/spline-interactive

name: spline-interactive
description: Browser-based 3D design tool with visual editor, animation, and web export. Use this skill when creating 3D scenes without code, designing interactive web experiences, prototyping 3D UI, exporting to React/web, or building designer-friendly 3D content. Triggers on tasks involving Spline, no-code 3D, visual 3D editor, 3D animation, state-based interactions, React Spline integration, or scene export. Alternative to Three.js for designers who prefer visual tools over code.

Spline Interactive - Browser-Based 3D Design and Animation

Overview

Spline is a browser-based 3D design and animation platform that enables creators to build interactive 3D experiences without requiring code or specialized software knowledge. It provides a collaborative visual editor for designing, animating, and exporting 3D scenes across multiple platforms.

**Key Features**:

• Visual 3D modeling with parametric shapes, extrusion, and boolean operations
• State-based animation system with timeline controls
• Interactive event system (mouse, keyboard, collision, scroll)
• Multiple export options (React components, web code, public URLs)
• Real-time collaboration with team libraries
• AI-powered generation (3D from text, textures, style transfer)
• Built-in physics and particle systems

**When to Use This Skill**:

• Creating 3D web experiences without writing Three.js code
• Designing interactive product showcases or configurators
• Prototyping 3D UI/UX concepts visually
• Building marketing pages with 3D elements
• Collaborating with designers on 3D content
• Exporting scenes for React or vanilla JS integration

**Alternatives**:

• **Three.js** (threejs-webgl): For developers who prefer code-first approach and need maximum control
• **Babylon.js** (babylonjs-engine): For game-focused projects with built-in physics
• **React Three Fiber** (react-three-fiber): For React developers who want to build 3D with JSX

Core Concepts

1. Scene Structure

Spline organizes projects into scenes containing:

• **Objects**: 3D models, shapes, text, images
• **Lights**: Directional, point, spot lights
• **Cameras**: Orbital, perspective, orthographic
• **Events**: Interaction triggers
• **States**: Animation keyframes

2. Components System

Reusable elements that can be:

• Created from any object or group
• Instantiated multiple times
• Updated across all instances
• Overridden per instance

3. State-Based Animation

Animations are defined as transitions between states:

• **Default State**: Initial appearance
• **Additional States**: Target appearances
• **Events**: Triggers that cause state transitions
• **Transitions**: Duration, easing, properties

4. Interactivity Model

Event-driven system with:

• **Events**: User actions or scene triggers
• **Conditions**: Logic gates (if/else)
• **Actions**: State changes, audio, scene switches
• **Variables**: Dynamic data from APIs or user input

5. Export Options

Multiple deployment methods:

• **Public URL**: Direct shareable link
• **Code Export**: React component or vanilla JS
• **Spline Viewer**: Embedded iframe
• **Self-Hosted**: Download and host independently

Common Patterns

Pattern 1: Basic React Integration

**Use Case**: Embed a Spline scene in a React application

**Implementation**:

# Installation
npm install @splinetool/react-spline @splinetool/runtime

import Spline from '@splinetool/react-spline';

export default function Hero() {
  return (
    <div style={{ width: '100%', height: '600px' }}>
      <Spline scene="https://prod.spline.design/YOUR-SCENE-ID/scene.splinecode" />
    </div>
  );
}

**Key Points**:

• Scene URL comes from Spline export dialog
• Component fills parent container
• Automatically handles loading and rendering

Pattern 2: Event Handling and Object Interaction

**Use Case**: Respond to user clicks on specific objects

**Implementation**:

import Spline from '@splinetool/react-spline';

export default function InteractiveScene() {
  function onSplineMouseDown(e) {
    // Check if clicked object is the button
    if (e.target.name === 'Button') {
      console.log('Button clicked!');

      // Get object properties
      console.log('Position:', e.target.position);
      console.log('Rotation:', e.target.rotation);
      console.log('Scale:', e.target.scale);
    }
  }

  function onSplineMouseHover(e) {
    if (e.target.name === 'Button') {
      console.log('Hovering over button');
    }
  }

  return (
    <Spline
      scene="https://prod.spline.design/YOUR-SCENE-ID/scene.splinecode"
      onSplineMouseDown={onSplineMouseDown}
      onSplineMouseHover={onSplineMouseHover}
    />
  );
}

**Available Event Handlers**:

• `onSplineMouseDown` - Mouse press on object
• `onSplineMouseUp` - Mouse release
• `onSplineMouseHover` - Mouse over object
• `onSplineKeyDown` - Keyboard press
• `onSplineKeyUp` - Keyboard release
• `onSplineStart` - Scene loaded and started
• `onSplineLookAt` - Camera look-at event
• `onSplineFollow` - Camera follow event
• `onSplineScroll` - Scroll event

Pattern 3: Programmatic Object Control

**Use Case**: Modify object properties from React code

**Implementation**:

import { useRef } from 'react';
import Spline from '@splinetool/react-spline';

export default function ProductViewer() {
  const cube = useRef();
  const splineApp = useRef();

  function onLoad(spline) {
    // Save Spline instance
    splineApp.current = spline;

    // Find object by name
    const obj = spline.findObjectByName('Product');
    // Or by ID
    // const obj = spline.findObjectById('8E8C2DDD-18B6-4C54-861D-7ED2519DE20E');

    cube.current = obj;
  }

  function rotateProduct() {
    if (cube.current) {
      // Rotate 45 degrees around Y axis
      cube.current.rotation.y += Math.PI / 4;
    }
  }

  function changeColor() {
    if (cube.current) {
      // Change material color (hex color)
      cube.current.material.color.