Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Three.js VS Velocity.js

Compare Three.js VS Velocity.js and see what are their differences

Three.js logo Three.js

A JavaScript 3D library which makes WebGL simpler.

Velocity.js logo Velocity.js

Velocity is a JavaScipt animation engine.
  • Three.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-05-05
  • Velocity.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-10-02

Three.js features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Three.js simplifies the complex task of 3D rendering with an intuitive API, making it accessible to developers who may not have deep expertise in 3D graphics.
  • Cross-Browser Compatibility
    Three.js is built upon WebGL, ensuring compatibility across modern browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.
  • Comprehensive Documentation
    The library offers extensive documentation, examples, and an active community, which helps in quickly resolving issues and understanding implementation.
  • Integration with HTML and CSS
    Three.js can be easily integrated with HTML and CSS, allowing for the blending of 2D and 3D elements in web applications.
  • Extensive Features
    It supports a wide range of features including cameras, lights, materials, shaders, and post-processing effects, making it highly versatile for various 3D projects.

Possible disadvantages of Three.js

  • Performance Overhead
    Despite its powerful capabilities, Three.js can have significant performance overhead, especially for complex scenes, which might require optimization.
  • Learning Curve
    While easier than raw WebGL, Three.js still has a learning curve, particularly for those new to 3D graphics, requiring time to become proficient.
  • Limited Built-in Advanced Tools
    Although feature-rich, Three.js lacks some advanced tools out-of-the-box compared to more specialized or industry-standard 3D engines, necessitating custom solutions for certain tasks.
  • Dependency on WebGL
    Three.js relies on WebGL, meaning it cannot be used in environments where WebGL is not supported, which can limit accessibility and compatibility.
  • Frequent Updates
    The library is actively developed, which is generally positive, but frequent updates can mean breaking changes, requiring developers to frequently refactor their code.

Velocity.js features and specs

  • Performance
    Velocity.js is known for its high performance animations compared to traditional jQuery animations, offering better frame rates and smoother transitions.
  • UI Pack
    The library comes with a UI pack that provides pre-made animation effects, making it easier to implement complex animations without building them from scratch.
  • Browser Compatibility
    Velocity.js works across all major browsers, including older versions, reducing the need for multiple fallbacks and increasing consistency in animations across different platforms.
  • Robust API
    It provides a comprehensive API that allows for fine-tuned control over animations, including duration, easing, and looping, providing developers with a lot of flexibility.
  • jQuery Compatibility
    Velocity.js can be used as a jQuery plugin, meaning it integrates well with existing jQuery projects, allowing developers to leverage familiar syntax and concepts.

Possible disadvantages of Velocity.js

  • File Size
    While not overly large, Velocity.js does add additional file size to projects, which could be a concern for performance-focused applications aiming to minimize load times.
  • Learning Curve
    For developers unfamiliar with Velocity.js, there might be a learning curve to grasp its API and features, especially when combining complex animations.
  • jQuery Dependency
    Although it can operate independently, many features integrate with jQuery, which could be a downside for projects trying to avoid additional library dependencies.
  • Feature Overlap
    Some features offered by Velocity.js overlap with modern CSS animations and transformations, which may be sufficient for simple animations in newer projects.
  • Maintenance
    Like many open source projects, there can be concerns about long-term maintenance and updates, particularly with evolving web standards and new browser features.

Three.js videos

Getting Started With Three.js

More videos:

  • Review - Ricardo Cabello (Mr doob) - 5 years of three.js

Velocity.js videos

Ball Drop - Velocity.JS

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Three.js and Velocity.js)
Javascript UI Libraries
Flowcharts
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Charting Libraries
82 82%
18% 18

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Three.js and Velocity.js

Three.js Reviews

Top 20 Javascript Libraries
Cross-browser JS library and API that allows for the creation of beautiful animations, Three.js relies on WebGL rather than conventional browser-plugins. Through its library utilities, developers can include complex 3D animations on their website without much effort. Three.js include many features like geometry, lights, materials, shaders, effects, scenes, data loaders,...
Source: hackr.io

Velocity.js Reviews

Top 20 Javascript Libraries
Web animation has become a breeze with velocity.js. It is a fast performance engine that simplifies website animations. It is free, open-source software. Velocity is as fast (or more) as CSS and jQuery, especially on mobile devices. We can run a sequence of animations one after the other in a neat way, unlike jQuery or CSS, where we need extensive coding. Uber, WhatsApp,...
Source: hackr.io

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Three.js seems to be a lot more popular than Velocity.js. While we know about 248 links to Three.js, we've tracked only 4 mentions of Velocity.js. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Three.js mentions (248)

  • React Three Ecosystem
    Note three.js [1] has nothing to do with React out of the box though, this page highlights an atypical way of using three.js through a popular React binding. [1] https://threejs.org/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Turn your phone into a wireless Joy-Con with SyncoPath
    The phone in the codepath sample got rendered using Three.js. For fun, I also added some beep sound generated using ZZfx when you tap. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • How to Build a Portfolio Website with React
    Also, to make your portfolio stand out to recruiters and clients, you can add some creative and interactive animations to it. The following libraries can help you easily do this: Framer Motion, tsParticles, and Three.js. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Rant: state of generative AI in code generation.
    In my experience with AI code generation, in visual projects like UI development or JavaScript based animation (using three.js or p5.js) etc. AI tools work pretty well. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • My son (9 yrs old) used plain JavaScript to make a game, and wants your feedback
    After he's done with v2, might I propose... THE GAMEY GAME 3D ?? https://threejs.org/ I started coding at 9 as well (which was a long time ago now), so I was very happy to play and see this today. - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
View more

Velocity.js mentions (4)

  • 100+ FREE Resources Every Web Developer Must Try
    JavaScript Animation Libraries 🔥 . Anime.js: Lightweight JavaScript animation library. . ScrollReveal.js: Easily reveal elements as they enter the viewport. . Popmotion: A functional, flexible JavaScript motion library. . AniJS: Declarative handling library for CSS animations. . Wow.js: Reveal CSS animation as you scroll down a page. . Typed.js: A JavaScript library that types. . Velocity.js: Accelerated... - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • Top 10 JavaScript Animation Libraries
    Velocity.js (17.3k ⭐) — A library that combines the best of jQuery and CSS transitions. It can animate colors, transforms, loops, easings, SVGs and more. It can work with or without jQuery and has a high performance. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Jquery animations choppy on mobile?
    Also I've never used it before but I checked just now and http://velocityjs.org/ looks like a pretty solid drop in replacement for jQuery animations. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Anyone know if this animation effect is a library?
    Just gotta look in page source. There's cdn for Velocity.js. Source: over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Three.js and Velocity.js, you can also consider the following products

p5.js - JS library for creating graphic and interactive experiences

Anime.js - Lightweight JavaScript animation library

PixiJS - Fast and flexible WebGL-based HTML5 game and app development library.

GSAP - GSAP (GreenSock Animation Platform) is a suite of JavaScript tools for high-performance animations that work in all major browsers.

Paper.js - Open source vector graphics scripting framework that runs on top of the HTML5 Canvas.

Popmotion - Popmotion is the JavaScript motion engine that enables user to create delightful user interfaces.