Best for
Developers building immersive 3D hero visuals or portfolio showcases who want GPU-driven volumetric effects without writing raw WebGL from scratch
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A ready-made React Three Fiber Ray Marching UI you can fork, run, and customize with the prompt pack below.
What's actually inside
The honest engineer's breakdown — what the React Three Fiber Ray Marchingtemplate does, how it's wired, and where it's opinionated.
The React Three Fiber Ray Marching template puts a full-screen 3D canvas in your Next.js hero section powered by a custom GLSL fragment shader. The core is a RayMarchingMesh component — a full-screen quad geometry that runs a ray marching loop inside the GPU fragment shader. At each pixel, the shader casts a ray into the scene, evaluates a signed distance function (SDF) to detect geometry, and computes lighting with soft shadows. The useFrame animation hook increments a time uniform each frame, causing the SDF geometry to morph or rotate continuously without any CPU-side animation loop.
The template uses @react-three/fiber as the React renderer for Three.js, @react-three/drei for OrbitControls and the shaderMaterial helper, and inlined GLSL noise functions for the volumetric effect. Optionally, a Leva controls panel lets you tweak SDF parameters (scale, iterations, color) in real time during development without writing prompts.
Honest caveats: this is a genuinely Advanced template. The V0 preview will likely show a blank canvas because V0's esm.sh sandbox struggles to load large WebGL libraries like three.js — you must deploy to Vercel to see the effect working. Mobile support is limited: ray marching shaders are too GPU-intensive for most mobile devices, so you will need to implement a canvas fallback. GLSL compile errors fail silently in production with no visible error message, making debugging harder than typical React errors.
Key UI components
Canvas wrapper@react-three/fiber Canvas component with camera and renderer config that fills the viewport
RayMarchingMeshFull-screen quad geometry that runs the custom GLSL fragment shader doing the ray marching loop
GLSL fragment shaderDefines the SDF scene, lighting model, and soft shadows; receives uniforms for time and resolution
useFrame animation hookIncrements the time uniform each frame so the SDF geometry animates continuously on the GPU
OrbitControls (drei)Optional camera orbit for interactive 3D viewing during development
Leva controls paneldat.GUI-style panel for tweaking SDF parameters in real time without writing prompts
Libraries it leans on
@react-three/fiberReact renderer for Three.js — mounts and drives the WebGL canvas as a React tree
threeCore WebGL library providing the renderer, geometry, and shader material primitives
@react-three/dreiOrbitControls and shaderMaterial helper that reduce boilerplate for GLSL shader setup
glsl-noise (inlined)Noise functions used inside the fragment shader for organic volumetric texture
Fork it and get it running
This template requires a deploy to Vercel to see the 3D effect — the V0 preview may show a blank canvas due to esm.sh module loading limits. Budget about 10 minutes for the full fork-to-deploy flow.
Fork the template into your V0 account
Go to https://v0.dev/chat/community/AgcumPtFM1J and click the Fork button. V0 will scaffold the project with three.js dependencies listed in package.json and copy the GLSL shader code into your editable project. You will land directly in your new copy of the template.
Tip: If you see a build error immediately after forking, skip to step 4 and publish — the preview sandbox is not reliable for three.js.
You should see: You are inside your own V0 copy of the React Three Fiber Ray Marching template with the chat and code panels accessible.
Expect a blank preview — this is normal
In the Preview tab, you will likely see a blank canvas or a loading spinner. This is a known V0 sandbox limitation: esm.sh (the module resolver used in V0's preview) has documented failures loading large WebGL libraries like three.js. Wait 10 seconds and try clicking Refresh in the Preview tab — if it still shows blank, proceed to deploy. The deployed Vercel app will render correctly.
Tip: Add an error boundary around the Canvas to show a clear message instead of a blank page while debugging.
You should see: Either the canvas renders (rare in the sandbox) or you confirm the blank is a sandbox limitation and move to deploy.
Tweak the SDF shape before deploying via a prompt
In the V0 chat, send a prompt from the prompt pack below to change the SDF shape or color palette. V0 will update the GLSL fragment shader code even if you cannot see the change in the preview. The diff appears in the code view, and you can verify GLSL syntax before deploying.
Tip: GLSL errors fail silently — a syntax mistake will show a blank canvas on deploy with no visible error. Use the 'Add a GLSL error handler' prompt if you want easier debugging.
You should see: V0 updates the fragment shader code in the editor with your requested SDF change.
Publish to Vercel — this is where you see the 3D effect
Click Share (top-right) → Publish tab → 'Publish to Production'. V0 builds the Next.js project with npm (not esm.sh) and deploys to a vercel.app URL in 30–60 seconds. If the build fails with 'Module not found: three', send this prompt to V0: 'Add three, @react-three/fiber, and @react-three/drei as explicit dependencies in package.json', then republish.
Tip: Test the deployed URL in Chrome or Firefox — some corporate proxies and VPNs block WebGL.
You should see: The 3D ray marching canvas renders in the deployed Vercel URL, visible to anyone with the link.
Verify WebGL renders on the live URL
Open the vercel.app URL in a browser. The 3D effect should render within 1–3 seconds as WebGL initializes. If you see a blank div, open browser DevTools (F12) → Console tab to look for WebGL compile errors or missing module messages. The deployed Next.js bundle resolves three.js from node_modules, not esm.sh.
You should see: The ray marching 3D effect is visible, animating continuously on the deployed Vercel page.
Connect to GitHub for local GLSL editing
For serious GLSL shader work, pull the code locally. In the V0 editor, open the Git panel → Connect → enter a repository name. V0 creates the repo and pushes the code to branch v0/main-{hash}. Merge the PR to main, clone the repo, and open the GLSL files in a local editor with GLSL syntax highlighting (VS Code has a GLSL extension).
You should see: GLSL shader files are accessible locally for advanced SDF editing with proper syntax support.
The prompt pack
Copy-paste these straight into v0's chat to customize the React Three Fiber Ray Marchingtemplate. Each one names this template's own components — no generic filler.
Change the SDF scene to a torus knot shape
Swaps the SDF scene geometry to a torus knot shape without touching the ray marching loop or lighting setup.
Update the signed distance function in the GLSL fragment shader inside RayMarchingMesh to render a torus knot using sdTorus with inner radius 0.3 and outer radius 0.8, replacing the current SDF primitive. Keep the existing soft shadow calculation, lighting model, and time uniform animation loop unchanged — only swap the geometry function.
Add a depth-based color gradient
Adds depth-based color grading to the fragment shader output so the ray marching scene communicates 3D depth through color.
In the GLSL fragment shader's color output section, blend between two colors — deep blue (vec3(0.04, 0.055, 0.18)) and bright cyan (vec3(0.0, 0.898, 1.0)) — based on the t value (total ray march distance travelled). Use mix(cyan, blue, clamp(t / 10.0, 0.0, 1.0)) so shorter ray distances produce cyan and longer distances produce blue, creating visible depth cueing in the scene.
Add an FPS counter and pause on tab blur
Adds performance monitoring and background-tab GPU savings to the RayMarchingMesh without touching the GLSL shader.
Use @react-three/fiber's useFrame delta parameter to calculate FPS (1 / delta) and display the rolling average in a fixed HTML overlay div positioned top-right (outside the Canvas). Also add a document visibilitychange listener inside a useEffect that pauses the time uniform increment when the browser tab is hidden and resumes it on visibility, preventing unnecessary GPU usage in background tabs.
Make the ray marching scene follow the mouse with parallax
Replaces the static or orbit camera with a cursor-driven parallax that makes the ray marching scene feel interactive and alive.
Remove OrbitControls and replace with a mouse-driven camera parallax. Track normalized mouse position (-1 to 1 on both axes) using a window mousemove listener in useEffect. In useFrame, lerp the Three.js camera position toward (mouseX * 0.5, mouseY * 0.3, camera.position.z) so the SDF scene subtly shifts as the user moves their cursor, creating a depth parallax effect. Use a lerp factor of 0.05 for smooth following.
Export the canvas as a video loop using MediaRecorder
Lets developers export a 3-second WebM video loop of the ray marching animation directly from the browser without additional software.
Add an 'Export Video' button below the Canvas. On click, use the browser's MediaRecorder API to capture the Three.js canvas stream via canvas.captureStream(30) for 3 seconds, then save the resulting webm blob as a file download using a temporary anchor element. Obtain the canvas reference from useThree() inside a component rendered inside the R3F Canvas tree. Show a recording indicator while capture is in progress.
Load SDF parameters from a Supabase config table for per-tenant branding
Enables per-tenant visual branding by driving the ray marching shader uniforms from a Supabase config table fetched server-side.
Create a Next.js Server Component that fetches a row from a Supabase 'shader_configs' table (columns: primary_color as a vec3 hex string, secondary_color, sdf_scale float, animation_speed float) using the Supabase service role client initialized with SUPABASE_URL and SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY stored in V0's Vars panel (no NEXT_PUBLIC_ prefix — server-only). Pass the fetched values as initial uniform props to RayMarchingMesh. The GLSL shader should read these from uniforms so different tenants see different visual branding without a code change.
Gotchas when you extend it
The failures people actually hit when they push this template past its defaults — and the exact fix for each.
Error: Failed to load 'https://esm.sh/three' or blank canvas in V0 previewWhy: V0's esm.sh preview sandbox has documented module resolution failures for large WebGL libraries like three.js; the import may silently fail, leaving the Canvas component with no renderer.
Fix: This is a preview-environment limitation — click 'Publish to Production' and test on the live Vercel URL where three.js loads from a proper npm bundle. The deployed app works even when the V0 preview shows a blank canvas.
Add an error boundary around the Canvas component that displays 'WebGL unavailable in preview — deploy to see the 3D effect' so the blank preview state is clearly communicated to developers
Module not found: Error: Can't resolve '@react-three/fiber' after local cloneWhy: @react-three/fiber depends on three as a peer dependency; V0 may not have added three to package.json explicitly, causing peer dependency resolution failures on npm install.
Fix: In the V0 chat, ask V0 to add three, @react-three/fiber, and @react-three/drei as explicit dependencies in package.json, then redeploy.
Explicitly add three, @react-three/fiber, and @react-three/drei to package.json dependencies so local npm installs and Vercel builds resolve correctly
ReferenceError: window is not defined on Next.js buildWhy: The Canvas component and WebGL context creation reference window and document during Next.js SSR; @react-three/fiber's Canvas must run client-only.
Fix: Add 'use client' at the top of the file containing the Canvas, or wrap it with next/dynamic with ssr: false so the Three.js Canvas only mounts in the browser.
Wrap the RayMarchingScene component in next/dynamic with ssr: false so the Three.js Canvas only mounts in the browser and does not execute during Next.js SSR
GLSL shader compile error breaks the entire page with no visible error messageWhy: GLSL syntax errors are swallowed silently in production; the Canvas goes blank without a console message visible in V0's editor, making it hard to identify which line caused the failure.
Fix: Open browser DevTools on the deployed Vercel URL and check the Console tab for WebGL shader compile errors. Use V0's 'Fix with v0' button on the deployment error page, or add a Three.js onError handler to surface GLSL errors as a visible overlay.
Add a Three.js WebGLRenderer onError handler and display GLSL compile errors as a visible overlay div so shader syntax mistakes are visible without opening browser DevTools
Mobile devices render an empty div — no 3D effect visibleWhy: Many mobile GPUs do not support the floating-point texture extensions or the iteration count required by ray marching fragment shaders, causing the WebGL context to fail silently.
Fix: Add a device capability check using renderer.capabilities.maxFragmentUniforms on mount and fall back to a static CSS gradient background on low-capability devices.
Detect WebGL capability on mount and if maxFragmentUniforms is below 1000, replace the Canvas with a static gradient div as a mobile-safe fallback
Template vs. custom — the honest call
A forked template gets you far, fast. Here's where it holds up, and where you'll outgrow it.
The template is enough when
- Agency or developer portfolio where a 3D hero needs to stand out and you have time to verify performance before launch
- Demo or proof-of-concept for a client presentation where visual impact matters more than cross-device compatibility
- Project targeting desktop-first audiences such as creative tools, game studios, or design agencies
- Developers who want to learn GLSL ray marching with a working template to study and modify
Go custom when
- Your audience is primarily mobile — ray marching shaders are too GPU-intensive for most phones and a custom fallback strategy is needed from the start
- You need the 3D scene integrated with complex application state such as responding to real-time database events or WebSocket feeds
- You want Spline or Three.js loaded 3D models (GLTF/GLB assets) rather than procedural SDF geometry generated entirely in the shader
RapidDev can take this ray marching canvas and integrate it into a full Next.js marketing site with mobile fallbacks, performance budgets, and Vercel Edge caching to keep Time to Interactive fast.
Frequently asked questions
Is this React Three Fiber Ray Marching template free?
Yes. The template is free to fork from v0.dev's community page. React Three Fiber, Three.js, and @react-three/drei are all MIT-licensed. Vercel Hobby tier deployment is also free.
Can I use this template in a commercial project?
Yes. All dependencies are MIT-licensed and V0 community templates carry no commercial use restrictions. You can ship this in a client site, SaaS product, or agency portfolio.
Why does my fork show a blank canvas in the V0 preview?
V0's preview sandbox uses esm.sh to resolve modules, and three.js is too large for reliable loading in that environment. This is a known V0 sandbox limitation. Click 'Publish to Production' — the deployed Vercel app loads three.js from an npm bundle and the 3D effect will render correctly.
Why does the 3D effect not work on my phone?
Ray marching shaders require many GPU floating-point operations per pixel and a high iteration count that exceeds the capability of most mobile GPUs. Add a device capability check using renderer.capabilities.maxFragmentUniforms and fall back to a static CSS gradient on mobile — the prompt pack includes an exact prompt for this.
How do I change the 3D shape in the shader?
Use the 'Change the SDF scene to a torus knot shape' prompt from the pack above. The SDF (signed distance function) inside the GLSL fragment shader defines what 3D geometry is rendered. V0 can swap in common SDF primitives like spheres, boxes, tori, and torus knots on request.
My build fails with 'Module not found: @react-three/fiber' — how do I fix it?
V0 sometimes omits three.js from package.json explicit dependencies even though it's a required peer dependency. In the V0 chat, send: 'Add three, @react-three/fiber, and @react-three/drei as explicit dependencies in package.json'. Then republish.
Can RapidDev help integrate this into a full marketing site with a mobile fallback?
Yes. RapidDev can take the forked ray marching template and build it into a production Next.js page with a mobile CSS fallback, performance-tested 3D canvas, and Vercel Edge caching for fast initial loads.
How do I debug GLSL shader errors — the page is just blank?
Open browser DevTools on the deployed Vercel URL and check the Console tab — WebGL shader compile errors appear there, not in the V0 editor or Vercel build logs. Alternatively, use the fix prompt from the gotchas section to add an onError overlay that surfaces GLSL errors directly on the page.
Outgrowing the template?
RapidDev turns v0 prototypes into production apps — real auth, database, and payments — at $13K–$25K.
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