threejs-interaction

Use THREE.Raycaster with setFromCamera after converting mouse coordinates to normalized device coordinates (-1 to 1). Call intersectObjects on your clickable meshes and check the returned array for the closest intersected object.

Import OrbitControls from three/addons/controls/OrbitControls.js and instantiate it with your camera and renderer.domElement. Enable damping with controls.enableDamping = true and call controls.update() each frame for smooth movement.

Yes, raycasting works with touch events by reading event.touches[0].clientX and clientY, then converting them to normalized device coordinates the same way as mouse input. Listen for touchstart on the renderer canvas and call preventDefault to avoid scrolling.

OrbitControls rotates the camera around a target point, suiting model viewers and scene inspection. PointerLockControls hides the cursor and rotates the camera freely, suiting first-person navigation where you move through the scene with keyboard input.

Raycasting every mousemove event against many objects is expensive. Throttle handlers to around 20fps, restrict intersection checks to specific clickable objects, use raycaster.layers for filtering, and substitute invisible simple geometry for complex meshes.