These tutorial notes were last updated in late July 1998. As of this date, the most current version of Java 3D is version 1.1 beta 1, the first beta release after three public alpha releases. This release of Java 3D is dependent upon sound, image, and font features found in JDK 1.2, whose most current release as of July is version 1.2 beta 3!

The good news is that Java 3D and JDK 1.2 are leading-edge technologies and represent the forefront of 3D application development technology. The bad news is that these tutorial notes are based upon beta releases, and as such are as unstable as those early software releases.

As with all beta product releases, functionality in both Java 3D and the JDK is not yet complete or fully stable. This is natural and appropriate for early releases. The impact on these tutorial notes is that some Java 3D features could not be adequately discussed or example applications generated. For instance, the beta 1 Java 3D release is missing stable support for:

Compressed geometry

3D text geometry and fonts

Texture images with alpha channels

Some behavior wakeup conditions

Full OBJ file loading

Background geometry

MIDI sound files

Cone sounds

Sound localization, reverb, and doppler shift

Some JDK 1.2 features do not mesh well with Java 3D as of the JDK beta 3 release, including support for:

Mixing swing lightweight and Java 3D components

Mixing Java Media Framework classes and Java 3D sound classes

Reading image files other than GIF and JPEG

It is inevitable that some Java 3D or JDK 1.2 features will change between July 1998 and the final release of these APIs. This may cause some of the example applications in these notes to fail to compile or execute properly with the final APIs. Wherever possible, we have avoided use of features we felt were unstable and likely to change. This should enhance the chance that the early examples included here will work with the final release of Java 3D and JDK 1.2.

As we near the final release of Java 3D and JDK 1.2, expected to be late in 1998, we will will continue to evolve these tutorial notes, updating examples and slide coverage.

Updated versions of these notes, and their Java source code, are available for free downloading from:

Sun's Java 3D site

The Java 3D Repository

Dave Nadeau's home page

We strongly encourage you to check and download updated copies as they become available. We appologize for the inconvenience. We feel this situation is natural and unavoidable as we track a moving technology target and seek to get you the latest and most complete information we can about Java 3D.

Thank you.

-- the lecturers