Getting Started & Installation
Last updated
Last updated
With Needle Engine, you can create fully interactive 3D websites using your favorite framework.
Projects created with Needle Engine can be deployed anywhere on the web and get optimized automatically by our state of the art optimization pipeline with automatic LOD support – reducing asset size by up x100 without compromising quality.
Needle Engine is available as a package for Unity, add-on for Blender, a ready-to-go Web Component, or as a npm package for projects without an editor integration. Each of these comes with the same components our building blocks and to power to create more – the choice is yours.
Needle Engine makes it easy to build web apps. That often, but not always, includes coding with JavaScript/TypeScript or writing HTML and CSS to describe user interfacces. We recommend for creating and editing these files. It's a free, open-source code editor that runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Download Visual Studio Code
::: tip Needle Engine uses the following tools to create your web app, but you don't need to manually install them when using the Unity or Blender integration. We'll guide you through the installation process after you've installed the Needle integration. :::
Node.js 20 LTS or 22 LTS. Needle Engine uses Node.js to manage, preview and build the web app that you are creating locally on your computer. It is also used for uploading (deploying) your website to the internet.
Now that you've installed Needle Engine, you're ready to dive deeper into project creation, component workflows, scripting, deployment and more.
KTX Software – toktx texture tools. We use toktx by the Khronos Group to locally optimize and compress your 3D files. Learn more about production builds .
In case you need troubleshooting help, please see the section. We welcome you to join our and .