Java 3D is a scene graph-based 3D

application programming interface An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how t ...

(API) for the Java platform. It runs on top of either

OpenGL OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. The API is typically used to interact with a graphics processing unit (GPU), to achieve hardwa ...

Direct3D Direct3D is a graphics application programming interface (API) for Microsoft Windows. Part of DirectX, Direct3D is used to render three-dimensional graphics in applications where performance is important, such as games. Direct3D uses hardware a ...

until version 1.6.0, which runs on top of Java OpenGL (JOGL). Since version 1.2, Java 3D has been developed under the Java Community Process. A Java 3D scene graph is a

directed acyclic graph In mathematics, particularly graph theory, and computer science, a directed acyclic graph (DAG) is a directed graph with no directed cycles. That is, it consists of vertices and edges (also called ''arcs''), with each edge directed from one ve ...

(DAG). Compared to other solutions, Java 3D is not only a wrapper around these graphics APIs, but an interface that encapsulates the graphics programming using a true

object-oriented Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of "objects", which can contain data and code. The data is in the form of fields (often known as attributes or ''properties''), and the code is in the form of pro ...

approach. Here a scene is constructed using a scene graph that is a representation of the objects that have to be shown. This scene graph is structured as a tree containing several elements that are necessary to display the objects. Additionally, Java 3D offers extensive

spatialized sound Spatial music is composed music that intentionally exploits sound localization. Though present in Western music from biblical times in the form of the antiphon, as a component specific to new musical techniques the concept of spatial music (''Rau ...

support. Java 3D and its documentation are available for download separately. They are not part of the Java Development Kit (JDK).

History

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

Silicon Graphics Silicon Graphics, Inc. (stylized as SiliconGraphics before 1999, later rebranded SGI, historically known as Silicon Graphics Computer Systems or SGCS) was an American high-performance computing manufacturer, producing computer hardware and soft ...

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

, and Sun all had

retained mode Retained mode in computer graphics is a major pattern of API design in graphics libraries, in which * the graphics library, instead of the client, retains the scene (complete object model of the rendering primitives) to be rendered and * the c ...

scene graph APIs under development in 1996. Since they all wanted to make a Java version, they decided to collaborate in making it. That project became Java 3D. Development was underway already in 1997. A public beta version was released in March 1998. The first version was released in December 1998. From mid-2003 through summer 2004, the development of Java 3D was discontinued. In the summer of 2004, Java 3D was released as a community source project, and Sun and volunteers have since been continuing its development. On January 29, 2008, it was announced that improvements to Java 3D would be put on hold to produce a 3D scene graph for JavaFX JavaFX with 3D support was eventually released with Java 8. The JavaFX 3D graphics functionality has more or less come to supersede Java 3D. Since February 28, 2008, the entire Java 3D source code is released under the GPL version 2 license with GPL linking exception. Since February 10, 2012, Java 3D uses JOGL 2.0 for its hardware accelerated OpenGL rendering. The port was initiated by Julien Gouesse.

Features

*Multithreaded scene graph structure *

Cross-platform In computing, cross-platform software (also called multi-platform software, platform-agnostic software, or platform-independent software) is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform software r ...

*Generic

real-time Real-time or real time describes various operations in computing or other processes that must guarantee response times within a specified time (deadline), usually a relatively short time. A real-time process is generally one that happens in defined ...

API, usable for both visualization and gaming *Support for

retained In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a retained firefighter, also known as an RDS Firefighter or on-call firefighter, is a firefighter who does not work on a fire station full-time but is paid to spend long periods of time On call shift, on call to ...

, compiled-retained, and immediate mode rendering *Includes hardware-accelerated JOGL,

, and

renderers (depending on platform) *Sophisticated virtual-reality-based view model with support for stereoscopic rendering and complex multi-display configurations *Native support for head-mounted display *

CAVE A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

(multiple screen projectors) * 3D spatial sound *Programmable shaders, supporting both GLSL and CG * Stencil buffer *Importers for most mainstream formats, like

3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

, OBJ, VRML,

X3D X3D is a royalty-free ISO/IEC standard for declaratively representing 3D computer graphics. File format support includes XML, ClassicVRML, Compressed Binary Encoding (CBE) and a draft JSON encoding. X3D became the successor to the Virtual Rea ...

, NWN, and FLT

Competing technologies

Java 3D is not the only high-level API option to render 3D in Java. In part due to the pause in development during 2003 and 2004, several competing Java scene graph technologies emerged: General purpose: *

Ardor3D jMonkeyEngine (abbreviated JME) is a game engine for developing 3D games written in Java. It uses shader technology extensively and can be used to write games for Windows, Linux, macOS, Raspberry Pi, and Android. It uses Lightweight Java Gam ...

* JavaFX Gaming: *

jMonkeyEngine jMonkeyEngine (abbreviated JME) is a game engine for developing 3D games written in Java. It uses shader technology extensively and can be used to write games for Windows, Linux, macOS, Raspberry Pi, and Android. It uses Lightweight Java Game ...

*Espresso3D Visualization:
Jreality
In addition to those, many other C or C++ scene graph APIs offer Java support through

JNI In software design, the Java Native Interface (JNI) is a foreign function interface programming framework that enables Java code running in a Java virtual machine (JVM) to call and be called by native applications (programs specific to a har ...

. At a lower level, the JOGL (JSR 231) OpenGL bindings for Java are a popular alternative to scene graph APIs such as Java 3D.

LWJGL The Lightweight Java Game Library (LWJGL) is an open-source software library that provides bindings to a variety of C libraries for video game developers to Java. It exposes cross-platform libraries commonly used in developing video games and ...

is another such binding.

References

External links

Harvey presents the current state of Java3D "I’m not Dead!" at SIGGRAPH 2013Java 3D est de retour (Java 3D is back): Java3D preview setup introductionCurrent releases (Java 3D 1.7)Previous official site
an
JSR 926
(Java 3D 1.5)
JSR 912
(Java 3D 1.3)
Previous forum
an
Wiki
for Java 3D - Places for collaboration; includes lists of books and users, FAQ, and knowledge base
java3d.org
Tutorial, examples and information
Lecture
- from Siggraph for beginners *Game Programmin

in Java 3D (chapters as pdf-files and sourcecode)
Plugin for Eclipse hosted by SourceForgeExample visualisation applets using Java 3D
- A 3D anatomical structure explorer with embedded 2D section made by Guangjie Feng {{DEFAULTSORT:Java 3d 3D graphics software 3D scenegraph APIs Cross-platform software Java APIs 3D 1998 software

History

Features

Competing technologies

See also

References

External links