JOINT

Java Online authoring INventool

Project duration: 1996,1997 
Contact: Reinhard Sainitzer, Herbert Buchegger 
 

Description

 A distributed system for animating inventor scenes with Java. The system allows online authoring. 

Application

 The project includes a server for the simulation of behaviors written in java, a graphical client and an 3D viewer based on Open Inventor extended by a network interface. 

Problems

 A general simulation system for graphical behavior faces challenges in two main areas:
  • Flexibility: How can the system be dynamically extended with new objects and new Java code at runtime?
  • Performance: How can the network transmission and 3D rendering be structured so that the system yields an acceptable frame rate for interactive use? 

Approach

 A server that is able to execute arbitraryy behavior coded in Java runs as a concurrent network tasks with a 3D viewer based on Open Inventor. A client connects to the server and manipulates (authors) the simulation by uploading and modifying Java code. A graphical user interface helps in this programming task.

The resulting simulation communicates changes in the visible geometry to the 3D viewer, which displays the world and allows interactive exploration and user interaction with the simulated world. 

Publications

 (in preparation)

Example application

To demonstrate the capabilities of our system, we developed an immersive Virtual Casino.

System Overview

The diagram below shows the principal system architecture. The server executes as two concurrent processes: behavior server and NetIV (graphics server). Multiple clients can connect to the server.

Technical documentation

Click on one of the following links to learn more about the internal working of JOINT.
This page is maintained by Reinhard Sainitzer. It was last updated on June 23, 1997.
If you have any comments, please send a message to sainitz@cg.tuwien.ac.at.