Java 3D Programming

The book has 18 chapters, plus three appendices and a bibliography. Each chapter is fairly self−contained or
explicitly references related chapters, allowing you to focus quickly on relevant material for your problem at
hand. I have ordered the material so that, if you were starting a project from scratch, progressing in the book
would mirror the design questions you would face as you worked through your design study and development
efforts. More commonly used material is, in general, closer to the beginning of the book.

Chapter 1 focuses on getting started with Java 3D, system requirements, running the examples in the book,
plus a look at the strengths and weaknesses of Java 3D.

Chapter 2 introduces some of the fundamentals of 3D graphics programming, such as projection of points
from 3D to 2D coordinates, lighting, and hidden surface removal.

Chapter 3 gets you started with Java 3D programming, from setting up your development environment and
resources to running your first application.

Chapter 4 explains the fundamental data structure in Java 3D, the scenegraph. Aspects of good scenegraph
design are described using an example application for discussion.

Chapter 5 is a reference to Java 3D's scenegraph nodes, along with usage instructions and examples.

Chapter 6 explains the elements of the Java 3D scenegraph rendering model and guides you in your choice of
VirtualUniverse configuration.

Chapter 7 takes a step back and examines data models for 3D applications. Choosing a suitable data model
involves understanding your interaction and performance requirements.

Chapter 8 is a reference to creating geometry to be rendered by Java 3D.

Chapter 9 covers the elements of the Java 3D Appearance class, used to control the rendered appearance of
the geometric primitives in your scene.

Chapter 10 illuminates the Java 3D lighting model and shows you how to create powerful lighting for your
scene.

Chapter 11 introduces the Java 3D behavior model, which allows you to attach code to the objects in your
scene. Examples illustrate both keyboard and mouse behaviors for graphical user interfaces.

Chapter 12 expands upon the discussion of behaviors, covering the Interpolator behaviors, used to
control geometry attributes using the Alpha class.

Chapter 13 describes how to write your own custom behaviors and register them with Java 3D for invocation.
Example behaviors for debugging and complex physical animation as well as others are presented.

Chapter 14 explains how to increase the realism of your scenes by applying bitmaps to your geometry using
the process of texture mapping.

Chapter 15 highlights some of the utility classes provided with Java 3D for operations such as triangulation
and loading of input data.

Chapter 16 delves into more techniques valuable for interacting with 3D scenes, object interaction using the
mouse for selection of 3D objects, and performing collision detection between 3D objects.

Chapter 17 shows, through example, how to build Java 3D applications that use the Swing packages for 2D
user interface elements, and can be distributed as Java applets for use from a web browser.

Chapter 18 goes low−level to explain some of the implementation details of the Java 3D API. The aim is to
give you a greater appreciation for what is going on behind the scenes and help you optimize your
applications.

Appendix A cross−references all the examples by chapter and includes instructions
for downloading,
installing, and running the example code from the publisher's web site.

Appendix B includes a comprehensive listing of programming and graphics resources online. Print references
are provided in the bibliography.

Appendix C explains the Primitive utility class, its geometry cache, and the GeomBuffer class, along
with tips and caveats.

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