JavaFX 3D : TriangleMesh specification questions

[August Lammersdorf, InteractiveMesh]

 Thanks Chien!

 - So, a single texCoord (0,0) referenced by all vertices would be 
 sufficient if no texture is specified in the PhongMaterial !?

 - Flat shading, triangles with all three edges creased, is just an 
 existing 3D rendering feature. Helpful to visualize face structures or a 
 red backlight glass ;-), etc..

 - Wavefront's OBJ files (.obj) provide a smoothing group statement (s 
 1, s 2, ..) to collect subsequent faces into the specified group. The 
 statement 's 0' or 's off' turns off smoothing and all following faces 
 must be rendered in the flat manner. If no number is reserved for flat 
 faces, assigning an exclusive number to each flat face should produce 
 the same result in JavaFX 3D.

 - Even if a 3D file format supports smoothing groups, e.g. 3DS and OBJ 
 (Collada, VRML2, and X3D don't), its use isn't mandatory. Alternatively 
 normals or a crease angle might be delivered. Will JavaFX 3D provide a 
 smoothing group generator utility, as normals are not implemented yet? 
 Otherwise importer/loader have to include such a feature.

 August

 Am Freitag, den 22.02.2013, 00:16 +0100 schrieb Chien Yang 
 <chien.yang at oracle.com>:
> Hi August,
>
>      Please see my reply inline.
>
> On 2/21/2013 1:41 AM, August Lammersdorf, InteractiveMesh wrote:
>> While converting 3D model importer following questions occurred :
>>
>> - Are texCoords and texCoord indices required even if no texture is 
>> applied because NUM_COMPONENTS_PER_FACE is final and has a value of 6 
>> (3 point indices and 3 texCoord indices per face)?
>>
>
> Yes, you will need to for JavaFX 8 since there is only one vertex
> format. We have plan to add more in future releases.
>
>> - Are normals or other vertex attributes planned?
>
> Yes.
>
>>
>> - Is flat shading supported? Does a corresponding smoothing group 
>> number exist for the faceSmoothingGroups array (like '0' in *.obj 
>> files)?
>>
>
>  Flat shading isn't in our plan but we may consider it if you have a
> good 3D use case. Can you elaborate your question on smoothing group
> number?
>
>> - Must smoothing group numbers be consecutive and positive?
>>
>
> No, we didn't specify much about its restriction. It may be good to
> keep this within a small positive range. We may have to tighten later
> as we work out some of the details.
>
> Thanks,
> - Chien
>
>> Thanks, August