Parallelization, Inc.

Java 3D API Customer Success Stories

Parallelization, Inc.

Parallelization, Inc. is developing an advanced visualization system called the 3D Virtual Whiteboard (3DVW), a collaborative, three-dimensional virtual environment that lets users interact with high-resolution terrain and models such as buildings and animate objects in a distributed client/server environment. The system provides a cross-platform solution, ranging from laptops to high-end 3D workstations; hence, all development is being done entirely with the Java programming language. Initial customers for 3DVW include government agencies such as the Department of Defense, and the company intends to leverage the technology into other application areas such as GIS, urban planning and entertainment.

Before the availability of the Java 3D API, Parallelization relied on OpenGL to provide the 3D API to perform the high performance 3D graphics rendering. Because the project was being developed in Java, developers had to go through a native interface layer to make the OpenGL calls. This provided decent performance but meant that other APIs such as Direct3D and QuickDraw3D would have to be supported as a separate development effort. With Java 3D's layered approach, Parallelization can provide a cross-platform visualization solution to all Java supported platforms.

Java 3D API has given Parallelization the ability to integrate the 3D visualization aspect of the 3DVW system without having to deal with platform or proprietary issues. The rich set of features of Java 3D API has provided the unique opportunity to exploit such integrated capabilities as 3D sound, sophisticated behaviors and VRML loader capability not available in any other single API. In addition, Java 3D API's ability to accommodate an immediate mode rendering along with Java 3D API-controlled scene graph rendering provided the flexibility required to implement advanced terrain rendering algorithms (i.e. Level of Detail) which is essential to visualizing large terrain.

"Java 3D allows for easy rendering of VRML models, including behaviors. Significant time will be saved using the native VRML-like support under Java 3D compared to using OpenGL. Features such as input devices, sound and behaviors are indispensable in our efforts to provide a rich collaborative virtual environment for user interaction. Without the Java3D API, we wouldn't be able to develop our application on budget and deliver it on time."

John Ko
CTO
Parallelization, Inc.

Parallelization, Inc.
100 West Jefferson Street, Suite 102
Falls Church, VA 22046
(703) 532-5501