Lighting and Materials in Java3D

Lighting and Materials in Java3D
An Introduction with Examples

Prof. David Bernstein
James Madison University

Computer Science Department

bernstdh@jmu.edu

Parts of the Process

Specify normal vectors
Specify material properties
Create and position light sources
Specify properties of the lighting model

Normals

Two Dimensional:
- Vector2f and Vector2d
Three Dimensional:
- Vector3f and Vector3d
Three Dimensional Homogeneous:
- Vector4f and Vector4d

Materials

The Material Class:
- Ambient, emissive, diffuse, and specular colors
- Shininess
The Appearance Class:
- Created from a Material

Materials (cont.)

An Example

javaexamples/java3d/lighting/LightingDriver.java

(Fragment: material)

       // Create colors
       ambient  = new Color3f(0.329f, 0.223f, 0.027f);
       emissive = new Color3f(0.000f, 0.000f, 0.000f);       
       diffuse  = new Color3f(0.780f, 0.569f, 0.113f);
       specular = new Color3f(0.992f, 0.941f, 0.808f);
       
       // Create a Material
       material = new Material(ambient, emissive, diffuse, specular, 28.0f);
       
       // Create an Appearance
       appearance = new Appearance();
       appearance.setMaterial(material);

Lights

Kinds:
- AmbientLight
- DirectionalLight
- SpotLight
Influence:
- A light's influence can be limited with a bounding region

Lights (cont.)

An Example

javaexamples/java3d/lighting/LightingDriver.java

(Fragment: lights)

       // Construct the AmbientLight
       lightA = new AmbientLight();
       lightA.setInfluencingBounds(new BoundingSphere());

       // Add the AmbientLight to the scene
       scene.addChild(lightA);

       // Construct the DirectionalLight
       lightD = new DirectionalLight();
       lightD.setInfluencingBounds(new BoundingSphere());

       // Add the DirectionalLight to the scene
       scene.addChild(lightD);