Sun announced the availability of the source code for the Java 3D API on java.net.
Java 3D source code now available
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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While I’m happy to see Sun doing this, it’d like to note, that the Core of Java3D is licensed under the Java Reasearch License (JRL) and Java
Distribution License (JDL). Examples and Utils are licensed under a BSD license. I don’t think that JRL and JDL are OpenSource compatible licenses, but I haven’t looked into it, so could somebody please provide details on these licenses ?
The availability of source code is a good thing, but ultimately it shows that Java 3D is a low positioned API in the market. A much simpler approach would be to have a Java – OpenGL implementation, since OpenGL is already pseudo-portable, since there is some sort of support on almost any OS (even SkyOs has OGL support
). I know there is/was a project doing the OGL in Java trough JNI. Currently Java3D sits on top of OpenGL or Direct3D depending on the version you d/l, but it is an altogether new API.
Stretching a little the term standard to this (since J3D and D3D are not standards):
“the good thing about of standards is that are so many to choose from”
When I wrote: ” The availability of source code is a good thing, but ultimately it shows that Java 3D is a low positioned API in the market.” I was thinking of something that I didn’t explain. I meant, it is a low importante API for Sun, due its low position in market respect to OGL/Direct3D. Slow development in the last years for this API shows this (lack of investment I guess).
java 3d is a java opengl/directx implementation, look:
http://java.sun.com/products/java-media/3D/java3dfaq-1.3.html#intro
as far as licenses are concerned, since the examples are released in a BSD lisense, it has to be compatible with at least the BSD license which, is good enough for me.
Java 3D is a big chunk of code, and certainly maintaining it is costing a lot ($$$).
Given the small number of applications developed under Java 3D, opening the source code (albeit under a somewhat restrictive mixture of licenses) is a correct decision with little strategic impact for Sun.
Java 3D hasn’t been updated in a long time. I was under the impression that Sun was promoting JOGL as the 3D API for Java.
It would be nice if Sun would open source all parts of the Java class libraries which they can no longer maintain. Java 3d has been abandonware for a while, and understandably so, since how can 1 company support the huge java class libray realm?
What I don’t understand is the two licences – BSD for the 3d core-utils and the JRL/JDL for the 3d core and vector math API.
Muddies the waters. Why not all under BSD?
Since OGL and D3D are different API’s it doesn’t make sense that Java3D “is a java opengl/directx implementation”. In fact, the same URL you gave says so:
Java 3D is a high level, scene graph based API. It uses either DirectX or the OpenGL low level API to take advantage of 3D hardware acceleration
Java3D is by itself a 3D API, but as underlaying mechanisms to communicate to hardware uses D3D or OpenGL, because most video card drivers support at least one of them. Think of Java3D as Glide wrappers that existed some ago … they were implementing the Glide3D API of 3Dfx, but they used OpenGL or Direct3D since non-3Dfx does not support Glide.
“A much simpler approach would be to have a Java – OpenGL implementation”
Multiple implementations already exists! LWJGL for instance: http://www.lwjgl.org
No real downside to this one.
Thanks, Sun!
downhill.
I don’t like it when the public is being pushed drugs like these closed source languages from companies that are trying to profit from it.
We need alternatives instead of brainwashing.
They screwed up with JAVA and now Microsoft is reaping the rewards with #C and .NET. This is just Sun clawing at the inevetable their demise.
Enough with the baseless Sun-bashing already! You all whine and complain that Sun doesn’t open-source Java, then when they open-source part of it you complain.
Further, could someone please provide some facts to backup these constant assertions that C# and .NET are eating up marketshare from Java? I have yet to encounter any program in the wild that requires the .NET runtime (and I’ve made it a point not to install it on every Windows machine that I have).