Getting Started with Needle Engine

Build fully interactive 3D websites using your favorite tools. Needle Engine works with professional 3D editors and modern web frameworks, giving you the power to create rich web experiences that deploy anywhere.

What You'll Get

With Needle Engine, you get:

  • 🎨 Visual authoring in Unity or Blender — or pure code, no editor required
  • 🎯 Built-in Rapier physics — rigidbodies, colliders, raycasting, character controllers
  • 🤝 Multiplayer & voice chat — add networking with a single component, zero server setup
  • 🚀 Automatic optimization with state-of-the-art compression (up to 100x smaller files)
  • 📱 Cross-platform support (desktop, mobile, VR, AR)
  • ⚡ Hot reload for instant feedback during development
  • 🌐 Deploy anywhere on the web with a single command
We have something like 12 products used globally, made with Needle — it's been a fantastic tool for us over the past 2-3 years. It just makes the workflow so easy, even people that aren't developers only have to click one button.
Testimonial

StevenCTO, Virtually Sports

Choose Your Workflow

Pick the tool that matches your skills and project needs:

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Needle × Unity

Unity 2022.3 LTS
Unity 6 LTS
Unity 6.3 LTS

Next Steps
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Needle × Blender

Blender 4.5 LTS
Blender 5.0.1

Next Steps
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<needle-engine>
Web Component

Rich, interactive 3D content made easy

Tool Image

Needle × three.js

three.js r169

Other Workflows

Learn how to integrate Needle Engine into your tool or workflow

Install a Code Editor

Visual Studio Code is recommended for creating and editing JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML, and CSS files. It's a free, open-source editor that works on all platforms and integrates seamlessly with Needle Engine.

Why VS Code?

  • Built-in TypeScript support
  • Excellent debugging tools
  • Rich extension ecosystem
  • Live Server support for local development
  • Git integration

Required Tools

Automatic Installation with Unity or Blender

When using the Unity or Blender integration, we'll guide you through installing these tools automatically. You don't need to install them manually.

The following tools are used by Needle Engine to create, preview, and build your web app:

Need Help?

If you run into issues during setup, check out our FAQ or join our Discord community where we're happy to help!