three.js Object Picking Object picking / Raycasting

Example

Raycasting means throwing a ray from the mouse position on the screen to the scene, this is how threejs determines what object you want to click on if you have implemented it. Threejs gets that information using an octree, but still in production you may not want to compute the result at each frame or on the mousemove event, but rather on the click event for a more accessible app with low requirements.

var raycaster, mouse = { x : 0, y : 0 };

init();

function init () {

    //Usual setup code here.

    raycaster = new THREE.Raycaster();
    renderer.domElement.addEventListener( 'click', raycast, false );

    //Next setup code there.

}

function raycast ( e ) {

    //1. sets the mouse position with a coordinate system where the center
    //   of the screen is the origin
    mouse.x = ( e.clientX / window.innerWidth ) * 2 - 1;
    mouse.y = - ( e.clientY / window.innerHeight ) * 2 + 1;

    //2. set the picking ray from the camera position and mouse coordinates
    raycaster.setFromCamera( mouse, camera );    

    //3. compute intersections
    var intersects = raycaster.intersectObjects( scene.children );

    for ( var i = 0; i < intersects.length; i++ ) {
        console.log( intersects[ i ] ); 
        /*
            An intersection has the following properties :
                - object : intersected object (THREE.Mesh)
                - distance : distance from camera to intersection (number)
                - face : intersected face (THREE.Face3)
                - faceIndex : intersected face index (number)
                - point : intersection point (THREE.Vector3)
                - uv : intersection point in the object's UV coordinates (THREE.Vector2)
        */
    }

}

CAUTION! You may lose your time gazing at the blank screen if you don't read the next part.

If you want to detect the light helper, set the second parameter of raycaster.intersectObjects( scene.children ); to true.

It means raycaster.intersectObjects( scene.children , true);

The raycast code will only detect the light helper.

If you want it to detect normal objects as well as light helper, you need to copy the above raycast function again. See this question.

The full raycast code is

function raycast ( e ) {
// Step 1: Detect light helper
    //1. sets the mouse position with a coordinate system where the center
    //   of the screen is the origin
    mouse.x = ( e.clientX / window.innerWidth ) * 2 - 1;
    mouse.y = - ( e.clientY / window.innerHeight ) * 2 + 1;

    //2. set the picking ray from the camera position and mouse coordinates
    raycaster.setFromCamera( mouse, camera );    

    //3. compute intersections (note the 2nd parameter)
    var intersects = raycaster.intersectObjects( scene.children, true );

    for ( var i = 0; i < intersects.length; i++ ) {
        console.log( intersects[ i ] ); 
        /*
            An intersection has the following properties :
                - object : intersected object (THREE.Mesh)
                - distance : distance from camera to intersection (number)
                - face : intersected face (THREE.Face3)
                - faceIndex : intersected face index (number)
                - point : intersection point (THREE.Vector3)
                - uv : intersection point in the object's UV coordinates (THREE.Vector2)
        */
    }
// Step 2: Detect normal objects
    //1. sets the mouse position with a coordinate system where the center
    //   of the screen is the origin
    mouse.x = ( e.clientX / window.innerWidth ) * 2 - 1;
    mouse.y = - ( e.clientY / window.innerHeight ) * 2 + 1;

    //2. set the picking ray from the camera position and mouse coordinates
    raycaster.setFromCamera( mouse, camera );    

    //3. compute intersections (no 2nd parameter true anymore)
    var intersects = raycaster.intersectObjects( scene.children );

    for ( var i = 0; i < intersects.length; i++ ) {
        console.log( intersects[ i ] ); 
        /*
            An intersection has the following properties :
                - object : intersected object (THREE.Mesh)
                - distance : distance from camera to intersection (number)
                - face : intersected face (THREE.Face3)
                - faceIndex : intersected face index (number)
                - point : intersection point (THREE.Vector3)
                - uv : intersection point in the object's UV coordinates (THREE.Vector2)
        */
    }

}