recast-navigation
v0.38.0
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Recast Navigation for JavaScript!
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recast-navigation-js
Examples | NavMesh Generator Website
- 📐 NavMesh generation
- 🧭 Pathfinding
- 🧑🤝🧑 Crowd simulation
- 🚧 Temporary obstacles
- 🌐 Web and Node support
- 💙 TypeScript friendly
- 🖇 Easy integration with three.js via @recast-navigation/three and playcanvas via @recast-navigation/playcanvas
Overview
recast-navigation-js is a WebAssembly port of the Recast and Detour libraries. Recast is a state of the art navigation mesh construction toolset for games, and Detour is a path-finding and spatial reasoning toolkit.
This library provides high level APIs that make it easy to get started creating navigation meshes, querying them, and simulating crowds. It also provides lower-level APIs that give you fine-grained control over the navmesh generation process.
Examples
Go to the examples website to see the project in action:
- live: https://recast-navigation-js.isaacmason.com.
- examples source code: ./packages/recast-navigation/.storybook/stories.
Demonstrations of how to use the recast-navigation-js with different libraries and environments can be found in the examples directory.
Installation
recast-navigation-js
ships as ECMAScript modules, and is compatible with Node.js and browser environments.
NPM
npm install recast-navigation
If you are using Vite, you may need to opt recast-navigation
out of pre-bundling:
export default defineConfig(() => ({
optimizeDeps: { exclude: ['recast-navigation'] }
)}
If you are planning to use the library with three.js, install the @recast-navigation/three
package for three.js helpers:
npm install @recast-navigation/three
If you are planning to use the library with playcanvas, install the @recast-navigation/playcanvas
package for playcanvas helpers:
npm install @recast-navigation/playcanvas
Usage without bundlers
You can use import maps to use the library without a bundler:
<script type="importmap">
{
"imports": {
// required
"@recast-navigation/core": "https://unpkg.com/@recast-navigation/[email protected]/dist/index.mjs",
"@recast-navigation/wasm": "https://unpkg.com/@recast-navigation/[email protected]/dist/recast-navigation.wasm-compat.js",
// easy to use generators
"@recast-navigation/generators": "https://unpkg.com/@recast-navigation/[email protected]/dist/index.mjs",
// optional integrations
"@recast-navigation/three": "https://unpkg.com/@recast-navigation/[email protected]/dist/index.mjs",
"@recast-navigation/playcanvas": "https://unpkg.com/@recast-navigation/[email protected]/dist/index.mjs",
}
}
</script>
<script type="module">
import { init } from '@recast-navigation/core';
await init();
</script>
A full example can be found here: https://github.com/isaac-mason/recast-navigation-js/tree/main/examples/three-vanilla-example/index.html
Documentation
API Documentation can be found at https://docs.recast-navigation-js.isaacmason.com.
For information on changes between versions, see CHANGELOG.md
To get the most out of this library, you should have some familiarity with the Recast and Detour libraries. These are some good resources to get started:
- https://recastnav.com/md_Docs__1_Introducation.html
- https://www.unrealdoc.com/p/navigation-mesh
Documentation for the Recast and Detour c++ libraries can be found here:
The GitHub issues and Google Discussions are great resources for learning about the library and getting guidance on common issues.
Usage
Initialization
Before you can use the library, you must initialize it. This is an asynchronous operation.
Calling init()
after the library has already been initialized will return a promise that resolves immediately.
import { init } from 'recast-navigation';
await init();
Generating a NavMesh
The easiest way to generate a NavMesh is using the high level generator functions from recast-navigation/generators
:
generateSoloNavMesh
- Generates a NavMesh with a single tile. You can use this for smaller environments.generateTiledNavMesh
- Generates a NavMesh with multiple tiles. You should use this for larger environments.generateTileCache
- Generates a TileCache that supports temporary obstacles. See the Temporary Obstacles section.
The input positions and indices should adhere to OpenGL conventions:
- Use the right-handed coordinate system
- Indices should be in counter-clockwise winding order
- The
positions
andindices
arguments should be flat arrays of numbers
import { generateSoloNavMesh } from 'recast-navigation/generators';
const positions = [
/* flat array of positions */
/* e.g. x1, y1, z1, x2, y2, z2, ... */
];
const indices = [
/* flat array of indices */
];
const navMeshConfig = {
/* ... */
};
const { success, navMesh } = generateSoloNavMesh(
positions,
indices,
navMeshConfig
);
See the docs for more information on generator options: https://docs.recast-navigation-js.isaacmason.com/modules/generators.html
Builing a NavMesh in a Web Worker
It's possible to build a NavMesh in a Web Worker. This can be useful for offloading heavy computation from the main thread.
The library doesn't include a web worker, but it's straightforward to create your own. An example of solo nav mesh generation in a web worker can be found here: https://github.com/isaac-mason/recast-navigation-js/tree/next/examples/three-vite-worker-example
The example uses importNavMesh
and exportNavMesh
to serialize and deserialize a NavMesh for transfer between the main thread and the web worker.
For more advanced scenarios such as dynamic navmesh regeneration, you can generate nav mesh tiles in a web worker, and transfer the Uint8Array result of the createNavMeshData
function to the main thread. This allows you to build individual tiles within a web worker, while the main thread continues to manage the nav mesh.
Customizing the NavMesh Generation Process
This library provides low-level APIs that aim to match the recast and detour c++ api, allowing you to create custom navigation mesh generators based on your specific needs. You can use the NavMesh generators provided by @recast-navigation/generators
as a basis: https://github.com/isaac-mason/recast-navigation-js/tree/main/packages/recast-navigation-generators/src/generators
An example of a custom NavMesh generator with custom areas can be found here: https://recast-navigation-js.isaacmason.com/?path=/story/advanced-custom-areas--compute-path
Please note that not all recast and detour functionality is exposed yet. If you require unexposed functionality, please submit an issue or a pull request.
Querying a NavMesh
Creating a NavMeshQuery class
import { NavMeshQuery } from 'recast-navigation';
const navMeshQuery = new NavMeshQuery(navMesh);
Compute a straight path between two points
const start = { x: 0, y: 0, z: 0 };
const end = { x: 2, y: 0, z: 0 };
const { success, error, path } = navMeshQuery.computePath(start, end);
Find the closest point on the NavMesh to a given position
const position = { x: 0, y: 0, z: 0 };
const { success, status, point, polyRef, isPointOverPoly } =
navMeshQuery.findClosestPoint(position);
Find a random point on the NavMesh around a given position
const radius = 0.5;
const {
success,
status,
randomPolyRef,
randomPoint: initialAgentPosition,
} = navMeshQuery.findRandomPointAroundCircle(position, radius);
Crowds and Agents
Creating a Crowd
import { Crowd } from 'recast-navigation';
const maxAgents = 10;
const maxAgentRadius = 0.6;
const crowd = new Crowd(navMesh, { maxAgents, maxAgentRadius });
Updating a Crowd
There are a few options for updating a crowd:
Variable time stepping
The simplest approach is to do varible time stepping. Simply call crowd.update
with your delta time every frame.
crowd.update(timeSinceLastFrame);
This approach is suitable for most use cases, but the variable timestep will result in non-deterministic behaviour.
Depending on your use case, you might want to clamp timeSinceLastFrame
to a maximum value to prevent large time steps causing issues.
Fixed time stepping with interpolation
Fixed time stepping with interpolation can be preferable if you need deterministic behaviour, but still want smooth agent position updates each frame.
If you provide update
with a dt
value and a timeSinceLastFrame
value, the crowd update will do fixed time stepping with interpolation.
const dt = 1 / 60;
const maxSubSteps = 10;
crowd.update(dt, timeSinceLastFrame, maxSubSteps);
This will update the interpolatedPosition
vector3 on each agent, which you can use to render a smoothly interpolated agent position between updates.
console.log(agent.interpolatedPosition); // { x: 1, y: 2, z: 3 }
Manual fixed time stepping
If you want full control over crowd updates, you can simply call crowd.update
with a given dt
value.
const dt = 1 / 60;
crowd.update(dt);
Creating an Agent in a Crowd
const position = { x: 0, y: 0, z: 0 };
const radius = 2;
const {
success,
status,
randomPolyRef,
randomPoint: initialAgentPosition,
} = navMeshQuery.findRandomPointAroundCircle(position, radius);
const agent = crowd.addAgent(initialAgentPosition, {
radius: 0.5,
height: 0.5,
maxAcceleration: 4.0,
maxSpeed: 1.0,
collisionQueryRange: 0.5,
pathOptimizationRange: 0.0,
separationWeight: 1.0,
});
Setting an Agent's Target
const targetPosition = { x: 2, y: 0, z: 0 };
agent.requestMoveTarget(targetPosition);
Clearing an Agent's Target
agent.resetMoveTarget();
Interacting with Agents
/* get information about the agent */
const agentPosition = agent.position();
const agentVelocity = agent.velocity();
const agentTarget = agent.target();
const agentNextTargetInPath = agent.nextTargetInPath();
const agentState = agent.state();
const agentCorners = agent.corners();
const agentParameters = agent.parameters();
/* tell the agent to move to a target position */
const targetPosition = { x: 0, y: 0, z: 0 };
agent.requestMoveTarget(targetPosition);
/* tell the agent to move in a direction */
const targetVelocity = { x: 0, y: 0, z: 0 };
agent.requestMoveVelocity(targetVelocity);
/* reset the agents target */
agent.resetMoveTarget();
/* teleport the agent to a position */
agent.teleport(targetPosition);
/* update an agent parameter */
agent.maxAcceleration = 4;
/* update multiple parameters for an agent */
agent.updateParameters({
maxAcceleration: 2,
});
/* set all parameters for an agent */
agent.setParameters({
// any omitted parameters will be set to their default values
});
/* remove the agent */
crowd.removeAgent(agent);
Temporary Obstacles
Recast Navigation supports temporary Box and Cylinder obstacles via a TileCache
.
TileCache
assumes small tiles (around 32-64 squared). Using tileSize
values outside this range may result in unexpected behaviour.
import { generateTileCache } from 'recast-navigation/generators';
/* create a tile cache */
const { success, navMesh, tileCache } = generateTileCache(positions, indices, {
/* ... */
tileSize: 16,
});
You can use addCylinderObstacle
, addBoxObstacle
, and removeObstacle
to add and remove obstacles from the TileCache.
After adding or removing obstacles you can call tileCache.update(navMesh)
to rebuild navmesh tiles.
Adding or removing an obstacle will internally create an "obstacle request". TileCache supports queuing up to 64 obstacle requests. If the requests queue is full, calls to addCylinderObstacle
and addBoxObstacle
will fail and return a dtStatus
status code DT_BUFFER_TOO_SMALL
.
The tileCache.update
method returns upToDate
, whether the tile cache is fully up to date with obstacle requests and tile rebuilds. If the tile cache isn't up to date another call will continue processing obstacle requests and tile rebuilds; otherwise it will have no effect.
If not many obstacle requests occur between updates, an easy pattern is to call tileCache.update
periodically, such as every game update.
If many obstacle requests have been made and you need to avoid reaching the 64 obstacle request limit, you can call tileCache.update
multiple times, bailing out when upToDate
is true or after a maximum number of updates.
/* add a Box obstacle to the NavMesh */
const position = { x: 0, y: 0, z: 0 };
const halfExtents = { x: 1, y: 1, z: 1 };
const angle = 0;
const addBoxObstacleResult = tileCache.addBoxObstacle(
position,
halfExtents,
angle
);
const boxObstacle = addBoxObstacleResult.obstacle;
/* add a Cylinder obstacle to the NavMesh */
const radius = 1;
const height = 1;
const addCylinderObstacleResult = tileCache.addCylinderObstacle(
position,
radius,
height,
angle
);
const cylinderObstacle = addCylinderObstacleResult.obstacle;
/* remove the obstacles from the NavMesh */
const removeObstacleResult = tileCache.removeObstacle(boxObstacle);
/* update to reflect obstacle changes */
// if few obstacles are added/removed between updates, you could call tileCache.update every game update
tileCache.update(navMesh);
// if your obstacle requests affect many tiles, you may need to call update multiple times
const maxTileCacheUpdates = 5;
for (let i = 0; i < maxTileCacheUpdates; i++) {
const { upToDate } = tileCache.update(navMesh);
if (upToDate) break;
}
Off Mesh Connections
Off mesh connections are user-defined connections between two points on a NavMesh. You can use them to create things like ladders, teleporters, jump pads, etc.
Off mesh connections can be bidirectional or unidirectional.
You can provide a list of off mesh connections to the generateSoloNavMesh
and generateTiledNavMesh
high level generator functions.
const { success, navMesh } = generateSoloNavMesh(positions, indices, {
// ...
offMeshConnections: [
{
startPosition: { x: 0, y: 5, z: 0 },
endPosition: { x: 2, y: 0, z: 0 },
radius: 0.5,
bidirectional: false,
area: 0,
flags: 1,
userId: 0, // optional
},
],
});
You can use agent.state()
to determine if an agent is currently traversing an off mesh connection.
Adding Off Mesh Connections to a TileCache
To add off mesh connections to a TileCache using generateTileCache
, you must provide a TileCacheMeshProcess implementation that creates off mesh connections. For example:
const tileCacheMeshProcess = new TileCacheMeshProcess(
(navMeshCreateParams, polyAreas, polyFlags) => {
for (let i = 0; i < navMeshCreateParams.polyCount(); ++i) {
polyAreas.set(i, 0);
polyFlags.set(i, 1);
}
navMeshCreateParams.setOffMeshConnections([
{
startPosition: { x: 0, y: 5, z: 0 },
endPosition: { x: 2, y: 0, z: 0 },
radius: 0.5,
bidirectional: false,
area: 0,
flags: 1,
},
]);
}
);
const tileCacheGeneratorConfig = {
// ... other config ...
tileCacheMeshProcess,
};
const { success, navMesh, tileCache } = generateTileCache(
positions,
indices,
tileCacheGeneratorConfig
);
Debugging
Debug Nav Mesh
You can use getDebugNavMesh
to get a debug representation of the NavMesh.
const debugNavMesh = navMesh.getDebugNavMesh();
const { positions, indices } = debugNavMesh;
If you are using three.js or playcanvas, you can use built-in helpers from the integration libraries @recast-navigation/three
/ @recast-navigation/playcanvas
.
Detour Status Codes
Many Detour APIs return a status
property. This is a dtStatus
enum, which is a number representing the status of the operation.
You can use the statusToReadableString
function to convert a dtStatus
to a human-readable string.
import { statusToReadableString } from 'recast-navigation';
console.log(statusToReadableString(status));
If you need to work with status codes programmatically, you can use these utilities:
import {
Detour,
statusSucceed,
statusInProgress,
statusFailed,
statusDetail,
} from 'recast-navigation';
// returns true if the status is a success
const succeeded = statusSucceed(status);
// returns true if the status is in progress
const inProgress = statusInProgress(status);
// returns true if the status is a failure
const failed = statusFailed(status);
// get the detail of the status
const detail = Detour.DT_BUFFER_TOO_SMALL;
// Detour.DT_WRONG_MAGIC;
// Detour.DT_WRONG_VERSION;
// Detour.DT_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
// Detour.DT_INVALID_PARAM;
// Detour.DT_BUFFER_TOO_SMALL;
// Detour.DT_OUT_OF_NODES;
// Detour.DT_PARTIAL_RESULT;
// Detour.DT_ALREADY_OCCUPIED;
const detail = statusDetail(status, detail);
Importing and Exporting
A NavMesh and TileCache can be imported and exported as a Uint8Array.
See below for an example of exporting then importing a NavMesh:
import { exportNavMesh, importNavMesh } from 'recast-navigation';
/* export */
const navMeshExport: Uint8Array = exportNavMesh(navMesh);
/* import */
const { navMesh } = importNavMesh(navMeshExport);
To export a TileCache and NavMesh, the usage varies slightly:
import { exportTileCache, importTileCache } from 'recast-navigation';
/* exporting */
// pass both the navMesh and the tileCache
const navMeshExport: Uint8Array = exportTileCache(navMesh, tileCache);
/* importing */
// also pass the TileCacheMeshProcess implementation for the tile cache
// if you used `generateTileCache` and didn't provide one, `createDefaultTileCacheMeshProcess` returns the default TileCacheMeshProcess `generateTileCache` uses
const tileCacheMeshProcess = createDefaultTileCacheMeshProcess();
// otherwise, you can use your own TileCacheMeshProcess
const customTileCacheMeshProcess = new TileCacheMeshProcess(
(navMeshCreateParams, polyAreas, polyFlags) => {
for (let i = 0; i < navMeshCreateParams.polyCount(); ++i) {
polyAreas.set(i, 0);
polyFlags.set(i, 1);
}
}
);
const { navMesh, tileCache, allocator, compressor } = importTileCache(
navMeshExport,
tileCacheMeshProcess
);
Packages
Functionality is spread across packages in the @recast-navigation/*
organization.
The recast-navigation
package is the umbrella package for core packages, and has entrypoints for @recast-navigation/core
and @recast-navigation/generators
.
All packages ship as ECMAScript modules, and are compatible with Node.js and browser environments.
recast-navigation
The umbrella package for recast-navigation
.
> npm install recast-navigation
import { init } from 'recast-navigation';
import { generateSoloNavMesh } from 'recast-navigation/generators';
@recast-navigation/core
The core library!
> npm install @recast-navigation/core
@recast-navigation/generators
NavMesh generator implementations. Use these to get started, and as a basis for your own NavMesh generator.
> npm install @recast-navigation/generators
@recast-navigation/three
Helpers for three.js.
> npm install @recast-navigation/three
@recast-navigation/playcanvas
Helpers for playcanvas.
> npm install @recast-navigation/playcanvas
@recast-navigation/wasm
The WebAssembly build of the Recast and Detour libraries.
You regularly won't need to use this package directly, @recast-navigation/core
uses it internally.
> npm install @recast-navigation/wasm
Apps
NavMesh Generator
A website for generating navmeshes for your game. Drag 'n' drop your GLTF, fine tune your settings, and download your navmesh!
(source)
Acknowledgements
- This would not exist without Recast Navigation itself!
- The demos use recastnavigation's level mesh
- The WASM build was based on the Babylon.js Recast Extension