jMonkey features, capabilities

Troubleshooting General Help
1

Hi,



I'm trying to get some info on jMonkey to see if it can do what I need.



I'm trying to make a simple web app where a user can create a low-poly 3D avatar. These are the steps I was thinking of taking:


  1. Make base avatar body in Blender or some other app that can export to a generic model format like .obj.
  2. Get either a java applet, flash, or shockwave in a web page, have it read in the base avatar model file, render it for the user.
  3. The user presses some buttons for choosing different avatar features like face shape or whatever (this would involve swapping the head polygon out with a different head polygon).
  4. Rerender the scene every time the user changes a body feature.



    So things that worry me: can jMonkey run in an applet? How big is the jMonkey jar(s)? Can it import 3d models? Is it possible to give a name to a polygon, so I can programatically at runtime swap polygons for different features? (Example - the base avatar model head polygon has an ID of 'head_fat', user presses button to change to 'head_skinny' - how would I find the original head polygon and switch it with a different one?)



    Lastly, it would be really cool if jMonkey can import simple animation scripts. For example, it would be cool if I could animate the avatar skeleton to be walking in place or something, while the user is modifying different body parts the skeleton just keeps moving around.



    Thanks for any info,

    Mark
2

Some quick answers, but I'm definitely not an expert, so take everything with a grain of salt:

- jME runs in applets. Alternatively you might consider webstart
- You can leave out jME jars that you don't need (e.g. terrain). As always, you can make your own jar(s) if every bit counts.
- jME can import different model formats
- You can give nodes names and attach used data (I used this for mouse picking)
- jME can import animations, but I never worked with this

I think it's possible to realize your project with jME. A big plus is the really friendly and helpful community here.