🪴 Pranav Mandhare

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Personal Garage Website with ThreeJS

Jun 08, 2025, 10 min read

Below is a sketch of how we might translate your life story, “collector” mindset, mechanical/space roots, and love for experimentation into a truly unique, interactive personal website.

1. Overarching Theme: “The Curiosity Garage”

Imagine entering a 3D garage/laboratory that’s part workshop, part library, and part toy-collector’s den. Every shelf, every table, and every floating object is clickable—uncovering an essay, a project, or a framed “stamp” of a milestone.

  • Why a Garage?

    • A garage evokes mechanical tinkering (your love of mechanical/aerospace).
    • It doubles as a “collector’s space” (your childhood Pokemon/stamp collections).
    • It can be a cozy “lab” for experiments (fluid mixtures, ant-farm tests)—mirrored digitally by interactive widgets.

  • Visual Style Cues:

    • Industrial flooring (concrete texture), soft under-cabinet lighting over tool-drawers, workbenches laden with “artifacts.”
    • A subtle starfield or skylight above, hinting at your space fascination (galaxies subtly visible through a translucent ceiling panel).
    • Occasional animated particles drifting—like dust motes in sunlight—hinting at unfinished experiments.

Technologies:

  • Three.js (or Babylon.js) for the 3D environment (garage interior, clickable objects).
  • React/Next.js (for routing, blog section, CMS integration).
  • Tailwind CSS + Framer Motion (for 2D overlays, smooth UI transitions when you click on objects).

2. High-Level Structure & User Flow

  1. Landing / 3D Garage Entrance

    • Visitor arrives to see a 3D “garage door” partially open. A short loading animation sweeps them inside.

    • Ambient audio cue (subtle machinery hum, distant dripping water), which can be muted.

    • Once inside, the camera slowly pans across a workbench laden with:

      1. A stamp album (→ “My Journey” timeline).
      2. A vintage toy car on a muddy pedestal (→ “Projects”).
      3. A space telescope model perched near the skylight (→ “About Me & Origins”).
      4. A bulletin board on the back wall with “idea slips” pinned (→ “Idea Garage / Collaborate”).
      5. A stack of notebooks and blog journals on a shelf (→ “Essays & Philosophy”).
      6. A resume binder near the doorway (→ “Download Resume / View as PDF”).

    Interaction Hint: A subtle tooltip (“Hover over objects to explore”) appears for 3–4 seconds on first visit.

  2. Clickable “Artifacts” and What They Unveil

    • Stamp Album (“My Journey”)

      • Opens a 2D overlay with a chronological timeline of milestones—school experiments, mechanical engineering, first job in IT sales, product management roles, etc.

      • Each “stamp” (a circular, vintage-stamp graphic) links to a small pop-up:

        • Date & Title (e.g., “2003: First Ant Colony Experiment”)
        • Short Anecdote (what sparked your curiosity)
        • Image/Icon (e.g., scanned stamp of an ant, or a Pokemon card).

    • Toy Car on Mud Pedestal (“Projects”)

      • Clicking makes the car drive off, then transitions to a 2D grid or carousel of “project cards.”

      • Each card shows:

    • Space Telescope (“About Me & Origins”)

      • Clicking zooms in through a telescope eyepiece—fades into a full-page “About” section:

        • Headshot + Short Bio: (Your mechanical/space roots, sales → product, philosophical bent.)

        • Visual Timeline of “space craze → mechanical engineering → software + entrepreneurship.”

        • Fun Facts Sidebar:

          • “Favorite childhood hobby: Mixing fluids to test on ants.”
          • “Most cherished collection: Pokémon cards + stamps.”
          • “Guilty pleasure: Age of Empires marathon weekends.”

        • Rapid “Wall of Skills”: little rotating 3D blocks (hover to see “Python,” “Three.js,” “Product Strategy,” etc.).

    • Bulletin Board (“Idea Garage / Collaborate”)

      • Clicking pulls open a sliding-door interface into a “commons”—a whiteboard surface where visitors can leave a short message:

        • “Pitch me an idea” form (Name, Email, Idea Title, Short Description).
        • Live Feed Panel (scrolling list of recent ideas or stories submitted by others—optional approval system on backend).
        • “Pick an Idea” Widget: an interactive randomizer that selects one of the submitted ideas, prompting you to explore or collaborate.

    • Notebooks & Journals (“Essays & Philosophy”)

      • Clicking opens a small “library shelf” overlay: a scrollable list of essay titles.
      • Each essay tile has a short excerpt; click → leads to my blog with hyperlinks for each of these essays ’https://garden.pranavmandhare.com/Vibhuti/Essays/’

    • Resume Binder (“Download Resume”)

      • Clicking reveals two options:

        1. Download PDF (a styled, printable one-page or two-page resume).
        2. Interactive Resume: scrollable page that lays out education, work experience, skills, and a small infographic of “First-Principles Thinking” methodology (e.g., clickable nodes showing how you decompose problems).

  3. Global Navigation & Accessibility

    • If a visitor prefers a “classic” nav rather than 3D exploration, a fixed top-left “Menu” icon opens a sidebar with text links to: Home (3D Garage), About, Projects, Essays, Idea Garage, Resume.
    • A fixed top-right “Mute Audio” / “Fullscreen” toggle.
    • Keyboard-accessible option: pressing “M” focuses menu, arrow keys navigate, Enter selects.

3. Key Pages & Their Content

3.1 Home (3D Garage)

  • Purpose: Establish immediate “curiosity & collector” vibe.
  • Core Interactions: Hovering highlights objects; clicking transitions to deeper sections.
  • Fallback: On older browsers/devices, degrade gracefully to a 2D list of sections with thumbnail icons.

3.2 About Me & Origins

  • Hero Section (Full-Bleed Space Background):

    • “From Stargazer to Builder: My Journey from Childhood Curiosity to Software & Mechanical Innovation.”
    • Short tagline about first exploring galaxies online, then building real machines.

  • Timeline with “Stamps”:

    • “1998” → “First star-mapping sessions on dial-up internet.”
    • “2001” → “Started collecting Pokemon cards & stamps.”
    • “2005” → “First mud-track for toy cars and backyard ant experiment.”
    • “2010–2014” → “Mechanical Engineering at [College].”
    • “2015” → “Joined [IT Sales Company] as Sales Rep.”
    • “2018–2022” → “Product Manager for [Software Product A, B].”
    • “Present” → “Building [Your Current Startup/Initiative], writing essays on Philosophy & First-Principles Thinking.”

  • Skills Matrix:

    • Interactive 3×3 grid where hovering a block pops up a tooltip (e.g., “Three.js + WebGL,” “Product Strategy,” “SOLID Mechanics”).

3.3 Projects

  • Projects Grid or Carousel:

    • Each project card shows:

      • Project Name
      • Tech Stack Icons (React, Node.js, etc.)
      • Short Role Description (“Led a 5-member team to build an interactive route planner using Ola Maps API.”)
      • Optional Link to Details Page takes user to my blog where the project is described, the link would be similar to ’https://garden.pranavmandhare.com/Vibhuti/Projects/Ideas-for-Education-Sector’
      • “View Demo / GitHub” optional links.

  • Filter Bar:

    • “All / Web / Mobile / Mechanical Concepts / Research & Essays”
    • E.g., if you once prototyped a “3D-printed fluid mixer], that can live under “Mechanical Concepts.”

  • Featured Project Spotlight:

    • At top, a rotating “featured” carousel with “Project A: Why it matters, what you learned,” plus a “Read Case Study” button.

3.4 Essays & Philosophy

  • Library-Style Layout:

    • Each essay displayed like a little hardcover book on a wooden shelf (3D tilt on hover).
    • Excerpt appears as a sticky note once hovered.

  • Featured Essays:

3.5 Idea Garage / Collaborate

  • Digital Bulletin Board Interface:

    • Pins (sticky notes) labeled with ‘Citizen Stack: Opensource software and hardware tools for public’. Clicking a pin reveals content - ‘Software and hardware tools to solve social problems or make existing solutions more efficient.’
    • Do not allow users to add ideas in current version, instead Ideas would be added by me manually in the code

  • “Pick a Random Pin” Widget:

    • Animates a random “pin” glowing; click “View this Idea” to read it.

3.6 Resume & Downloads

  • Interactive Resume Page:

    • Clean, modular layout: Education → Work Experience → Skills → Certifications → Contact Info.
    • Sidebar infographic: “My Approach to Problem Solving” (a collapsible first-principles diagram, where clicking “Break it Down” expands sub-nodes).

  • Download Buttons:

    • “Download as PDF” (opens the PDF in a new tab). Allow the user to download @/public/Pranav_Mandhare_EdTech.pdf

4. Visual & Interaction Details

  1. Color Palette & Typography

    • Primary Colors:

      • Deep Slate Blue (#1E2633) for backgrounds and headers (evokes space).
      • Rustic Orange (#E27D60) for hover highlights (reminds of mechanical caution tape).

    • Accents:

      • Cream White (#F0EDE5) for text blocks, sticky notes.
      • Gunmetal Gray (#4A4A4A) for secondary buttons & icons.

    • Fonts:

      • Headings: A geometric sans (e.g., Dosis or Montserrat) to hint at tech/space.
      • Body: A clean serif or readable sans (e.g., Lora or Inter).

  2. Animations & Micro-interactions

    • Hover Over Objects (3D): Slight scale-up + subtle glow.
    • Click to Open Section: Camera dolly/zoom animation, then fade into 2D overlay.
    • Sticky Notes “Pinning”: A new note springs onto the bulletin board with a little “pop” sound effect (optional, can be muted).
    • Idea Randomizer: Pins shimmer briefly before settling on the “winning” idea.

  3. Easter Eggs & “Collector” Nods

    • Hidden “collectible” icons (e.g., a rare asteroid rock, a vintage stamp, a Pokémon card icon) tucked behind drawers. If a visitor finds all 5 hidden collectibles, show a “Congratulations” modal with a link to a small downloadable “Collector’s Badge” (PNG).
    • Hover over the space telescope at night (system time–based) reveals a constellation pattern that spells out your initials in stars.

5. Backend & CMS Considerations

6. Example Inspirations (for Visual/Interaction Guidance)

  1. Bruno Simon’s Portfolio (https://bruno-simon.com)

    • A 3D “toy car” environment where your car drives through a mini world, and each area leads to different sections.
    • Inspiration for using Three.js to craft a playful, mechanical scene with real-time physics.

  2. Robby Leonardi’s Interactive Resume (http://www.rleonardi.com/interactive-resume)

    • While not 3D, it uses gamification (side-scrolling “level” progress to show skill bars, timeline).
    • Take cues on how to gamify your resume/information.

  3. Joshua Davies’s 3D Portfolio (https://joshua-davies.github.io/portfolio-3d/)

    • Clean Three.js integration with smooth camera controls and clickable hotspots.
    • Good example of how to make 3D environment still feel snappy & responsive.

  4. Samurai.js Demo (https://samurai.surge.sh)

    • A very simple, low-poly 3D scene with interactive nodes.
    • Can inform how to optimize for performance (low-poly objects, lazy-loading high-res textures).

7. Mobile & Performance Considerations

  • Responsive Degradation:

    • On small screens or low-power devices, switch from full 3D to a layered 2D version of the “garage.” Each “section icon” can simply be a 2D image tile in a scrollable list.

  • Lazy-Loading Assets:

    • Only load the 3D scene once per session; after that, cache it.
    • Use compressed texture formats (e.g., .ktx2 or .basis) for any 3D model textures.
    • Defer nonessential animations until user interaction—e.g., the flickering overhead lamp only animates when the user hovers over it.

  • Progressive Enhancement:

    • If WebGL isn’t supported, automatically serve a 2D CSS/HTML version with the same content in a simplified layout.

9. Summary: Communicating Your Personality

  1. Collector’s Eye:

    • Every section is a “collectible artifact”—whether it’s a stamp, a toy car, or a space memorabilia—reinforcing that childhood urge to gather interesting pieces of knowledge and experiments.

  2. Tinkerer’s Garage:

    • A “lab/garage” metaphor shows you as someone who still loves hands-on experimentation—even in software—tying in your mechanical and aerospace roots.
    • The visitor feels invited to “open a drawer” or “pick up a tool,” mimicking your real-world process.

  3. First-Principles & Curiosity:

    • Essays and blog posts live in a digital journal library, spotlighting your philosophical bent and desire to document “why things are the way they are.”
    • The interactive “Skill Blocks” or “First-Principles” infographic reminds a visitor that you’re not just a product manager—you deconstruct problems from the ground up.

  4. Storytelling & Collaboration:

    • “Idea Garage” doubles as a digital campfire for stories: visitors can both read your stories and pin their own.
    • The ability to “upvote” or “pick a random idea” showcases your openness to collaboration and human narratives.

  5. Gamified Interactions:

    • Hidden collectibles reward deep exploration—just as you spent hours as a kid hunting for rare cards.
    • Animations and 3D interactions mirror your love of games like Age of Empires (building worlds, discovering new things).

  6. Mechanical & Space Aesthetics:

    • Tool cabinets, stamped “milestones,” space skylights—visual cues that reinforce your origin story (starry fascination + mechanical engineering).

Graph View

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