Extension · Chapter 10

mdi-3D

A JOGL-based extension that brings three-dimensional visualization into the same application, view, and simulation architecture used throughout the book.

github.com/heddle/mdi-3D

What It Demonstrates

3D views (GLJPanel-based) coexisting with ordinary 2D MDI views in one application — the demo app includes a plain 2D drawing view alongside its 3D scenes.
Correct threading discipline at the JOGL/Swing boundary: rendering callbacks stay off the EDT except where Swing state is actually touched.
Optional Phong (GL_LIGHT0) lighting, opt-in per item via setLighted(boolean).
Graceful degradation: if OpenGL isn’t available, 3D panels fall back to an explanatory placeholder instead of failing to launch.
Reuse of core mdi infrastructure — image capture/clipboard export, keyboard handling, view-info metadata — rather than reinventing it for 3D.

Demo Views

View	What it shows
Rotating MDI logo	Independently tilting, lit panels with a precessing rotation axis
Aizawa attractor	A chaotic strange-attractor simulation rendered as an evolving 3D trajectory
Kinetics demo	A live simulation driving 3D geometry via `SimulationEngine`
Scatter plot 3D	3D point-cloud rendering, including lit-sphere point markers
Geometry slice	Interactive cross-sections through a 3D solid
Globe	A lazily-loaded 3D globe view
2D drawing view	An ordinary 2D `DrawingView`, included to show 2D and 3D coexisting

Keyboard Controls

3D views use a consistent key binding scheme (rotation, reset, refresh) routed through a single KeyAdapter3D/KeyBindings3D pair — see the project README for the full list.

Gallery

Screenshots of the demo application's 3D views.

The rotating MDI logo — lit, independently tilting panels with a precessing rotation axis.

Aizawa attractor demo — The Aizawa strange attractor, rendered as a 3D trajectory alongside a live 2D phase plot.

Kinetics demo — The kinetics demo — a `SimulationEngine`-driven particle system in a 3D box, with entropy tracked over time.

3D scatter plot demo — 3D point-cloud rendering with color-mapped values and adjustable streaming throttle.

3D globe demo — The lazily-loaded 3D globe view, with city markers and graticule lines.

Try It

git clone https://github.com/heddle/mdi-3D.git
cd mdi-3D
mvn install
mvn exec:java -Dexec.mainClass=edu.cnu.mdi.mdi3D.app.DemoApp3D

Maven Coordinates

<dependency>
    <groupId>io.github.heddle</groupId>
    <artifactId>mdi-3d</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.2</version>
</dependency>

MDI-3D 1.0.2 depends on MDI 1.2.3. See Maven Central for the artifact listing or the v1.0.2 release for the book’s exact source.

Full Javadoc is available here.