Displaying an object!!

Question

Hi all.....
In the following code I'm trying to draw a square and display it on the 3d scene/canvas. I plan to texture that square into a particle but at the moment my main concern is to see it on the canvas, could anyone help me do this, I can't see where I'm going wrong!!
Thanks in advance
import java.applet.Applet;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.GraphicsConfiguration;
import com.sun.j3d.utils.geometry.Sphere;
import com.sun.j3d.utils.universe.*;
import javax.media.j3d.*;
import javax.media.j3d.Shape3D;
import javax.vecmath.*;
import javax.vecmath.Vector3f;
public class p2 extends Applet
     private SimpleUniverse u = null;
     private Canvas3D c = null;
     //private ViewPlatform camera1 = new ViewPlatform();
     //private View view = new View();
     /*int MAX_PARTICLES = 100;
     int loop;
     float v, Angle;
     p1[] p; */
     public BranchGroup createSceneGraph(SimpleUniverse u)
          BranchGroup objRoot = new BranchGroup();
          //VirtualUniverse universe = new VirtualUniverse();
          Locale locale = new Locale(u);
          //BranchGroup view_group = new BranchGroup();
          //BranchGroup world_object_group = new BranchGroup();
          //locale.addBranchGraph(objRoot);
          //locale.addBranchGraph(world_object_group);
          //objRoot.setCapability(Group.ALLOW_CHILDREN_READ);
     //objRoot.setCapability(Group.ALLOW_CHILDREN_WRITE);
     //objRoot.setCapability(Group.ALLOW_CHILDREN_EXTEND);
          //ViewPlatform camera1 = new ViewPlatform();
          //View view = new View();
          //view.addCanvas3D(canvas);
          //view.attachViewPlatform(camera1);
          System.out.println("creating scene graph");
          TransformGroup objTrans = new TransformGroup();
          objTrans.setCapability(TransformGroup.ALLOW_TRANSFORM_WRITE);
          Transform3D t = new Transform3D();
     t.setScale(0.4);
     objTrans.setTransform(t);
          objRoot.addChild(objTrans);
          Color3f bgColor = new Color3f(0.3f, 0.5f, 0.2f);
          BoundingSphere bounds =
     new BoundingSphere(new Point3d(0.0,0.0,0.0), 100.0);
          Background bg = new Background(bgColor);
          bg.setApplicationBounds(bounds);
          objTrans.addChild(bg);
          int flags = GeometryArray.COORDINATES | GeometryArray.COLOR_4 | GeometryArray.NORMALS;
          IndexedQuadArray geom = new IndexedQuadArray(4, flags, 4);
          double[] coordinates = {
0.5, 0.5, 0,
0.5, -0.5, 0,
-0.5, -0.5, 0,
-0.5, 0.5, 0};
          int[] indices = { 0, 1, 2, 3 };
          geom.setCoordinates(0, coordinates);
          geom.setCoordinateIndices(0, indices);
          float[] colors = {
     1, 1, 0, 0,
     1, 0, 1, 0,
     1, 0, 0, 1,
     1, 1, 1, 0
          geom.setColors(0, colors);
          geom.setColorIndices(0, indices);
          float[] normal = { 0, 0, 1 };
          geom.setNormal(0, normal);
          geom.setNormal(1, normal);
          geom.setNormal(2, normal);
          geom.setNormal(3, normal);
          Color3f s = new Color3f(1.0f,1.0f,1.0f);
          Material m = new Material(s,s,s,s,100.0f);
          Appearance a = new Appearance();
          a.setMaterial(m);
          Sphere sph = new Sphere(0.2f,a);
          //objTrans.addChild(sph);
          Shape3D shape = new Shape3D(geom);
          shape.setAppearance(a);
          objTrans.addChild(shape);
          objRoot.compile();
          return objRoot;
     public p2()
          /*for(loop=0; loop<MAX_PARTICLES;loop++)
               p[loop].life=1.0f;
               p[loop].fade=(float)(Math.random()%100)/1000.0f+0.05f;
               v=1.0f;
               Angle=(float)(Math.random()%360);
               p[loop].x=0;
               p[loop].y=0;
               p[loop].z=0;
               p[loop].xi=(float)(Math.sin(Angle)*v);
               p[loop].yi=(float)(Math.cos(Angle)*v);
               p[loop].zi=(float)(((Math.random()%10)-5)/10)*v;
          for(loop=0; loop<MAX_PARTICLES;loop++)
               float x=p[loop].x;
               float y=p[loop].y;
               float z=p[loop].z;
               Color4f f = new Color4f(0.5f,0.5f,1.0f,p[loop].life);
     public void init()
          setLayout(new BorderLayout());
GraphicsConfiguration config =
SimpleUniverse.getPreferredConfiguration();
          Canvas3D c = new Canvas3D(config);
          add("Center", c);     
          //view.addCanvas3D(c);
          //view.attachViewPlatform(camera1);
          //view.setProjectionPolicy(View.PARALLEL_PROJECTION);
          //view.setProjectionPolicy(View.PERSPECTIVE_PROJECTION);
          u = new SimpleUniverse(c);
          BranchGroup scene = createSceneGraph(u);
u.getViewingPlatform().setNominalViewingTransform();
          u.addBranchGraph(scene);
          System.out.println("Finished init method. ");
public void destroy()
          u.removeAllLocales();

Answer 1

I am not an expert (2 month beginer) but I made a modification to the few lines that describe
your 'square/screen' to a code that I had made or found. It works now since I see it.
change this:
int flags = GeometryArray.COORDINATES | GeometryArray.COLOR_4 | GeometryArray.NORMALS;
IndexedQuadArray geom = new IndexedQuadArray(4, flags, 4);
double[] coordinates = {
0.5, 0.5, 0,
0.5, -0.5, 0,
-0.5, -0.5, 0,
-0.5, 0.5, 0};
int[] indices = { 0, 1, 2, 3 };
geom.setCoordinates(0, coordinates);
geom.setCoordinateIndices(0, indices);
float[] colors = {
1, 1, 0, 0,
1, 0, 1, 0,
1, 0, 0, 1,
1, 1, 1, 0
geom.setColors(0, colors);
geom.setColorIndices(0, indices);
float[] normal = { 0, 0, 1 };
geom.setNormal(0, normal);
geom.setNormal(1, normal);
geom.setNormal(2, normal);
geom.setNormal(3, normal);
Color3f s = new Color3f(1.0f,1.0f,1.0f);
Material m = new Material(s,s,s,s,100.0f);
Appearance a = new Appearance();
a.setMaterial(m);
Sphere sph = new Sphere(0.2f,a);
Shape3D shape = new Shape3D(geom);
By this :
Appearance app3 = new Appearance();
Color3f ambientColour3 = new Color3f(1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f);
Color3f emissiveColour = new Color3f(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);
Color3f specularColour = new Color3f(1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f);
Color3f diffuseColour3 = new Color3f(1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f);
float shininess = 20.0f;
app3.setMaterial(new Material(ambientColour3, emissiveColour,
diffuseColour3, specularColour, shininess));
IndexedQuadArray indexedCube = new IndexedQuadArray(8,
IndexedQuadArray.COORDINATES | IndexedQuadArray.NORMALS, 24);
Point3f[] cubeCoordinates = {new Point3f(1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f),
                                     new Point3f(-1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f),
                                     new Point3f(-1.0f, -1.0f, 1.0f),
                                     new Point3f(1.0f, -1.0f, 1.0f),
                                     new Point3f(1.0f, 1.0f, -1.0f),
                                     new Point3f(-1.0f, 1.0f, -1.0f),
                                     new Point3f(-1.0f, -1.0f, -1.0f),
                                     new Point3f(1.0f, -1.0f, -1.0f)};
Vector3f[] cubeNormals = {new Vector3f(0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f),
                                  new Vector3f(0.0f, 0.0f, -1.0f),
                                  new Vector3f(1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f),
                                  new Vector3f(-1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f),
                                  new Vector3f(0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f),
                                  new Vector3f(0.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f)};
int cubeCoordIndices[] = {0, 1, 2, 3, 7, 6, 5, 4, 0, 3, 7, 4, 5, 6, 2, 1, 0, 4, 5, 1, 6, 7, 3, 2};
int cubeNormalIndices[] = {0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5};
indexedCube.setCoordinates(0, cubeCoordinates);
indexedCube.setNormals(0, cubeNormals);
indexedCube.setCoordinateIndices(0, cubeCoordIndices);
indexedCube.setNormalIndices(0, cubeNormalIndices);
//Create the three cubes
Shape3D theShape = new Shape3D(indexedCube, app3);