Guide · Agent skill
How to use the 3D Wood Material agent skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The 3D Wood Material skill teaches an AI agent to build a single procedural wood material for Three.js, the WebGL 3D library. Instead of wrapping a wood photo around an object, the material generates growth rings, pores, rays, checks and tool marks from one noise field, so the grain follows the object's shape and holds up in close-up. This guide explains what the skill does, how to install it, how to ask for it, and what to check afterwards.
3D Wood MaterialMengTo/Skills · MIT Download the skill Quick start
- 1Download the ZIP. Get the 3d-wood-material ZIP from this page.
- 2Unzip into a skills folder. Place the folder in ~/.claude/skills/ or in your project's .claude/skills/ folder.
- 3Or upload in the Claude apps. Go to Settings → Capabilities → Skills and upload the skill.
- 4Check the project has Three.js. Confirm the target project uses Three.js and that your browser supports WebGL.
- 5Open demo.html. Run the demo to see the species, finishes and macro views the skill produces.
- 6Ask for the wood with a clear request. Name the object, the finish and the camera distance in your prompt.
- 7Review close-ups and distance views. Check macro and far views for smearing, moiré or identical boards.
What agent skills are and what this one makes the agent do
An agent skill is a folder with a SKILL.md file that an AI agent such as Claude reads when a request matches the skill's description. This skill covers wood surfaces for 3D scenes built with Three.js.
With the skill installed, the agent writes code that patches a MeshPhysicalMaterial. The grain is computed in the fragment shader from object-space position, so rings, latewood, pores, fibres, rays and tool marks all come from the same field. Colour, roughness and relief change together, and the detail fades with distance so it does not shimmer. The skill also covers oil, wax and lacquer finishes and rounded board edges.
- Procedural wood: no tiled image textures and no downloaded maps.
- Grain follows the form, including through corners and end faces.
- Finishes (raw, oil, wax, urushi-style lacquer) are set as material parameters.
- Each board can get its own seed so repeated boards do not look identical.
Install the 3d-wood-material skill
Download the ZIP for this skill from this page. Unzip it so that the skill folder is placed in ~/.claude/skills/ for your personal use, or in .claude/skills/ inside a project if you want it only for that project.
In the Claude apps you can instead upload the skill under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
- Personal install: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
- Project install: unzip into the project's .claude/skills/ folder
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload the skill
Know what the skill needs before you start
The skill needs Three.js (a WebGL 3D library) in the target project, and a WebGL-capable browser to view the result. It does not run scripts and does not use the network.
The package includes agents/openai.yaml, demo.html, PROMPT.md and SKILL.md. Open demo.html in a browser first to see four species and four finishes, including macro views, before asking the agent to build something similar.
- Three.js in the target project
- A WebGL-capable browser
- Files: agents/openai.yaml, demo.html, PROMPT.md, SKILL.md
How to trigger the skill with natural requests
The skill's description lists its triggers: wood boards, benches, carved panels, tool handles, joinery, floors, and any request to make 3D wood look real, detailed, or less like a tiled photo or plastic. You can name the skill directly, as in the minimal prompt in PROMPT.md, or describe the goal in plain words.
Be specific about the object, the scene and the finish. Say whether you want raw, oil, wax or lacquer, and how close the camera gets.
- "Use $3d-wood-material to make the timber in my Three.js scene procedural, with an oil finish."
- "Make the oak bench in my Three.js scene look like real wood, not a tiled photo, visible in close-up."
- "Add a lacquered wooden tool handle to my Three.js scene with rounded edges."
Choose a species and finish
The skill includes species constants for keyaki, sugi, hinoki, kuri and charred siding, each with pale and dark colours, roughness, grain and ring frequency. Ask the agent for one of these by name, or describe the look and let it pick a starting point.
Ring frequency depends on scale. The skill says to set it from real ring spacing, about 2 to 5 mm at the scale you model, rather than copying a number from another scene.
- Raw: no clearcoat
- Oil: a low-gloss clearcoat
- Wax: a soft clearcoat
- Lacquer (urushi): a deeper clearcoat with a darkened end grain
Check the result and fix common problems
If every board looks identical, ask the agent to give each board its own seed and to sample object-space position rather than UV. If the wood looks like plastic, ask for roughness that varies with the grain. If rings look flat when the light rakes across, ask for the same grain fields to drive the bump.
If the macro view looks blurry or shows a grid, the skill advises raising the field resolution for hero surfaces or the fibre scale, not rescaling the mesh.
- Identical boards: add per-board seeds and offset geometry.
- Plastic look: vary roughness with pores, latewood and rays.
- Flat under raking light: drive bump from the same grain fields.
- Shimmer at distance: confirm the detail layers fade with screen footprint.
What people use it for
- A 3D furniture configurator with an oak-look or keyaki-look bench that stays convincing when the camera zooms in.
- A product scene with lacquered tool handles that show rounded edges and a glossy finish.
- An architectural visualisation with timber floor boards that each have their own grain.
- A browser prototype of carved wooden panels where the grain follows the carving.
- A learning project that studies how a shader-based wood material is built.
Frequently asked questions
Is the 3D Wood Material skill free?
The skill is published under the MIT licence, as stated on this page. Check the licence file in the package for the full terms before you reuse the code.
What do I need to use this skill?
You need Three.js in the target project and a WebGL-capable browser to view the result. The skill does not run scripts and does not use the network.
How do I install an agent skill?
Download the ZIP and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder. In the Claude apps, you can upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
Does this skill use wood image textures?
No. It generates the wood procedurally from one noise field. For photographed or scanned wood maps, the skill points to a different skill, 3d-high-resolution-textures.
Can I use this skill for 2D wood images?
No. It is for 3D scenes built with Three.js. Printed wood images or 2D graphics have no use for this material.
Why does my wood look like plastic or shimmer at a distance?
The skill says flat roughness looks like plastic, so roughness should vary with the grain. Detail that shimmers at distance needs each layer to fade with its screen footprint, so ask the agent to apply that.
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Our verdict
Use this skill if you build 3D furniture, product or architectural scenes in Three.js and want believable timber without image textures, or if you want to study a shader-based wood technique. Pick something else if you need photographed or scanned wood maps, non-3D wood graphics, or a plug-and-play library, since results depend on your scene and tuning.
Download the skill