J3DP Java 3D Viewer

J3DP

UPDATED Thu Jun 27 2013

1) Download the zip file j3dp.zip and save it in a directory contained in your PATH environment varible.
1) Using a a text editor create shell script containing the following command

java -cp j3dp.zip -Xms1024M -Xmx1024M -XX:PermSize=256M -XX:MaxPermSize=256M J3DP -d $1

name it for example j3dp (without extension), save it in the same directory as the zip file, and make it executable. With these two files in the same directory, you can run the shell script from the command line from that directory. You can run it without arguments, or with the name of an input file as argument.

If you work in a Windows environment, open the directory where you have the zip file in Windows Explorer. Create a shortcut by righ-clicking somewhere on the background, choosing New, and then Shortcut. In the item location field enter the following text

javaw -cp j3dp.zip -Xms1024M -Xmx1024M -XX:PermSize=256M -XX:MaxPermSize=256M J3DP

and click next. In the next panel select a name for the shortchut, such as j3dp, and click Finish. Now you can run the program by double clicking on this link in Windows Explorer.

If neither one of these two methods starts the program, then you don't have Java intalled in your system. You need to install the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) or the Java Development Kit (JDK). Even if you have the JRE or JDK installed in your machine, you may not be able to run the program because your version of Java is too old. In both cases you should visit the Oracle Java SE Download Page and download and install one of these packages. If you have a Mac and you keep your system updated, the program should run.

You can also save the j3dp.zip file somewhere else, but if you do so you will have to edit you CLASSPATH environment variable to add the location of the zip file. For example, you can copy the windows shortcut to your desktop, and edit the "Start In:" field to make it start at the directory where the j3dp.zip file is.

3) You can also download the following sample files


4) Run the 'j3dp' script with one of these files as arguments. Alternatively, run the script without arguments and load one of the files by clicking on the LOAD button and selecting a file from the popup dialog. You can also drag and drop files on the application.

This viewer can load and display VRML files comprising a limited subset of nodes. It is able to render point clouds (with colors and/or normals), as well as polylines and polygon meshes (all valid bindings, including textures, are supported).

Thu Jun 27 2013: Support for PLY files containing point clouds and polygon meshes has been added. The following properties are supported: normals per vertex and per face; colors per vertex and per face; texture coordinates per vertex and per corner. Textured PLY files should include the following comment line

comment TextureFile fileName

The image file type can be JPG or PNG. The fileName name can be an absolute path or a relative path, but since absolute paths are not portable, it is recommended to place the image file in the same directory as the PLY file, and include the relative path in the comment line.

If an input file does not contain normal vectors, whether WRL or PLY, the point cloud or mesh will not be shaded. If the file does not have colors or texture either, then it will be painted with a constant color as defined in the material node (WRL only at the moment).

Other features will be added soon. If you find bugs, please report them.