How to optimize Java3D stuff when there is huge amount of objects

Question

I am trying to make the visualization of thousands of objects in the 3D space. Each of them is dynamically added to the space when the data for it comes. And I need to manipulate each node by using mouse translate.
In practice, I found that the computer will be very slow when there are more than 2000 nodes(quadarray shapes with small texture). Is there any way to accelerate the speed and reduce the memory consumption?
Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

Have you looked at using LOD to minimize the amount of information that needs to be displayed? This came from the Java 3D example in the SDK:
*     @(#)LOD.java 1.13 02/10/21 13:44:04
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import java.applet.Applet;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import com.sun.j3d.utils.applet.MainFrame;
import com.sun.j3d.utils.geometry.*;
import com.sun.j3d.utils.behaviors.vp.*;
import com.sun.j3d.utils.universe.*;
import javax.media.j3d.*;
import javax.vecmath.*;
public class LOD extends Applet {
    private SimpleUniverse u = null;
    public BranchGroup createSceneGraph() {
     // Create the root of the branch graph
     BranchGroup objRoot = new BranchGroup();
     createLights(objRoot);
     // Create the transform group node and initialize it to the
     // identity.  Enable the TRANSFORM_WRITE capability so that
     // our behavior code can modify it at runtime.  Add it to the
     // root of the subgraph.
     TransformGroup objTrans = new TransformGroup();
     objTrans.setCapability(TransformGroup.ALLOW_TRANSFORM_WRITE);
     objTrans.setCapability(TransformGroup.ALLOW_TRANSFORM_READ);
     objRoot.addChild(objTrans);
     // Create a switch to hold the different levels of detail
     Switch sw = new Switch(0);
     sw.setCapability(javax.media.j3d.Switch.ALLOW_SWITCH_READ);
     sw.setCapability(javax.media.j3d.Switch.ALLOW_SWITCH_WRITE);
     // Create several levels for the switch, with less detailed
     // spheres for the ones which will be used when the sphere is
     // further away
     sw.addChild(new Sphere(0.4f, Sphere.GENERATE_NORMALS, 40));
     sw.addChild(new Sphere(0.4f, Sphere.GENERATE_NORMALS, 20));
     sw.addChild(new Sphere(0.4f, Sphere.GENERATE_NORMALS, 10));
     sw.addChild(new Sphere(0.4f, Sphere.GENERATE_NORMALS, 3));
     // Add the switch to the main group
     objTrans.addChild(sw);
     BoundingSphere bounds =
         new BoundingSphere(new Point3d(0.0,0.0,0.0), 100.0);
     // set up the DistanceLOD behavior
     float[] distances = new float[3];
     distances[0] = 5.0f;
     distances[1] = 10.0f;
     distances[2] = 25.0f;
     DistanceLOD lod = new DistanceLOD(distances);
     lod.addSwitch(sw);
     lod.setSchedulingBounds(bounds);
     objTrans.addChild(lod);
        // Have Java 3D perform optimizations on this scene graph.
        objRoot.compile();
     return objRoot;
    private void createLights(BranchGroup graphRoot) {
        // Create a bounds for the light source influence
        BoundingSphere bounds =
            new BoundingSphere(new Point3d(0.0,0.0,0.0), 100.0);
        // Set up the global, ambient light
        Color3f alColor = new Color3f(0.2f, 0.2f, 0.2f);
        AmbientLight aLgt = new AmbientLight(alColor);
        aLgt.setInfluencingBounds(bounds);
        graphRoot.addChild(aLgt);
        // Set up the directional (infinite) light source
        Color3f lColor1 = new Color3f(0.9f, 0.9f, 0.9f);
        Vector3f lDir1  = new Vector3f(1.0f, 1.0f, -1.0f);
        DirectionalLight lgt1 = new DirectionalLight(lColor1, lDir1);
        lgt1.setInfluencingBounds(bounds);
        graphRoot.addChild(lgt1);
    public LOD() {
    public void init() {
     setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        GraphicsConfiguration config =
           SimpleUniverse.getPreferredConfiguration();
        Canvas3D c = new Canvas3D(config);
     add("Center", c);
     // Create a simple scene and attach it to the virtual universe
     BranchGroup scene = createSceneGraph();
     u = new SimpleUniverse(c);
     // only add zoom mouse behavior to viewingPlatform
     ViewingPlatform viewingPlatform = u.getViewingPlatform();
        // This will move the ViewPlatform back a bit so the
        // objects in the scene can be viewed.
     viewingPlatform.setNominalViewingTransform();
     // add orbit behavior to the ViewingPlatform, but disable rotate
     // and translate
     OrbitBehavior orbit = new OrbitBehavior(c,
                              OrbitBehavior.REVERSE_ZOOM |
                              OrbitBehavior.DISABLE_ROTATE |
                              OrbitBehavior.DISABLE_TRANSLATE);
     BoundingSphere bounds =
         new BoundingSphere(new Point3d(0.0, 0.0, 0.0), 100.0);
     orbit.setSchedulingBounds(bounds);
     viewingPlatform.setViewPlatformBehavior(orbit);
     u.addBranchGraph(scene);
    public void destroy() {
     u.cleanup();
    // The following allows LOD to be run as an application
    // as well as an applet
    public static void main(String[] args) {
     new MainFrame(new LOD(), 512, 512);
}