Is JMonkeyEngien for me?

Hi before i had learned java i came here to see what i could do and i failed miserably. I have now taken a java course in school and passed it with flying colors. Would i be able to use java monkey engine to make beginner applications? or should i go back to making my extremely bad 2d games? (if you would even call it a game) XD



Thanks don't be too harsh.

It really depends largely on what you've learned in your Java course.  From a 'skill' standpoint, you don't have to be an outstanding or highly experienced programmer to start making use of the engine.  While those things are, of course, immensely beneficial, they are by no means requirements.



I would say that if your class took you far enough into it that you've gotten through basic functional programming and into object oriented programming, then you should be in a good place to start using the engine.



My suggestion would be to have a look at an application contained in the jmetest package and see if you can understand what's going on inside of it.  Obviously, you won't know what each line does, but you should be able to tell that 'x' object is calling 'y' method.



Example:


package jmetest.base;

import com.jme.app.SimpleGame;
import com.jme.bounding.BoundingSphere;
import com.jme.math.Vector3f;
import com.jme.scene.shape.Box;

public class TestSimpleGame extends SimpleGame {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    TestSimpleGame app = new TestSimpleGame();
    app.setConfigShowMode(ConfigShowMode.AlwaysShow);
    app.start();
  }

  protected void simpleInitGame() {
    display.setTitle("A Simple Test");
    Box box = new Box("my box", new Vector3f(0, 0, 0), 2, 2, 2);
    box.setModelBound(new BoundingSphere());
    box.updateModelBound();
    rootNode.attachChild(box);
  }
}



Good luck!

I was going though these tutorials yesterday i didn't finish them all but. I have 2 questions.



Question 1

How would i use the tutorial to learn from?

I could read over the code and copy and paste it into my project. to see it run. But whenever i needed to know how to do something again i would have to go back to the tutorial and probable recopy and paste the code and change it to do what i wanted.



Question 2.

If i was going to make a 3d world. Do i use JME to make it or do i use a map maker and load it into JME.

WEll you could make it in jme, but normall it's simpler to just make it external or in the game development that is currently being developed.

thanks for the replies but i lost you near the end with the



"in the game development that is currently being developed."



is JME working on developing something?



At this point I'm preparing myself for planning and stuff since i have never made a project like this before i would like to collect information.



What programs should i use for making models and maps and stuff?

Well there is a game devolopment thin currently in development for jme3.



Well since I was kinda at your point of knowledge a year ago I would say, find out what works best for you. The persons i work with and me useing a mixture of 3dsmax, deled, blender and hammer(yes the one for cs it has a export a dxt and is good for simple models, or prototyping, since modelling in it is several times faster than in any of the other)



Then we kinda meet in OgreXml as for each them a exporter is aviable for that format and jme3 can import it directly. As  sidenote, I ecommend starting with JME2 sind JME3 is not even beta right now, to first learn a few basics about the Scenegraph concept. The api differences between jme3 and jme2 are not really large, but kinda hard, like Renderstates management.

giuseppe105 said:

I was going though these tutorials yesterday i didn't finish them all but. I have 2 questions.

Question 1
How would i use the tutorial to learn from?
I could read over the code and copy and paste it into my project. to see it run. But whenever i needed to know how to do something again i would have to go back to the tutorial and probable recopy and paste the code and change it to do what i wanted.


Rather than copy paste, I would suggest working through the tutorials and breaking off in places where you understand what's going on.  For example, where the tutorial creates a box, maybe you create a Sphere or Pyramid.  Instead of using "ColorRGBA.Blue",  try "new ColorRGBA(0,0,1,1);"

IMO, learning in this manner will get you much more than just copy/pasting boxes of code.  It all comes down to being curious about what's going on.. :)

giuseppe105 said:

Question 2.
If i was going to make a 3d world. Do i use JME to make it or do i use a map maker and load it into JME.


Lots of people both around jME and elsewhere really like Blender.  I personally have a tough time using it (can't get used to the way the interface works), but there are excellent tutorials available from the Blender Foundation..  They're also working on a new 2.5 version which looks like it will finally have a UI that I can understand!  With Blender, you can pretty much take your pick of which format to use (I'd recommend OgreXML as supports animation and is the major format for jME3)

I personally use Maya with the OBJ and COLLADA formats.  Collada is a necessity because we're interfacing with Google Sketchup, but its a tough format to work with, especially in jME.

I get lost around where you start talking about animations and stuff. 3d is a whole lot different then 2d. I might need to step into this really slowly I tried using blender and lost my temper because the tutorials did not help at all.



I will spend a long time in blender today and try to make a model.



I still don't know what program i use to make maps.

This isent working. Forgetting blender and everything else iv said. I'm going to go back to my 2d projects without an engine it was simpler and i enjoyed it.



Thank you for the help. sorry for wasting you time.

If you can create a 2D game than you can also create a 3D one. With an engine like JME it's just a matter of loading 3d models instead of 2d images. In fact it is actually easier because you have a lot of things "for free" using a 3d engine (the main loop, the intersection mechanism, the traversable scenegraph and so on).



You can't start with Blender, no human being should use it (and btw the new ui they are developing is shinier but not any better).



There are many "light" 3D editor (Anim8or, ArtOfIllusions, SketchUp for example) and a few big ones (Maya, 3D Studio Max etc.). These editors will give you a better 3D modeling experience.

pgi said:

If you can create a 2D game than you can also create a 3D one. With an engine like JME it's just a matter of loading 3d models instead of 2d images. In fact it is actually easier because you have a lot of things "for free" using a 3d engine (the main loop, the intersection mechanism, the traversable scenegraph and so on).

You can't start with Blender, no human being should use it (and btw the new ui they are developing is shinier but not any better).
There are many "light" 3D editor (Anim8or, ArtOfIllusions, SketchUp for example) and a few big ones (Maya, 3D Studio Max etc.). These editors will give you a better 3D modeling experience.


I have to disagree with u there it'll take time but with a little effort u'll get  there and no, not a fanboy when I started ..... I would be cussing blenders mother :D to no end but got used to it, finally dumped max for modelling when 2.37 was released then dumped max for animation and texturing once the weirdness started making "sense" for the most part material management is a confusing mess.......in the 2.4 flavors, apart from playing with the interface I have stayed away from 2.5.......for each bit of tedium taken out  they've add some in other places...............hate how u split windows now, not very intuitive that............. anyways get 2.49b blender give it a go more tools(scripts) available anyway

Well personally i kinda hate blender, I know you can do cool stuff with it, but the Ui sucks hard.



For static geometry i stick with using Hammer export as dxt import blender export as 3ds and use 3dmax for materials then. (The dxt importer is ultra slow in 3d max, only reason for blender)



Animations are still a hate subject, no mater wich programm i use it is hard. So saying that 3d is as easy as 2d is not true, with as the minimu needed there is paint and everyone knows how tu use it ^^



However 2d also limits you much, (just imagine Cs in 2d) but 3d limits you as well sine you have a higher overhead and are a litte more limited with polygon counts. At the other side 3d is better hardware accelerated allowing you to do stuff like shaers wich are suicide in 2d to programm and render in software efficiently.