When I first mentioned that I had started diving into Darkstar and Wonderland and doing Java 3D programming, I wrote:

All that interesting work being done making Swing programming easier and more tolerable with JRuby? Yeah, Java 3D could use some of that.

Not long afterward, watching Joshua Marinacci demonstrate JavaFX at Sun’s Midwest Java Days, I got to thinking that JavaFX would be the natural way to make Java3D programming easier, much as it alleviates the pain of Swing. Something gave me a hunch that it just might be in the works. Sure enough, it has been:

As many of you are aware, Sun’s emphasis on client technologies has led to the creation of JavaFX — a platform for creating rich content applications for mobile, set-top, and desktop devices. The majority of our current effort is focused on building out the 3D support for JavaFX. … Specifically, we are working on a new 3D scene graph, as part of the JavaFX player, that will complement the 2D Scenario scene graph. Its initial focus will be 3D effects, casual games, and simple 3D viewing applications. We anticipate that future versions will include additional features that may meet the needs of many existing Java 3D applications.

Oh ho! This is good news. It gives me hope for the future of both Java 3D and JavaFX.