3D graphics tools for Java

Rao V.

Order the writing of a tailor-made Computer science Term papers

Free quote online

Thesis Format .doc

3D graphics tools for Java

Download

Read an extract

Reader
Abstract
Contents
Extract

Abstract

There are several packages for 3D graphics in Java that have come up in the past decade with varying degrees of success. This paper does a survey of not only the features of these tools, but also about their importance and the future prospects of Java based graphics tools. There are powerful graphics libraries such as OpenGL for 3D graphics applications on standalone systems, but there remains a prevalent need for a 3D graphics library aimed at Internet based graphics applications. This has led to a lot of Java based libraries being developed. Some of these tools have become quite popular and some of them have become obscure considering the demands of technology such as band width and complexity.

This presents the need for a general comparative survey of some of these tools which are likely to play a major role in the future. It gives a brief description of why some tools have become quite popular. Also we will take a look at the compatibility of these tools with community developed Linux Operating Systems such as Ubuntu, in particular.

Abstract
Introduction
Brief introduction of Java based 3D graphics tools
Low level graphics APIs
1. JOGL
2. LWJGL
Screen graph based Java APIs
1. Java3D
2. Aviatrix3D
3. Xith3D
4. jME
5. AgentFX
6. JView
Conclusion

Get this table of contents for free after login.

Extract

[...] Brief Introduction of Java Based 3D Graphics Tools Java based graphics tools can be classified into two categories Low Level Graphics APIs. The features of low level graphics APIs include access to Low Level OpenGL primitives and better performance. However, there are some related drawbacks including the need for the developers to have professional graphics programming experience and increased development time, as it is complex to a certain extent. There are two major tools associated with Low Level Graphics today: JOGL LWJGL Screen Graph based Java APIs. [...]

[...] Java 3D provides a high level, object oriented framework for 3D graphics programming, with about 360 classes. It is an extremely well formulated object oriented scene graph for Java. There were initial issues with porting Java 3D applications on Linux based systems, but now the Blackdown Java-Linux implementation of the Java3D 1.3 API is available for Linux/AMD64 and Linux/i386 now. It has to be downloaded and all Java3D applications can now be easily developed on Linux based systems. There is growing integration of Java3D with Linux based Operating systems and this trend is likely to continue with the rising importance of open source based software. [...]

[...] Apart from this JOGL also provides hardware-supported 3D graphics for Java based applications, which gives it a significant edge over other tools. JOGL also has integrated AWT and Swing widget support integrated. The way JOGL functions is that it parses the C header files from OpenGL (which are in ‘C' only) and then using the Java Native Interface (JNI) converts them to Java libraries. This enables JOGL to access OpenGL library using JNI calls. This functionality marrows down the performance gap between Java and other programming languages. [...]

[...] Conclusion After comparing all these different 3D graphics tools for Java, we came to a conclusion that each of these tools has its own set of advantages and depending on the purpose of the application; the developer can choose the tool. Suitability of the Tools 1. Java3D Java 3D can be handled even by Java developers with minimum experience of Java. Java3D provides quite a useful API which can be used effectively by the programmers. However, there are many issues regarding its performance, due to which tools such as JOGL are slowly dominating. [...]

[...] The minimum requirement for AgentFX is the presence of Java 2 Platform. The major platforms supporting AgentFX are Windows (98 -and above), Linux (AMD64/x86), Mac OS X ( 10.2 or later). AgentFX is proprietary software developed by the Swedish company Agency9 [13]. AgentFX version 2.1 was released on January 2005. The latest beta version of AgentFX; AgentFX version 2.2 was released on June 2005. There is support for Agent FX in the latest version of Ubuntu v AgentFX is the dominant platform for the visualization of three-dimensional objects in real time [13]. [...]

doc