Libgdx 3d Rendering

libGDX 3D Rendering

Quick reference for the libGDX 3D pipeline (com.badlogic.gdx.graphics.g3d.*). Covers ModelBatch, Model/ModelInstance, model loading, ModelBuilder, Environment, lights, materials, attributes, PerspectiveCamera, AnimationController, and camera controllers.

What Stock libGDX 3D Does NOT Have

• No PBR / glTF — requires third-party gdx-gltf library
• No shadow mapping — must implement manually or use third-party
• No deferred rendering pipeline
• No scene graph — ModelInstance + manual Matrix4 transforms is the full system
• No spot light support in default shader — DefaultShader.Config.numSpotLights defaults to 0

DO NOT hallucinate PBR classes, shadow renderers, scene graphs, or built-in spot light shading.

ModelBatch

NOT like SpriteBatch. No setProjectionMatrix() — camera is passed to begin().

ModelBatch modelBatch = new ModelBatch();  // uses DefaultShaderProvider, DefaultRenderableSorter

// In render():
modelBatch.begin(camera);
modelBatch.render(instance, environment);   // RenderableProvider, not ModelInstance specifically
modelBatch.render(instances, environment);  // Iterable<? extends RenderableProvider>
modelBatch.end();                           // flushes, sorts, renders

// In dispose():
modelBatch.dispose();  // disposes ShaderProvider (cached shaders) only

Environment passed to render() overrides whatever the RenderableProvider set. flush() can be called between begin()/end() to force intermediate draws. setCamera(Camera) switches cameras mid-batch (flushes first). DefaultRenderableSorter sorts opaque front-to-back, transparent back-to-front.

Gotchas:

• dispose() only disposes the ShaderProvider's cached shaders — NOT the RenderContext, even if ModelBatch created it.
• Do NOT modify GL state between begin() and end() — RenderContext manages it.
• ModelBatch.setProjectionMatrix() does NOT exist. The projection comes from the Camera passed to begin().

Model

Model implements Disposable. Fields: materials, nodes, animations, meshes, meshParts (all Array). Key methods: getAnimation("id"), getMaterial("id"), getNode("id") (all ignoreCase=true), calculateTransforms(), dispose().

Ownership: When loaded directly (not via AssetManager), Model owns all Meshes and Textures. dispose() destroys them. Multiple ModelInstances share the same Model — Model must outlive all its instances.

ModelInstance

Implements RenderableProvider, NOT Disposable. The source Model owns GPU resources. Fields: model, transform (Matrix4, public non-final), materials (per-instance copies), nodes, animations, userData (Object).

Key constructors: new ModelInstance(model), (model, "nodeId1", "nodeId2") (selected root nodes), (model, x, y, z) (with translation), (copyFrom) (copies nodes/materials/animations).

Transform: instance.transform is a standard Matrix4 — use setToTranslation(), rotate(), scale(), setToTranslationAndScaling().

Per-instance materials — constructor deep-copies materials:

instance.getMaterial("mat_id").set(ColorAttribute.createDiffuse(Color.RED));
// Only affects this instance, not the Model or other instances.

calculateTransforms(): Must be called manually if you modify Node translation/rotation/scale directly after construction. NOT needed if you only modify instance.transform.

Model Loading

G3dModelLoader — same class, different reader: new G3dModelLoader(new JsonReader()) for .g3dj, new G3dModelLoader(new UBJsonReader()) for .g3db. ObjLoader — for testing only, Javadoc warns "should not be used in production."

AssetManager (preferred) — .g3dj, .g3db, .obj loaders pre-registered:

assetManager.load("scene.g3db", Model.class);
assetManager.finishLoading();
Model model = assetManager.get("scene.g3db", Model.class);

Texture ownership with AssetManager: AssetManager removes Textures from Model's managed disposables (manages them separately). When assetManager.unload("scene.g3db") is called, it disposes the Model (meshes) and tracks texture references independently. Default texture parameters: Linear filter, Repeat wrap.

ModelBuilder

Instance methods (not static). Every returned Model must be disposed.

ModelBuilder mb = new ModelBuilder();
long attr = VertexAttributes.Usage.Position | VertexAttributes.Usage.Normal;
Material mat = new Material(ColorAttribute.createDiffuse(Color.GREEN));

// Convenience methods: createBox, createSphere, createCylinder, createCone,
// createCapsule, createArrow, createLineGrid, createXYZCoordinates, createRect
Model box = mb.createBox(5f, 5f, 5f, mat, attr);

Custom geometry via begin()/part()/end():

mb.begin();
MeshPartBuilder mpb = mb.part("partId", GL20.GL_TRIANGLES, attr, mat);
mpb.box(5f, 5f, 5f);  // also: sphere, cylinder, cone, capsule, rect, line, triangle, vertex
Model model = mb.end();

part() auto-creates a node if none exists. Only one part at a time. createRect requires explicit normal (4 corners + normal vector).

Environment

public class Environment extends Attributes

Environment environment = new Environment();
environment.set(new ColorAttribute(ColorAttribute.AmbientLight, 0.4f, 0.4f, 0.4f, 1f));
environment.add(new DirectionalLight().set(0.8f, 0.8f, 0.8f, -1f, -0.8f, -0.2f));
environment.add(new PointLight().set(1f, 1f, 1f, position, intensity));

Lights are stored internally in DirectionalLightsAttribute, PointLightsAttribute, SpotLightsAttribute. Ambient light is a ColorAttribute with type ColorAttribute.AmbientLight.

environment.add(light) / environment.remove(light) — fluent API, returns this.

Environment.shadowMap field exists (type ShadowMap interface) but stock libGDX provides no implementation.

Lights

DirectionalLight (color, direction), PointLight (color, position, intensity), SpotLight (color, position, direction, intensity, cutoffAngle, exponent). All extend BaseLight<T>.

Gotchas:

• set() overloads normalize direction. setDirection() does NOT normalize.
• set(float r, g, b, ...) overloads hardcode alpha to 1f.
• SpotLight: "Note that the default shader doesn't support spot lights." Must increase DefaultShader.Config.numSpotLights.

Materials and Attributes

Material extends Attributes (container). Attributes stores Attribute objects keyed by long type bitmasks.

Material mat = new Material(
    ColorAttribute.createDiffuse(Color.BLUE),
    ColorAttribute.createSpecular(Color.WHITE),
    FloatAttribute.createShininess(16f)
);

ColorAttribute types: Diffuse, Specular, Ambient, Emissive, Reflection (material), AmbientLight, Fog (environment). Critical: ColorAttribute.Ambient (material) and ColorAttribute.AmbientLight (environment) are different types.

TextureAttribute types: Diffuse, Specular, Bump, Normal, Ambient, Emissive, Reflection — factory methods accept Texture or TextureRegion.

Other attributes: BlendingAttribute(true, opacity), FloatAttribute.createShininess(), FloatAttribute.createAlphaTest(), IntAttribute.createCullFace() (0=no cull, GL_BACK=default), DepthTestAttribute.

PerspectiveCamera

PerspectiveCamera camera = new PerspectiveCamera(67f, Gdx.graphics.getWidth(), Gdx.graphics.getHeight());
camera.position.set(10f, 10f, 10f);
camera.lookAt(0, 0, 0);
camera.near = 1f;      // default
camera.far = 300f;     // default is only 100 — usually too small
camera.update();       // MUST call after any property change

Fields: fieldOfView (67, vertical degrees), near (1), far (100 — increase for large scenes), position, direction, up. update() recomputes matrices and frustum — must call every frame if camera moves.

DefaultShaderProvider

DefaultShader.Config config = new DefaultShader.Config();
config.numDirectionalLights = 2;    // default
config.numPointLights = 5;          // default
config.numSpotLights = 0;           // default — spot lights DISABLED
config.numBones = 12;               // default max bones for skeletal animation
ModelBatch modelBatch = new ModelBatch(new DefaultShaderProvider(config));

Customize when:

• Scene uses more than 2 directional or 5 point lights
• Using spot lights (must set numSpotLights > 0)
• Skeletal meshes have more than 12 bones
• Using custom GLSL shaders

Camera Controllers

CameraInputController (orbit) — extends GestureDetector. Left drag=orbit, right drag=pan, scroll/middle drag=zoom, WASD=move/rotate. target field is orbit center. Must call update() each frame.

FirstPersonCameraController — extends InputAdapter. WASD=move, QE=up/down, mouse drag=look. setVelocity(float), setDegreesPerPixel(float). Must call update() each frame.

Both require Gdx.input.setInputProcessor(controller).

AnimationController

AnimationController controller = new AnimationController(modelInstance);
controller.update(Gdx.graphics.getDeltaTime());  // MUST call every frame

You do NOT need to call modelInstance.calculateTransforms() — AnimationController calls it internally.

Key methods:

• setAnimation(id) — immediate switch, plays once. (id, loopCount) — -1 = loop forever. (id, loopCount, speed, listener) — negative speed = reverse.
• animate(id, transitionTime) — crossfade. animate(id, loopCount, speed, listener, transitionTime) — full control.
• queue(...) — plays after current finishes (one slot). action(...) — one-shot overlay, resumes previous (throws if loopCount < 0).

AnimationListener: onEnd(AnimationDesc) when loopCount reaches 0, onLoop(AnimationDesc) each loop boundary.

Key fields: current/queued/previous (AnimationDesc), paused (boolean), allowSameAnimation (default false — re-setting same animation preserves current time).

Minimal 3D Skeleton

// create(): camera + modelBatch + environment + model/instance
camera = new PerspectiveCamera(67f, Gdx.graphics.getWidth(), Gdx.graphics.getHeight());
camera.position.set(10f, 10f, 10f); camera.lookAt(0,0,0); camera.far = 300f; camera.update();
modelBatch = new ModelBatch();
environment = new Environment();
environment.set(new ColorAttribute(ColorAttribute.AmbientLight, 0.4f, 0.4f, 0.4f, 1f));
environment.add(new DirectionalLight().set(0.8f, 0.8f, 0.8f, -1f, -0.8f, -0.2f));

// render():
ScreenUtils.clear(0.3f, 0.3f, 0.3f, 1f, true); // 5th arg true = clear depth buffer (ESSENTIAL for 3D)
modelBatch.begin(camera);
modelBatch.render(instance, environment);
modelBatch.end();

// dispose(): modelBatch.dispose(); model.dispose(); // ModelInstance is NOT disposable

Disposal Rules

Common Mistakes

1. Using ModelBatch.setProjectionMatrix() — Does not exist. Camera is passed to begin(Camera). This is the #1 difference from SpriteBatch.
2. Forgetting camera.update() — Must be called after changing any camera property (position, direction, near, far, FOV) and every frame if the camera moves.
3. Disposing Model while ModelInstances still reference it — ModelInstance shares the Model's meshes/textures. Dispose Model only after all instances are no longer rendered.
4. Not clearing the depth buffer — Use ScreenUtils.clear(r, g, b, a, true) with the fifth boolean argument true for 3D scenes. Without depth clearing, 3D rendering produces artifacts.
5. Using SpotLight without configuring the shader — DefaultShader.Config.numSpotLights defaults to 0. SpotLights are silently ignored unless you increase this.
6. Confusing ColorAttribute.Ambient with ColorAttribute.AmbientLight — Ambient is a per-material attribute. AmbientLight is an environment-level attribute. They have different type bitmasks.
7. Not calling AnimationController.update(delta) every frame — Animations will not advance. Must be called before modelBatch.render().
8. Calling action() with negative loopCount — Throws GdxRuntimeException("An action cannot be continuous"). Actions must have finite loop counts.
9. Using ObjLoader in production — Javadoc explicitly says "should not be used in production." Convert to G3DB/G3DJ format instead.
10. Calling calculateTransforms() when using AnimationController — AnimationController calls it internally. Manual calls are only needed when modifying Node transforms outside of the animation system.
11. Using wrong VertexAttributes.Usage flags — Lighting requires Usage.Normal. Texturing requires Usage.TextureCoordinates. Missing flags produce black or untextured models.
12. Setting camera.far = 100 for large scenes — Default far is 100, which clips anything beyond that distance. Set to 300+ for typical scenes.

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