I have been using Java3D but have found it limiting with regards to meshes, NURBS, etc. so I am debating switching to another java 3D api such as JMonkeyEngine but have a couple of quick questions that will decide if I should switch.
How platform independent is JMonkeyEngine? - can it run on Solaris, SGI, etc.
I hope there is a NURBS Surface trimming (probably not) but if not, does JMonkeyEngine provide a way of trimming meshes? I have a set of points that I need to mesh and cut/trim.
well, any platform that the LWJGL team has released binaries for should handle jME (there are solaris binaries, but I dunno about SGI), this goes for any of the other required native libraries (ex. the ODE libraries for the physics engine). Although you may have to compile your own if need be…
(I use both OSX and Windows for development and there is ONLY one cross platform issue I have found, and its w/ the JDesktop GUI, but since there are at least 2 other GUI options its not a big deal at all :))
And as far as NURB surfaces go, I don't think there has EVER been an engine that supports them yet. And I am not sure you would you want to. better to use those resources other places, like killer post-rendering effects… (until someone develops a NURB card that is ;))
so I am debating switching to another java 3D api such as JMonkeyEngine
You SHOULD, (I mean geesh, even sun has almost giving up on java3D :D)
Xith3D is okay, BUT take a look at the features page… jME has EVERYTHING that xith3D has (and MUCH more)…
‘Cutting meshes’ is a rather broad statement…
To physically change a mesh on the fly is still something I don’t think very many engines (if any) do (think of modeling, can you arbitrarily add/remove any vertex with out problems?..) although i supposed its possible to program just about anything.
HOWEVER, there has always been openGL (and I think java3D) has always supported a function called clipping http://glbook.gamedev.net/moglgp/advclip.asp but it is pretty complicated, and jME doesn’t make that any easier (I don’t believe). There was also a person here (about 3-4 months back) that was having some success getting boolean operations to work, can’t find the post now…
1. How platform independent is JMonkeyEngine? - can it run on Solaris, SGI, etc.
Maybe you could use JME with the JOGL renderer as JOGL is known to be very reliable under Solaris. I do my best to drive the JOGL renderer as reliable as its LWJGL equivalent (that is more mature and more used). It would be an honor for me to give you some help if you found some bugs in it. JOGL 2.0 will be an excellent competitor in comparison with other OpenGL bindings. For the moment, I am using JOGL 1.1.1.
Kind of a bold statement don't you think... (yes JOGL is more mature, but LWJGL is geared more towards game development; while JOGL is more of a plain-vanilla openGL implementation)
No reason to derail this thread to start another JOGL vs LWJGL discussion, but I think what gouessej was saying is that jME's support for LWJGL is what is more mature and more used. Not any statment about the two libraries themselves.
Kind of a bold statement don't you think... (yes JOGL is more mature, but LWJGL is geared more towards game development; while JOGL is more of a plain-vanilla openGL implementation)
And when is JOGL gonna support openGL 3.0 :P??
You're such a JOGL advocate.
;)
[size=30pt]You misunderstood[/size]
The LWJGL renderer inside JME is more mature and more used than the JOGL renderer inside JME, that is what I meant. Is that clear now? JOGL is not a plain OpenGL implementation but I won't turn this thread into another place of debate, nymon is right. Nymon, are you reassured?