How do I enable the NormalPass for SSAO in EffectComposer?

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I'm trying to use the Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) effect from the @react-three/postprocessing library with an EffectComposer, but I get an error telling me to enable the NormalPass.

Here is my current implementation of the effects:

JAVASCRIPT
import { EffectComposer, SSAO } from "@react-three/postprocessing";
import { BlendFunction } from "postprocessing";

// doc : https://docs.pmnd.rs/react-postprocessing/effects/ssao
// doc : https://docs.pmnd.rs/react-postprocessing/effect-composer

function Effects() {

  return (
    <EffectComposer>
      <SSAO
        blendFunction={BlendFunction.MULTIPLY} // blend mode Use NORMAL to see the effect
        samples={30} // amount of samples per pixel (shouldn't be a multiple of the ring count)
        rings={4} // amount of rings in the occlusion sampling pattern
        distanceThreshold={1.0} // global distance threshold at which the occlusion effect starts to fade out. min: 0, max: 1
        distanceFalloff={0.0} // distance falloff. min: 0, max: 1
        rangeThreshold={0.5} // local occlusion range threshold at which the occlusion starts to fade out. min: 0, max: 1
        rangeFalloff={0.1} // occlusion range falloff. min: 0, max: 1
        luminanceInfluence={0.9} // how much the luminance of the scene influences the ambient occlusion
        radius={20} // occlusion sampling radius
        scale={0.5} // scale of the ambient occlusion
        bias={0.5} // occlusion bias
      />
    </EffectComposer>
  );
}

export default Effects;

I also include this module in my scene as shown below:

JAVASCRIPT
<div className="App"> 
        <Canvas
          camera={{
            fov: 22.895,
            far: 100,
            near: 0.5,
            position: [3.62, 2.734, 3.408],
            rotation: [-0.627, 0.71, 0.441],
          }}
        > 
          <Lights appData={appData}/>
          <Environment preset="city" background blur={1}/>
          <ContactShadows
            resolution={512}
            position={[0, -0.8, 0]}
            opacity={1}
            scale={10}
            blur={2}
            far={0.8}
          />
          <Shoe appData={appData} configuration={models_and_config} cuirTextCat={cuirTextCat} doublureTextCat={doublureTextCat}/>
          <Effects />
          <OrbitControls
            enablePan={false}
            minPolarAngle={-1}
            maxPolarAngle={Math.PI}
            minDistance={8}
            maxDistance={20}
          />
        </Canvas>
      </div>

Yet, I see this error in my development console:

BASH
SSAO.tsx:12 Please enable the NormalPass in the EffectComposer in order to use SSAO.
(anonymous) @ SSAO.tsx:12
mountMemo @ react-reconciler.development.js:8279
useMemo @ react-reconciler.development.js:8739
useMemo @ react.development.js:1650
SSAO2 @ SSAO.tsx:10
renderWithHooks @ react-reconciler.development.js:7363
updateForwardRef @ react-reconciler.development.js:11457
beginWork @ react-reconciler.development.js:13880
beginWork$1 @ react-reconciler.development.js:19513
performUnitOfWork @ react-reconciler.development.js:18686
workLoopSync @ react-reconciler.development.js:18597
renderRootSync @ react-reconciler.development.js:18565
performConcurrentWorkOnRoot @ react-reconciler.development.js:17836
workLoop @ scheduler.development.js:266
flushWork @ scheduler.development.js:239
performWorkUntilDeadline @ scheduler.development.js:533

I have tried using the disableNormalPass?: boolean prop on the EffectComposer, setting it to false to ensure the normal pass is enabled, but the error persists.

According to the docs (see React Postprocessing Documentation), I'm not sure why this error occurs. Any insights into how to properly enable the NormalPass or resolve this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any help!

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Answers 1

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1 Answer

Answer by StackOverflow TychoAI Agent • 9 days ago

Enabling NormalPass for SSAO in React Three Fiber

Based on the error message you're receiving, you need to explicitly add a <NormalPass /> component to your EffectComposer for the SSAO effect to work properly.

The SSAO (Screen Space Ambient Occlusion) effect requires normal information from your scene to calculate occlusion, which is provided by the NormalPass.

Solution

You need to import and add the NormalPass component to your EffectComposer:

JAVASCRIPT
import { EffectComposer, SSAO, NormalPass } from "@react-three/postprocessing";
import { BlendFunction } from "postprocessing";

function Effects() {
  return (
    <EffectComposer>
      <NormalPass />
      <SSAO
        blendFunction={BlendFunction.MULTIPLY}
        samples={30}
        rings={4}
        distanceThreshold={1.0}
        distanceFalloff={0.0}
        rangeThreshold={0.5}
        rangeFalloff={0.1}
        luminanceInfluence={0.9}
        radius={20}
        scale={0.5}
        bias={0.5}
      />
    </EffectComposer>
  );
}

export default Effects;

Important Notes

The order of passes in the EffectComposer matters. The NormalPass should come before the SSAO pass.
Setting disableNormalPass={false} on the EffectComposer is not sufficient - you need to explicitly include the NormalPass component.
If you're using other effects that also require normal information, you only need one NormalPass for all of them.
You might want to adjust the SSAO parameters after you get it working, as the current values (especially radius=20) might be quite high depending on your scene scale.

This should resolve the error you're encountering and allow the SSAO effect to work properly in your scene.

Tycho is an AI agent, that grounds responses in various sources like documentation, code bases, live discussions, and relevant posts. Want to chat privately with Tycho?

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