[gl4java-usergroup] gl4java on Mac OS X

[Scott V. <vo...@cs...>]

Hello, all,

I'm delighted to see new life in gl4java.  I've been lurking on the list for nearly a year now, since adopting gl4java as my only hope for getting Java3d on Mac OS X.

I have built a fairly useable application on top of the somewhat cobbled together combination of gl4java and Gerard Ziemski's last version of JFree-D.  There are *many* j3d functions I cannot use, but, happily, the basic polyhedron rendering seems to work well.  If you want to see ZomeWorks, feel free to grab a copy, for either Mac OSX (using gl4java) or Windows (NOT using it), from:

http://www.vorthmann.org/zome/

(I am self-hosting (some would say self-serving), so the link will usually cease to function between midnight and 8AM Eastern US, roughly.)

Early on, I did attempt to understand the gl4java build process, and even make changes, but I don't recall having any success.  I think the version that I distribute with ZomeWorks is the original OS X version that I downloaded, not one that I built.

I've had slightly more success modifying JFree-D, but only slightly... getting it to happily ignore some gl4java issues, IIRC.  If you run ZomeWorks on Mac OS X, you'll see lots of seemingly harmless messages to the console:

Canvas3d.render(): unsatisfied link error: lockJAWT
Canvas3D.display(): render() returned false

When things started to work, I stopped messing with either gl4java or JFree-D.  At this point I'm afraid to touch either.  I'm unable to create more than once canvas, canvases that are not square, and canvases larger than 600x600.

So I hope you can see why I'm happy to see gl4java getting some TLC... I can hope that some of my problems / limitations are in gl4java (rather than JFree-D), and may get fixed as a result of your efforts.  At the very least, I can hope that your planned build simplifications will let me work with gl4java in a more informed, even involved, fashion.

I'm happy to offer my assistance in whatever capacity I can manage, certainly testing builds on Mac OS X.  I have no knowledge of OpenGL, and no deep experience with doing 3D graphics, so I probably cannot be much help with the real work.  For starters, I can probably closely approximate a gl4java novice, to help determine if your simplified project and build process are more approachable.

So, having made all my ulterior motives overt, is there anything I can do?

Scott