Multi viewport and multi scene

Questions
1

Hi everyone :waving_hand:

First, thank you for maintaining such a great community — the documentation and examples have been incredibly helpful!

I’m currently developing a molecular visualization package, and I’d like to support a “split-panel” mode (similar to how VS Code splits its editor).
There are two use cases I want to handle:

  • Different camera angles of the same system — e.g., front and side views of the same molecule.

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image1752×1768 206 KB

  • Completely different systems — each panel renders a separate structure.

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image1920×1029 80.4 KB

I’ve gone through the docs and various discussions about multi-scene, multi-canvas, viewport, and layer mask setups,
but I’m still a bit confused about which combination or technical stack would be the most appropriate.

My main questions are:

  • Should I use multiple scenes or a single scene with multiple viewports?

  • Is it better to use multiple canvases, or can I manage this within one renderer?

  • How can I keep separate camera controls for each panel?

Sorry about such general question, I really confused about conceptions of scene / canvas and view.

Thanks in advance :folded_hands:

2

i believe for the different camera angles of the same system viewports are the best solution.

Example – https://www.babylonjs-playground.com/#SVZL1I#57

The case of “Completely different systems” may depend on your actual scenario, but also possble with viewports and layer masks. You may need to implement your own way to separate camera controls for each panel (in other words, to turn on a specific camera inputs depending on where is the mouse pointer on a screen).

1 Like
3

Thank you so much! Let me try viewports first!