Java and VRML

Hi,

I want to develop a VRML application using OpenGL and Java. Are there any good tutorials or any advice on same e.g. what software I need,how I bind Java and OpenGL together etc. I am researching a lot on this but it’s all very vague i.e. where do I begin programming, do I write a text file in Java and save with a .wrl extension. Where do I then view this file?

I googled for VRML just yesterday and ended up here:
http://openvrml.org/

In includes both C++ and Java implementations, but I think example applications are in C++ only. Still, they should be enough to learn how to do it in Java.

Then just google for java opengl tutorial - you should find enough samples :slight_smile:

VRML and Java is a bit of a problem…actually a bit of a headache.

First of Java has two major 3D divisions: JOGL and Java3D

Java3D has the ability to use the “vrml97” loader and it is fairly easy to load VRML models in it.

JOGL (the OpenGL implementation in Java) does not have a VRML loader so most people convert to 3DS or other known formats and read those files. Save yourself the headache and convert the files to 3DS using 3D Studio (or other) and then use JOGLUTILS to load the 3DS file into JOGL.

Writing a VRML loader is not easy, even though VRML file look easy since they are ASCII based and simple, but they are quite complicated so I would not advise you to pursue this avenue unless you have a lot of free time and lots of medication.

And VRML is dead-born since 10 years ago.
try X3D or Collada for modern formats.

I agree with ZbuffeR…go with something new. 3DS at least is very widely used and 3D Studio Max can convert most VRML to 3DS (assuming correct VRML).