• We found the question of installation so troublesome with mismatch of versions and users patially installing the software we bundle the complete java jvm and libraries (including J3D^?) and in a subdirectory of our installation directory. No troubles since we did that.

• The best way to deploy is probably to use Java Web Start. Long ago I had to distribute two versions of an application - one bundled with the JMF runtimes and one without. The download-size bloat of bundling is incredibly large! For a download-dependant developer trying to keep small file sizes, this was problematic. Web Start is a huge help because it only grabs the extra files if they're needed. The downside of deploying applications in this format is that it's not conducive to CD or large-format offline titles. But then, neither is Java, really.

-- Main.falkreon - 30 Sep 2008

Java Web Start information is available at http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/Programming/jnlp/

• Update: After some poking around, it seems like at least given the examples on Java3D's frontpage, jnlp doesn't solve the deployment issue. Worse yet, they fail silently, so if you don't have j3d, you wind up with extra hidden tasks on your computer that don't exit with an exception, nor do they show the pretty 3d examples. So more work is needed to improve J3D^? deployability, and in fact java deployability in general.

The downside of deploying applications in this format is that it's not conducive to CD or large-format offline titles. But then, neither is Java, really.

Some X Window servers may support software rendering. This capability can be useful, for instance, when running Java 3D on a server. See this thread: http://forums.java.net/jive/thread.jspa?threadID=4535&tstart=2385

Q: How can I run a Java 3D 1.5 applet on Mac OS X ?

Q: How can I run a java3D applet on MacOSX^? ?

Reminder : " Whe I run one java3D applet it works fine on linux, WindowsXP^? Windows vista. BUT on MacOSX^? I have this exception: {{ UnsatisfiedLinkError^? : Exception in thread "J3D-Renderer-1" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError }

Answer :(from Emmanuel Puybarret ) The solution is to use the ClassLoader^? class to force the Applet to use the java3D version you want (and not the java3d version MacOsX^? gives). why ? Because in MacOsX^?, Java 3D 1.3.1 is installed by default. Yes it is idiot.

Please see the solution in these messages:

http://forums.java.net/jive/thread.jspa?messageID=233726&#233913 http://lists.apple.com/archives/Java-dev/2007/Sep/msg00023.html

This is the solution I used successfully for Sweet Home 3D: http://sweethome3d.cvs.sourceforge.net/sweethome3d/SweetHome3D/src/com/eteks/sweethome3d/SweetHome3DBootstrap.java?view=markup You may test it with Java Web Start here: http://sweethome3d.sourceforge.net/SweetHome3D.jnlp

Generally works fine. Results may depend on the renderer used. More stable ATI results than Java 3D 1.4 when using the native Windows renderer. On Mac OS X, both ATI and NVidia chipsets work fine under JSR-231/JOGL.

• Mac OS X (Universal, requires JSR-231/JOGL)

Java3D is part of the base Java installation on all new systems and system upgrades. Thus, Java3D applications can be deployed like any other Java application.

Q: How do I download and install a Java 3D binary release?

static void main (String[] args) { .. }

In other words, as long as the Java3D classes are installed properly and available, Java 3D applications are invoked in the exact same manner as other applications.

Similarly, Java3D applets run exactly like other applets.

Unanswered General Questions

The following questions still need someone to write an answer for them. When this is done, they can be moved back up to the previous section in the appropriate place.

• Linux (Power PC)
• Linux (IA64 Itanium)

• Linux on PPC
• Linux on AMD64 (x64)
• Linux on IA64 (Itanium)

• Mac OS X 10.3.1 or later.

Q: Is software rendering supported?

No. Java3d requires a supported 3D graphics card and communicates with it using native method calls. However, software rendering has been requested by some members of the user community.

1. Create a java.net account if you don't already have one
2. Login to java.net using your username/password

The URL for the Java 3D forum on java.net is: http://forums.java.net/jive/forum.jspa?forumID=70

Q: What platforms are supported?

The following platforms are fully supported and have nightly builds. See the binary downloads page: https://java3d.dev.java.net/binary-builds.html

• Windows (x86)
• Linux (x86)
• Linux (AMD64)
• Solaris (SPARC)
• Solaris (x86)

The following platforms are not supported, but java3d has been ported by the manufacturer. The latest version of java3d may not be available.

• Mac OS X 10.3.1 or later (but not 10.4 Tiger, according to Apple).

Q: Where can I get some good 3D Layout Managers, similar to BoxLayout^?, BorderLayout^?, or HTML tables

[ANSWER TO THE QUESTION GOES HERE]

Advice from one user:

Java3D 1.4:

Works fine as in Java3D 1.3.2. If programmable shader is used NVidia family ( Tested : FX 500, FX 3000, FX6600, FX Go6600 and FX6800) works well. ATI has limited success.

Q: What graphics cards are supported?

Java3D 1.3.1:

Works fine on NVidia cards. ATI cards with new drivers do not work with j3d 1.3.1 on Windows (on Linux work fine). Matrox cards do not work with turned off Z-buffer (it is turned off by default in this videocards, so, if you want to run java3d on matrox, you should turn on Z-buffer). Also, in some cases matrox does not work even with turned Z-buffer or does not render textures (these problems can be solved by using DirectX j3d version, setting 16-bit color depth, setting 800x600 video mode at last). Intel cards have troubles with refreshing on OpenGL version.

Java3D 1.3.2:

Works fine on NVidia, ATI and Matrox (with turned on Z-buffer).

Works fine on NVidia cards. ATI cards with new drivers do not work with j3d 1.3.1 on Windows (on Linux work fine). Matrox cards do not work with turned off Z-buffer (it is turned off by default in this videocards, so, if you want to run java3d on matrox, you should turn on Z-buffer). Also, in some cases matrox does not work even with turned Z-buffer or does not render textures (these problems can be solved by using DirectX^? j3d version, setting 16-bit color depth, setting 800x600 video mode at last). Intel cards have troubles with refreshing on OpenGL^? version.

Java3D 1.3.2:

Works fine on NVidia, ATI and Matrox (with turned on Z-buffer).

List of Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How do I subscribe to the Java 3D discussion forum / mailing list

Q: What is CVS and how do I use it?

Unanswered General Questions

The following questions still need someone to write an answer for them. When this is done, they can be moved back up to the previous section in the appropriate place.

Q: How do I download and install a Java 3D binary release?

[ANSWER TO THE QUESTION GOES HERE]

Q: How do I run a Java 3D application?

[ANSWER TO THE QUESTION GOES HERE]

Q: How can I deploy my Java 3D application?

[ANSWER TO THE QUESTION GOES HERE]

Q: What platforms are supported?

[ANSWER TO THE QUESTION GOES HERE]

Q: What graphics cards are supported?

[ANSWER TO THE QUESTION GOES HERE]

Java 3D FAQ

<-- For now, all questions are in a single "general" category. In the future, we may want to organize it into multiple categories (e.g., general, installation, downloading, licensing, etc.) -->

General Questions

Q: How do I download and install a Java 3D binary release?

[ANSWER TO THE QUESTION GOES HERE]

Q: How do I run a Java 3D application?

[ANSWER TO THE QUESTION GOES HERE]

Q: How do I join the Java 3D projects on java.net?

To join the parent java3d project you will need follow these steps:

1. Create a java.net account if you don't already have one
2. Login to java.net using your username/password
3. Go to the role request page in the parent java3d project, and request an "Observer" role

Joining the parent java3d project lets you file issues (bugs and feature requests).

Note: unless you want to work with the Java 3D internals, or see automated source code checkin messages, you only need to join the parent java3d project.

Q: How do I Subscribe to the Java 3D Discussion Forum / Mailing List

The new Java 3D interest list is available either as a discussion forum (which is what most of the community uses) or as a mailing list. Messages posted to one are cross-posted to the other automatically.

Discussion Forum

To participate in the discussion forum, you should first create a JavaDesktop forum account (you don't need an account if you just want to read the forum, but the tools work better if you do, since it keeps track of which threads you have read):

The URL for the Java 3D forum on javadesktop.org is: http://www.javadesktop.org/forums/forum.jspa?forumID=55

Mailing List

If you prefer to send/receive messages via a mailing list, you will need follow these steps:

1. Create a java.net account if you don't already have one
2. Login to java.net using your username/password
3. Go to the "Mailing Lists" page of the parent java3d project and subscribe to the "interest@java3d.dev.java.net" mailing list

More Information

For a description of the various mailing lists and the forum, go here:

http://java3d.dev.java.net/#Feedback_and_Discussion

Q: How do I file an issue?

You need to join the parent java3d project as an Observer, if you aren't already signed up for a role in the project.

All Java 3D-related bugs for j3d-core, j3d-core-utils, vecmath, and j3d-examples, are filed using the Issue Tracker in the parent java3d project.

To file an issue:

1. Login to java.net using your username/password
2. Go to the Issue Tracker and click on the appropriate link for the type of issue you want to enter: Defect, Patch, Task, Feature, or Enhancement. Defect is the most common one and is used for reporting bugs.

For more information about filing issues, please see: https://java3d.dev.java.net/#Reporting_Issues

Q: How do I download the Java 3D source code?

Before downloading the source code, you will need to create a java.net account if you don't already have one.

You must use CVS to download the source code for projects on java.net (see: Q: What is CVS and How Do I Use It? if you are unfamiliar with CVS). Java 3D is composed of three main CVS modules (projects), which can be checked out using a CVS client:

• j3d-core
• j3d-core-utils
• vecmath

In order to build the code, the three top-level directories must be named exactly as shown above and they must be sibling directories. To ensure this, run the cvs checkout command for each of the modules from the same parent directory. For example:

cd <cvs-root-dir>
cvs checkout vecmath
cvs checkout j3d-core
cvs checkout j3d-core-utils 

Q: How do I build Java 3D from the source code?

You need to do the following steps:

1. Download the source code for the following three projects: j3d-core, j3d-core-utils, and vecmath (see Q: How do I download the Java 3D source code?)
2. Build vecmath (see vecmath/README-build.html in the source tree)
3. Build j3d-core (see j3d-core/README-build.html in the source tree)

Q: What is CVS and How Do I Use It?

Concurrent Version System (CVS) is a source code control system used by java.net projects. If you are new to CVS, Login to java.net and go to the following page:

https://j3d-core.dev.java.net/servlets/ProjectSource

[TODO: ADD MORE INFO HERE]

For more information see the following CVS links:

• https://www.dev.java.net/nonav/scdocs/ddCVS.html
• https://www.dev.java.net/scdocs/ddUsingCVS_command-line

Q: How can I contribute to Java 3D?

For information on how you can contribute to the Java 3D projects on java.net, go here:

http://java3d.dev.java.net/contribute.html

<-- This creates the navigation links to :  Home | Help | Index | etc.  -->

Java3DFAQ

<-- this automatically adds a header showing the name of this page -->

This is a list of frequently asked questions about Java 3D.

Frequently Asked Questions

<-- Uncomment this when we have more than one category    -->

This is a placeholder for a list of frequently asked questions. We may want to organize it into categories (e.g., XXX, YYY, ZZZ).

Q: Why?

A: Why not.