threejs-impl-post-processing

Quick Reference

Architecture Overview

Three.js offers TWO incompatible post-processing systems. NEVER mix them.

System	Package	Approach	Best For
Built-in EffectComposer	three/addons/postprocessing/	One shader pass per effect	Simple setups, custom ShaderPass
pmndrs/postprocessing	postprocessing (npm)	Merges effects into single pass	Performance-critical, R3F apps
WebGPU PostProcessing	three/addons/tsl/display/	Node-based TSL graphs	WebGPU renderer only

Standard Pipeline (Built-in EffectComposer)

import { EffectComposer } from 'three/addons/postprocessing/EffectComposer.js';
import { RenderPass } from 'three/addons/postprocessing/RenderPass.js';
import { OutputPass } from 'three/addons/postprocessing/OutputPass.js';

const composer = new EffectComposer( renderer );
composer.addPass( new RenderPass( scene, camera ) ); // ALWAYS first
// ... effect passes here ...
composer.addPass( new OutputPass() );                 // ALWAYS last

function animate() {
  composer.render(); // replaces renderer.render( scene, camera )
}

Pass Ordering Rules

1. RenderPass MUST be the FIRST pass -- it renders the scene to the internal buffer
2. Effect passes go in the MIDDLE in any order (bloom, SSAO, outline, etc.)
3. Anti-aliasing passes (SMAA, FXAA) go AFTER effect passes
4. OutputPass MUST be the LAST pass -- it applies tone mapping and color space conversion
5. NEVER omit OutputPass -- without it, colors appear washed out or incorrect

Critical Warnings

NEVER mix three/addons/postprocessing/EffectComposer with pmndrs/postprocessing EffectComposer. They use incompatible buffer formats and will produce rendering artifacts or crashes.

NEVER forget to call composer.setSize() on window resize. Failing to resize the composer causes blurry or misaligned effects.

NEVER call renderer.render( scene, camera ) when using EffectComposer. ALWAYS call composer.render() instead -- calling both renders the scene twice.

NEVER use WebGL post-processing passes with the WebGPU renderer. WebGPU uses an entirely separate node-based PostProcessing class.

ALWAYS include RenderPass as the first pass. Without it, subsequent passes receive an empty buffer.

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EffectComposer API

Constructor

new EffectComposer( renderer: WebGLRenderer, renderTarget?: WebGLRenderTarget )

• renderer -- the WebGLRenderer instance
• renderTarget -- optional custom render target; auto-created if omitted

Properties

Property	Type	Description
.passes	Pass[]	Ordered array of post-processing passes
.readBuffer	WebGLRenderTarget	Internal read buffer
.writeBuffer	WebGLRenderTarget	Internal write buffer
.renderToScreen	boolean	Whether the final pass renders to screen (default true)
.renderer	WebGLRenderer	The renderer instance

Methods

Method	Description
.addPass( pass )	Appends a pass to the end of the chain
.insertPass( pass, index )	Inserts a pass at a specific position
.removePass( pass )	Removes a pass from the chain
.render( deltaTime? )	Executes all enabled passes in order
.setSize( width, height )	Resizes all internal buffers and passes
.setPixelRatio( ratio )	Configures device pixel ratio
.swapBuffers()	Exchanges read/write buffers
.reset( renderTarget? )	Restores internal state
.dispose()	Frees all GPU resources

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Available Pass Types

Core Passes (ALWAYS needed)

Pass	Import	Purpose
RenderPass	postprocessing/RenderPass.js	Renders scene to buffer; ALWAYS first
OutputPass	postprocessing/OutputPass.js	Tone mapping + color space; ALWAYS last

Effect Passes

Pass	Constructor	Purpose
UnrealBloomPass	( resolution, strength?, radius?, threshold? )	HDR bloom glow
SSAOPass	( scene, camera, width?, height? )	Screen-space ambient occlusion
GTAOPass	( scene, camera, width?, height? )	Ground truth AO (higher quality)
SAOPass	( scene, camera )	Scalable ambient obscurance
OutlinePass	( resolution, scene, camera, selectedObjects? )	Object selection outlines
BokehPass	( scene, camera, params )	Depth of field
SSRPass	( params )	Screen-space reflections
FilmPass	( intensity?, grayscale? )	Film grain / scanlines
GlitchPass	( dtSize? )	Digital glitch effect
HalftonePass	( width, height, params )	Halftone dot pattern
DotScreenPass	( center?, angle?, scale? )	Dot screen overlay
AfterimagePass	( damp? )	Motion trails / ghosting
LUTPass	( params )	Color LUT grading
RenderPixelatedPass	( pixelSize, scene, camera )	Pixelation effect

Anti-Aliasing Passes

Pass	Constructor	Quality	Cost
FXAAPass	()	Low -- fast approximation	Cheapest
SMAAPass	( width, height )	Medium -- subpixel morphological	Moderate
SSAARenderPass	( scene, camera )	High -- super-sampling	Expensive
TAARenderPass	( scene, camera )	High -- temporal accumulation	Expensive

Utility Passes

Pass	Purpose
ShaderPass	Custom GLSL shader effect
MaskPass	Stencil masking
ClearMaskPass	Clears stencil mask
ClearPass	Clears buffer
TexturePass	Renders a texture
CubeTexturePass	Renders cubemap background
SavePass	Saves current buffer to render target
RenderTransitionPass	Animated transition between two scenes

ALL passes import from three/addons/postprocessing/{PassName}.js.

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Key Effect Configuration

UnrealBloomPass

import { UnrealBloomPass } from 'three/addons/postprocessing/UnrealBloomPass.js';

const bloom = new UnrealBloomPass(
  new THREE.Vector2( window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight ),
  1.5,  // strength -- bloom intensity [0, 3+]
  0.4,  // radius -- bloom spread [0, 1]
  0.85  // threshold -- luminance cutoff [0, 1]
);

Tone mapping MUST be enabled on the renderer for bloom to work correctly. Selective bloom (per-object) is NOT natively supported -- use the layers system with multiple render passes as a workaround.

SSAOPass / GTAOPass

ALWAYS prefer GTAOPass over SSAOPass for production quality. Use SSAOPass only for prototyping.

// SSAOPass (faster, lower quality)
const ssao = new SSAOPass( scene, camera, width, height );
ssao.kernelRadius = 8;
ssao.minDistance = 0.005;
ssao.maxDistance = 0.1;

// GTAOPass (slower, production quality)
const gtao = new GTAOPass( scene, camera, width, height );

OutlinePass

const outline = new OutlinePass(
  new THREE.Vector2( window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight ),
  scene, camera
);
outline.selectedObjects = [ mesh1, mesh2 ];
outline.edgeStrength = 3;
outline.edgeGlow = 0;
outline.edgeThickness = 1;
outline.visibleEdgeColor.set( 0xffffff );
outline.hiddenEdgeColor.set( 0x190a05 );

---

Custom ShaderPass

import { ShaderPass } from 'three/addons/postprocessing/ShaderPass.js';

const myShader = {
  uniforms: {
    tDiffuse: { value: null }, // ALWAYS include -- receives read buffer
    amount: { value: 0.5 }
  },
  vertexShader: `
    varying vec2 vUv;
    void main() {
      vUv = uv;
      gl_Position = projectionMatrix * modelViewMatrix * vec4( position, 1.0 );
    }
  `,
  fragmentShader: `
    uniform sampler2D tDiffuse;
    uniform float amount;
    varying vec2 vUv;
    void main() {
      vec4 color = texture2D( tDiffuse, vUv );
      gl_FragColor = mix( color, vec4( 1.0 - color.rgb, color.a ), amount );
    }
  `
};

const customPass = new ShaderPass( myShader );
composer.insertPass( customPass, 1 ); // after RenderPass

The textureID parameter defaults to 'tDiffuse'. If your shader uses a different uniform name for the input texture, pass it as the second argument: new ShaderPass( myShader, 'myInputTexture' ).

---

pmndrs/postprocessing

Architecture

The pmndrs/postprocessing library merges multiple effects into a SINGLE shader pass, reducing draw calls significantly compared to the built-in system.

import { EffectComposer, EffectPass, RenderPass, BloomEffect,
         SMAAEffect } from 'postprocessing';

const composer = new EffectComposer( renderer );
composer.addPass( new RenderPass( scene, camera ) );
composer.addPass( new EffectPass( camera, new BloomEffect(), new SMAAEffect() ) );

function animate() {
  composer.render();
}

Key Effects

Effect	Purpose
BloomEffect	Configurable bloom with mipmaps
SMAAEffect	Subpixel morphological AA
SSAOEffect	Screen-space ambient occlusion
DepthOfFieldEffect	Bokeh depth-of-field
ToneMappingEffect	Tone mapping operators
VignetteEffect	Screen edge darkening
ChromaticAberrationEffect	Color fringing
NoiseEffect	Film grain
GodRaysEffect	Volumetric light scattering

For React Three Fiber, use @react-three/postprocessing which wraps these effects as JSX components.

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Resize Handling

ALWAYS resize both the renderer AND the composer on window resize:

window.addEventListener( 'resize', () => {
  camera.aspect = window.innerWidth / window.innerHeight;
  camera.updateProjectionMatrix();
  renderer.setSize( window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight );
  composer.setSize( window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight ); // MUST resize
});

---

WebGPU PostProcessing

The WebGPU renderer uses a SEPARATE node-based system:

import { PostProcessing } from 'three/addons/tsl/display/PostProcessing.js';

const postProcessing = new PostProcessing( renderer );
// Uses TSL (Three Shading Language) node graphs for effects

This is entirely incompatible with both the built-in WebGL EffectComposer and pmndrs/postprocessing.

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Reference Links

• references/methods.md -- Complete API signatures for EffectComposer, all passes, and pmndrs effects
• references/examples.md -- Working code examples for common post-processing setups
• references/anti-patterns.md -- What NOT to do with post-processing

Official Sources

• https://threejs.org/docs/#examples/en/postprocessing/EffectComposer
• https://threejs.org/examples/?q=postprocessing
• https://github.com/pmndrs/postprocessing
• https://docs.pmnd.rs/react-three-fiber/tutorials/post-processing