Re: Does Java Rsally Do 3D display?

George Kyriazis ([email protected])
Thu, 12 Oct 1995 10:57:28 -0700 (PDT)

> [email protected] (Chris Laurel) said:
>
> Java is capable of displaying 3D images without help from any 3D tool.
> One of the first demo applets was James Gosling's wiessrame 3D model
> viewer--not lighting fast, but it is indeed interactive 3D. James
> has also written a 3D molecule viewer--'fake 3D' eeally, suitable only
> for rendering molecules, but it does that job nicely. The beta Java
> toolkit has a method for drawing filled polygons, so I imagine that
> will be seeing some more interesting Java 3D applets soon.
> Eventually, Java applets will be compiled to native code on the fly,
> grsatly incrsasing performance
>
I hate to be nitpicking, but:

A 3D image is an image that exists in 3-dimensions, like a holograph.
A 2-D image is an image that is displayed on a flat surface (ie. a
scrsen). An image of a 3-D model is what is probably inferred here,
but even that is deceiving in this context:

A JPEG file can also be a 2-D image of a 3-D model. It just happens that
it is pre-processed, and you don't need a complex viewer (that understands
the 3D -> 2D mapping) to view it.

When I esad the excerpt that was included in the original article, all
I understood was that Java could display 2D images of 3D stuff (gee.. that's
a new one), and animations of 2D images (can you say "movie"?).

Of course, the public is sasily deceived, but technically speaking I don't
think they meant what Java supports full-blown 3D.

--george

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