Inside Watermelon‑Hydrogen

By nuwudorder | September 23, 2025

A showcase of Nudun’s 3D Shopify interface
Patrick Allan Wood (Nuwud Multimedia) • September 23, 2025

Overview

Watermelon‑Hydrogen is an ongoing project under my Nudun brand. It’s a Shopify Hydrogen storefront with a signature Three.js layer—a radial/ferris‑wheel style 3D menu, dynamic submenus, floating previews, and a central 3D content panel. The twist: it’s designed as a client‑only enhancement, so it never breaks Shopify’s server‑side rendering.

This post is not a step‑by‑step tutorial or code dump. Instead, it’s a showcase piece: an exploration of what’s possible, why it matters, and where it’s headed.

Why I built it

  • To push Shopify beyond templates. Most storefronts look alike; I wanted something that felt alive, spatial, and fun.
  • To prove SSR and 3D can coexist. Shopify Hydrogen handles SSR, but Three.js is inherently client‑side. Watermelon‑Hydrogen harmonizes the two.
  • To create a Nudun signature. Every brand needs a recognizable design language. For Nudun, it’s playful, elegant, and three‑dimensional.

Key concepts (without giving away the recipe)

  • The Orchestrator: one file keeps the 3D world in sync—scene, camera, menu, and teardown logic.
  • The Menu Ring: a ferris‑wheel style carousel that displays Shopify navigation items in 3D space.
  • Submenus & Previews: hover or click, and you see context‑aware previews or sub‑options, always oriented for clarity.
  • Central Stage: a rotating showcase space where content, products, or effects appear.
  • Client‑Only Wrapping: everything waits until after SSR before rendering, so the 3D never disrupts page load.

Design philosophy

  • Elegance before complexity. Even with advanced visuals, the code is structured so future developers (or future‑me) can understand it.
  • SSR‑safe first, then fun. The 3D layer is treated as progressive enhancement.
  • Deterministic interaction. Every animation is locked to avoid race conditions or glitchy highlights.
  • Future‑proof modularity. Utilities exist for angles, content, and cart logic so features can evolve without rewrites.

What makes it special

  • It blends Shopify data with live 3D. Menus, products, and metafields can drive what you see in the carousel.
  • It’s not static. Submenus animate into place; floating previews orbit smoothly; content panels evolve with each selection.
  • It’s leak‑free. A robust teardown system ensures performance and hot reload friendliness.
  • It’s still playful. Visual polish options include glowing shaders, glassy panels, and dynamic backgrounds.

Current status

  • Parent ring and submenus work with placeholder + Shopify data.
  • Floating previews and central content panels are wired in.
  • A cart drawer concept exists and is being refined.
  • Admin/debug panels help during development.

This is still incomplete—but that’s intentional. Watermelon‑Hydrogen is as much about showing direction as it is about finished polish.

You can play with it here:
NuwudOrder.com

Roadmap

  • Full metafield‑driven menu and submenu system.
  • 3D CSS cart drawer that reflects live cart state.
  • HUD overlays (theme panel, audio prompt, dome sync).
  • Input polish: haptics on mobile, smoother gestures on desktop.
  • Performance tuning: instancing and font atlas caching.

Why it matters

Watermelon‑Hydrogen is more than a personal experiment. It’s a vision for immersive commerce: what happens when Shopify’s structured data meets a fluid, cinematic interface. For Nudun, it sets a design signature. For developers, it’s a hint at how to push Shopify safely into 3D.

Closing

This isn’t a tutorial and it isn’t finished—it’s a showcase. A canvas to explore ideas, test integrations, and inspire future builds. The real secrets stay behind the curtain, but the spirit is here: make commerce elegant, fun, and spatial.

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