Hey everyone. I've been dredging the internet for hours now looking for a good, solid tutorial on Java3D. I find a few here and a few there, however most of them are either incomplete or use a different API. Does anyone know of a good tutorial site they could pass my way? Thanks! ~Gordo~

Java3D was abandoned cca 2003 or so.

Quote:Original post by Antheus
Java3D was abandoned cca 2003 or so.

So you're saying I should find a new API? Like Jogl or something?

Quote:Original post by Gordo4444

So you're saying I should find a new API? Like Jogl or something?

Jogl was abandoned last year...

Try LWGL or JMonkey engine.

I recommend jpct. It's easy to get something running in no time with it, has a basic physics implementation, and also supports software rendering in addition to OpenGL. With software rendering jpct is compatible all the way down to Java 1.1 -- or so it claims; I've never verified this.

Quote:Original post by Antheus

Quote:Original post by Gordo4444

Quote:Original post by Antheus
Java3D was abandoned cca 2003 or so.

So you're saying I should find a new API? Like Jogl or something?

Jogl was abandoned last year...

Hahaha, are we seeing a pattern here?

Quote:Original post by smr
I recommend jpct. It's easy to get something running in no time with it, has a basic physics implementation, and also supports software rendering in addition to OpenGL. With software rendering jpct is compatible all the way down to Java 1.1 -- or so it claims; I've never verified this.

Software rendering also has the benefit of running in an unsigned applet. But it's also slow, so it may not be particularly helpful depending on the game it will be used for.

True, it is slower than hardware rendering, but jpct does a pretty good job. I was amazed at the speed of jpct's software rendering.

Like Antheus said, you want to be looking at LWJGL. The good news is that it's a very direct mapping of OpenGL into Java.

If you want a scene graph instead, there are a number of contenders such as JME, Xith3D, Ardor3D (in active development as "the" JME replacement), Aviatrix3D (based on JOGL and also looking rather abandoned), etc.

I think it depends on his goal. If his goal is to climb the steep learning curve of OpenGL and 3D math and eventually write a game, then LWJGL is the way to go. If he wants to write a game now, then using an engine such as jMonkeyEngine or jpct is the right tactic.

Quote:Original post by Antheus
Java3D was abandoned cca 2003 or so.

And picked up as a community source project in 2004. Currently there is work going into integrating Java 3D with JavaFX, so it definitely isn't dead.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_3D#History

Quote:Original post by Antheus
Jogl was abandoned last year...

This one also seems to be false, although information on this seems more hazy and scattered.

It seems whenever you've seen the word "abandoned" anywhere you've jumped to the conclusion that a whole initiative has been binned permanently; or you've conflated "community project" with "abandoned", which makes the likes of LWJGL no better, really. If you have better grounds upon which you've based your assertions, could you provide them?

In answer to the OP's question, nfi, largely; you could probably follow any OpenGL tutorial for JOGL, though.
I'm not a graphics guy by any means, and I'm likely to be shouted down by actual graphics programmers for not going with a hacky-enough solution, but I once again stress the importance of platform-independence. That is, favour libraries that are part of or built upon the Java SE library, and, failing that, pick something with multi-platform support and don't conflate any platform-dependent aspects of the library (ie JNI) with your application.