John Wright wrote:
> The Javadocs and tutorial need to have a strong emphasis (they are every
> bit as important as developing new features... no they are MORE
> important), expecting people to learn all the stray tricks from my
> website or the j3d.org website or this list isn't practical. (Just look
> at how often the same questions come up over and over again).
I might be in minority, but I do not agree. Of course good docs are
nice, but do not expect java3d team to write 3d rendering tutorial. This
is a job for book writers and generic tutorials, not one for particular
framework. Java3d doc should focus on how to apply 3d techniques in this
specific environment, not on explaining techniques itself. Best example
can be quaterion - doc should tell that it is a way to describe
orientation in 3d space and explain all methods for setting
variables/getting axis etc. But quaterion theory can be found in many
places on web or in math books - if we would follow this way, in short
time java3d would need to describe what an imaginary number is + all
axioms for it etc, etc - maybe some people are math newbies and are
hearing about this first time when looking at java3d.
Java3d is also my very first experience with 3d graphics (except playing
Unreal Tournament :). Now I understand a lot of opengl - thanks to
java3d (not the other way around). I was browsing javadocs, faqs at
various sites, example programs etc. When I wanted to learn about
quaterions I used google to search for info - and got nice article with
all needed math data, smoothing routines, conversions etc.
Please note that for most questions that appear on this list very often,
people just do not read even docs that are currently available - not to
mention faq or searching the web. Creating more extensive docs won't
help.
My personal preference would be to focus on two things - stability and
features. First is very important to get anything working on more than
one machine, second is needed to not always look at native
directx/opengl people with envy. Next would be performance - both speed
and memory usage - also to stay in same league. As far as docs are
concerned - API of course needs to be documented, but only as much as
needed - no explaining of difficult words, no short sentences for slow
readers. Plus maybe some example programs to prove that things are
actually working and show what can be done with specific techniques.
So, focus on bugfixing, feature adding. Leave generic 3d tutorial
writing for people who really want's to. Nobody expects that you will
explaing what a bit or method is in core java lang api and I don't think
you should explain what a vertex is in java3d api.
*Donning my asbestos suit*
Artur
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