Developer Builds 3D Exploded-View App to Teach How Gadgets Work

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A college student has built 'Exploded', an interactive 3D web app that lets users disassemble virtual objects like hard disks, watches, and smartphones to learn how they work. The project was submitted for the DEV Community Weekend Passion Challenge, inspired by the developer's childhood habit of taking apart physical objects. Built with React and Three.js, the app integrates Google Gemini for a curiosity-driven Q&A experience and ElevenLabs for voice-narrated guided tours of each component. Objects were modeled using primitive 3D shapes rather than Blender imports, with Claude AI assisting in some design work. The app is deployed on Vercel, with the source code publicly available on GitHub.

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ProgrammingDEV Community ·

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ProgrammingDEV Community ·

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