I agree with the sentement regarding commercial grade 3D applications, I think that the time is definitally right for this. However, I have now lost faith in Sun's Java3D. I started my project several months ago in Java3D. Life interrupted for a few months and by the time I got back to it, all of a sudden Java3D was stalled/ in a holding pattern.
Now as I didn't have a great deal of code, I didn't want to waste any time working on a sinking ship so I sat tight and waited. It only took a few weeks but then Xith3D emerged filling the vacuum and provided partial Java3D support running on Sun's open source JOGL which I am using now. What led me to my decision was not the current state of Java3D but it's uncertainty. Nobody likes uncertainty, and Sun did an excellent job of creating just that. I am glad that Sun is "working towards something that should make the Java 3D development community happy" and although that isn't a concrete statement, I appreciate Doug's assurances but in my case it is too little too late. I think this served a bit of a wake up call to the community as to just how much Java3D was governed by Sun's internal politics. The best thing sun could do at this late hour in my opinion would be to change the license on Java3D, open up the source maybe even continue development but most importantly inform their customers what they are doing! Then they might undo some of the damage that they have already done if it is not too late. Java3D as an API and a concept is great and I think it has a strong future. Now that I am aware of just how much Sun controlled the process, I have learned from this and will stick with more open solutions which should the need arise be further developed by people other than the original development team. Good luck to all using Java for 3D graphics. Best Regards, Will. =========================================================================== To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and include in the body of the message "signoff JAVA3D-INTEREST". For general help, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and include in the body of the message "help".
