Hi all,
Just wondering… I was brutally forced to write a (basic) 3D game in Java 3D last term at uni, even though C++ is generally used much more for games programming!
So, what I’m wondering, does anyone know of a C++ 3D API similar to Java3D, so I can port it across with minimum fuss? Ideally, suggested APIs would support importing .obj files etc (i.e. fairly high-level) - though anything would be interesting!
Thanks!
more or less you can only choose between directx or opengl…and both don’t support obj loading. but there are many tutorials showing you how to write your own importer.
directx supports loading .x files…if that would help you
There are also several game engines. These often support many different high-level operations that are more multi-purpose than just games. a couple of good open-source ones are OGRE and neoengine
although, I find it’s usually just better rolling your own… even if it takes a little longer
Okay, thanks - might look into the game engines, though I guess using those wouldn’t look so great on my portfolio, as writing one myself… though, I guess many programmers in the industry do spend most of their time just using the API provided by the engine…
I already know a reasonable amount of OpenGL, just don’t have enough time to write all the code necessary to write C++ versions of the Java3D functions…
If anyone does have time, a Java3D-compatible API for C++ would be very useful, however!! 
I wish i had the time to do that!
But maybe you could use JNI (java native interface).
It allows java and C++ to communicate. I used it in java so that i could create the GUI in java and the main methods (in the form of dlls) in C. It worked great. I dont know how easy or usefull it would be to you. Check out the sun website.
If you want to write a game in Java and you need 3D forget about Java3D (its nice but not needed at all…and if you are not forced to use it) just use OpenGL.
The Java Port for OpenGL
http://www.jausoft.com/gl4java/
Tutorials for it
http://nehe.gamedev.net/
This should let you start. If you can, go for OpenGL.
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