Generel Game Math Library?

Engines, Libraries and Tools Xith3D Forums
#1

Hello Ever1

Does someone knows if theres a Generel Purpose Math Library somewhere ? I mean, not as general as javax.vecmath.
I often have problems with simple math operations like rotating one point around another, measuring one box’s left side angle compared to another one ( OR something like that). I know I will never learn the math behind this so I’ve had my cousin over to help me quite a few times (he is a math wizz AND a java wizz too ).
I dont wanna spend next 5 years learning this (Though it would be fun, but time…) so I would like to know if there are (Java) ibraries around like that ? I know there SHOULD be since no doubt these kind of problems are very common in 3D game programming.
Just a simple yet extensive library for common 3D Math operations in games…

#2

Hi NewbTon,

I’m very sensible to your problem, because I had it too.
Your problem will be resolved as soon as a version of Gamma will be released.
In fact, the Gamma project is a bunch of libs of different utilities for game development in Java. It’s in major part compatibility layers for very good and already available libs (Xith3D, JOAL). All Gamma libs are based on a “data system”.
It includes many classes and math classes too, such as “DVector3f” and “DMatrix4f” (themselves based on the “DFloat” class). And a “Transform” class will soon be implemented, that permit you to easily transform points with translation, rotation, and scale relative with whatever you want. (You can make chains of “Transform”, as they have an “input” and a “output” DVector3f. So it’s easy to create a Transform that input is the output of the previous Transform.)
I hope this will be of some help.
We are currently 3 people working on this project, but we have yet a lot of things to implement. We don’t expect to do any release pretty soon, we will see in the future. You’re welcome if you want to contribute. We will give you further informations on how to access the SVN server and how to contribute.

#3

I strongly recommend that you try to learn at least the basic parts (rotation, line intersections, distance from point to line or plane, etc.)

The more of that stuff you know the easier it will be for you to code and debug your games. There are a few sites on the net that have tutorials on this sort of thing. How old are you, and what sort of math training have you had so far? High-school trig should be a decent basis to get started with, but if you haven’t been taught that then it will be a bit more difficult to get started…

#4

Thanks for the response. I’m not totally clueless about all this stuff. But still theres along way to go of course.
Just can’t see why there is not a library for functions, even if you know all this stuff, you might still
want to use 100% optimized functions…
Spark I wouldnt mind checking out gamma. I have some classes myself that you might or might not be able to you.

#5

Okay, I’ll send you relevant infos soon.