FöRFATTARE
del Val Ferrer, Alberto

INSTITUTION
Systemteknik / Datalogi

SAMMANFATTNING
These days, Computer Graphics are more and more in demand, especially, in video games. In this respect, Java3D is a relatively recent scene graph based 3D programming API for Java suitable for games and real-time rendering applications. As it is based on Java, it takes advantage of Java's capabilities of platform independence and portability.

The aim of this project consists of evaluating Java3D for terrain generation and rain water flow using particle systems with the secondary aim of contributing improvements to the Java3D community. Rain water simulation is attempted in as realistic way as possible, given frame rate efficiency as the most important issue.

This Master's Thesis presents an application which is able to generate random fractal terrains allowing water simulation on these surfaces. Rainfall and water runoff in the direction of the surface negative gradient have been achieved. Limitations in the Java3D collision detection algorithms were detected demonstrating their unsuitability for rain water flow simulation.

This document also offers a general overview of Java3D, regarding its main features and characteristics, and specially its scene graph structure, while commenting on some of its most important classes.

ISSN 1653-0187 / ISRN LTU-PB-EX--08/013--SE / NR 2008:013