Yes repeated calls through the wrapper will kill your frame rate and no Java is not as fast as c. But if you use display lists and triangle strips and what not and minimize the number of calls you make you can get some respectable fps. Wait for 1.4 to come out. Supposedly they are putting alot of work into speeding up Java2d, adding hardware acceleration and finally no tricks to get fullscreen frames. Maybe I should do some kind of mini bechmark to test the speed of Magician vs GLUT. Have to dust off my c skills.

I wanrned you! Didn't I warn you?! That colored chalk was forged by Lucifer himself!

Well I personally loath Java3D. It performs like crap, the API was definitely not designed by a game developer, it requires the Java Plugin, and its still not quite all there. Perhaps I''m being too harsh, but there are definitely better solutions out there. I would definitely check out Magician, GL4Java or wait until next Jan/Feb, there are entire engines coming out for this express purpose.