Chapters

TOC Getting Started Geometry Lighting Textures User Feedback Navigation Audio Input Devices No Monitors

Contents

Behaviour Fundamentals Built-in Behaviours Interpolators Summary

Behaviours

In the preceeding chapters you were introduced to the rendering aspects of Java 3D. While you can produce many applications with static scenery, almost always they can benefit from having more interactivity.

Non-static scenes can take one of three forms:

1. Changing the scene graph structure,
2. Moving the viewpoint around in the world (navigation)
3. Moving of objects either with or without user input (the later case being animation).

Behaviours are a very important part of any Java3D application. Realising this, the designers have provided both a collection of commonly used behavioural characteristics and also mechanisms for custom code.

Information about writing custom behaviours is scattered through the next three chapters. In this chapter you will learn how to implement a basic behaviour that can move an object around the virtual world. In the next chapter Chapter 6, User Feedback we look at how to move objects and respond to a user selecting them. In Chapter 7,Navigation we go to the final step of moving the user around in the virtual world by responding to their input. Also of interest will be Chapter 9, Input Devices as this deals with creating customised handlers for input devices other than the standard mouse and keyboard, such as 3D mice, head mounted displays etc.

Chapter Contents

• Behaviour Fundamentals
• Built-in Behaviours
• Interpolators
• Summary