The 3D sitting room
A room you can look around without getting lost.
See how we built the Three.js room, placed Helen’s 3D model on the ottoman, and limited the camera so visitors cannot wander through the walls or furniture.
Behind the website · Winter Park
How we built Helen’s 3D live cat cam.
We used Three.js to create a 3D sitting room, placed four live cat cams on its wall, added a gallery about Helen’s namesake, and kept checkout safely on this website.
We wanted Helen, a rescued tortoiseshell from Winter Park, to feel like the center of the experience rather than one tile in a security-style dashboard. She was found as a young mother at the Woman’s Club and named for Helen Morse. These pages explain what we made and why.
Watch Helen on the home page, read her story, explore the four parts below, or start with the build FAQ.
Explore the four main parts
The four live cams
Water, Food, Treat, and Scratch in one room.
Learn how the four live cat cams appear on a television inside the 3D room, including the $2 treat drop on Treat Cam.
The namesake gallery
Helen Morse, Charles Hosmer Morse, and one rescued cat.
See how we arranged the portraits and 3D figures, then used clipping planes to turn full-body model files into gallery-style busts.
Secure checkout
Customers can pay without leaving this website.
We use Stripe’s Payment Element on /checkout/, calculate prices on the server, collect shipping on our form, and finish with a Helen-branded success page.
What this site is, and what it is not
Helen the Cat Live is an affectionate, independent tribute. The Woman’s Club of Winter Park, Helen Morse Hall, Osceola Lodge, and the Morse Museum of American Art are real, but none of them operates this website. A Treat Cam drop costs $2. Other Royal Collection prices appear only in the shop, where items are printed to order through Printify and paid for on this domain.
Behind the scenes, a small set of web tools keeps the pages organized, draws the 3D room, serves the live cameras, and keeps everything running. The complicated part stays backstage where it belongs.
Watch Helen or read her story
You do not need to understand the code to enjoy the cat. Watch Helen live, or read her story. These build notes will be here if curiosity gets the better of you.