Full NPM support for BabylonJS 3.1.x

[RaananW]

Hello dear people,

As already hinted in some other topics, I have finished the implementation of NPM packages for BabylonJS and its submodules.

Starting babylonjs 3.1.0-alpha3.4 you can use NPM to include BabylonJS and its modules in both JavaScript and TypeScript projects.

The available npm packages can be found here - https://www.npmjs.com/~babylonjs . Full usage is currently being documented, but here is a simple way to get started:

First install the latest babylonjs

npm install --save babylonjs babylonjs-gui babylonjs-materials

then, use those modules in your JS/TS file:

import * as BABYLON from 'babylonjs';
import 'babylonjs-materials';
import * as GUI from 'babylonjs-gui';

let engine = new BABYLON.Engine(.........)

I will update here when the documentation will be ready.

[HeadClot]

YAY for full NPM support!

[RaananW]

Doc page is up - http://doc.babylonjs.com/overviews/npm_support .

I will probably find a better solution for Oimo and Cannon integration.

[brianzinn]

I have tried out the GUI import and it works perfectly!  So, really happy to have this working in my project

I have a comment about the ES6 import.  This comment is not related to importing for side-effects only (ie: import 'babylonjs-materials';).  With "import * as GUI..." we would now do something like GUI.AdvancedDynamicTexture.CreateFullscreenUI("myUI"); instead of BABYLON.GUI.AdvancedDynamicTexture.CreateFullscreenUI("myUI"); as per the documentation (and PGs).  I wonder if it makes sense to unify both usages somehow and also for traditional BJS projects with <script src...> tags.  It's obvious to me the usage, but I think it may confuse some people, whereas a framework should aim to guide down the path to success via simplicity/consistency.  I've seen already some related questions in Q&A about namespaces and imports.  Curious about your thoughts going forward as 3.1 is still in alpha.  Thanks.

[Arte]

@RaananW

Can I use MeshBuilder.CreateBox on server-side?

[RaananW]

Hi @Arte,

BabylonJS is currently not supported on server-side applications, mainly due to the many references to canvas and window (which are sadly missing on a regular node backend).

The NPM support is more for wepack/browserify projects.

We are considering a headless version of Babylon, which will allow you to use Babylon on your server. This will probably be done in future releases and not in 3.1.

[Arte]

Ok  

I'm looking forward.