Java 3D API Jump-Start - Softcover

Aaron E. Walsh; Doug Gehringer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0130340766 ISBN 13: 9780130340764

Publisher: Prentice Hall Ptr, 2001

Synopsis

Explains how to use Java to create to create three-dimensional graphics applications.

About this title

About the Author

AARON E. WALSH is Chairman of Mantis Development Corporation, a development firm specializing in advanced multimedia and network technologies. An active member of the Internet standards community, Walsh is Chairman of the Web3D Consortium's Universal Media technical working group, Chairman of the Web3D-MPEG group responsible for the convergence of Web3D and Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) technology, co-chair of the Web3D Intellectual Property Rights group, and Web3D Liaison to MPEG and the World Wide Web Consortium. An internationally best-selling technology author, he is author of the best-selling Core Web3D, MPEG-4 Jump-Start, and XHTML Example by Example (Prentice Hall PTR) and founding Series Editor of the Prentice Hall Web3D Series.

DOUG GEHRINGER is a Staff Engineer at Sun Microsystems and a member of the Java 3D Engineering Team. He has spent the past fourteen years at Sun working on graphics software, and has extensive experience programming for all of Sun's graphics APIs, including GKS, PHIGS, PEX, OpenGL, and Java 3D. A respected expert on graphics performance tuning for large-scale applications, he has worked on a number of the largest Java 3D projects in existence. One of the first developers in the world to use Java 3D, he co-authored the original Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) that is today maintained by the Web3D Consortium. An active member of the Java 3D community, Gehringer is Java 3D technical editor of the best-selling Core Web3D (Prentice Hall PTR) and author of the Java 3D Explorer companion application created exclusively for Java 3D Jump-Start readers.

From the Back Cover

Get started with Java 3D—today!

• Master interactive 3D development for the desktop and the Web-now!
• Learn Java 3D's powerful scene graph programming model
• Covers every key component of the Java 3D API
• Cutting edge Java 3D case studies: e-commerce, entertainment, engineering, and more

Interactive 3D for the desktop and Web. It's not the future. It's here today. Java 3D Jump-Start is your concise introduction to the 3D technology that delivers the most power with the least coding. In this hands-on guide, a world-renowned Web3D expert and a member of Sun's Java 3D engineering team unveil the Java 3D API, providing insider's insights and real code.

Discover how Java 3D unleashes a new generation of 3D programs for the desktop and the World Wide Web—and master all the skills you need to start building spectacular Java 3D applications and applets right now!

• Real-world case studies: e-commerce, entertainment, data visualization, collaborative engineering, and beyond
• How Java 3D compares with other graphics options
• Java 3D's powerful scene graph programming model
• High-level constructs for creating, loading, and manipulating 3D geometry
• Appearances: describing color, texture, material reflection, and other characteristics of 3D objects
• Java 3D tools for transformation, viewing, and picking

With Java 3D Jump-Start, Java and Web professionals can harness the full power of 3D computer graphics to create fully interactive and immersive 3D programs for the desktop and the Web. Not "someday." Today.

Foreword by Kevin Rushforth, Sun Microsystems, Java 3D Technical Lead.

Every Jump-Start book is:

• AUTHORITATIVE, written by world-class experts personally involved with the design and development of that technology
• FOCUSED, providing exactly what you need to know to get started immediately with a minimum of effort
• PRACTICAL, teaching you the skills and techniques that you need to develop professional, real-world software applications

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Preface

Welcome to Java 3D API Jump-Start. This book was designed to enable Java programmers to jump directly into the exciting and powerful world of 3D. Written by professional Java 3D developers, this book covers everything you need to know to get up and running with Sun Microsystems Java 3D application programming interface (API) in no time flat. About This Book

Java 3D API Jump-Start was written for Java programmers by Java programmers. Assuming that you're already comfortable with the basics of Java development, this book walks you start-to-finish through the most important and useful aspects of programming with the Java 3D API. To this end, Java 3D API Jump-Start is organized into the following six chapters: Chapter 1, "Java 3D Overview" Chapter 2, "Scene Graph Basics" Chapter 3, "Creating and Loading Geometry" Chapter 4, "Appearances" Chapter 5, "Environment Nodes" Chapter 6, "Tools: Transforms, Viewing, and Picking"

The first two chapters form an introduction to Java 3D. Chapter 1 gives examples of Java 3D applications and describes the basic features; Chapter 2 describes the basic structure of Java 3D programs. Chapter 3, 4 and 5 describe the three basic "building blocks" of Java 3D programs. Chapter 6 covers three tools that most Java 3D programs use.

Upon completing each chapter, you'll have gained valuable knowledge and hands-on experience related to a specific area of Java 3D capabilities and features, enabling you to explore that topic in more detail on your own as you see fit. By the time you finish all six chapters you'll be experienced with the most important aspects of Java 3D necessary to create your very own interactive 3D applications.Web3D Series

Java 3D Jump-Start is part of a new "Web3D" series of books produced by Prentice Hall, and dedicated to 3D and the Internet. To get your hands on additional resources related to Java 3D Jump-Start (such as the freely available Java 3D Explorer application used extensively throughout this book), or to learn more about related 3D technologies, visit the Web3DBooks Web site at web3dbooks/

Edition details

• Publisher: Prentice Hall Ptr
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0130340766
• ISBN 13: 9780130340764
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272