@solidrt/3d 0.0.55 → 0.0.56

package/AGENTS.md

@@ -24,6 +24,16 @@ blendMode and pointer events like any element.
   in JS and why. The component face (`Scene`/`Group`/`Mesh`/
   `PerspectiveCamera`) syncs props into that core over context and renders
   nothing itself.
+- Node lifecycle: `add(parent, child)` attaches (re-parenting detaches
+  first), `remove(child)` DETACHES an intact subtree - children stay
+  under the removed node, core nodes free on leave and recreate on
+  re-enter, so a removed subtree re-adds cleanly. Nothing is destroyed
+  except instance record buffers (`disposeInstances`) and the scene
+  itself. (@solidrt/2d's `removeGroup` DESTROYS its subtree instead - a
+  sprite cannot exist outside its layer, so there remove means destroy.)
+  An instance node (addInstance on an instanced mesh) follows the 2d
+  rule: slot-bound to its mesh, `removeInstance` destroys it, and the
+  generic add/remove throw on it.
 - Rendering is the runtime's. The target is `render: "auto"`: it
   re-renders when entries change, so a STATIC scene costs zero passes and
   the library registers no frame loop. Continuous animation is the app's
@@ -37,24 +47,99 @@ blendMode and pointer events like any element.
   its CORE node, so the one flush writes every target - the app writes
   nothing per view. Geometry buffers and (without an override) materials
   are shared; the light set and `scene.setParams` names fan out to every
-  view, `view.setParams` is the view's own channel; the scene background
-  is not mirrored; a view has no picking. `overrideMaterial` (Three's
+  view, `view.setParams` is the view's own channel - and names a view
+  sets itself (or its `fog` option, below) become VIEW-OWNED: the
+  scene's setParams/setFog fan-out skips them from then on, so a view
+  override survives scene-wide writes. A view's backdrop is its
+  clearColor (the scene background draws on PROBES, not views); a view
+  has no picking. LAYERS select what a target
+  draws, Three's model exactly: `layers` on a mesh is its membership
+  bitmask (default 1, `setLayers`/the `layers` prop, NOT inherited from
+  Groups), and each target carries a mask (default 1) - `layers` on
+  createScene/createView, live via `setLayers` on the scene handle and
+  each view. A mesh draws where mask & layers is non-zero, so a minimap's
+  marker meshes live on bit 2: invisible in the main render, drawn by
+  the map view whose mask admits them. Shadow views follow the SCENE's
+  mask (what the scene cannot see must not darken it), and
+  pick()/raycast()/overlap()/sweep() skip scene-masked-out meshes like
+  invisible ones - unless the query passes its own `{ layers }`, which is
+  how a low-poly collision mesh lives undrawn in the scene yet answers
+  ground and collision queries (the physics-collider pattern).
+  Per-view fog: `fog: FogOptions | null` on createView overrides the
+  scene's fog for that view (null = unfogged - the clear minimap over a
+  fogged scene); absent follows the scene. `overrideMaterial` (Three's
   `scene.overrideMaterial`, scoped to the view) draws every mesh with one
   material - a depth pass, a normal/id visualizer - skips instanced
-  meshes (the override cannot know their record layout) and draws in add
-  order. `depth: "texture"` exposes `view.depthTexture`, the shadow-map
-  input. `ortho: { left, right, top, bottom }` on any camera swaps
+  meshes (unless the override itself declares their exact
+  `instanceAttributes` record layout) and draws in add order. `depth: "texture"` exposes `view.depthTexture`, the shadow-map
+  input; the same option on createScene exposes `scene.depthTexture`,
+  the input for a depth-reading post effect in `output` (not combinable
+  with `samples` - no multisampled sampleable depth). `ortho: { left, right, top, bottom }` on any camera swaps
   perspective for `orthographic()` (`fov` ignored; `ortho: null` returns);
   the scene's own camera takes it too, and pick() follows.
   `examples/scene-views.tsx` is the shape.
+- CULLING is the core's, per target, on by default: every camera write
+  (the scene's, a view's, a shadow tile's) also sets that target's
+  frustum in the spatial core, and the flush switches an entry whose
+  world box falls wholly outside it to instance count 0 - the same
+  switch as `visible`, so a culled mesh costs nothing per frame and a
+  still camera re-tests nothing (a camera move re-tests every sink on
+  that target, in Rust; a node move re-tests its own). The box is the
+  picking box (the local bounds through the world matrix, the
+  Godot/Unity AABB test; Three uses spheres); an instanced mesh without
+  explicit `bounds` is culled by the union of its live instances' boxes
+  (the joint group below over the instance nodes, so the box follows
+  them: Godot's MultiMesh AABB, with `bounds` as its custom_aabb; Three
+  computes an InstancedMesh sphere once and leaves it stale, Unity wants
+  worldBounds), and a record mesh without `bounds` is never culled. Per
+  mesh: `frustumCulled: false` (Three's name; `setCulling`) for geometry
+  a vertex stage moves beyond its box - a fullscreen quad, a custom
+  displacement - and `cullMargin` (world units, Godot's
+  `extra_cull_margin`) for bounded displacement such as wind. Sprites
+  cull by their quad's reach at any facing. A SKINNED part is culled by
+  the union of its joints' boxes (the bake computes each joint's
+  influence box in joint space, `ModelSkin.jointBounds`, .srtm VERSION
+  5; the joint nodes carry them as culling-only bounds, outside the
+  picking index), so the box follows the pose with no per-frame JS -
+  Unity's bone bounds, Godot's per-bone AABBs; no `updateWhenOffscreen`
+  knob is needed. Probe faces set no frustum (six cameras, one target).
+  Shadow tiles cull casters against their light frustum, which is what
+  makes `shadow.distance` and cascades cheaper.
 - SHADOWS are a view: `<DirectionalLight castShadow shadow={{ mapSize?,
-  bias?, normalBias?, camera? }}>` (`createDirectionalLight({ castShadow,
+  bias?, normalBias?, radius?, camera? }}>` (`createDirectionalLight({ castShadow,
   shadow })`, `setLight`) makes the scene own an internal
   `createView({ depth: "texture", overrideMaterial: depth pass })` drawing
   the `castShadow` meshes (`<Mesh castShadow>`, `setCastShadow`) from an
   orthographic camera at the light's WORLD position along its world
   direction, `shadow.camera` (+-5, 0.5..500 by default) as the frustum.
-  Any directional light may cast (capped by MAX_LIGHTS = MAX_SHADOWS).
+  Any light may cast, bounded by the shadow-slot budget
+  (MAX_SHADOW_MAPS = 8, its own constant: a directional light claims
+  `shadow.cascades` consecutive slots, a point light six, a spot one,
+  and a caster past the budget throws at attach). `<SpotLight castShadow
+  shadow={{ mapSize?, bias?, normalBias?, near? }}>` is the same
+  machinery with a PERSPECTIVE camera: at the light's world position
+  along its world direction, fov = its cone (2 * angle), near from
+  `shadow.near` (default 0.5), far from the light's `distance` (or the
+  directional default 500 when 0) - one map, one slot, the same atlas
+  and lookup. A perspective map's depth is nonlinear, so `normalBias`
+  (world units) is the acne knob to reach for; `bias` acts in that
+  nonlinear depth. `<PointLight castShadow>` casts in every direction
+  with the same option set: six 90-degree face maps (world-axis
+  aligned, slot order +X, -X, +Y, -Y, +Z, -Z) as six consecutive tiles
+  of the same atlas, far from `distance` like a spot - so give a
+  casting bulb a distance. No cube map: a receiver picks the face by
+  the dominant axis of the light-to-point vector (SHADOW_LOOKUP), one
+  projection, one hardware-compare tap - the Three/Godot/Unity-URP
+  atlas route. `shadow.radius` (every casting light, default 1 = that
+  one tap, a 2x2 bilinear compare) softens the edge: above 1 a 3x3 grid
+  of hardware taps `radius` texels apart, Three's `shadow.radius` /
+  Godot's `shadow_blur`, nine taps per receiver fragment. A first-person
+  eye over a floor shows the texel stairs at any map size; 2 is the
+  usual figure, past ~3 the taps separate into bands. Each face map renders a few degrees wider than its face
+  (URP's fovBias) so a seam fragment's occluder is inside the map it
+  samples - without the guard band every seam shows a lit slit - and
+  PCF taps clamp at face-tile edges, so a face seam hardens slightly
+  instead of bleeding into the neighbour.
   `shadow: { cascades: N }` (1..MAX_CASCADES = 4) replaces the box with
   N maps fitted to slices of the SCENE camera's frustum (near ..
   `shadow.distance`, default the camera far; the practical split; each
@@ -82,7 +167,8 @@ blendMode and pointer events like any element.
   (Godot's and Three's default); `lit({ receiveShadow: false })` opts a
   material out and drops the map from its program - a material option,
   as with vertexColors/triplanar, because the material picks the program
-  (Godot's `disable_receive_shadows`). The factor is `SHADOW`'s 3x3 PCF
+  (Godot's `disable_receive_shadows`). The factor is `SHADOW`'s one
+  hardware-compare tap (sampler2DShadow, LEQUAL, the driver's 2x2 PCF)
   on each casting light's own term. `examples/shadows.tsx` (three
   casting lights) is the shape; `examples/cascades.tsx` the cascaded sun.
 - RETARGETED motion is native: `setTransition(node, { position:
@@ -146,18 +232,31 @@ blendMode and pointer events like any element.
   `gltf-check`) run on
   flux from the repo root: `bunx srt bundle -f --stdout
   packages/3d/checks/<name>.ts | target/release/flux -`. Run the ones
-  touching what you changed.
+  touching what you changed. `raycast-check.tsx` and
+  `collision-check.tsx` are the exceptions: they assert the documented
+  picking contract (triangle accuracy, the box tier, pick/raycast
+  parity, layer masks, the `{ meshes }` filter) and collision contract
+  (exact sweep times, the surface rule, the slide filter, layers and
+  meshes on overlap/sweep, moveAndSlide's landing) against a real scene,
+  so they run on the playback client instead:
+  `bunx srt render packages/3d/checks/<name>.tsx --project --duration 3
+  --size 128x128`. Run them whenever a doc edit touches picking or
+  collision claims - two copies of this contract have drifted before.
 
 ## Components
 
 | Component | Props |
 | --- | --- |
-| `Scene` | `width`, `height` (target pixels), `clearColor?`, `background?` (fragment GLSL), `fog?` (`{ color, near, far }`, linear by camera distance), `samples?` (1/2/4/8 MSAA), `label?`, `ref?(scene)`, `output?(texture)`, `events?` (mesh pointer events, default on) |
+| `Scene` | `width?`, `height?` (target pixels - both, or neither = FILL, below), `clearColor?`, `camera?` (partial CameraUpdate, `ortho` included - the declarative scene.setCamera; same state as `PerspectiveCamera`, use one form), `background?` (fragment GLSL, or a skybox `{ cube, intensity?, rotation? }`), `environment?` (`{ cube, intensity?, rotation? }`, the cube reflective materials mirror), `fog?` (`{ color, near, far }`, linear by camera distance), `toneMapping?` (`"none"` default or `"aces"`), `exposure?` (default 1), `layers?` (target mask, default 1), `depth?` (`"texture"` exposes scene.depthTexture; not with samples), `samples?` (1/2/4/8 MSAA), `label?`, `ref?(scene)`, `output?(texture)`, `events?` (mesh pointer events, default on) |
 | `Group` | `position?`, `rotation?` (Euler radians, XYZ order), `quaternion?` (either, not both), `scale?` (number = uniform), `visible?`, pointer events (below), `ref?(node)` |
-| `Mesh` | `geometry`, `material`, transforms as Group, `params?` (per-mesh uniforms, merge semantics - no unset), pointer events (below), `ref?(mesh)` |
+| `Mesh` | `geometry`, `material`, transforms as Group, `params?` (per-mesh uniforms, merge semantics - no unset), `renderOrder?`, `castShadow?`, `layers?` (membership bitmask, default 1), pointer events (below), `ref?(mesh)` |
 | `Sprite` | as Mesh minus `geometry`: a camera-facing unit quad, `scale` is its world size, rotation is ignored; pair with a `sprite()` material |
-| `InstancedMesh` | as Mesh, plus `records` (interleaved per-instance floats; buffer capacity starts at the first value and grows on larger rewrites), `count?` (records drawn, default all), `bounds?` (local [minX..maxZ] over the population - without it the mesh never picks); the record buffer is component-owned and freed on unmount |
-| `PerspectiveCamera` | `fov?` (vertical DEGREES, default 60), `near?`, `far?`, `position?`, `lookAt?`, `up?` |
+| `InstancedMesh` | as Mesh (an instanced `material`: a stock one with `instanced`/`instanceColors`, or a class declaring INSTANCE_MATRIX_ATTRIBUTES), plus `capacity?` (instance slots, default 64; the buffers double past it), `bounds?` (optional: instances pick by themselves and the mesh culls by their union), `label?`; a PARENT: `<Instance>` children populate it, `<Group>` children are squads; the record buffers are component-owned and freed on unmount |
+| `Instance` | one instance of the enclosing `InstancedMesh`: transforms, `transition`, pointer events as Group, plus `style?` (the material's slot-1 floats - `[r, g, b, a]` under `instanceColors`), `ref?(instance)`; a parent too (a `<Mesh>` under an instance rides with it) |
+| `RecordMesh` | as Mesh, plus `records` (interleaved per-instance floats; buffer capacity starts at the first value and grows on larger rewrites), `count?` (records drawn, default all), `bounds?` (local [minX..maxZ] over the population - without it the mesh never picks); the record buffer is component-owned and freed on unmount |
+| `PerspectiveCamera` | `fov?` (vertical DEGREES, default 60), `near?`, `far?`, `position?`, `lookAt?`, `up?` - or the Scene `camera` prop, the same state (last write wins) |
+| `SpotLight` | transforms as Group, `direction?` (local aim, default [0, -1, 0]), `color?`, `intensity?`, `distance?` (falloff cutoff, 0 = none), `angle?` (cone half-angle DEGREES, default 60), `penumbra?` (0..1 rim fade, default 0), `decay?` (falloff exponent, default 2), `castShadow?`, `shadow?` (mapSize, bias, normalBias, near), `ref?(light)` |
+| `PointLight` | transforms as Group (position is what matters), `color?`, `intensity?`, `distance?`, `decay?`, `castShadow?` (six face maps, six shadow slots), `shadow?` (mapSize, bias, normalBias, near), `ref?(light)` |
 
 Output composition: without `output`, `Scene` emits a minimal
 `<texture width height>` leaf and nothing else is forwarded - anything
@@ -171,30 +270,33 @@ elsewhere. Called once, untracked, inside the scene context. Scene
 layout, so render and display size separate - render at 2x and display
 smaller for supersampling.
 
-Filling the window: `width`/`height` are DEVICE pixels, the leaf's layout
-is LOGICAL. A `designSize` view fits the leaf to the window but never
-changes the target, so on a HiDPI display a 720-pixel scene is stretched
-across ~1100 device pixels and looks soft, and nothing warns (the
-examples' `SIZE = 720` is a verification convenience, not a sizing
-model). Render at the window's device size and lay the leaf out at its
-logical size:
-
-```tsx
-let target = createMemo(() => {
-  let { width, height } = windowSize()
-  let scale = displayScale()
-  return { w: Math.round(width * scale), h: Math.round(height * scale) }
-})
-<Scene width={target().w} height={target().h}
-       output={t => <texture src={t} width={windowSize().width}
-                             height={windowSize().height}
-                             {...useScene().scene.handlersFor(windowSize)} />}>
-```
-
-`windowSize` and `displayScale` come from `@solidrt/core`. The leaf's
-layout differs from the target, so it takes `handlersFor` (below), not
-`handlers`; `useScene()` works inside `output` because it runs in the
-scene context.
+Fill (the default): omit `width`/`height` and the built-in leaf is laid
+out at 100% of its parent's box (give it a sized parent, as on the web)
+while the target follows the leaf's on-screen size in DEVICE pixels -
+display scale, `designSize` fits and ancestor transforms included
+(getBoundingBoxViewport x displayScale, applied from onLayout, so no
+frame draws at a stale size). A bare `<Scene>` in a pane renders at
+native density on any display, mesh events and `<OrbitCamera>` input are
+wired automatically (event scaling reads the leaf's untransformed box
+back with `getLayoutBox`), and the camera aspect follows the box. Fill
+or fixed is decided at mount; `output` requires explicit sizes (the
+target cannot follow a leaf it does not own), and giving exactly one of
+width/height throws.
+
+Fixed sizes still matter where the target is a measured quantity: probes
+and checks that snapshot exact pixels, supersampling via `output`, or a
+scene composited at a size unrelated to its layout. `width`/`height` are
+DEVICE pixels and the leaf's layout is LOGICAL - a fixed 720-pixel scene
+under a HiDPI `designSize` fit is stretched across ~1100 device pixels
+and looks soft, and nothing warns; that trap is what fill removes (the
+examples fill; scene-views and scene-post-effect keep fixed sizes to
+show multi-view composition and supersampling). A custom `output` leaf
+whose layout differs from the target
+takes `handlersFor` (below), not `handlers`; `useScene()` works inside
+`output` because it runs in the scene context. With an `<OrbitCamera>`
+(or any SceneInput listener) in the scene, also spread
+`{...useScene().input.handlersFor(layout)}` on the leaf - the mesh-event
+and control-input channels are separate spreads with the same layout.
 
 Camera control: `createOrbitCamera(scene, { target?, azimuth?, elevation?,
 distance?, min/maxDistance?, min/maxElevation?, orbitSpeed?, rotateSpeed?,
@@ -214,44 +316,168 @@ a pan may put the pivot. Zoom aims
 at the target unless `zoomAnchor(x, y, {eye, target})` maps the pinch focal
 / wheel cursor to a world point (ground hit, target-depth plane, ...) - then
 that point stays pinned under the pointer and the target slides toward it;
-only the app can build that mapping, since fov, aspect and element placement
-are app state. Pair it with `rotateAnchor({eye, target})`: called at gesture
+only the app can build that mapping, since fov and aspect are app state
+(the point arrives in the input element's own pixels). Pair it with `rotateAnchor({eye, target})`: called at gesture
 start, its point is projected onto the view axis and re-seats the pivot
 without moving the picture, so a drag after an anchored zoom orbits what the
 camera looks at, not wherever the zoom left the target. Spread
 `orbit.handlers` onto the input-owning element, call `orbit.update(dt)`
 from your onFrame (no frame loop of its own), and use its return - true
 when the pose changed - to gate per-frame dependents like reprojecting
-HUD overlays. `orbiting()` is reactive (HUD-safe); the pose is plain state via
-`pose()`/`set()` (also the debug-command shape). It drives position and
-target only; fov/near/far stay on scene.setCamera. In a component tree,
-reach the scene via `<Scene ref>` or useScene().
+HUD overlays. `orbiting()` (the auto-orbit switch) and `active()` (the
+frame-loop gate: orbiting with a non-zero rate - the predicate the 2d
+camera and the first-person camera share) are reactive (HUD-safe); the
+pose is plain state via `pose()`/`set()` (also the debug-command shape). It drives position and
+target only; fov/near/far stay on scene.setCamera (or the Scene `camera`
+prop).
+
+In a component tree, skip the wiring: `<OrbitCamera azimuth={1.2}
+distance={7} />` as a Scene child reaches the scene through context,
+receives input from the scene's leaf (the built-in one automatically; a
+custom `output` leaf spreads `{...useScene().input.handlersFor(layout)}`
+beside its scene.handlersFor spread, same `layout`), defaults `viewport`
+to the leaf's laid-out size plus the scene camera's fov, and pushes input
+poses synchronously - no ref plumbing, no onFrame. Auto-orbit runs a
+frame loop only while `active()`, so a paused camera keeps the app
+demand-driven idle. The pose props are
+initial values: runtime pose changes (and the debug-command hookup) go
+through `ref`'s handle, whose set() also pushes the pose. Every other
+prop is live - forwarded to the control as a getter and read where it
+applies, never snapshotted - so clamps, rates, anchors and `viewport`
+follow their props without a remount, and a clamp change re-clamps the
+pose at once.
+
+First-person control: `createFirstPersonCamera(scene, { position?, yaw?,
+pitch?, min/maxPitch?, moveSpeed?, lookSpeed?, fly?, viewport?,
+clampPosition? })` - a position plus yaw/pitch (yaw 0 faces -z, positive
+turns left; pitch positive looks up), Unity's FirstPersonController shape
+(look AND move in one control) where Three splits PointerLockControls
+from a hand-written key loop. Look comes from pointer-move
+movementX/movementY while `pointerLocked()`, from a one-finger drag
+(arena-arbitrated through createTransform, viewport-relative with
+`viewport`) while not, and from the right stick; move from WASD/arrows
+(physical codes and logical keys both), the left stick, and Q/E for
+down/up - bound always, inert unless `fly` is on. Walking (the default)
+flattens the heading onto the ground plane at fixed height. Every option
+but the initial pose is read where it applies (`fly` per update,
+`clampPosition` per move, the rates and pitch clamps per input), so a
+field changed on the options object takes effect on the next move: walk
+and fly are one control. The control NEVER calls `lockPointer`
+- click-to-lock and Escape-to-release are the app's window-level
+decisions (see `examples/first-person.tsx`) - and has no collision of
+its own: `clampPosition(next, current)` is the whole hook - bounds, a
+floor height, or `moveAndSlide` over `next - current` against the
+collision layer (see `examples/collision.tsx`). Spread `handlers` (pointer + key +
+onBlur; keys reach only the FOCUSED node, so that element must hold
+focus or be the window), call `update(dt)` from onFrame; `active()` is
+reactive - a key held or a stick deflected - and gates the loop. Keys
+cannot be polled (core has no key-state accessor), so held keys are
+tracked from the down/up pair and `onBlur` drops them.
+
+`<FirstPersonCamera>` as a Scene child wires all of it: with a
+key-driven control registered, the built-in leaf becomes `focusable`
+and takes focus on pointer down (the web canvas gesture), which routes
+the keys to the control; a pointer-only scene (`<OrbitCamera>`) never
+steals focus. A custom `output` leaf spreads
+`useScene().input.handlersFor(layout, () => node)` and declares
+`focusable` itself. The frame loop runs only while `active()`. Every prop
+but the initial pose is live: `fly={flying()}` toggles walk/fly on the
+running control (pose and held keys carry over, no remount, and
+`clampPosition` may swap with it), `moveSpeed`/`lookSpeed` follow their
+props, and a pitch clamp change re-clamps at once.
 
 Overlay projection: `scene.project(point)` maps a world point to scene
 pixels (top-left origin, y down - the output texture's own space; `w` is
-clip-space w, the camera-forward distance) and returns null for a point
-at or behind the camera plane. It reflects a pending `setCamera`
-immediately, so set-then-project in one tick is exact. `scene.viewProj(out?)`
-copies the view-projection matrix for batch work. Never rebuild the
-camera matrices by hand for a HUD.
+the camera-forward distance in world units under either projection) and
+returns null for a point at or behind a PERSPECTIVE camera's plane; an
+ortho camera places every point (`w` may be <= 0 there - negative near
+is legal ortho). It reflects a pending `setCamera` immediately, so
+set-then-project in one tick is exact. `scene.unproject(x, y, w, out?)`
+is its exact inverse: the world point at that pixel and camera-forward
+distance `w` - project()'s `w` round-trips in both modes (the
+drag-at-depth recipe: project the grabbed point once, keep its `w`,
+unproject each move). `scene.viewProj(out?)` copies the view-projection
+matrix for batch work. Never rebuild the camera matrices by hand for a
+HUD.
 
 Picking: `scene.pick(x, y)` is project()'s inverse - the camera ray
 through a scene pixel, returning `Hit[]` (`{ mesh, distance, point }`,
 world units, nearest first; every hit along the ray, not just the front
-one). `scene.raycast(origin, direction)` is the world-space primitive
-under it.
+one). `scene.raycast(origin, direction, opts?)` is the world-space
+primitive under it, and `scene.screenRay(x, y)` the ray itself
+(`{ origin, direction }`; direction's camera-forward component is 1, so
+`origin + w * direction` = unproject) for intersection work pick cannot
+do - drag planes, ground grids, filtered raycasts. All three cast
+exactly the same ray. raycast's `opts` filters the query:
+`{ layers }` (Unity's layerMask) replaces the scene's mask for this ray,
+and `{ meshes }` (Three's intersectObjects) is an include-list; a
+per-frame ground query passes one or the other instead of skipping
+skyboxes and actors by hand.
 The index and the narrowphase live in the spatial core: every attached
 mesh's local box is a leaf in a dynamic AABB tree the flush refits from
 the fresh world matrices (O(moved) per frame, a query O(log meshes)), and
 an ordinary mesh is then tested per triangle against its geometry's
 shape (one CPU copy per distinct geometry, created with its GPU buffers),
 so hits carry `face`, `uv` and a world-space `normal` facing the ray, and
-a ray through a knot's hole misses. An instanced mesh is box-only (its
-explicit population bounds; records are opaque), so its hits have none of
-the three. Both methods
+a ray through a knot's hole misses. A large geometry's triangles are
+BVH-indexed too - built by the first ray that reaches the shape, log-cost
+after - so raycasting a merged static scene stays cheap (see the batching
+advice). An instanced mesh is box-only (its
+explicit population bounds; records are opaque): it is tested by the
+box's twelve triangles, so its hits carry the struck face's `normal` and
+no `face`/`uv` - and a ray from inside it meets the far side, the
+surface contract overlap/sweep share. Both methods
 flush pending writes first (the lookAt/project immediacy contract), and
 both skip invisible meshes.
 
+Collision: `scene.overlap(volume, opts?)` and `scene.sweep(volume,
+motion, opts?)` are the same index's other two questions - what a volume
+touches, and where a moving one first touches: Unity's
+OverlapSphere/Box/Capsule and SphereCast/CapsuleCast/BoxCast, Godot's
+intersect_shape and cast_motion (Three has the raycaster alone; every
+Three game adds a physics library or three-mesh-bvh for this). A
+`Volume` is a sphere (`{ center, radius }`), a capsule (`{ a, b,
+radius }`, the radius swept along the segment - a character) or an
+oriented box (`{ center, halfExtents, rotation? }`). overlap returns
+`Overlap[]` - `{ mesh, point, normal, depth }`, the deepest contact per
+mesh: the point on the mesh, the unit direction out of it and the depth
+along it that clears the contact (Godot's get_rest_info, Unity's
+ComputePenetration, per hit; unordered) - and sweep `Impact[]` -
+`{ mesh, time, point, normal }`, per mesh its first touch with `time`
+the fraction of the motion, earliest first. Both take raycast's `opts`
+(`{ layers, meshes }`) and test per triangle in WORLD space against the
+same shapes, so any transform holds, an instanced mesh or sprite counts
+by its box, and the physics-collider pattern is one `{ layers }` away.
+Two contracts to know: the tests are SURFACES (a volume wholly inside a
+closed mesh with no triangle in reach touches nothing - the trimesh rule
+in every engine), and a sweep from a volume already in contact reports
+time 0 only while the motion closes in; leaving or sliding along the
+contact is no hit, which is what lets a slide along a wall proceed. A
+zero motion touches nothing.
+`moveAndSlide(scene, volume, motion, opts?)` is the controller over
+them: Godot's CharacterBody3D.move_and_slide and Unity's
+CharacterController.Move as one PURE function - no node, no velocity;
+the first-person camera composes it in `clampPosition`, a node-driven
+body applies `result.motion` with setTransform. It pushes the body out
+of anything it starts inside, sweeps, stops a skin short, slides the
+rest along the contact plane up to `maxSlides` times, then snaps down
+onto a floor within `floorSnap` unless the motion rises - and the
+`floor` it reports is the one it ENDS on (within `floorSnap` below), not
+one it touched on the way. `MoveOptions`
+adds `up`, `floorMaxAngle` (45 degrees: flatter is floor, steeper a wall
+the body slides down), `maxSlides` (6), `skin` (0.01) and `floorSnap`
+(0.1, 0 off) to the query filters; the result is `{ motion, floor, wall,
+ceiling, hits }`. Gravity is the caller's - fold it into `motion` and
+zero it while `floor` is set (the snap keeps reporting the floor while
+the body stands still) - and a walkable floor absorbs the vertical part,
+so a body never creeps down a slope it can stand on.
+`examples/collision.tsx` is the whole pattern: a capsule walker through
+`clampPosition`, gravity as a frame loop that runs only while airborne,
+the level on a collider layer bit beside its drawn one, pickups lit by
+one overlap per move. Deliberately absent and additive when asked: a
+step offset (Unity's stepOffset; Godot has none either) and a cylinder
+volume (Godot only).
+
 Mesh pointer events - the element vocabulary one tree deeper:
 `onPointerDown/Move/Up/Enter/Leave` as plain fields on any node (and as
 Mesh/Group props). The nearest hit mesh is the target; down/move/up
@@ -313,7 +539,10 @@ concatenates parts into one geometry with offset indices (uint32 past 64k
 vertices); parts must share one layout, a mixed list throws. Together
 they collapse a static scene to one mesh per material - transform each
 part into place, merge, draw once - so only what actually moves keeps a
-node, a draw entry and a per-frame `uModel` write of its own. Both are
+node, a draw entry and a per-frame `uModel` write of its own. Merging
+does not tax picking: a merged geometry's raycast narrowphase runs
+through its triangle BVH (built on the first ray), so merge for draw
+count without giving up ground queries. Both are
 pure array math (Three's `applyMatrix4` + `mergeGeometries`), no GPU
 call, and the source geometries are untouched. `geometryBounds(geometry)`
 returns the cached local AABB `[minX, minY, minZ, maxX, maxY, maxZ]`, and
@@ -350,9 +579,10 @@ uint16/uint32 indices by vertex count automatically.
 Materials:
 
 - `unlit({ color?, map?, transparent?, cull?, alphaTest?, fog? })` -
-  straight `[r, g, b, a?]` 0..1, premultiplied internally; `cull` and
+  straight `[r, g, b, a?]` 0..1 sRGB (decoded to linear light, see Color
+  below), premultiplied internally; `cull` and
   `alphaTest` as on lit (a mapped cutout casts its cutout); `fog: false`
-  opts out of the scene's fog (all three standard materials take it).
+  opts out of the scene's fog (all four library materials take it).
 - `sprite({ color?, map?, transparent?, billboard? })` - unlit on a quad
   that turns to face the camera IN THE VERTEX STAGE (off the shared
   uCamRight/uCamUp, or uCamPos for `billboard: "fixed-y"`, which yaws
@@ -377,7 +607,15 @@ Materials:
   `normalize(uCamPos - worldPos)`), `uniform vec3 uCamRight` / `uCamUp`
   (the camera's world-space view axes, shared likewise - a billboard is
   `center + uCamRight * x + uCamUp * y`; do NOT rebuild them from
-  uViewProj rows, that carries the clip flip) and `uniform mat4 uNormal` (the world
+  uViewProj rows, that carries the clip flip), `uniform mat4
+  uInvViewProj` (the camera's inverse view-projection, shared likewise -
+  a clip position back to world, the world-space ray through a pixel
+  without knowing the projection), the output stage's `uniform float
+  uExposure` / `uToneMapping` (compose `OUTPUT` from `/glsl` and end with
+  `fragColor = outputColor(rgb, alpha)` to take the scene's exposure and
+  tone mapping and encode like the library materials do; a fragment
+  writing fragColor directly writes final encoded pixels) and `uniform
+  mat4 uNormal` (the world
   inverse-transpose, written beside uModel for this material's meshes;
   take `mat3(uNormal)` - correct under non-uniform scale, where
   mat3(uModel) bends normals off the surface). Attributes come from the
@@ -401,50 +639,283 @@ Materials:
   pipeline with its own values. `dispose()` lives on the class alone.
   `shaderMaterial(opts)` is exactly a class with one instance (its
   `dispose` forwards to the class).
-- `instanceAttributes: [{ name, format }]` on either shader-material form
-  makes an INSTANCED material: the vertex stage reads them as `in`
+- `instanceAttributes: [{ name, format, slot? }]` on either shader-material
+  form makes an INSTANCED material: the vertex stage reads them as `in`
   variables beside the layout's own, and each drawn instance gets one
-  record of the mesh's instance buffer. Its meshes come from
-  `createInstancedMesh` (below); a `createMesh` mesh is rejected at add().
-
-Instancing - one draw entry covering a population:
-`createInstancedMesh(geometry, material, records, count?, { bounds?,
-label? })` returns an ordinary Mesh whose entry draws the geometry once
-per record. `records` is the interleaved per-instance data (stride = the
-material's instanceAttributes summed, a mismatch throws), uploaded to a
-mesh-owned buffer whose capacity starts at the records given. `count` picks how
-many records draw (default all). Everything mesh works unchanged:
-setTransform moves the whole population through one uModel, setVisible
-zeroes the drawn count and restores the record count on unhide,
-renderOrder/params/geometry/material swaps apply. `setInstances(mesh,
-records, count?)` rewrites records from the start (count defaults to the
-records written; more than capacity GROWS: capacity doubles into a
-replacement buffer, the entry is re-pointed via `setDrawBuffers`, the old
-buffer is freed), `setInstanceCount(mesh, n)` is the population dial (clamped to capacity;
-frame-rate-safe), and `disposeInstances(mesh)` detaches and frees the
-record buffer - the one explicit free, geometry-buffer rule. Records are
-opaque data (position/yaw/tint/whatever your shader reads), NOT matrices:
-a per-instance mat4 would be four vec4 columns reassembled in the shader,
-but most fleets want a few floats. Picking: the library cannot know where
-records place instances, so an instanced mesh has NO picking leaf unless
-you pass `bounds` (local, covering the population) - then it picks and
-transparent-sorts conservatively as one box. `examples/instanced.tsx` is
-the live proof.
+  record per slot from the mesh's instance buffers - slot 0 (default)
+  is the record buffer, slot 1 an instanced mesh's STYLE buffer (below).
+  Its meshes come from `createInstancedMesh` or `createRecordMesh`; a
+  `createMesh` mesh is rejected at add(). `instanceStyle: [..]` is the
+  slot-1 record a fresh instance starts with. The stock materials do
+  the same with one flag: `lit/standard/unlit({ instanced: true })`
+  places by the instance matrix (the shadow pass too, so the fleet
+  casts), and `{ instanceColors: true }` adds a per-instance
+  premultiplied `[r, g, b, a]` style record starting white - Unity's
+  per-material instancing switch with Three's setColorAt.
+
+Instancing - one draw entry covering a population, in two forms. The
+axis between them is WHERE MOTION IS COMPUTED, the same split as
+@solidrt/2d's sprite and record layers.
+
+`createInstancedMesh(geometry, material, { capacity?, bounds?, label? })`
+draws the geometry once per instance NODE: `addInstance(mesh,
+transform?, parent?)` returns a scene node (kind "instance") placed
+inside the mesh - setTransform/setTransition/setVisible, lookAt,
+worldPosition, pointer handlers and children of its own all apply - whose
+matrix RELATIVE to the mesh the spatial core writes into the record
+buffer (`bindMatrixRecord` anchored on the mesh node: one coalesced
+buffer write per flush however many instances moved, so native
+transitions and clip players move instances with zero per-frame JS).
+The material declares `INSTANCE_MATRIX_ATTRIBUTES` in slot 0 (four vec4
+columns, 16 floats; anything else throws at creation) and its vertex
+stage splices `INSTANCE_MATRIX` from `@solidrt/3d/glsl`: `uModel *
+instanceMatrix() * vec4(aPos, 1.0)`, normals through
+`instanceNormalMatrix()` (Three's derivation, exact for any rotation and
+scale at no per-instance data; a sheared hierarchy - a non-uniformly
+scaled group above a rotated instance - takes
+`transpose(inverse(mat3(instanceMatrix())))` instead) - or is a stock
+material with `instanced`. Slot-1 attributes, when the material declares
+any, give every instance a STYLE record beside its matrix
+(`MeshInstances.style`): app-owned floats in a second, mesh-owned
+buffer, written per instance with `setInstanceStyle(instance, floats)`
+into a JS mirror and published as ONE coalesced buffer write per mesh at
+the scene's sync (a frame-rate path, like setTransform); a fresh or
+recycled slot starts from the material's `instanceStyle` (white under
+`instanceColors`, zeros otherwise); under `alphaTest` the cutout shadow
+multiplies by the same color, so an instance faded below the cutoff
+casts nothing, like its pixels (Godot's alpha scissor holds in its
+shadow pass too). The core's pose slot and the app's style slot are
+@solidrt/2d's split one dimension up. Slots are fixed
+for an instance's life and recycle on `removeInstance` (remove means
+destroy: an instance cannot exist outside its mesh, and the generic
+add/remove throw on one), the drawn count is the slot high-water mark,
+and past `capacity` (default 64) both buffers double into replacements
+with the live records retargeted in one core call and the style mirror
+republished. `parent` may be a group inside the mesh's subtree (a squad
+in a fleet): the record stays mesh-relative through it. Picking is per
+instance: every instance node carries the geometry's bounds and
+triangle shape, so `Hit`, `Overlap` and `Impact` name the `instance` and
+pointer events bubble from it (`event.instance`) through the mesh to its
+ancestors. `bounds` on the mesh is optional here: without it the mesh
+culls by the union of its live instances' boxes (following them, hidden
+ones included) and sorts by its node position; with it the explicit
+box does both. Three's InstancedMesh count
+constructor over Unity's one-transform-per-instance model; Godot's
+MultiMesh is the record form. The components: `<InstancedMesh capacity>`
+with `<Instance position style transition onPointerDown>` children
+(`<Group>` children are squads, an `<Instance>` is a parent too);
+`examples/fleet.tsx` is a thousand of them springing between formations
+with tap-to-tint, `probes/3d-instance-probe.tsx` the function face.
+Mount cost is the one difference between the faces: an `<Instance>` row
+costs about eight times an `addInstance` call (the component machinery -
+a Solid row, two effects, the style effect; a node component's context
+provider is built only when it has children, the biggest single saving -
+`probes/3d-instance-mount-bench.tsx` measures it), so a few thousand
+mount in tens of milliseconds either way; populations spawned per frame,
+or in five figures, belong to the function face.
+
+`createRecordMesh(geometry, material, records, count?, { bounds?,
+label? })` is the raw form: `records` is the interleaved per-instance
+data (stride = the material's slot-0 instanceAttributes summed, a
+mismatch throws; slot 1 is an instanced mesh's and throws here),
+uploaded to a mesh-owned buffer whose capacity starts at the
+records given, and `count` picks how many draw (default all).
+`setRecords(mesh, records, count?)` rewrites from the start (count
+defaults to the records written; more than capacity GROWS: capacity
+doubles into a replacement buffer, the entry is re-pointed via
+`setDrawBuffers`, the old buffer is freed) and `setRecordCount(mesh, n)`
+is the population dial (clamped to capacity; frame-rate-safe). Records
+are opaque data (position/yaw/tint/whatever your shader reads), so the
+library cannot know where they place instances: a record mesh has NO
+picking leaf unless you pass `bounds` (local, covering the population) -
+then it picks and transparent-sorts conservatively as one box. The
+escape hatch for motion only JS can compute at scale (a particle sim, a
+crowd stepped in a worker).
+
+Everything mesh works on both: setTransform moves the whole population
+through one uModel, setVisible zeroes the drawn count and restores it on
+unhide, renderOrder/params/geometry/material swaps apply, and
+`disposeInstances(mesh)` detaches and frees the record buffers - the one
+explicit free, geometry-buffer rule. `examples/fleet.tsx` (instances,
+components), `probes/3d-instance-probe.tsx` (instances, functions) and
+`examples/instanced.tsx` (records) are the live proofs.
 
 Background: `scene.setBackground(source | null)`, the `background` option
-on createScene, and the reactive `Scene` prop. Fragment GLSL drawn as the
-FIRST entry of the scene's own pass (attributeless fullscreen triangle,
-depth off) - one target instead of a backdrop texture stacked under the
-scene, with no separate resize plumbing. The source gets the
-shader-target fragment contract exactly (vUV 0..1 top-left origin,
-iResolution, fragColor; no `#version` line = the standard preamble), so
-a `createShaderTexture` backdrop ports verbatim. Three's
-`scene.background = color` is `clearColor` here; a texture-id form can
-widen the signature later (a branded TextureId is a number, so
-`string | TextureId` disambiguates at runtime). No app-driven uniforms:
-a background is static art - anything animated is a mesh's own
-shaderMaterial (or, until blend factors land, a separate shader texture
-underneath, which translucent grounds also still need).
+on createScene, and the reactive `Scene` prop. Drawn as the FIRST entry
+of the scene's own pass (attributeless fullscreen triangle, depth off) -
+one target instead of a backdrop texture stacked under the scene, with
+no separate resize plumbing. Two forms:
+
+- Fragment GLSL. The source gets the shader-target fragment contract
+  (vUV 0..1 top-left origin, iResolution, fragColor; no `#version` line
+  = the standard preamble), so a `createShaderTexture` backdrop ports
+  verbatim, PLUS `in vec3 vRay`: the world-space view ray through the
+  pixel, unnormalized (the vertex stage carries its clip position back
+  through the shared uInvViewProj at the near and far planes). A
+  directional sky - horizon gradient, sun disc, stars - is a few lines
+  on `normalize(vRay)`. The background is an ordinary scene entry, so it
+  may declare `uniform vec3 uCamPos` (the ray's origin) and any name
+  written through `scene.setParams` (an app clock for an animated sky).
+  Godot's sky shader and Unity's skybox material are the same idea; the
+  radiance bake for environment lighting will consume this same source
+  later, so a procedural sky written here lights the scene then. The
+  preamble declares the OUTPUT set: end with `fragColor =
+  outputColor(rgb, 1.0)` for a sky that takes the scene's exposure and
+  tone mapping (the skybox form does); a direct fragColor write is final
+  encoded pixels.
+- A skybox `{ cube, intensity?, rotation? }` (SkyboxOptions): a cube
+  map from createCubeTexture sampled along the same ray - Three's
+  `scene.background = cubeTexture` with `backgroundIntensity` and
+  `backgroundRotation`. `rotation` is a turn about world y in radians
+  (the sky turns as a node with that rotation would); `intensity` a
+  multiplier. Replacing a skybox with a skybox rewrites the entry's
+  params and cube in place (no recompile), so the reactive prop can
+  animate the rotation. Under an orthographic camera every pixel looks
+  the same way, so a skybox is one flat color there. A 2D texture id
+  throws at the samplerCube binding. `examples/skybox.tsx`.
+
+The cube-map convention: a cube map holds what a GL lookup returns -
+each face as seen from OUTSIDE the cube, GL's own (RenderMan) frame -
+and every library lookup is a plain `texture(cube, dir)` in world space.
+No shader flip, as in Godot and Unity, which convert images at import;
+Three instead flips x in the shader for image cubes (`flipEnvMap`) and
+not for rendered ones, so a ported Three shader drops its flip, and a
+Three-style six-face image set (px, nx, py, ny, pz, nz as seen from
+inside) is mirrored per image at load. Every bake here (the tool,
+`equirectToCube`, the examples' JS skies) writes GL's table directly,
+and a cube the scene renders itself needs nothing. Three's `scene.background = color` is `clearColor` here; a 2D
+image form can widen the signature later (a branded TextureId is a
+number, so the object form keeps it unambiguous). Translucent grounds
+over a background still need blend factors (a separate shader texture
+underneath until then).
+
+Environment: `scene.setEnvironment({ cube, intensity?, rotation? } |
+null)`, the `environment` option on createScene and the reactive `Scene`
+prop - the cube map every `standard` material is lit by (always: the
+split sum `envRadiance` at its roughness times PBR's `envBrdf` for the
+specular, `envIrradiance` - the fully rough sample along the normal, as
+Three's getIBLIrradiance and Godot read it - added to the hemisphere
+for the diffuse) and every `lit({ reflectivity })` material mirrors,
+typically the skybox's own cube turned with it. The cube to use is a
+BAKED one: `bunx srt tool 3d/environment sky.hdr -o assets/sky.srte`
+turns an equirectangular Radiance .hdr (Poly Haven's are CC0) into the
+six faces plus the GGX-prefiltered mip chain in linear float, and
+`await loadEnvironment("assets/sky.srte")` uploads it as an explicit
+"rgba16f" chain (createCubeTexture's array-of-levels form: no generated
+mipmaps, so no half-float render support needed - it works on every
+device; created after an await, so not auto-freed). Unity convolves at
+import the same way; Three's PMREMGenerator and Godot's radiance map do
+it at runtime. The roughness-to-level rule is `ENVIRONMENT`'s:
+roughness r samples level `r * (log2(size) - 2)`, so a roughness of 1
+lands on the 4x4 level (ENV_ROUGH_FACE in environment-bake.ts), the
+last one the bake convolves; a `mipmap: true` cube from six faces
+(equirectToCube, a JS-baked sky) merely box-filters that chain, so its
+rough reflections are sharper than they should be and its diffuse term
+is a coarse average - fine for a sky gradient, wrong for a photograph.
+A 128 environment (2 MiB, the default) lights any surface; for a
+mirror-finish showpiece bake at 256, and for a crisp backdrop pair it
+with a separate hi-res LDR skybox (a 2k panorama through equirectToCube)
+as `background` while the .srte stays the `environment`. Scene-level like Three's
+`scene.environment`, Unity's environment reflections and Godot's
+sky-lit reflections: ONE `uEnv` samplerCube bound on every target the
+scene draws into (a 1x1 black placeholder while unset) and one
+shared-params write (`uEnvIntensity`, `uEnvRotation`, `uEnvOn`), however
+many meshes reflect; no per-material envMap (Three's Basic/Phong
+`envMap`) - a custom material composes ENVIRONMENT from
+`@solidrt/3d/glsl`. `reflectivity` 0..1 is the
+face-on weight, rising to 1 at grazing angles (Schlick), mixed in as
+`rgb = mix(rgb, reflection, weight)`: 1 is chrome, ~0.05 a glossy
+dielectric with rim reflections; Three's Phong `reflectivity` under its
+MixOperation with a fresnel weight (Three's default MultiplyOperation
+tints instead; not offered). The reflection blurs with `shininess`:
+roughness `sqrt(2 / (shininess + 2))` picks a mip level of the cube
+(`textureLod`), so the environment cube wants `mipmap: true`; a cube
+without mipmaps stays sharp. `specularMap`'s red scales it like
+`specular`. For `lit` it is not an ambient light source: the hemisphere
+light stays its only ambient term (`standard` adds envIrradiance; SH9
+is a later, additive mode). A declared `reflectivity` with no
+environment set contributes nothing (uEnvOn 0), not a black reflection.
+`examples/skybox.tsx` (a JS-baked sky), `examples/environment.tsx` (a
+baked HDRI lighting the scene alone).
+
+Reflection probes: `scene.createReflectionProbe({ position, size?,
+near?, far?, layers?, clearColor?, label? })` renders the scene into a
+cube map from a point - Three's CubeCamera, Unity's and Godot's
+realtime ReflectionProbe - and returns `{ cube, setPosition, update(),
+dispose() }`; `cube` is what `environment={{ cube }}` (a chrome ball
+mirroring its surroundings) or `background` takes. A view under the
+hood: one entry list mirrored from the scene, the light set and scene
+params fanned out, its own layer mask (keep the mirroring object out of
+its own probe with `layers`), the scene's background drawn first on
+every face (the GLSL sky or skybox behind the meshes, through the face
+camera, in linear light - what Three, Unity and Godot probes see), a
+cube draw target (`createCubeDrawTarget` in core, rendered face by face
+with `renderTarget(cube, face)`).
+Nothing renders it but `probe.update()`: six scene passes, from the
+meshes as the last frame's flush placed them, so call it when the
+surroundings moved (every frame for a moving scene, once for a still
+one), then the PREFILTER: the faces convolved on the GPU into a second,
+`mipmap: true` cube target level by level (`renderTarget(chain, face,
+level)`, one small pass each - 48 at 128 - the bake tool's GGX
+importance sampling as a fragment, `createPrefilter` in environment.ts,
+with the same roughness-to-level rule as a .srte chain), so `standard`
+blurs a probe by roughness exactly like a baked environment; `prefilter:
+false` skips it and hands out the sharp faces (Three's CubeCamera: a
+mirror at every roughness). COST: the chain's passes are tiny, but a
+pass that samples mip levels of a cube map carries a fixed GPU cost
+(about 0.3 ms each on an Intel/Mesa laptop, the same at 8 samples or at
+256 - measured 2026-09-05), so a prefiltered probe updated every frame
+costs ~14 ms of GPU there against ~1 ms for the six face passes: fine at
+60 fps on its own, the largest single item in a frame budget. Realtime
+probes are the expensive option in every engine (Unity time-slices
+them): update a prefiltered probe when the surroundings changed, or
+every few frames, and keep `prefilter: false` for a probe that must
+refresh every frame on a tight budget. The faces hold LINEAR light (the probe owns
+`uOutputEncode` 0, `uToneMapping` 0 and `uExposure` 1 on its target,
+names the scene's fan-out then skips), HALF FLOAT where the device
+renders it (`limits.halfFloatRenderable`, every GLES 3 device here: a
+sun's or an emissive's range survives into the reflection, as in every
+engine's HDR probe) and 8-bit clamped elsewhere - the renderer decides
+for all probes (Godot), not a per-probe knob (`probeFormat()` in
+environment.ts) - and the probe never samples its own cube while
+rendering (a black environment stands in: one bounce). The face cameras are plain world-up cameras through an
+x-mirrored projection (`Camera.mirror`), because a GL cube face is seen
+from outside; the engine inverts the front-face rule on cube target
+passes so cull modes keep their meaning. `examples/probe.tsx`.
+
+Baked sky: `scene.bakeBackground(size?)` is a reflection probe at the
+origin that sees no mesh (layer mask 0): the scene's background - the
+GLSL sky or the skybox - alone on its six faces, LINEAR (a sky ending in
+`outputColor` bakes its light; one writing fragColor raw bakes those
+bytes as light), prefilters it like a probe and returns the chain's
+TextureId for `environment={{ cube }}`: Godot's sky-to-radiance bake, so
+a procedural sky lights the scene with no light nodes, and the runtime
+way to turn a hi-res LDR skybox into a properly convolved environment
+(the `mipmap: true` box chain above is the sharper, cheaper
+alternative). A snapshot at the probe format (half float where
+renderable; default size 128): bake again when the sky changes, and
+destroy the old cube - it is not auto-freed (an environment normally
+lives as long as the app). `outputColor` leaves linear output UNCLAMPED
+(the clamp sits in the display encode), so a sky's sun disc of 40.0
+bakes as 40.0 and shows as the broad bright highlight on rough metal
+that HDR is for. A sky that reads
+`uCamPos` bakes from the origin; scene params (an app clock) are seen as
+of the call. `examples/sky-lit.tsx`.
+
+Panoramas: `equirectToCube(map, size, opts?)` converts an uploaded
+equirectangular 2D texture (createImage, createTexture) into a cube
+TextureId on the GPU, synchronously (six face passes straight into a
+cube draw target of the panorama's format - rgba8, rgba8-srgb or
+rgba16f, no readback; `opts` are createCubeTexture's - `mipmap: true`
+for an environment). The center column faces -Z and the top row is +Y,
+as in Godot's PanoramaSkyMaterial and Unity's Skybox/Panoramic; Three
+centers +X, a quarter turn away. Leave the source texture's wrap at
+clamp (`repeat` also wraps vertically and bleeds the poles). An HDR
+panorama uploaded as rgba16f converts into a half-float cube (sharp:
+a skybox, or `mipmap: true` for the box chain); its PREFILTERED form is
+the bake tool above, whose CPU pipeline (`src/environment-bake.ts`:
+decodeHdr, panoramaToCube, prefilterCube, the .srte encode/decode) is
+pure TypeScript and bun-tested - there is no runtime .hdr decoder.
 
 Fog: `scene.setFog(fog | null)`, the `fog` option on createScene and
 the reactive `Scene` prop, in Three's two shapes: linear `{ color, near,
@@ -477,6 +948,31 @@ horizon, and put `far` at or inside the camera's far plane to hide the
 clip. `examples/fog.tsx` cycles the forms over a valley;
 `examples/cascades.tsx` fogs its field to the sky.
 
+Color: the scene shades in LINEAR light and outputs sRGB, like Three
+(ColorManagement), Godot and Unity's linear space - no gamma mode. Every
+`[r, g, b]` color option is sRGB, what a color picker shows: material
+`color` and `emissive`, light `color`, the hemisphere's `sky`/`ground`,
+fog `color`; the library decodes it when it writes the uniform
+(`srgbToLinear`/`linearColor` are exported for values you write straight
+to a uniform yourself). Color MAPS decode through their format: create a
+base color, emissive or sky image with `format: "rgba8-srgb"`
+(createTexture, createCubeTexture; createModel does it for glTF's base
+color and emissive images) - a plain rgba8 map reads as linear data and
+renders washed out; data maps (normal, specular, roughness, light maps)
+stay rgba8, and an HDR image is "rgba16f". Vertex colors are linear, as
+glTF stores them. Every library fragment ends in the OUTPUT set's
+`outputColor(rgb, alpha)`: exposure (`scene.setExposure`, default 1),
+tone mapping (`scene.setToneMapping("none" | "aces")`, the reactive
+`toneMapping`/`exposure` props) and the sRGB encode, premultiplied. The
+scene target therefore holds encoded pixels like every texture the
+runtime displays; `clearColor` is written as given and is NOT tone
+mapped (with a curve on, draw the backdrop as a background), and a
+transparent mesh blends in encoded space (Three's compromise; the
+hardware-encode alternative would display wrong through the runtime's
+raw sampling). What changed for a scene tuned before this: terminators
+soften, mid-tones brighten, highlights widen - drop ambient rather than
+lights. `emissiveIntensity` scales the emissive in linear light.
+
 Lighting GLSL (`@solidrt/3d/glsl`): exported string constants composed
 into shaderMaterial sources with plain template literals - `LIT_VERTEX`
 (the standard vertex stage: clip position plus vWorldPos/vNormal/vUv
@@ -485,14 +981,22 @@ plus the colored layout's aColor forwarded raw as vColor - using it makes
 the material need that channel) and the pure functions `HEMISPHERE`
 (`hemisphere(n, sky, ground)`), `LAMBERT` (`lambert(n, l)`),
 `BLINN_SPECULAR` (`blinnSpecular(n, v, l, shininess)`), `FRESNEL`
-(`fresnel(n, v, power)`), and the shadow trio composed IN ORDER:
+(`fresnel(n, v, power)`), `PBR` (the GGX metalness/roughness model
+`standard` shades with: `ggxSpecular(n, v, l, f0, roughness)` - one
+light's lobe, to weight by `lambert(n, l)` and the light color like the
+diffuse - `envBrdf(nv, roughness)` for the split sum's scale and bias on
+f0, `DIELECTRIC_F0`, and the D/V/F pieces; it defines `PBR_PI`, not
+`PI`), and the shadow trio composed IN ORDER:
 `SHADOW_SLOTS` (the scene's shadow set: `uShadowAtlas`, per map slot
-`uShadowRect[M]`/`uShadowMatrix[M]`, per directional light
+`uShadowRect[M]`/`uShadowMatrix[M]`, per light index
 `uShadowFirst[N]`/`uShadowCount[N]` (its slots; a cascaded light has
 several, tightest first), `uShadowBias[N]`, `uShadowNormalBias[N]`),
 `SHADOW` (`shadowPoint(coord)` - clip to map point, `shadowInside(p)` -
 does the map have it, `shadowSample(map, rect, p, bias)` - one tile's
-3x3 PCF factor, and `shadow(map, rect, coord, bias)` composing the
+factor as ONE hardware comparison tap (`uShadowAtlas` is a
+sampler2DShadow; the engine binds the comparison sampler for that
+declaration, so the 2x2 PCF weighting is the driver's), and
+`shadow(map, rect, coord, bias)` composing the
 three) and `SHADOW_LOOKUP`
 (`lightShadow(i, worldPos, n)` - light i's factor, 1 when it does not
 cast; it walks the light's slots and samples the first map that covers
@@ -504,40 +1008,129 @@ samplers. Lights, colors and exponents are arguments, so
 nothing is pinned but the function names; `lit` is composed from these
 same constants - customizing never means leaving the system.
 
+A custom look is a citizen of the scene - lit by its lights, shadowed,
+fogged, exposed and tone mapped like the stock materials - at one of
+three tiers, top first:
+
+1. STANDARD FRAGMENT, CUSTOM VERTEX. Any vertex stage that writes the lit
+   varyings (vWorldPos, vNormal, vUv, plus vColor with `vertexColors`,
+   vUv2 with `lightMap`) pairs with `litFragment(options)` /
+   `standardFragment(options)` (`/glsl`): the exact fragment `lit` /
+   `standard` compile, the same option names and defaults as their
+   options with the texture options boolean. An instanced or displaced
+   mesh keeps the stock shading whole (`examples/instanced.tsx`: the
+   per-instance tint rides vColor). Instance it with the per-entry
+   uniforms the source declares (uColor, uSpecular/uShininess or
+   uMetalness/uRoughness, the maps opted into).
+2. A SURFACE FUNCTION inside the stock fragment. `litFragment({ surface,
+   prelude })`: `prelude` is file scope (uniforms and helpers; a uniform
+   it declares is an ordinary `instance()` param), `surface` declares
+   `void surface(inout Surface s)`, called once the program has filled
+   the Surface struct from its options (base from uColor, the map and
+   the vertex color; the normal, bent by the normal map; emissive,
+   ambient, the light model's fields) and before it shades. Rewrite any
+   field or `discard`; it reads the varyings, the declared uniforms and
+   prelude's names, and runs in the shadow twin too, so what it discards
+   casts no shadow. The struct is the contract, no local of the
+   generated program is; colors are linear light, premultiplied
+   throughout, `Surface.base` included. The material describes the
+   surface, the package shades it (Godot's fragment(), Filament's
+   material()).
+3. A FRAGMENT OF YOUR OWN over the scene set. Compose `SCENE` (or
+   `sceneSource({ lights, receiveShadow, env, fog })`, each flag leaving a
+   declaration out): it declares uCamPos, uHemiSky/uHemiGround, the
+   light list, the shadow set, the environment, fog and OUTPUT - declare
+   none of them yourself. Build a `Surface` with `surfaceOf(base,
+   normal)`, set the fields you mean, call `shadeBlinn(s, position)` or
+   `shadePbr(s, position)` (premultiplied rgb back: hemisphere, every
+   light with its shadow, the environment term, the emissive), add your
+   own terms times the alpha, and end with `sceneOutput(rgb, alpha,
+   position)` (fog, exposure, tone mapping, encode). A custom LIGHT MODEL
+   loops `sceneLight(i, position, normal)` to `uLightCount` instead of a
+   shade function: light i's direction and its color already attenuated,
+   cone-faded and shadowed (zero when it cannot reach). The stock
+   materials are built from this same set, so the tiers cannot drift;
+   `probes/scene-set-probe.tsx` is the byte-identity rig that checks it.
+   The demo `the-third-dimension.tsx` has tier 2 (the ground) and tier 3
+   (the knot's rim term); `probes/spot-custom-material-probe.tsx` a
+   sceneLight loop beside a lit() floor.
+`standardFragment(options)` is the same for `standard`: lit's options
+minus `specularMap`/`env` (the environment is always composed) plus
+`metalnessMap`/`roughnessMap`, on the same `litVertex(options)`, with
+`uMetalness`/`uRoughness` in place of `uSpecular`/`uShininess`.
+`litShadowFragment(options)` is the depth-pass twin (same base, cutout
+and surface function, nothing after them), so a discarding material
+casts what it draws: build it on `litVertex(options)` with the OPPOSITE cull, instance
+it with only the uniform values its source declares (per-entry params
+reject unknown names), and pass it as the main instance's `shadow`.
+It returns undefined when the options cannot discard - the scene's
+default depth override is then already right, carry no `shadow`.
+`UNLIT_VERTEX` / `unlitFragment` / `unlitShadowFragment` are the unlit
+twins (no lighting flags, no cull; varyings vUv/vWorldPos only). TRAP:
+a shadow program that never reads `n` (no triplanar, no surface function
+using it) reflects `uNormal` inactive - set `normalMatrix: false` on that
+instance or every caster move warns about the skipped write.
+
 Lights and `lit`: lights are graph NODES, like Three. `createDirectionalLight({
 direction?, color?, intensity? })` / `<DirectionalLight>` is parallel light
 travelling along `direction` in the node's LOCAL space (default `[0, -1,
 0]`, a sun overhead; length ignored), so a parent Group's rotation turns it
 and position/scale do not matter - deliberately a direction, not Three's
-position-minus-target. `createHemisphereLight({ sky?, ground?, intensity?
+position-minus-target. `createSpotLight({ direction?, color?, intensity?,
+distance?, angle?, penumbra?, decay? })` / `<SpotLight>` is a cone from
+the node's WORLD position along that same LOCAL `direction` (aim by
+`direction` or a parent's rotation; place by setTransform): `angle` is
+the cone half-angle in DEGREES ((0, 90], default 60 - degrees like
+camera fov and like Unity/Godot; Three's radians convert as
+`angle * 180 / PI`), `penumbra` the
+0..1 fraction of it fading to the rim (default 0, a hard edge), and the
+strength falls off as `1 / d^decay` (default 2) windowed to zero at
+`distance` (0 = no cutoff) - Three's SpotLight semantics minus the
+target object. `createPointLight({ color?, intensity?, distance?,
+decay? })` / `<PointLight>` is the omnidirectional version: position
+only, same falloff, no cone. `createHemisphereLight({ sky?, ground?, intensity?
 })` / `<HemisphereLight>` is the ambient term, a gradient by the WORLD
 normal's tilt (fixed to world up, the node's transform is ignored); one per
 scene, the last attached wins. Placement goes through setTransform, the
 light's own fields through `setLight(light, { ... })` (frame-rate-safe,
-like setMeshParams). At most `MAX_LIGHTS` (4, exported from `/glsl`)
-directional lights per scene - the fifth throws at add(); it is a
-shader-source constant, fixed per app. `uLightDir` is core-driven: each
-directional light's slot is a spatial-core shared-slot sink following
-the node's world rotation, so a MOVING light costs no JS. The sync
-rewrites the rest whenever a light attaches, detaches or changes a
-field -
-`uHemiSky`/`uHemiGround` (vec3, intensity folded in), `uLightCount` (int),
-`uLightDir[MAX_LIGHTS]`/`uLightColor[MAX_LIGHTS]` (world-space vector
-TOWARD the light, normalized; intensity folded into the color) - so a
-custom fragment declaring those names reads the same list, and a light
-change costs one write however many meshes. Everything starts black: a
-lit scene with no light shows nothing, on purpose, like Three.
+like setMeshParams). At most `MAX_LIGHTS` (8, exported from `/glsl`)
+lights per scene, directional, spot and point together (the hemisphere
+is not in the list) - the ninth throws at add(); it is a shader-source
+constant, fixed per app. `uLightDir` and `uLightPos` are core-driven:
+each light's slots are spatial-core shared-slot sinks following the
+node's world rotation (direction, negated so the shader reads the
+vector TOWARD the light) and world position, so a MOVING light costs no
+JS. The sync rewrites the rest whenever a light attaches, detaches or
+changes a field - `uHemiSky`/`uHemiGround` (vec3, intensity folded in),
+`uLightCount` (int), `uLightType[N]` (LIGHT_DIRECTIONAL | LIGHT_SPOT |
+LIGHT_POINT), `uLightDir[N]`/`uLightPos[N]`/`uLightColor[N]` (intensity
+folded into the color) and `uLightParams[N]` (cosInner, cosOuter,
+distance, decay) - so a custom fragment composing `LIGHT_SLOTS` +
+`LIGHT_LOOKUP` from `/glsl` reads the same list through `lightVector(i,
+worldPos, out l)` (returns the attenuation, 0 = skip the light; `lit`
+is the shape), and a light change costs one write however many meshes.
+A custom fragment that declares only the old directional subset
+(`uLightCount`/`uLightDir`/`uLightColor`) still works - it just shades
+every light as directional, so keep such materials to directional-only
+scenes. Everything starts black: a lit scene with no light shows
+nothing, on purpose, like Three. `examples/lamps.tsx` is the spot/point
+shape (soft vs hard cone, casting spots, an orbiting bulb).
 
 `lit(opts)` is the standard look beside `unlit`: hemisphere ambient plus
 the directional list, Lambert diffuse, Blinn-Phong highlight when
-`specular` (0..1 strength) is set with `shininess` (default 30), the
-same `color`/`map`/`transparent` as unlit, `vertexColors: true` to
+`specular` (0..1 strength) is set with `shininess` (default 30), a
+mirror of the scene's environment when `reflectivity` (0..1, the
+face-on weight; see Environment above) is set, blurred by the same
+`shininess`, the same `color`/`map`/`transparent` as unlit, `vertexColors: true` to
 multiply by the colored layout's aColor (so the geometry must carry it),
 `triplanar: n` to sample `map` by world position at `n` repeats per
 world unit, blended across the three axis planes by the normal, and
 `alphaTest: t` for a cutout (a fragment whose final alpha is below `t`
 is discarded; Three's alphaTest, glTF MASK): opaque, depth-written, no
-sorting, usually with `cull: "none"` for cards. Triplanar
+sorting, usually with `cull: "none"` for cards, and `instanced: true` /
+`instanceColors: true` for an instanced mesh's population (see
+Instancing: the placement, the depth pass and a per-instance tint with
+no GLSL; the material then draws populated meshes only). Triplanar
 is an OPTION, not the default: generators emit 0..1 UVs per face, so a
 map on a plane is a decal (UV) while a map on generated scenery wants one
 density across parts of any size (triplanar); the map must be created
@@ -546,45 +1139,132 @@ with `wrap: "repeat"`. Any `map` on a surface seen at distance also wants
 surface seen at a grazing angle (a floor, a road) wants `anisotropy: 4`
 or more beside it, or trilinear smears the far half into the mip its long
 axis picked (`createModel` uploads its images with both; the device clamps
-the level, `limits.maxAnisotropy` reports it). Internally one `shaderMaterialClass` per option
-combination (map x vertexColors x triplanar x transparent x cull x
-alphaTest), cached for the app's lifetime, one pipeline per vertex layout
-- a thousand lit meshes share one program. The view vector comes from the
-shared uCamPos; `uTriplanar` and `uAlphaTest` are declared only by the
-classes that use them (the cutoff is a per-entry value, so every
-alphaTest material shares one class) so the other classes do not warn
-about an inactive uniform.
+the level, `limits.maxAnisotropy` reports it).
+
+The surface maps, each an option beside `map` and sampled at its uv:
+
+- `normalMap` (+ `normalScale`, ONE float as in Unity/Godot - Three's
+  Vector2 exists to flip DirectX-style green channels, and glTF mandates
+  OpenGL-style +Y) bends the lit normal per texel. The tangent frame is
+  built per fragment from screen-space derivatives (`NORMAL_MAP` in
+  `/glsl`, Three's untangented path), so ANY UV-mapped geometry works
+  with no tangent channel; the trade is mild seams on mirrored UVs. Not
+  with `triplanar` (throws - triplanar samples by world position).
+- `emissive: [r, g, b]` (sRGB like `color`) times `emissiveIntensity`
+  (linear, default 1; glTF's emissive strength) and `emissiveMap` add
+  light the lights do not provide, after the lighting terms,
+  shadow-proof, fogged. `emissive` defaults to WHITE when `emissiveMap`
+  is given - the map is the emission - fixing Three's gotcha where an
+  emissiveMap alone shows nothing against the black default.
+- `specularMap`: its RED channel scales `specular` per fragment (chrome
+  and rubber on one mesh); with it `specular` defaults to 1.
+- `lightMap` (+ `lightMapIntensity`) adds a baked-light texture by the
+  geometry's aUV2 channel (`withAttribute(g, { name: "aUV2", format:
+  "vec2" }, fill)`) - ADDED to the light sum like the hemisphere term, so
+  a fully baked scene runs with no lights at all. Three's material-slot
+  form; Unity and Godot bake at scene level, but here the material picks
+  the program.
+- `mapTransform: { offset?, repeat? }` samples every uv map of the
+  material at `uv * repeat + offset` - ONE transform per MATERIAL
+  (Godot's uv1_offset/uv1_scale, Unity's Tiling/Offset; deliberately not
+  Three's per-texture transform, since a TextureId is a shared value
+  whose sampling is creation-time state). aUV2 is exempt. Scroll it per
+  frame with `setMeshParams(mesh, { uMapTransform: [ru, rv, ou, ov] })`.
+  Also on `unlit`. Not with `triplanar` (throws - its repeat is the
+  triplanar value). A cutout's shadow transforms the same way.
+
+`examples/materials.tsx` shows all five.
+
+`standard(opts)` is the metalness/roughness material, the look authored
+assets expect (Three's MeshStandardMaterial, Godot's StandardMaterial3D,
+Unity's Standard): every lit option but the Blinn-Phong knobs
+(`specular`, `shininess`, `specularMap`, `reflectivity`), plus
+`metalness` (0..1, default 0: a metal has no diffuse and reflects tinted
+by `color`, a dielectric reflects 4% face-on), `roughness` (0..1
+perceptual, default 1: 0 a mirror, 1 matte; one value widens the
+highlight and blurs the environment alike; Unity's smoothness is its
+inverse) and the packed data maps `metalnessMap` (its BLUE channel) and
+`roughnessMap` (GREEN) - Three's two channel-select options over glTF's
+ONE metallicRoughnessTexture, so pass the same texture to both; with a
+map the factor defaults to 1 (the map is the value). Shading is GGX
+(`PBR` in `/glsl`: distribution, height-correlated Smith visibility,
+Schlick fresnel) per light in the same light and shadow loop, the
+hemisphere on the diffuse, and the scene's environment ALWAYS - the
+split sum, `envRadiance` at the roughness over the cube's mip chain
+times the analytic `envBrdf` for the specular, `envIrradiance` on the
+diffuse beside the hemisphere - with no `reflectivity` switch: the
+environment is intrinsic to the model, and a baked environment with no
+lights at all lights a scene (`examples/environment.tsx`). Light intensities read as lit's
+(1 lights a white matte surface to 1; Godot's and Unity's convention -
+a Three scene's intensities divide by pi). Without an environment a
+metal shows only its highlights: no diffuse, nothing to reflect (Three
+and Godot do the same), so give the scene one. `examples/standard.tsx`
+is the sphere grid. Internally one
+`shaderMaterialClass` per option combination (map x vertexColors x
+triplanar x transparent x cull x alphaTest x fog x the surface maps),
+cached for the app's lifetime, one pipeline per vertex layout - a
+thousand lit meshes share one program, and the key's width costs nothing
+by itself: classes are created lazily per combination USED, so the
+program count is the app's distinct material configurations. The view
+vector comes from the shared uCamPos; `uTriplanar` and `uAlphaTest` are
+declared only by the classes that use them (the cutoff is a per-entry
+value, so every alphaTest material shares one class) so the other
+classes do not warn about an inactive uniform.
 
 ## Models
 
 Authored models come in as glTF 2.0 (.gltf with its .bin and image files
-next to it, or single-file .glb) and become a Group of meshes, Three's
-`gltf.scene`. Three layers, use the lowest that fits:
+next to it, or single-file .glb) and become a Group carrying the file's
+node hierarchy, Three's `gltf.scene`. Three layers, use the lowest that
+fits:
 
 - `parseGltf(bytes, resolve?)` - the pure parser (no engine, runs under
-  bun and on flux): `ModelData` = `parts` (one per mesh node, its NAME
-  kept, vertices in the standard layout with the node's WORLD transform
-  baked in), `materials` (base color factor, `map` = index into `images`,
-  `doubleSided`, `transparent` = alphaMode BLEND, `alphaMode` as written
-  and `alphaCutoff`, spec default 0.5), `images` (the encoded
-  PNG/JPEG bytes, undecoded) and `bounds`. A .gltf's external files come
-  through `resolve(uri)` (uri as written, still percent-encoded;
-  `gltfExternalUris(bytes)` lists them so an async caller can read them
-  first); .glb and data: uris need none. Missing normals produce FLAT
-  shading (the spec's rule): the primitive is un-indexed, one vertex per
-  corner. A mirroring node flips the winding so `cull: "back"` still
-  keeps the outside. Non-triangle primitives are skipped; a required
-  extension the parser does not implement throws naming it, and Draco or
-  meshopt compression throws "re-export without mesh compression" -
-  Blender exports Draco by DEFAULT, so that is the first error a real
-  file hits.
+  bun and on flux): `ModelData` = `nodes` (the retained hierarchy in
+  pre-order - name, parent index, local TRS; matrix-form nodes are
+  TRS-decomposed, shear dropped; nodes that carry no part, joint or
+  animation target anywhere - cameras, lights, unused empties - are
+  pruned), `parts` (one per mesh primitive, its node's NAME kept, `node`
+  index, vertices in the standard layout LOCAL to the node - except
+  skinned parts: "skinned" layout, model-space bind pose, `skin` index),
+  `skins` (joint node indices + inverse binds), `clips` (the animations
+  as baked channel buffers: node/path/interpolation, times, values),
+  `materials` (base color factor, `map` =
+  index into `images`, `doubleSided`, `transparent` = alphaMode BLEND,
+  `alphaMode` as written and `alphaCutoff`, spec default 0.5, the
+  normal and emissive slots, `metalness`/`roughness` factors and the
+  packed `metalnessRoughnessMap` - standard's inputs), `images`
+  (the encoded PNG/JPEG bytes, undecoded) and `bounds` (world-space rest
+  pose, conservative for parts under rotated nodes). External
+  files come through `resolve(uri)` (uri as written, still
+  percent-encoded; `gltfExternalUris(bytes)` lists them so an async
+  caller can read them first) - for a .gltf AND for a .glb, which is
+  usually self-contained but may legally reference external images
+  (real exporters do); data: uris need no resolver. Missing
+  normals produce FLAT shading (the spec's rule): the primitive is
+  un-indexed, one vertex per corner. A mirroring node chain (negative
+  rest-pose world determinant) flips the part's index winding so
+  `cull: "back"` still keeps the outside. Non-triangle primitives are
+  skipped; a required extension the parser does not implement throws
+  naming it, and Draco or meshopt compression throws "re-export without
+  mesh compression" - Blender exports Draco by DEFAULT, so that is the
+  first error a real file hits.
 - `createModel(data, { material?, label? })` - uploads the images (repeat
-  wrap, mipmapped, 4x anisotropic), makes one material per glTF material (default `lit({
-  color, map, transparent })`; pass `material(m, map)` for anything else,
-  it is called once per material and shared), one mesh per part, all
-  children of the returned `Model` (a Group): `add(scene.root, model)`,
+  wrap, mipmapped, 4x anisotropic), makes one material per glTF material (default `standard`
+  with the file's color, maps, normal scale, metalness/roughness and
+  packed map, emissive and transparency - the glTF material model, so a
+  scene showing a model wants an `environment` (a glTF metal in a scene
+  with none renders near black); `material: (m, maps, skinned) =>
+  lit({ color: m.color, map: maps.map ?? undefined, skinned })` for the
+  Blinn-Phong look, or any other material; it is called once per material and shared), the node table as nested
+  Groups with the file's local TRS, and one mesh per part under its node,
+  all inside the returned `Model` (a Group): `add(scene.root, model)`,
   place it with `setTransform`, find parts by name in `model.parts`
-  (`{ name, mesh }`), `model.bounds` for framing a camera. `dispose()`
+  (`{ name, mesh }`), spin a wheel relative to its axle through
+  `model.nodes` (`{ name, node }` in table order, parents first; names
+  repeat when the file's do - `.find()` yours), `model.bounds` for
+  framing a camera. Skinned parts get the `skinned: true` material
+  variant and hang off the model ROOT (the spec ignores their node's
+  transform; the palette places them - see the mixer below). `dispose()`
   detaches it and frees the geometry buffers and textures - the model owns
   them, nothing else frees them.
 - `loadGltf(path)` / `loadModel(path)` - read from `assets/` with flux:fs
@@ -598,20 +1278,173 @@ next to it, or single-file .glb) and become a Group of meshes, Three's
   "binary" }` then `createModel(parseGltf(bytes))`, see
   `examples/model.tsx`); bake anything big.
 
+Loading is async everywhere but the binary import: loadGltf/loadModel
+return promises, and the async value must be read the way Solid 2 async
+works - inside a tracking scope whose result the JSX reads back, under a
+`<Loading>` boundary. The worked shape is `examples/model-load.tsx`: the
+component keeps the async read in a memo (`let loaded = createMemo(() =>
+loadModel(path))`), derives everything - framing, mounting - in a second
+memo that reads `loaded()` FIRST and returns the scene JSX, and returns
+only that memo read; the window/view shell lives in the parent, above the
+boundary. Reading the value in the component body instead throws
+PENDING_ASYNC_UNTRACKED_READ, and any element the component builds before
+the suspending read is orphaned on the boundary's retry and never freed
+(the dev leak sentinel reports it) - so the suspending component creates
+no elements of its own. Async here means the file read: the parse and
+createModel run synchronously on main. Bake anything big to .srtm; when
+a source glTF must be parsed at runtime, do the parse in an isolate
+(parseGltf's result is plain data and copies across) and keep
+createModel on main.
+
+Placement: pieces of one authored set (a body and its fitted cosmetics)
+export in one world space, so composing them is `add(group, model)` per
+piece and nothing else - no placement math. SOCKETED items (a weapon in
+a hand) are different: they bind to a joint, so they only land once a
+skeleton exists (a rig-less export cannot place them at all). The joint
+is an ordinary Group in `model.nodes` - find it by name and `add()` the
+item under it; it then follows the pose, mixer-driven or hand-posed,
+like any child transform. Two authoring cases (verified in
+`probes/joint-cap-probe.tsx`): an item authored about its own socket
+origin needs the plain `add()` and nothing more; one authored in the
+RIG'S model space needs a socket Group between joint and item carrying
+the joint's rest-pose inverse (at rest the item then sits exactly where
+authored, posed it follows), since parenting stacks the joint's
+transform on top of the authored placement. Skinned PARTS are the one
+thing that never needs this: they hang off the model root and the
+palette places them.
+
 Applied: `doubleSided` (the default material draws it with `cull:
-"none"`) and alphaMode MASK (`alphaTest: alphaCutoff`). Not in the
-subset, dropped: vertex colors, tangents and further UV sets; samplers
-are ignored (every texture repeats); emissive/additive parts of a model
-draw as their base color (a model's "glow" cards come out as dark wedges).
-The follow-ups are filed in okf/backlog/3d-model-loader.md.
+"none"`), alphaMode MASK (`alphaTest: alphaCutoff`), `normalTexture`
+(+ scale; the derivative frame needs no tangents), `emissiveFactor` x
+`emissiveTexture` with KHR_materials_emissive_strength folded into the
+factor (a zero factor skips the map too - glTF's product rule, emission
+off), `pbrMetallicRoughness` factors as `m.metalness`/`m.roughness` and
+its packed texture as BOTH `maps.metalnessMap` and `maps.roughnessMap`
+(standard's channel-select options; the default `lit` ignores them).
+The `material(m, maps)` callback receives every uploaded texture
+by lit()/standard() option name (`maps.map`/`maps.normalMap`/
+`maps.emissiveMap`/`maps.metalnessMap`/`maps.roughnessMap`);
+`data.materials` is in file order, so the calls arrive in file order.
+A `.srtm` baked before the material records carried the PBR fields
+(file version 3) is rejected by loadModel - re-bake with `srt tool
+3d/model`.
+Animation: `createMixer(model)` plays `model.clips` by name -
+`mixer.play(name, { loop?, speed?, fadeMs? })` (fadeMs crossfades: the
+named clip fades in, everything else fades out - Unity's CrossFade,
+Godot's play-with-blend), `mixer.stop({ fadeMs? })`, `mixer.playing()`,
+`mixer.onFinish` for `loop: false` clips (the pose holds at the end).
+Playback is CORE-DRIVEN: there is no update() and no frame loop to
+register - clips are registered with the spatial core once and players
+sample, weight-blend and write joint TRS natively each frame, so a
+playing character costs zero JS per frame (gate other work on
+`mixer.playing()`). play() requires the model to be IN a scene (players
+bind live arena nodes; removing the model drops them - a re-added model
+plays again from play()). Three traps that follow from core ownership:
+(1) players advance BEFORE your onFrame, which is therefore the
+post-animation hook - read a freshly posed joint and overwrite it
+(root-motion strips, skeleton copies) in plain setTransform, last write
+wins, all published by the same flush; (2) the JS
+`position`/`quaternion` fields of player-animated joints (and of the
+model node under root motion "apply") go STALE (they hold the last JS
+write) - read poses with `getTransform(node)`, which reads the core;
+writes to such a node always go through (setTransform skips its
+usual equal-value short-circuit there, so a teleport back to the last
+JS-written spot is not lost); (3) a channel nothing plays leaves the node's pose
+alone; (4) known gap: native pose writes bypass the scene's moved list,
+so a TRANSPARENT mesh parented under a player-animated joint does not
+re-trigger the back-to-front re-sort while it animates (opaque meshes,
+palettes and picking are unaffected) - nudge the scene with any
+setTransform if it shows, until the core-side transparent sort lands.
+Root motion: `play(name, { inPlace? })` strips a clip's root travel
+(Unity's applyRootMotion off, Godot's root_motion_track): the root's
+x/z hold at the clip's first key and its height rebases onto the root's
+rest position, the vertical bob intact. `createMixer(model, {
+rootHeight })` rebases EVERY clip onto that height, pinned or not, for
+an export whose clips ride above its rest pose. Unset, it is decided per clip by NET DRIFT of the
+root's position track - last key minus first, past a fraction of the
+model's height - so run cycles play in place and a taunt that roams and
+returns does not (pinning THOSE pushes the slide into the feet);
+`mixer.travels(name)` reads the verdict. The root is the topmost node
+any position channel of the clip targets. The strip is baked into a
+second core clip on first in-place play, so it costs no per-frame JS and
+crossfades like any other clip. A GAME wants the travel kept and moved
+onto the character: `createMixer(model, { rootMotion: "apply" |
+"report" })` plays every clip fully pinned (all three root axes held)
+and its yaw held too (the turn about +y stripped key by key, so the
+lean and pitch of the pose survive), while the core samples the
+authored root tracks at each player's time and hands the per-frame
+delta on - a translation in the model's local frame and a yaw in
+radians. "apply" adds both to the model node itself (Unity's
+applyRootMotion: the character walks and turns where its clip says),
+"report" accumulates them until `mixer.rootDelta()` takes them
+(`{ position, yaw }`), for a controller to spend through its own
+movement (Godot's get_root_motion_position). Zero per-frame JS in
+"apply"; one read per frame in "report". Loop wraps are continuous
+(the clip's net drift is added across the wrap), crossfades weight the
+deltas like the poses, and a clip's travel is given in the root's
+CURRENT facing (its own turn so far undone), so a turn that wanders
+out and back ends where the clip says and two blending clips agree on
+the frame. The object form `{ mode, up?, vertical? }` names the root's
+parent-space up axis (default +y; the turn and height axis) and
+`vertical: "pose"` keeps the height in the pose, delivering only the
+horizontal travel (Unity's bake-into-pose Y - for a controller that
+owns gravity). `inPlace` is ignored while rootMotion is set. Yaw is
+the swing-twist about up (exact under any lean); a cubic rotation
+track is linearized at 60 keys/s before its yaw is held. Verified on
+Mixamo's standing turns (external/mixamo-turn). Skins need nothing further: each skin's uBones palette
+(model-local jointWorld x inverseBind, sized to the RIG - an rgba32f
+float texture, 4 texels wide, one row per joint, sampled in the vertex
+stage via texelFetch, so there is no joint cap) is composed by the
+spatial core at the frame's flush from the joint nodes themselves, in
+any write order, and identical skins (a body/legs split, LODs) share one
+computed-once texture. `sampleChannel` (pure, from the root) stays the
+JS sampling core for checks and custom drivers;
+okf/done/animation-core.md records the design.
+
+Not in the subset, dropped: vertex colors, tangents and further UV sets;
+morph targets (the "weights" channel path); samplers are ignored (every
+texture repeats); additive blending draws as base color. The follow-ups
+are filed in okf/backlog/3d-model-loader.md. The `.srtm` container is
+VERSION 3 (node table in the header, node-local vertices, skins, clips);
+older bakes are rejected - re-bake with `srt tool 3d/model`.
 
 ## Traps
 
-- A model's vertices are in WORLD space at parse time (node transforms
-  baked), so `model.bounds` and each part's geometry already include the
-  file's placement; the Model group starts at identity and `setTransform`
-  on it moves the whole thing. Parts cannot be moved relative to their
-  glTF parent - that is the retained-hierarchy follow-up, not a bug.
+- A model's vertices are LOCAL to their node; the file's placement lives
+  in the node-table TRS, composed by the scene like any Group chain. So
+  a part's `geometry` alone is at the origin, `model.bounds` (rest-pose
+  world) is what frames a camera, and moving a named node moves its
+  subtree. The winding flip for a mirroring node chain is baked into the
+  index order from the REST pose - re-scaling a node across zero at
+  runtime shows mesh interiors, so do not do that.
+- Skinning is a VERTEX-STAGE effect: everything that runs off the
+  retained tree sees the bind pose. A skinned mesh picks by its
+  bind-pose triangles at the model root and its transparent sort key is
+  the bind-pose box; moving the JOINTS never moves either, moving the
+  MODEL moves both. Shadows are the exception: the shadow variants
+  (depth and cutout) skin by the same uBones palette, so a caster casts
+  its pose.
+- A `standard` metal in a scene with no environment renders near black:
+  its diffuse is zero and the black placeholder cube is all there is to
+  reflect (Three and Godot render the same; Unity falls back to an
+  ambient probe, this does not). glTF's default metallic factor is 1,
+  so an untextured asset is all metal, and createModel's default is
+  `standard`: give a model scene an `environment` (loadEnvironment's
+  baked .srte, or the skybox's cube), or pass `lit` as the material.
+- A reflection probe is a mirrored render (x-flipped projection, winding
+  inverted by the engine): anything built from screen-space derivatives
+  flips with it, so a normal-mapped surface shows its bumps INVERTED in
+  a probe's reflection. Known and shared with every engine's mirrored
+  views; a `uMirror` sign on the derivative frame is the fix when it
+  matters.
+- A generated cube chain (`mipmap: true` from six faces) is a box
+  filter, not the GGX convolution the roughness-to-level rule assumes:
+  rough reflections read too sharp and the diffuse `envIrradiance` is a
+  4x4 average. Bake with `srt tool 3d/environment` for anything
+  photographed; the JS sky gradients in the examples get away with it.
+- Light intensities are the same numbers for `lit` and `standard`: 1
+  lights a white matte surface to 1 face-on. A Three scene's intensities
+  are a factor pi larger for the same look; divide when porting.
 - The y-down clip flip is baked into `perspective()`; scene code and
   geometry are plain y-up right-handed, and CCW-outward winding culls
   correctly with `cull: "back"`. Do NOT negate y anywhere else, and do not
@@ -626,19 +1459,46 @@ The follow-ups are filed in okf/backlog/3d-model-loader.md.
   live: it has no world matrix yet, and drawn before the sync microtask it
   flashes at the world origin for a frame.
 - Instancing pairs strictly at add(), like layout: an instanced material
-  needs a createInstancedMesh mesh (records included) and vice versa, and
-  the record stride must match the material's attributes - each mismatch
-  throws there. The instance buffer is MESH-owned (unlike shared geometry
-  buffers): `disposeInstances` is its one free, and the mesh cannot be
-  re-added afterwards. Capacity grows by REPLACEMENT, never resize:
-  `setInstances` past capacity doubles (at least to the records written)
-  into a new buffer and swaps it in - amortized like a dynamic array, same
-  policy as @solidrt/2d; size the initial records to skip the copies.
-- An instanced mesh without explicit `bounds` has no BVH leaf: it never
+  needs a createInstancedMesh or createRecordMesh mesh and vice versa,
+  and the record strides must match the material's attributes per slot
+  (the 16 floats of INSTANCE_MATRIX_ATTRIBUTES in slot 0 on an instanced
+  mesh, its style stride in slot 1; a record mesh is slot 0 only) - each
+  mismatch throws there, at creation for the mesh's own material and at
+  add() for a swapped one. The instance buffers are MESH-owned (unlike
+  shared geometry buffers): `disposeInstances` is their one free, and
+  the mesh cannot be re-added afterwards. Capacity grows by REPLACEMENT,
+  never resize: an addInstance or setRecords past capacity doubles into
+  new buffers and swaps them in (an instanced mesh's live records move
+  in one core `retargetRecords`, its style mirror republishes) -
+  amortized like a dynamic array, same policy as @solidrt/2d; size
+  `capacity` or the initial records to skip the copies. An instanced
+  mesh's style stride comes from its material AT CREATION: a later
+  setMaterial to a class with another slot-1 layout throws at the
+  rebuild.
+- Style writes are mirrored, not immediate: `setInstanceStyle` lands in
+  `MeshInstances.style.data` and the scene's sync publishes the dirty
+  range - so a write on a mesh outside any scene shows once it is added
+  (the attach republishes the whole mirror), and reading the GPU buffer
+  back mid-frame can lag the mirror by one sync.
+- Instanced casters: `castShadow` on a populated mesh needs a depth pass
+  with the instance placement in it - the stock materials' `instanced`
+  carries one, a custom class needs `shadowVertex` (see shadows below);
+  a class without one is skipped by shadow views, silently.
+- A record mesh without explicit `bounds` has no BVH leaf: it never
   picks, pointer events never target it, and its transparent sort key
   falls back to the node's world position. That is deliberate - records
   are opaque to the library, so any inferred box would be a guess. Supply
-  `bounds` for anything pickable or transparent.
+  `bounds` for anything pickable or transparent. An instanced mesh picks
+  per instance regardless and culls by its instances' union; its
+  `bounds` replace that union and give the transparent sort a center.
+- An instance node's own fields hold its LOCAL pose (relative to its
+  parent, as for any node); the record the core writes is its pose
+  relative to the MESH, composed through any group between them. A
+  removed instance's children stay parented to the dead node: remove()
+  one to re-use it. `disposeInstances` on an instanced mesh flushes the
+  core before freeing the buffer, so the destroyed instances' hiding
+  writes land in a live buffer; keep that order if you ever free a
+  record buffer by hand.
 - Transparency is an EXPLICIT material flag, Three's rule: `unlit({ color:
   [r, g, b, 0.5] })` still draws opaque, and opaque means it: the standard
   classes write alpha 1 when not `transparent` (the scene target is
@@ -762,9 +1622,14 @@ The follow-ups are filed in okf/backlog/3d-model-loader.md.
   and supplies its own cutout variant as the `shadow` instance option).
   Opting out of receiving is on the
   MATERIAL here (`receiveShadow: false`), not the object (Three's
-  `mesh.receiveShadow`) - Godot's split, and URP's - and instanced
-  meshes never cast (the depth override cannot know their records) - the
-  additive follow-up is a per-class `shadowVertex`. Every casting light
+  `mesh.receiveShadow`) - Godot's split, and URP's. An instanced mesh
+  casts when its class declares `shadowVertex` (the vertex stage reduced
+  to position, instance placement included; the class builds one depth
+  program from it plus the shared depth fragment, culling the shadow
+  side and binding only the instance slots the stage reads, and every
+  instance shares it) - without one the shadow views
+  SKIP instanced meshes, since the plain depth override cannot know
+  their records. `examples/instanced.tsx` casts. Every casting light
   is a full extra pass over the casters plus a sampler unit on every
   receiving program (MAX_LIGHTS of those are always bound, placeholders
   included), so cast from the lights that matter, not all of them.
@@ -778,7 +1643,9 @@ The follow-ups are filed in okf/backlog/3d-model-loader.md.
 - SCENE-WIDE uniforms go through that same shared channel via
   `scene.setParams({ uTime })`, and this is the single highest-leverage
   pattern in the library. It merges an app-owned name in beside
-  uViewProj/uCamPos/uCamRight/uCamUp - names merge, a target tolerates
+  uViewProj/uInvViewProj/uCamPos/uCamRight/uCamUp and the scene's own
+  fog, environment and output sets (uFog*, uEnv*, uExposure,
+  uToneMapping) - names merge, a target tolerates
   zero coverage, neither side clobbers the other. One write per frame
   however many meshes read it, with the motion itself in vertex shaders
   off that one clock. `params`/`setMeshParams` is the PER-MESH answer and
@@ -839,9 +1706,9 @@ The follow-ups are filed in okf/backlog/3d-model-loader.md.
   aColor you do not read.
 - Picking is triangle-accurate for ordinary meshes (`point` is a surface
   point, hits carry `face`/`uv`/`normal`) but box-only for instanced
-  meshes: there `point` is the entry point of the population `bounds`
-  box, and `face`/`uv`/`normal` are absent. Never present an instanced
-  hit as a surface hit. Both tiers run in the spatial core (Rust); never
+  meshes: there `point` is where the ray meets the population `bounds`
+  box, `normal` that face's, and `face`/`uv` are absent. Never present an
+  instanced hit as a surface hit. Both tiers run in the spatial core (Rust); never
   add a per-triangle path in JS - rays at mesh scale are
   interpreter-hostile, and the core already does it.
 - `scene.handlers` vs `handlersFor`: localX/localY arrive in the leaf's
@@ -852,13 +1719,16 @@ The follow-ups are filed in okf/backlog/3d-model-loader.md.
   leaf under a design size. Only a leaf whose layout size deliberately
   differs from the target (supersampling) needs `handlersFor`, fed the
   layout size the app itself set.
-- Scene-wide effects reach a custom material ONLY by composition: a
-  `shaderMaterial` that does not compose `FOG` is unfogged, one that does
-  not compose the `SHADOW_*` trio is unshadowed, and since every
-  instanced mesh has a custom material, an instanced forest stays crisp
-  in a fogged scene until its fragment calls `fog()`. The engine cannot
-  inject it (what you declare is what runs); check both when a custom
-  look sits beside standard ones and reads wrong at distance.
+- A custom fragment that ends in `fragColor = vec4(...)` bypasses the
+  scene: no fog, no exposure or tone mapping, no encode - and a
+  hand-rolled loop over `uLightDir` renders a spot light as a
+  directional one (a lit rectangle on the floor, no cone). What you
+  declare is what runs, and the engine injects nothing, so pick a tier
+  (the three after the GLSL exports under "The model"): a stock fragment
+  on your vertex stage,
+  a `surface` function, or `SCENE` with `shadeBlinn`/`shadePbr` or
+  `sceneLight` and `sceneOutput` at the end. Composing `FOG` and the
+  `SHADOW_*` trio by hand still works and is no longer the shape.
 - Hover (enter/leave) reacts to pointer MOTION only: a mesh animating
   under a still pointer fires nothing until the next move - the same
   limit the element hit test has (hit-test-per-frame is an open platform
@@ -871,6 +1741,36 @@ The follow-ups are filed in okf/backlog/3d-model-loader.md.
   REPLACES the clearColor visually (the clear still runs; you just never
   see it), and a `transparent: true` mesh blends over it in-pass since the
   background is always entry zero.
+- A color map created as plain rgba8 renders WASHED OUT: the fragment
+  reads its encoded bytes as linear light and encodes them again. Create
+  color images (base color, emissive, a sky's faces or panorama) with
+  `format: "rgba8-srgb"`; keep data maps rgba8. A rendered rgba8 texture
+  (a scene view, a shader target, a UI capture) holds encoded pixels and
+  cannot be tagged, so as a `map` it needs `srgbToLinear` from SRGB in a
+  custom fragment (no material option yet); a draw target you create
+  yourself can be `format: "rgba8-srgb"` and then decodes on sample (it
+  is sampler-only: no display, readback or copy).
+- Reading the scene texture back (a probe's readTexture, a snapshot)
+  gives ENCODED pixels: an expected linear value v shows as
+  `linearToSrgb(v) * 255` - intensity 0.5 reads 188, not 128.
 - The background pipeline/program are SCENE-OWNED (unlike shared
   material pipelines): setBackground(null), replacement, and dispose()
   destroy them. Do not hand the background's pipeline to anything else.
+  A skybox is the same slot with the library's fragment; only a
+  skybox-to-skybox replace keeps the entry (params and cube rewritten).
+- The environment binds through the light rewrite's map set (uEnv
+  beside uShadowAtlas on every receiving target, new views included) and
+  directly on setEnvironment; the placeholder cube is app-lifetime like
+  the shadow placeholder. A `lit` without `reflectivity` declares no
+  environment sampler - the flag is part of the class key.
+- overlap()/sweep() test SURFACES, the trimesh contract everywhere: a
+  volume wholly inside a closed mesh with no triangle in reach touches
+  nothing, and a body whose center has passed through a wall reports
+  the push-out on the side its center is on. Keep a skin (moveAndSlide
+  does) and never teleport a body into geometry expecting it to come
+  out the far side.
+- moveAndSlide owns no gravity and no velocity: fold the fall into
+  `motion` every frame and zero it while `floor` is set. A walkable
+  floor absorbs the vertical part (a body never creeps down a slope it
+  can stand on), and with `floorSnap: 0` a standing body reports no
+  floor unless its motion presses into one.