TL;DR: I built a browser-based 3D space station where you walk up to screens, open simulators, and explore Earth from orbit. No downloads, no signup. Just WASD keys and a mission to make educational tools feel like actual places you visit instead of links you click.
I got tired of looking at lists.
Every simulator I built, from the Human Anatomy explorer to the Solar System viewer, sat in a grid of cards on a webpage. You scroll, you tap, you open. It works. But it feels like flipping through a catalog, not discovering a world. So I built a space station you can walk through instead.
The VisionVix 3D Space is a single room in orbit, called the Simulators Hall. You step inside, walk up to a massive screen filled with simulator tiles, look out the windows at Earth turning below, and talk to VEX, the hall guide. When you want a simulator, you walk to its tile and press E. That's it. Same tools, completely different experience.
This post walks through what the hall is, how to get in, what every part does, how I built it with three.js, and the features it still can't handle yet.
What problem does a 3D space solve
A list of links is fast. You know what you want, you tap it, you're in. But if you're browsing, or if you're a student opening this in class, scrolling through cards feels like homework. Walking through a space station feels like going somewhere.
Here's the functional difference:
Simulator list approach:
- Scroll through a grid of cards
- Tap the one you want
- Simulator opens in a new window
- Works on any device, zero friction
Walkable 3D space approach:
- Walk into a station, look around
- Approach a tile on a giant screen
- Press E to open
- Best on desktop, memorable on anything
If you already know you want the Solar System, the list wins. If you want to explore, or if you're presenting this to a classroom on a projector, the hall wins. The hall is slower to navigate, but people remember it. That matters when you're trying to get someone to come back.
I launched the VisionVix Simulators Hall a month ago. Teachers have used it to open lessons. Students have walked through it just to see what's inside. And I've used it as the front door to everything I build under VisionVix World.
How to enter the hall, step by step
1. Enter 3D Space
Visit visionvix.world. On the opening screen, look beside the globe for the 3D Space card. It invites you to walk around, explore, and discover simulators inside a futuristic space station.
Press Enter on the 3D Space card to begin your journey.
Note: Open Simulators takes you directly to the regular simulator list. Below it, you'll also find Choose Your 3D World, where every simulator is displayed as an individual card.
2. Step Inside the Hall
Once inside, you'll see an introduction explaining what's waiting for you and how to move around.
Press Enter to enter the hall.
Desktop controls:
- W, A, S, D: Move around.
- Mouse: Look in different directions.
- E: Open the simulator or object you're aiming at.
- T: Talk to VEX. Mobile controls:
- Use the joystick to move.
- Drag the screen to look around.
- Tap simulators or VEX to interact.
3. Explore the Main Simulator Screen
Walk towards the large screen in front of you, displaying the title SIMULATORS.
You'll discover ten simulator tiles featuring experiences such as Human Anatomy, Animal Anatomy, the Solar System, History Globe, and World News Live.
There are even more experiences waiting on the pillars to either side of the main screen.
To launch a simulator, aim at its tile. An interaction prompt will appear, such as Open Periodic Table. Press E on your keyboard or tap the tile on your phone.
4. Discover Earth Through the Windows
Take a moment to explore the tall windows running along both sides of the hall.
Look outside and watch Earth rotating beneath the station. VEX explains how the experience uses real NASA imagery, allowing you to see the planet from space, including city lights appearing as the night side turns towards you.
5. Look Up at the Milky Way
Above the podium, you'll find a beautiful circular skylight surrounded by lights.
Look through it to see the Milky Way stretching across the view.
It's a small detail, but one that makes the entire environment feel like a real futuristic space station rather than an ordinary website.
6. Meet VEX and My 3D Avatar
Now it's time to meet your guides!
You'll find VEX, your friendly hall guide, and a 3D avatar representing me.
You can interact with both of us and even join our conversations.
Press T or select Talk to VEX to hear a short guided tour. VEX will introduce you to the main simulator screen, the windows, the pillars, and the skylight.
Next, walk up to my 3D avatar and ask questions such as:
- Who are you?
- What is VisionVix World?
- What are you building next?
- Which simulator should I try first?
- Can I use this at school?
- Is it free? You'll hear the answers spoken aloud. At the end, I'll also ask whether you'd like to be notified when something new becomes available.
7. Discover the VisionVix Sign and Exit
Finally, turn around and look towards the back wall.
You'll find a large visionvix.world sign featuring the tagline:
A project by Julian Neagu.
Aim at the sign to open the main website.
And whenever you're ready to leave, simply press Exit in the top-right corner to leave the 3D hall.
What VEX does, and what I do
Off to one side, near the windows, stand two characters. One is VEX, a sleek humanoid guide with glowing accents. The other is a 3D version of me, Julian Neagu, standing on a small platform.
Walk up to VEX. Press T or tap Talk to VEX. VEX runs through a short tour:
- The main screen holds the primary simulators
- The windows show Earth in real time
- The pillars carry additional tools
- The skylight opens onto space
VEX speaks each line out loud. The voice is pre-recorded, not synthesized. The tour takes about thirty seconds.
Walk over to my avatar. Aim at me, and you'll see a set of questions you can ask:
- Who are you?
- What is visionvix.world?
- What are you building next?
- Which one should I try first?
- Can I use this at school?
- Is it free?
Tap any question. I answer in recorded voice. The answers are short, plain, and specific. For example, "Can I use this at school?" triggers a response about the free lessons available on the Teachers page, and how every simulator works in a browser with no signup required.
At the end of each answer, I ask if you want to hear when something new opens. That's the only prompt. No forced signup, no email gate. Just a question.
How the room is built, technically
The entire hall runs in a browser using three.js, the same JavaScript library that powers every VisionVix simulator. No plugins, no downloads, no WebGL fallback. If your browser supports 3D graphics, it loads.
Here's the technical stack:
3D engine: three.js r168, handling geometry, lighting, textures, and camera control.
Asset pipeline: Every 3D model (VEX, my avatar, the sofas, lamp tables, plants) is a separate .glb file loaded at startup. The hall shows a loading bar until all assets are cached.
Movement system: First-person controls built with PointerLockControls on desktop. On mobile, a custom joystick overlay sends movement vectors to the camera position.
Voice playback: Pre-recorded .mp3 files for VEX's tour and my avatar's answers. They play through THREE.Audio with positional falloff disabled, so volume stays consistent.
Earth rendering: A sphere with NASA's Blue Marble texture, rotated incrementally every frame. City lights use an emissive night-side texture blended in as the planet turns.
Skylight: A transparent cylinder opening onto a static Milky Way skybox, with a rim of point lights to create depth.
Collision detection: Invisible bounding boxes around furniture, pillars, and walls. If your movement vector intersects a box, the position update cancels. Simple, effective, fast.
The hardest part was keeping frame rate smooth. A room this rich, with this many models, can stutter on mid-range hardware if you're not careful. I fixed it by:
- Pre-loading every asset before the hall opens
- Using instanced geometry for repeated objects (the lamp tables, the plants)
- Keeping polygon counts low on background models
- Baking lighting into textures instead of calculating it per frame
On a decent laptop, the hall runs at 60fps. On a phone, it drops to 30-40fps but stays playable. On a very old device, it loads, but movement is choppy. I don't have a hardware gate yet, so the experience degrades rather than blocking entry.
What the hall cannot do yet
This is version one. It works. But it's also missing features I know people want.
No multiplayer. You walk through the hall alone. I've had requests to let students walk through together, or to let teachers guide a group. That requires a real-time sync layer, which I haven't built yet.
No mobile VR support. The hall works on phones, but it doesn't support Google Cardboard or WebXR. I want to add that, but three.js VR implementations are finicky, and I'm prioritizing features that work on the widest set of devices first.
Limited interaction with objects. You can walk up to a simulator tile and open it. You can talk to VEX. But you can't pick up objects, sit on the sofas, or interact with the plants. The room is walkable, not fully interactive.
Fixed camera height. You can't crouch, jump, or change your viewpoint height. The camera is locked at standing eye level. That's fine for most use cases, but it means accessibility options like sitting view or low-angle exploration aren't available.
Pre-scripted dialogue only. VEX and my avatar answer fixed questions with pre-recorded audio. You can't type a question and get a generated response. I thought about hooking up a language model, but I wanted the experience to feel snappy, and API calls introduce lag.
No persistence. If you leave the hall and come back, nothing is saved. You start at the spawn point every time. I'm considering adding a simple state save (which simulators you've opened, which questions you've asked) but haven't implemented it yet.
Who this is for, and why it exists
The hall serves three groups:
Curious visitors. If you land on the VisionVix homepage and want to see everything at once, the hall is faster than reading a list and more memorable than scrolling through cards.
Students. Walking up to a screen and choosing a world feels like a field trip, not an assignment. I've had teachers tell me students explore more when the tools are presented this way.
Anyone who likes space. The Earth view, the skylight, and the station itself are worth a few minutes even if you don't open a simulator. I built this because I wanted to build it, and that means it exists for people who want to walk around a space station just because.
I also built it because I wanted a front door. VisionVix World is a collection of simulators, but it's also the start of a larger set of 3D environments. The hall is the first room. Over time, I'll add more rooms, each focused on a different domain. The hall will connect to them.
That's the long game. Right now, the hall is a single room with ten simulators and a guide. It's small, but it works, and it's the kind of thing people tell me they remember.
Where this is going next
The Simulators Hall is room one of a larger station. Here's what I'm planning:
More rooms. Each new domain I build (chemistry, biology, physics, history) gets its own hall. You'll walk from one to the next through airlocks or corridors.
Character expansion. VEX will get more dialogue. My avatar will answer more questions. Eventually, I want to add short, scripted interactions that feel less like a FAQ and more like a conversation.
Better mobile support. The joystick works, but it's clunky. I'm testing touch-and-drag movement and experimenting with gyroscope-based camera control.
WebXR integration. If you have a VR headset, the hall should work in VR. That's a bigger lift, but it's on the list.
Multiplayer lobbies. Let students or teams walk through the hall together. That requires server infrastructure I don't have yet, but it's the most-requested feature.
Dynamic content. Right now, the tiles are static. I want to add live previews, so when you walk up to the Solar System tile, you see a rotating Mars or a live feed of the ISS.
You can see my progress on these features and more on my YouTube channel, where I document every build, breakdown, and bug I encounter while expanding VisionVix World. If you want to try other 3D anatomy tools I've built in the same vein, check out the 3D Organs Explorer, which lets you rotate and dissect individual organs in your browser.
Why a space station, not a museum or a library
I chose a space station because it fits the theme. VisionVix World includes the Solar System, the Earth, the History Globe. Space makes sense. But also, a station feels like a frontier. A museum feels finished. A library feels quiet. A station feels like you're building something.
I'm building this alone. Every model, every line of code, every recorded voice clip is mine. That means it's slow, but it also means I can make choices like "let's put the Milky Way above the skylight" without running it past a committee.
This is version one. It has gaps. But it works, it's free, and it's the kind of thing I wanted to exist. If you've ever wished a list of links felt more like a place, this is what that looks like.
Walk in. Look around. Open a simulator. Or just stare out the windows at Earth for a minute. That's enough.
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