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Free ebooks
 Free programing ebooks Java Pro Java 6 3D Game Development Java 3D JOGL JInput and JOAL APIs
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 This book is divided into three main sections: Java 3D, nonstandard input devices for game playing, and JOGL. Java 3D is a high-level 3D graphics API based around the construction of a scene graph data structure that contains the objects that appear in the 3D scene. Java 3D topics covered here include how to build your own 3D models, load existing models, create detailed landscapes, display beautiful skies and backgrounds, and have users navigate through the scene, bumping into things as they go.I examine three nonstandard input devices: the webcam, the gamepad, and the P5 data glove—all fun alternatives to the rather boring PC keyboard and mouse. JOGL is a Java wrapper around the popular OpenGL 3D graphics API, which offers a less highlevel programming abstraction than Java 3D. JOGL’s closeness to OpenGL means there’s a wealth of existing OpenGL examples, tutorials, and programming tips and techniques that can be reused without much recoding. I look at topics similar to those for Java 3D: landscapes, skyboxes, billboards, picking, fog, overlays, and building and loading models. Another theme of this book is the examination of games-related Java APIs that aren’t part of the standard Java distribution. I’ve already mentioned Java 3D and JOGL. Other APIs include JInput, JOAL (a Java wrapper around the 3D sound API, OpenAL), JMF (for managing time-based multimedia, which I employ for rapidly taking webcam snaps), and Odejava. This book examines the latest Java SE 6 features relevant to gaming, including splash screens, JavaScript scripting, and the desktop and system tray interfaces. I don’t bother introducing Java; there are many books that already do that. Two worth checking out are Head First Java by Bert Bates and Kathy Sierra (O’Reilly, 2005) and Thinking in Java by Bruce Eckel. An older version of Eckel’s book is available free at http://www mindview net/Books/TIJ/. The sort of background you need for my book is what you’d learn in an introductory course on Java. This isn’t a book about developing a single massive application, such as an FPS. Instead I describe game elements, building blocks that can be used in a lot of different 3D games. This book isn’t about building a 3D rendering engine; I’m using Java 3D and JOGL for that. If you’re interested in creating an engine from the ground up, I recommend Developing Games in Java by David Brackeen, Bret Barker, and Laurence Vanhelswue. As I explain JOGL, I also explain the basic features of OpenGL. Unfortunately, I don’t have the space to discuss all of OpenGL’s wonderful capabilities or the numerous extensions provided by different graphic card vendors. I supply you with pointers to more information when I start on JOGL in Chapter 15. This isn’t a games design book; two great resources are Game Architecture and Design: A New Edition by Andrew Rollings and Dave Morris and Chris Crawford on Game Design by Chris Crawford. I won’t be talking about J2ME games programming on mobile devices. There are some interesting 3D APIs for J2ME, but the emphasis of this book is on desktop applications. Download Pro Java 6 3D Game Development Java 3D JOGL JInput and JOAL APIs
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