>
  )
}

API

<EighthwallCanvas>

Root component. Sets up the XR session and provides context to child components.

Prop	Type	Description
xrSrc	string	URL to xr.js (must be a static file, not bundled)
autoStart	boolean?	Auto-start camera on mount. If false, call startCamera() to start manually. Default: true
disableWorldTracking	boolean?	Disable 6DoF world tracking. Skips DeviceMotion permission on iOS. Image tracking still works. Default: true
enableSkyEffects	boolean?	Enable sky segmentation module
gl	Record<string, unknown>?	WebGL renderer parameters passed to R3F Canvas. alpha: true is always forced.
dpr	number | [number, number]?	Device pixel ratio for R3F Canvas
id	string?	HTML id attribute for the container element
rearCameraDeviceId	string?	Specific rear camera device ID (iOS 17+)
flat	boolean?	Disable tone mapping in R3F Canvas. Default: true
style	CSSProperties?	Style applied to the container div
overlayChildren	ReactNode?	HTML elements rendered inside context but outside the R3F Canvas
onError	(err: unknown) => void	Called when XR initialization fails

Internally creates two stacked canvases:

• Back: XR8 renders the camera feed
• Front: R3F renders the 3D scene (transparent background)

Manual Camera Start

To request camera permission at a specific time (e.g., after user clicks a button):

import { EighthwallCanvas, useXRContext } from '@j1ngzoue/8thwall-react-three-fiber'

function StartButton() {
  const { startCamera } = useXRContext()

  async function handleClick() {
    const success = await startCamera()
    if (!success) {
      alert('Failed to start camera')
    }
  }

  return <button onClick={handleClick}>Start AR</button>
}

function App() {
  return (
    <EighthwallCanvas xrSrc="/xr.js" autoStart={false}>
      <StartButton />
      {/* Your AR content */}
    </EighthwallCanvas>
  )
}

Screenshot / Video Recording

To enable canvas.toDataURL() or canvas.captureStream(), set preserveDrawingBuffer:

<EighthwallCanvas
  xrSrc="/xr.js"
  id="ar-canvas"
  gl={{ preserveDrawingBuffer: true }}
  dpr={2}
>
  {/* ... */}
</EighthwallCanvas>

const canvas = document.querySelector('#ar-canvas canvas:last-of-type') as HTMLCanvasElement
const dataUrl = canvas.toDataURL('image/png', 1)

<EighthwallCamera>

Updates the Three.js camera to match the physical device camera each frame. Place inside <EighthwallCanvas>.

Prop	Type	Description
fov	number?	Vertical FOV in degrees. Auto-estimated from video resolution if omitted.
onFirstFrame	() => void	Fired once when the first camera frame is received. Useful for dismissing loading UI.

<ImageTracker>

Tracks an image target and shows its children at the tracked position. Place inside <EighthwallCanvas>.

Prop	Type	Description
targetImage	string	Path to the target .json file (e.g. "/targets/my-target.json")
enabled	boolean?	Enable/disable tracking dynamically. Default: true
onFound	(event: ImageFoundEvent) => void	Called when the target is first detected
onUpdated	(event: ImageFoundEvent) => void	Called each frame the target is tracked
onLost	() => void	Called when the target is no longer detected
children	ReactNode?	3D content to show at the target position

interface ImageFoundEvent {
  position: THREE.Vector3
  rotation: THREE.Quaternion
  scale: number
  imageWidth: number   // Target image width in pixels
  imageHeight: number  // Target image height in pixels
}

<SkyEffects>

Detects sky in the camera feed and shows children when sky is detected. Requires enableSkyEffects={true} on <EighthwallCanvas>.

Prop	Type	Description
detectionThreshold	number?	Detection threshold (0.0 - 1.0). Default: 0.8
onSkyDetected	(segmentation: SkySegmentation) => void	Called when sky is detected
onSkyLost	() => void	Called when sky is lost
children	ReactNode?	3D content to show when sky is detected

<EighthwallCanvas xrSrc="/xr.js" enableSkyEffects={true}>
  <EighthwallCamera />
  <SkyEffects
    detectionThreshold={0.8}
    onSkyDetected={(seg) => console.log('Sky detected!', seg)}
  >
    <mesh position={[0, 2, -3]}>
      <sphereGeometry args={[0.5, 32, 32]} />
      <meshStandardMaterial color="#00ffff" />
    </mesh>
  </SkyEffects>
</EighthwallCanvas>

<SkyReplacement>

Replaces the detected sky area with a custom texture or video. Requires enableSkyEffects={true} on <EighthwallCanvas>.

Prop	Type	Description
texture	THREE.Texture?	Image texture to replace the sky
videoSrc	string?	Video source URL to replace the sky
detectionThreshold	number?	Detection threshold (0.0 - 1.0). Default: 0.8
opacity	number?	Opacity of the replacement (0.0 - 1.0). Default: 1.0

<EighthwallCanvas xrSrc="/xr.js" enableSkyEffects={true}>
  <EighthwallCamera />
  <SkyReplacement
    videoSrc="/sky-video.mp4"
    detectionThreshold={0.8}
    opacity={1.0}
  />
</EighthwallCanvas>

useXRContext()

Hook to access XR context. Must be used inside <EighthwallCanvas>.

Returns:

• xr8: XR8 instance (available after initialization)
• registerTarget(path): Register an image target JSON file
• startCamera(): Start the camera manually (only when autoStart={false})
• getTargetMetadata(name): Get image dimensions { imageWidth, imageHeight } for a registered target

permissionGranted() / permissionDenied() / permissionRequest()

Camera permission utilities. Use before mounting <EighthwallCanvas> to check/request camera access.

import { permissionRequest } from '@j1ngzoue/8thwall-react-three-fiber'

function ARScreen() {
  const [permitted, setPermitted] = useState<boolean | null>(null)

  useEffect(() => {
    permissionRequest().then(setPermitted)
  }, [])

  if (permitted === null) return <div>Checking camera permission...</div>
  if (!permitted) return <div>Camera permission required</div>

  return (
    <EighthwallCanvas xrSrc="/xr.js" autoStart={true}>
      {/* AR content */}
    </EighthwallCanvas>
  )
}

Important: Do not call permissionRequest() after <EighthwallCanvas> has mounted. XR8 manages its own camera stream — calling getUserMedia concurrently will conflict.

checkBrowserCompatibility()

Check browser support for AR features.

import { checkBrowserCompatibility } from '@j1ngzoue/8thwall-react-three-fiber'

const result = checkBrowserCompatibility()
// { compatible: true, issues: [] }
// { compatible: false, issues: ['WebGL2 not supported', 'getUserMedia not available'] }

Checks: WebGL, getUserMedia, captureStream.

How it works

• EighthwallCanvas loads xr.js as an external script (via <script> tag, not bundled by Vite)
• Image target JSON files are fetched and passed to XrController.configure({ imageTargetData })
• Camera feed and 3D scene are rendered to separate canvases to avoid overwriting each other
• All XR8 events use the pipeline module listeners API (reality.imagefound, reality.imageupdated, reality.imagelost) — not DOM events

Publishing

Releases are published to npm automatically when a version tag is pushed to main:

npm version patch   # or minor / major
git push --follow-tags

License

MIT