I develop a molecular modeling environment (Force Field Explorer http://dasher.wustl.edu/ffe) using Java/Java3D. I have found Java3D to be a great framework in which to work and it is my opinion that I have been able to incorporate more functionality than would have been possible in a similar amount of time using OpenGL bindings directly.
My main interest is not in feature development or bug fixes. The current functionality is fine. What I really want is a chance for true platform independence for Java3D, especially on MacOSX, since this is used often in academic environments.
I want to add support for Gili's comments (below), which I think would facilitate cross-platform stability. Another option is for a company with more resources than Sun to continue development of Java3D (IBM, hint, hint!!).
Gili:
Separate Java3D into two components:
- OpenGL binding (very thin layer on top of native OpenGL
implementation)
- Java3D (open-source like the JDK classes, fits on top of OpenGL
binding) OpenGL binding is platform specific
Java3D is platform-independantThe basic idea with Java3D is that Sun should do two things:
- Reduce their cost of maintainance by offloading the major work to the OpenGL binding which would be provided by 3D parties (not Sun). Sun should however come up with the OpenGL binding specification and make it standard.
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