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Scene Graphs
An Introduction


Prof. David Bernstein
James Madison University

Computer Science Department
bernstdh@jmu.edu

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Motivation
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  • Defined:
    • A (usually) hierarchical description of a 3D "virtual universe"
  • Approach:
    • Use a tree
  • Purpose:
    • "Shield" the programmer from the underlying graphics API
Some Examples
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  • IRIS/Open Inventor:
    • Developed by Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) in the late 1980s
  • Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML):
    • Standardized by ISO/IEC in 1997
  • Extensible 3D (X3D)
    • Successor to VRML (since 1999)
  • Java 3D/JavaFX with 3D
    • Java3D was released in 1998 and became a community source project in 2004
    • JavaFX with 3D support was released in 2014 (as part of Java 8)
An Example: VRML
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  • Geometry Node:
    • Defines a shape
  • Property Node:
    • Defines the properties of a shape
  • Appearance Node:
    • Defines the material, texture, etc... of a shape
  • Light-Source Node:
    • Provides illumination
  • Sensor Node:
    • Responds to the user
  • Interpolator Node:
    • Used for animation
There's Always More to Learn
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