This quick overview will help you understand the constructs provided by Babylon React Native and how to use them in a React Native application.

This package has several peer dependencies. If these dependencies are unmet, npm install will emit warnings. Be sure to add these dependencies to your project.

The react-native-permissions dependency is required for XR capabilities of Babylon.js (to request camera permissions automatically). Be sure to follow the react-native-permissions instructions to update your Podfile and Info.plist (iOS) and/or AndroidManifest.xml (Android).

The minimum Android SDK version is 18. This must be set as minSdkVersion in the consuming project's build.gradle file.

The minimum deployment target version is 12. This must be set as iOS Deployment Target in the consuming project's project.pbxproj, and must also be set as platform in the consuming project's podfile.

Babylon React Native platform native packages must also be installed for the platforms and React Native versions being targeted. This is only needed for apps using Babylon React Native, not for libraries (React Native packages) building on top of Babylon React Native.

useEngine is a custom React hook that manages the lifecycle of a Babylon engine instance in the context of an owning React component. useEngine creates an engine instance asynchronously which is used to create and configure scenes. Typically scene initialization code should exist in a useEffect triggered by an engine state change. For example:

import { useEngine } from '@babylonjs/react-native';
import { Engine, Scene } from '@babylonjs/core';

const MyComponent: FunctionComponent<MyComponentProps> = (props: MyComponentProps) => {
    const engine = useEngine();

    useEffect(() => {
        if (engine) {
            const scene = new Scene(engine);
            // Setup the scene!
        }
    }, [engine]);

    return (
        <>
        </>
    );
}

EngineView is a custom React Native view that presents a camera from a Babylon scene. A camera therefore is assigned to the EngineView. For example:

import { useEngine, EngineView } from '@babylonjs/react-native';
import { Engine, Scene, Camera } from '@babylonjs/core';

const MyComponent: FunctionComponent<MyComponentProps> = (props: MyComponentProps) => {
    const engine = useEngine();
    const [camera, setCamera] = useState<Camera>();

    useEffect(() => {
        if (engine) {
            const scene = new Scene(engine);
            scene.createDefaultCamera(true);
            setCamera(scene.activeCamera!);
            // Setup the scene!
        }
    }, [engine]);

    return (
        <>
            <EngineView style={{flex: 1}} camera={camera} />
        </>
    );
}

Also the EngineView has a boolean isTransparent flag which defines whether the background of the scene should be transparent or not.

e.g.

<EngineView style={{flex: 1}} camera={camera} isTransparent={true} />

Note: Currently only one EngineView can be active at any given time. Multi-view will be supported in a future release.