not for a beginner

I agree with previous reviewers-- this book is not a whole lot different from Java tutorials. I’m a long-time java programmer, but with no 3d graphics experience. I found it difficult to pick up basic graphics concepts from this book. Thus, I bounced back and forth between this book, the java3d tutorials, and other tutorials I found on the internet. This book has some value in that it provides a handy reference for some aspects of java3d programming. But there are major gaps in explanation. For another option, try "Computer Graphics Using Java 2D and 3D" by Zhang/Liang

Best book in print on Java 3D, but still not that great

This is the best book out there for any reasonable price that talks about Java 3D in any sufficient detail. All of the other books are either overpriced academic textbooks that teach computer graphics using Java3D, or they are earlier efforts that talk about eye-catching applets only. Yet, I am still not that satisfied. Java 3D is a complex API to use, and this book reflects that since it is a complex book that is somewhat disorganized, is too wordy, and doesn’t really clarify how to program with the API that well. It does a good job of examining individual pieces of the API - textures, scenegraphs, interpolators - but never puts it all together so I can see the whole picture. One thing that it discusses pretty well that no other Java3D book covers is some topics on using the Java 3D API in virtual reality programming. For all other applications, and especially for beginners, you’ll probably get more help reading the "Java 3D API Tutorial" provided by Sun Microsystems that is available online. The online tutorial does a better job of organizing topics and starting from the beginning than this book. In fact, I would really advise reading the online tutorial first before reading this book. You’re likely to get more out of the book if you do.

Good Book in a Small Field

This is perhaps the most recent book on the Java 3D API published in the last four years. I started reading this one in 2004 and finished in 2006. Despite the number of years that have passed since it was published in 2002, I found it to continue to be relevant today, including my work with Xith, an Open Source API based on the public source Java 3D API.
"Killer Game Programming in Java", 2005, does cover some of the Java 3D API but there were a few gaps in it. This is understandable as it is written to cover all of Java game programming, not just Java 3D. I look forward to the release of "Foundations of 3D Graphics Programming: Using JOGL and Java3D", scheduled to be released June 30th, 2006.
~ David Wallace Croft, author of "Advanced Java Game Programming"

Great for learning the system

The book covers a great detail for scenegraph construction and using the necessary features like materials, lighting, behaviours and animation. Especially the chapter for behaviours is very helpful in creating interactivity with Java3D.

There is only one weakness - geometry creation. Whether you create it inside Java3D or load it from industrial 3D packages, I think the official Java3D tutorial does a better job.

Not introductory nor reference material

I bought because it seemed to cover the subjects in more details when Java 3D tutorial could not. However the Java3D tutorial of Sun is much more detailed and instructive when compared to this book. I extensivly needed Geometry Info sturctures info (i.e. building Shape3D s with custom points) however the book gaved the whole topic in a few paragraphs as it does in other topics.

There are no accompanying CD that include code, thus it is again harder to see techniques. The book is amateurishly composed, and the code examples are very difficult to read (no emphasizations, no bold lines, no comment highlightings...)

I recommend this book only if you can afford a book that will not help you much and urgently need a Java3D book.

Clearly insufficient

Does very little more than the java 3d tutorials. If you’ve already gone through the tutorials, this book will undoubtedly dissapoint.

Not completely neccessary

Sun’s Java 3D Tutorial taught me much more than this book did. It was a nice companion book with some good insights, handy to have but honestly I could have made it just fine without.

Fascinating complement to Sun’s 3D tutorial

After playing with this book, and the excellent Java 3D tutorial that Sun offers for free, I’ve been able to make very simple 3D applets. Most of the information to create the applet came from this book; the Sun tutorial is very good, but sparse in some details which this book covers nicely.

Most useful was the description and detailing of the scenegraph, which made it easy to do certain things in my applets. The book also covers more advanced geometric concepts, so advanced programmers should be able to glean much more from the book than I have for now.

All in all, a fascinating complement to the Sun tutorial. If you plan to program with Java 3D components, this book will be very useful.