New to Java 3D Game Development and need help

[Mimz]

     Okay so I'm looking to make a Java game in 3D but (as I'm sure you've heard many times) I don't know where to start. I've been reading up Java 3D programing but I thought I would go ahead and ask a human rather than a search engine. I want to make a tile based 3D game that I can easily just add objects and walls and stuff by typing in X coords, Y coords and Z coords. So I want to make it "easy" for me to edit my game when I get far enough to make the maps and objects and animations.
     First off, I just want you to answer these questions because it might help me out with what I'm doing...

- Where is a good tutorial?
- What is a good (free) 3D modeling system? (I'm using a program called "Art of Illusion" made from Java so that might work for me")
- Once I figure out how to import models, make maps, and do the basic 3D stuff, where should I start? (I.E. Controls, Player etc.)

So those are some questions that I have (other than my main question) that I would really like if people answered them for me. And also don't spam me or flame me without asking a question first...

Thanks for any help,

Mimz

[bobjob]

Hi Mimz,

To answer your question, judging by what you are asking I would suggest JME(Java Monkey Engine).
There is alot of examples of things it can do that comes with the API (From memory its called jmeTest).

As for its tutoirals im not sure were to find good ones as I dont use it (I use LWJGL). But from what i have seen on the JME forums the guys are really helpful, and dont mind *noobish* questions.

The reason I recommended JME is because it does just what you are asking. such as importing of models, placing models in 3D space, and much more.

If you want to do some lower level programming,  There are the two hardware accelerated options: JOGL and LWJGL (that i know of). But they require a much stronger understanding of OpenGL. this isnt as basic as just setting up 3D points for a model.

If you do decide you would like to program in a lower level API, I would recommend the NEHE tutorials for learning. They cover stuff like: drawing a triangle, then adding colors, textures ... and so on.


But yeah, I think a good place to start is JME. For starters just set it up with your IDE and run some of the examples. After looking at the example code if its not for you, its not like you have wasted much time.

[Mimz]

Thank you very much for your help, usually when I get on forums such as these and ask a question thats like this people will say things that only they understand or they will cut me down and tell me that Java game programming is not for me and that I need to learn more. But you actually helped me 

Thanks and I've seen JME before but whenever I download it, it never works, but I'll try it again and see if it will help me

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[bobjob]

its relatively easy to setup in Eclipse, thats how I tested it. Im not sure about Netbeans.

[Eli Delventhal]

Thank you very much for your help, usually when I get on forums such as these and ask a question thats like this people will say things that only they understand or they will cut me down and tell me that Java game programming is not for me and that I need to learn more. But you actually helped me 

Thanks and I've seen JME before but whenever I download it, it never works, but I'll try it again and see if it will help me

Yup, these are the only developer forums I ever frequent in any regular manner, because the people here are very cool. Gamedev.net and a lot of other places like that are just full of know-it-alls and trolls.

[gouessej]

I agree with bobjob. You can watch the source code of the game "Stardust" that uses JME 2.0, it is a good way to start. You can use LWJGL with JME 2.0 but JOGL too. If you need an example, you can watch the source code of the beta version of TUER even though it is not complete for the moment.