OpenMind gl4java scenegraph released !

http://www.mind2machine.com/common/logo_om2.gif

Dear java-gaming.org developers,

Today, I am proud to open source the OpenMind 3D Game Engine. Programmed in JAVA language, it relies on the highly optimized OpenGL for Java library by Jausoft. The OpenMind scenegraph is the result of 8 monthes of full time development.

It should allow game developers to bring their titles on Windows, and soon Mac OS X and Linux with ease, benefiting from the high performance and portability of the gl4java cross platform API.

As today, the OpenMind engine provides most functions required for scene graph manipulation. I am now in the hope other developers can help setting up an high end solution developping new features, for the benefit of the whole java gaming community, since OpenMind is open source, and completely free!

So discover OpenMind now !
http://www.mind2machine.com/

Regards,

Alban Cousinié
Mind2Machine

Why did you choose gl4java? - I mean it hasn’t been updated since 1st April 2001?

Hi Matzon,

Well I have started programming OpenMind 3 monthes before you guys started working on LWJGL. My goal wasn’t to program another OpenGL binding, nor to debug a binding that was too new to be mature.
Gl4java maps the complete OpenGL 1.4 and has been around since 1997. It is rock stable and fast, and thus it appeared as a good choice for development.
I think one shouldn’t beleive gl4java is dead. Sven Gothel is still around, and I bet he’ll be there to do the required updates when OpenGL 2.0 will be released. The point is gl4java is so mature that the API doesn’t need updates every month now.

Because choosing to develop a performant 3D scenegraph on Java was already a risky choice, I didn’t want to cumulate the risk to work on an alpha API and to have to adapt all my code. Now that doesn’t mean LWJGL is not a good solution. It’s just sometimes you have to make choices, and at the time I started, gl4java was the best choice regarding performance and stability.

Looks like you have done good work and for that I salute you …but I have couple of questions. As of now there are two paths game developer can decide to follow Java3D and LWJGL - now you have introduced third one. My question is what makes you different about what we have now and what wouldl this gives us? I can read what you saying on your page and actually planning to run demos but I suppose it is always better way to ask at the source. Some of us invested time (perhaps years) doing developement using Java3D - some decided to go with LWJGL and now you are saying there is third way … What is this going to give me ? Also what is your level of commitment? … I’ve been doing developement with Java3D for years now - and it is far from perfect I must say - but at least I believe that Sun is going to keep API alive. If I decide to use your API and invest months redoing what I have done over last 2 years will you still be here by Thanksgiving? …Dont get me wrong I might sounds sacrastic but I am just trying to get some feel how serious you are about this …

Well, that’s a vast question !
As it is stated in the OpenSource license, because it is free of charge, an LGPL software comes with no waranty. Since you are asking this question, my guess is that you have conscience there is no ideal solution : Java 3D is closed source and maintained slowly but securely, and LGPL softwares are open source, thus updated more quickly but depend on the seriousness and the comitment of people working on them.
But for sure, an open source software remains available all the time (If I wanted, I’m not sure I could erase the files from sourceforge now that the project is launched, being a project admin), and you always have the solution to put your hands in the source.

All I can say is that Mind2Machine intends to develop commercial java games based on OpenMind and this technology is the foundation of the company’s business. The question is : will OpenMind be successful, will java gaming business be successful ? We are in the early times of java gaming, and no one yet has the answer.

Anyway if you look at c++ game engines, there are hundreds of them. Maybe too much. With 3 players in the Java arena, it is not that much, and all in one it is the benefit of game developers like you to have the choice rather than no choice, and the benefit of the community to have Java raising as a gaming solution.

Now I am not trying to convince people they should rewrite their code to fit OpenMind. One developer’s strategic choise to use OpenMind is his responsability, not mine. I’m just offering some new possibilities. People can seize these or not. I’m commited to javagaming, but I offer no warranty, especially on the work I offer to others without making a buck on it.

Yeah - when I read the 8 months, I expected the reason for using GL4Java was that it was the only mature option at that time…

[quote]and now you are saying there is third way
[/quote]
You shouldn’t compare Java3D, GL4Java, OpenMind and LWJGL to agressively.

Java3D and OpenMind are scenegraphs (amongst other things) and rely on somekind of native binding. This native binding comes in the form of:
Native proprietary implementation of DirectX and OpenGL for Java3D.
GL4Java
LWJGL

GL4Java is a OO binding for OpenGL and is integrated into the Java API (can be used in AWT, applets etc.) (at the cost of performance and compatibility).

While LWJGL is a much more thin binding (and a lot more than just an OpenGL binding, mind you!) - exposing OpenGL directly. (giving you as fast as possible access to OpenGL).

Sorry for hijacking thread a bit - just wanted to clean up some confusion.

With OpenMind being LGPLed, how hard would it be for you LWJGL folks to port it to the LWJGL instead of GL4Java? I know Cas has been mumbling about a scenegraph for the LWJGL and this sounds like a great opportunity for you (especially if OpenMind has encapsulated its rendering functionality)…

I suggest to add things like that to the *.bat files so that people like me can see the demos:


set PATH=.\dll;%PATH%
set CLASSPATH=.;jar\gl4java.jar;jar\gl4java-glffonts.jar;jar\gl4java-glutfonts.jar;jar\png.jar;%CLASSPATH%

Hey! Super cool input device support as an external API! ;D :slight_smile:

Well Herkules, your JXInput is good !!!
Don’t you think about open sourcing it completely ?

Looks very cool! I’m definately going to try this one out :smiley:

Greetings,
Erik

albanc, if people carry together $100000, I’ll make it OpenSource :))

Looks interesting…one thing though: I don’t get anything usefull after pressing F12 in the demos. All there is, is a white rectangle in the upper left corner…no text or whatever there is supposed to be.
(XP Home, Radeon 9700 pro, Catalyst 3.2 drivers).

Herkules,

Well I’ll give you 1 dollar then :slight_smile:
Al youu need is a 100 000 contributors then ! :stuck_out_tongue:

Hi EgonOlsen,

Well it looks we are having our first bug report ! :slight_smile:
As a matter of fact, this problem often occurs when the bitmaps used by OpenMind are not found.
Have you put OpenMind in the recommended directory ? c:\openmind
Do you have the directory c:\openmind\data\openmind\ created ?
You should have the following bitmaps in the directory :
configMask.png
icon.gif
loadebar.png
loaderlogo.png

Does the loadscreen display correctly with a progress bar or does it have blank bitmaps too ?

[quote]Hi EgonOlsen,

Well it looks we are having our first bug report ! :slight_smile:
As a matter of fact, this problem often occurs when the bitmaps used by OpenMind are not found.
Have you put OpenMind in the recommended directory ? c:\openmind
Do you have the directory c:\openmind\data\openmind\ created ?
You should have the following bitmaps in the directory :
configMask.png
icon.gif
loadebar.png
loaderlogo.png

Does the loadscreen display correctly with a progress bar or does it have blank bitmaps too ?
[/quote]
I see…the files were missing indeed, but i don’t want to be forced to copy something to “c:” that i don’t want to have there (c is my gaming partition, not my development one). I just copied the data-dir from “openmind/…” into the dirs of the demos i want to try. That works…it’s an ugly solution though. So i can finally see the fps counter which was my main goal… ;D

Pretty cool once I got it running. All but two of the batch files were corrupted. In the dynamic lights demo none of the key do anything, the readme says they should.

For the corrupted batch files, try editing them with the wordpad. The content should show up. Then create a new bat file, write down the command, and replace the old batch file. Anyway, which files are corrupted ? I have to fix these.
Strangely Windows XP has corrupted the batch files several times during development. Command lines show in Japanese !

For the dynamic lights demo, try clicking on the canvas once with the mouse so it gets the focus. Then the keys you type should be captured by OpenMind. I guess I should add a canvas.requestfocus() command to the demo source.

The engine itself is OpenSource. What about the models used in the demos? Can i use them for my own (demonstration) purpose? Which license does apply here? Sorry, if this info has already been given and i’ve simply missed it…

Hi EgonOlsen,

Yes, you can consider the models provided fall under the opensource license of OpenMind.
You can demo the sample material for sure, and you have no obligation to state it’s made by Mind2Machine.
Just don’t say you did it yourself, that’s all I ask.

Regards,

Alban Cousinié