Didn’t Xith3D come about mainly as a replacement for the dying Java3D? Now that Java3D is back what’s the position of Xith3D.
One advantage must be that it’s built on top of JOGL so one can access OpenGL directly. But what about speed? Is Xith3D really faster? Has there been any benchmarkings to confirm this claim?
Are there other advantages to motivate Xith3D over Java3D?
Xith3D is Open Source. Java3D is “public source”.
Some of the folks in Sun say that Java3D is Open Source but when you question them it turns out that only parts of it are and that the rest is “public source”. I complained about the misuse of terminology at the Java3D BOF at JavaOne 2004.
It would be cool if Sun were to Open Source Java3D.
search this group for postings from javacooldude, he made several demos in xith and j3d and quote large performance benifits from xith
For me one of the main advantages is saying “render now gosh darn it!!!” In java3d
o behaviors execute when they can
o frame rates are …err… flexible
o Java3d was written to take into account mutiple threaded access etc. complicating things.
o Java3d lighting affects everything whereas xith3d only affects the group and child groups below where the light was added.
I have been sustantially more productive being cloder to the metal 
Thank you both. I located that cool dude thread,
http://192.18.37.44/forums/index.php?PHPSESSID=8156178f8595122eee0d177910a807b2&topic=3549.0
According to that Xith3D seems to be about twice as fast. It’s good to have some indication even though I understand it can vary.
PS. I’m somewhat reluctant to abandon Java3D but I’m inclined to do it for principal reasons only. The way Sun left everybody hanging for years is a total disgrace and clearly shows Sun doesn’t have higher ethics than anybody else although it likes to project itself as the “good guy”.
I’m also thinking of moving from Java3d to Xith3d.
But it seems that the xith3d collision detectection is abandoned one should use yet another api (ode). Is it possible to use ode collision detection with a loaded model? Is there a demo for that (like two loaded models which collide) ?
So I guess picking is also left to ode, right?
thanx, Usul
Collision yes, picking no.
You can use collision detection witha loaded model, XithToOdejava classes are made for that.
If you don’t mind using a Game Engine instead of separate tools, please visit http://www.magicspark.org/gamma.
It provides a very simple way to load models and to build corresponding physic objects.
It’s still under development, but all contributions are welcome…