CODEWITHSUNDEEP
htmlthree.jswebgljava-3d
akhil3D
akhil3D

Reputation: 1

Interactive 3D visualization on browser

I am trying to create a website where users can view and interact with room-furnishings in a 3D environment in a browser. Now, I do not wish to create anything from scratch, if it is possible to build upon existing open source efforts. So far, my research shows that:

  1. The most established open source project I could build upon, that allows me to show 3D scenes on the browser and have users interact with them, uses Java3D for browser view, encapsulated in a java applet (sweethome3Dviewer).
  2. Java 3D itself seems to be out of vogue, with most people recommending HTML5+WebGL (where unfortunately, I can't find any solutions that are as developed).

So here are my questions for this forum: 1) Are there any serious drawbacks of using a Java3D based approach? I am talking of ANY drawbacks here, for example: "it is too slow"; "it is not stable"; "is limited by the number of concurrent users", etc. 2) What would you suggest I start with and build upon, if not the one based on Java3D?

Please note my preference for not re-inventing the wheel!

Upvotes: 0

Views: 759

Answers (1)

Kevin Reid
Kevin Reid

Reputation: 43743

Yes, there is a serious drawback to using Java applets today: they are likely to simply not work at all.

The biggest problem is that the Java security system, which is intended to prevent programs like applets from accessing other parts of your computer (modifying files, running additional unsandboxed programs, etc.), has a history of security holes. Because of this history, there is a general consensus that permitting Java applets is simply not an acceptable security policy for the current day. Therefore, many browsers omit the Java plug-in or disable it by default.

And there are also browsers which simply have never had a Java browser plug-in at all, such as those on Android and iOS devices. Besides the security risk, there is also the issue that Java is “heavyweight” as web content goes — it can be seen as a waste of limited resources, for portable devices.

Thus, using Java applets is not a good choice: your applet will never work for many users, and those it does work for are taking an unnecessary security risk.

WebGL, on the other hand, is “just” another JavaScript-based API, which only does graphics, not lots of other things that have to be turned off by a “security manager” element. There are risks inherent to WebGL (GPU drivers are not the most security-minded thing out there) but in the current state of things it's unlikely that WebGL will be simply shut off rather than being fixed, if a problem is found.

Upvotes: 1

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