Place image icon onto a 3D cube

Question

Hi, I am currently doing a project on 3D java. I have created 3D color cube and
i am planning to put movable image icon on the cube so that i can move the image
icon to anywhere on the cube. The color cube can be rotated, translated and
zoomable. Lastly, when the cube is being rotated,the image icon on the cube must
move together also.
i am currently stuck at the part where i dont know how to do the coding on
creating the image icon and when the cube is rotated, the image icon will move
also. Can you give me some sample code on doing that as this is my first time
using java 3D.
Below is the code that i use to create the cube.
CODE
* IconGlassPanel3D.java
* Created on October 30, 2006, 2:57 PM
* To change this template, choose Tools | Template Manager
* and open the template in the editor.
package Pas3DGUI;
import CobraNet.Zone;
import DbConnection.DAOFactory;
import DbConnection.ZoneDAO;
import Pas2DGUI.ZoneIcons;
import java.applet.Applet;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Frame;
import com.sun.j3d.utils.applet.MainFrame;
import com.sun.j3d.utils.geometry.ColorCube;
import com.sun.j3d.utils.universe.*;
import com.sun.j3d.utils.behaviors.mouse.*;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Point;
import javax.media.j3d.*;
import javax.vecmath.*;
import java.awt.Image;
import java.awt.Toolkit;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.util.Enumeration;
* @author 042255f
public class IconGlassPanel3D extends Applet {
// nImg =
Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getImage("C:\\TEMP\\unselected_speaker.gif");
/** Creates a new instance of IconGlassPanel3D */
public BranchGroup createSceneGraph() {
// Create the root of the branch graph
BranchGroup objRoot = new BranchGroup();
TransformGroup objTransform = new TransformGroup();
objTransform.setCapability(TransformGroup.ALLOW_TRANSFORM_WRITE);
objTransform.setCapability(TransformGroup.ALLOW_TRANSFORM_READ);
objRoot.addChild(objTransform);
objTransform.addChild(new ColorCube(0.4));
// objRoot.addChild(new Axis());
MouseRotate myMouseRotate = new MouseRotate();
myMouseRotate.setTransformGroup(objTransform);
myMouseRotate.setSchedulingBounds(new BoundingSphere());
objRoot.addChild(myMouseRotate);
MouseTranslate myMouseTranslate = new MouseTranslate();
myMouseTranslate.setTransformGroup(objTransform);
myMouseTranslate.setSchedulingBounds(new BoundingSphere());
objRoot.addChild(myMouseTranslate);
MouseZoom myMouseZoom = new MouseZoom();
myMouseZoom.setTransformGroup(objTransform);
myMouseZoom.setSchedulingBounds(new BoundingSphere());
objRoot.addChild(myMouseZoom);
// Let Java 3D perform optimizations on this scene graph.
objRoot.compile();
return objRoot;
} // end of CreateSceneGraph method of MouseBehaviorApp
// Create a simple scene and attach it to the virtual universe
public IconGlassPanel3D() {
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
Canvas3D canvas3D = new Canvas3D(null);
add("Center", canvas3D);
BranchGroup scene = createSceneGraph();
// SimpleUniverse is a Convenience Utility class
SimpleUniverse simpleU = new SimpleUniverse(canvas3D);
// This will move the ViewPlatform back a bit so the
// objects in the scene can be viewed.
simpleU.getViewingPlatform().setNominalViewingTransform();
simpleU.addBranchGraph(scene);
} // end of MouseBehaviorApp (constructor)
// The following allows this to be run as an application
// as well as an applet
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Hold the mouse button while moving the mouse to make
the cube move.");
System.out.println(" left mouse button - rotate cube");
System.out.println(" right mouse button - translate cube");
System.out.println(" Alt+left mouse button - zoom cube");
Frame frame = new MainFrame(new IconGlassPanel3D(), 256, 256);
} // end of main (method of MouseBehaviorApp)
Thank You all for your help.I apprepciate it.

Answer 1

Use a Box instead of the ColorCube.. This might give you a start.
To texture the Box, assuming you have extended Applet -
        java.net.URL texImage = null;// the URL of the image to load
     Appearance app = new Appearance();
     Texture tex = new TextureLoader(texImage, this).getTexture();
     app.setTexture(tex);
     TextureAttributes texAttr = new TextureAttributes();
     texAttr.setTextureMode(TextureAttributes.MODULATE);
     app.setTextureAttributes(texAttr);
     Box textureCube = new Box(0.4f, 0.4f, 0.4f,
                      Box.GENERATE_TEXTURE_COORDS, app);IMHO you will be well served by texturing a plane congruent in size with the sides of the cube and manipulating that using the coords of each side of a Box derived from Shape3D.getGeometry. Don`t forget to add a Light or two.
regards