JavaOne, Day 4: Mobile 3D and Forum Nokia updates

I attended Kari Pulli’s and Tomi Aarnio’s “Advanced Game Development with the Mobile 3D Graphics API” on the final day of the conference. They started with an overview of JSR 184, including initial attempts to subset J2SE‘s Java 3D API and why those were eventually abandoned (the short of it: Java 3D was 100 times too large for a J2ME implementation, too flexible for its own good in the wireless space). After the overview, they provided pointed tips on developing 3D applications, especially games.

Things to keep in mind include:

• Everything in Mobile 3D is synchronous (methods return when they’re done)
• No callbacks
• Scene updates are decoupled from rendering

A couple of things that I found particularly interesting because they make 3D development for J2ME devices simpler than comparable development for desktops using Java 3D:

• SkinnedMesh allows you to build articulated, “skinned” characters (people, animals, etc.)
• Mobile 3D defines a binary file format for world data (unlike Java 3D, which requires no particular format be supported)

Visit the JavaOne Online site to listen to their session or download a PDF of their slides.

One more thing I wanted to be sure I mentioned in my JavaOne blog bits: Nokia launched a streamlined Forum Nokia at JavaOne. Navigation is meant to be simpler and the look of the site cleaner. I’d love to hear your comments on how well Nokia has (or hasn’t) done: Click here to let me know what you think.