I have posted the beginning of a document regarding Xith3D here : http://xith3d.dev.java.net/files/documents/690/555/xith3d.pdf In this document I discuss the tenants behind the design, all of which have implications for anyone wanting to port from Java3D.
It took about 2 days (started with 1200 compiler errors) but I can now compile Magicosm against the current Xith3D source. Of course it is no where near functional yet, but at least I am in the debugging phase.
David,
I was wondering if the normal behavior structure is maintained, ie. by using OrbitBehavior in my program, is there a way to just “plug-and-play” my J3D with Xith3D ported code and it run?
Thanks,
Zak
Having the renderloop at your hands, IMHO there is no specific need for a predefined behavior framework. Or you can emulate it yourself.
Most Java3D gamelike apps use only one behavior at all to drive the game. And maybe some behaviors. But I think for them there might be a another solution as well…
Are their any loaders yet for Xith3D?
I am about to start (coding) a fairly large java 3d undertaking and after a few weeks in my own “holding pattern” seeing what would come out of the rubble, Xith3D looks like the most promicing option. I am also very pleased with the cracking pace JOGL and Xith3D appear to be moving.
Porting isn’t an issue as I am more than happy to dump my current Java3D code, similarity of the API is a big plus since I have a book on J3D.
I have looked at the Magicosm project web page and it looks quite impressive. What loaders were used for that project? Did they also load the textures? Is that working in Xith3D yet?
My operating system incidentally is Linux (RedHat).
Cheers,
Will.
I’ve started to use the Xith3Ds forum on the java.net pages. Does anybody read it?
I tried to compile Xith3D, but there are references to packages I don’t have (com.xith.utilities) or don’t want to have (org.lwjgl, e.g. in ‘Texture.java’).
The earlier the package can be compiled and used in the public, the earlier people might agree to adopt their specific loaders. I asked John Wright about his excellent 3DS loader and at least he didn’t say no.
The earlier the package can be compiled and used in the public, the earlier people might agree to contribute so that David doesn’t have to do it all alone.
There are currently OBJ and ASE loaders available for Xith3D and I will be adding more soon. Magicosm uses its own format for models, but the production path is Max -> ASE -> Cosm, so we use ASE as the primary means of moving from Max into Magicosm.