Re: visad can't compile w/o java3D?

• To: Robert McGrath <mcgrath@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Subject: Re: visad can't compile w/o java3D?
• From: "From: Bill Hibbard <hibbard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>" <billh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 17:43:36 -0500 (CDT)

Hi Rob,

> Earlier this summer I was able to compile VisAD without Java3D,
> and the README says this is OK.
> 
> We just downloaded a fresh copy on Monday, and it gives hundreds
> of errors complaining about missing classes.
> 
> When we run the spreadsheet, it crashes because it wants Java3D.
> 
> So the question is:  how do I compile and use VisAD without Java3D.

I do this by putting the following files:

  j3daudio.jar, j3dcore.jar, j3dutils.jar, vecmath.jar

in the jre/lib/ext (or lib/ext) subdirectory of my jdk1.2 directory.
These files can be unjar'ed from the Java3D distribution.

This approach is a bit of a hack - perhaps someone else can suggest
a cleaner way.

> (I need to omit j3d for several reasons:
> 
>   1. It's not available for many platforms
>   2. It is impossibly slow without graphics cards

Actually, Java3D is faster than Java2D in some situations, such
as satellite images displayed in earth coordinates (i.e., with
ScalarMaps of RealType.Latitude and RealType.Longitude) because
Java3D supports curved texture maps whereas Java2D only supports
rectilinear texture maps.

>   3. It cannot be used in a remote X-windows session, only on
>      the local console.)

However, 1. and 3., are both good reasons, as is 2. in some
situations.  Another reason is that Java3D is a bit of a memory
hog - hopefully this will be fixed with Java3D version 1.2.

Cheers,
Bill
----------------------------------------------------------
Bill Hibbard, SSEC, 1225 W. Dayton St., Madison, WI  53706
hibbard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  608-263-4427  fax: 608-263-6738
http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/~billh/vis.html

• References:
  • visad can't compile w/o java3D?
    • From: Robert McGrath